The children’s commissioner has joined Kyiv in lobbying the UK government to introduce a new GCSE in Ukrainian to help child refugees cope with the “immense upheaval” of fleeing war in their country. In December, the Guardian revealed that Ukraine was “deeply concerned” to discover many Ukrainian teenagers are being pressed into learning Russian in British schools because no GSCE in Ukrainian is available. Since then Ukraine’s education minister, Oksen Lisovyi, has met the UK education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, to underline his government’s fear that being taught Russian is retraumatising Ukrainian teenagers who have fled Vladimir Putin’s invasion. Vitalii, now 18, who fled to London from Ukraine in April 2022, said: “Why should I study Russian – I’m Ukrainian and I want to show it. The language is paramount for all us.”
Education Sector Doubts and a Working Group
Since the meeting with Lisovyi, Phillipson confirmed on Instagram this week that she has written to exam boards urging them to reintroduce an exam that was scrapped in 1995 owing to a lack of demand. The Department for Education (DfE) has also set up a working group to help implement the move. One of the exam boards, AQA, said it was carefully considering reintroducing the qualification. But education sector insiders are sceptical about the practicalities of the move. It has also emerged the children’s commissioner, Rachel de Souza, has been urging the government to reintroduce a GCSE in Ukrainain. She intervened after visiting St Mary’s, a network of 13 Ukrainian language schools in the UK, founded at the trust’s headquarters in west London.
Support for Ukrainian Children Living in the UK
De Souza said: “I’ve seen for myself the great work St Mary’s Ukrainian School is doing with the children who attend. It has become a sanctuary for families, helping displaced children reach their goals and aspirations in spite of the immense upheaval they’ve experienced.” De Souza said she was encouraged by the DfE’s decision to take up the issue with exam boards. She said: “I have long called for the DfE to consider making qualifications available in Ukrainian for these children, who rightly want an opportunity to feel proud of their culture and their language, so I am really pleased to see this. “Ukrainian children living here in the UK are the future of their country and will play a vital role in its recovery, so we must match their level of ambition and make sure they receive all the support possible to thrive in their education.” An AQA spokesperson said: “We’ve every sympathy with Ukrainian students who, through no fault of their own, find themselves many miles from home and want to gain formal accreditation of their language.
