Stiftelsen för forskning inom områden med anknytning till Östersjöregionen och Östeuropa

School and Education in Times of War: Online and Shelter Teaching in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine


Ämne: Special Education; Psychology; Sociology
Projektledare: Kateryna Bondar
Startår: 2026
Projekttyp: Projekt
Beviljade medel: 6 000 000 kr

This project investigates how education can be sustained and further developed under conditions of armed conflict, focusing on the frontline city of Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine. In regions near the front, only online instruction and newly established shelter schools remain viable. The study will analyse their educational and psychosocial consequences for pupils, parents, and teachers, with particular attention to vulnerable groups such as children with disabilities. Employing a mixed-methods design, it integrates five interrelated studies: (1) policy and documentation analysis of shelter schools; (2) administrative and school data collection; (3) qualitative interviews with pupils, parents, and teachers; (4) standardised psychological assessments of learning, well-being, resilience, and PTSD symptoms; and (5) large-scale surveys of school communities. Together, these will create a unique empirical database and baseline for potential longitudinal studies. The project contributes urgently needed insights into how learning environments function as both protective infrastructures and developmental settings in wartime. It is carried out by an international team of researchers from Ukraine and Sweden, with an advisory board including scholars from Latvia, Poland and Germany. Beyond advancing research on crisis education, the study addresses EU Baltic Sea Strategy priorities by enhancing societal resilience, inclusion, and access to quality education under extreme conditions.