“My thirteen-year-old son is calm and well-balanced. He is kind to people. At school, he faced a case of bullying from one of his Ukrainian peers. That boy bullied him and insulted him at every opportunity for two years,” says Siobhan. “Another Irish boy witnessed this but never intervened – he only encouraged such behaviour.”
She tried to do something about it. But the school staff did not intervene; they only pointed out that the aggressor had come from a country currently at war, that they were teenagers, and that such misunderstandings happen often. The woman also tried to find the parents of the Ukrainian boy, but without success.
“Eventually, I told my son: you need to protect yourself and stand up for yourself! It is normal to confront such things. He listened to me. And when the aggressor once again ambushed my son and pushed him, he fought back,” she remembers. “This had an astonishing effect. From that moment on, the harassment stopped. And finally, my son could breathe freely again.”
Issue
In her opinion, the issue here is not that the boy who bullied her son was of another nationality — her son gets along well with his Ukrainian peers. They are teenagers, and at that age, boys often have conflicts. It is important for parents to explain how to protect themselves and not become a victim.
Thirteen-year-old Bohdan, who attends secondary school in the northwest of Ireland, also encountered unpleasant incidents with school peers. “Regarding school, there were indeed situations when Irish classmates approached me and my Ukrainian peers and asked us, in a not very polite manner, whether our homes in Ukraine had been destroyed or not,” the boy explains. “And another Irish boy came up to us and made a loud ‘boom’ sound, as if he wanted to imitate an explosion. It was not very pleasant.” But these were more isolated incidents. Overall, they all get along quite well.
“I love Ireland and Irish people very much. My family is very grateful for all the help that has been given to us and continues to be given. I also play football in an Irish youth team, where I am highly valued,” Bohdan adds.
Preschool English teacher from Ukraine, Dmytro Malatskovski, has experience working with children and adolescents of different nationalities. He volunteers in a community organisation and has worked in an Irish school as a teacher’s assistant.
From what I have observed, it was more a kind of rejection that manifested itself in insults like, ‘Go home, why are you here?’”
“It cannot be denied, of course, that conflicts between children of different nationalities arise from time to time. When speaking about Ukrainian and Irish children, misunderstandings occur both within groups of Ukrainian children and among Irish children as well. These may be personal or stem from cultural and ethnic differences,” the teacher notes. “From what I have observed, it was more a kind of rejection that manifested itself in insults like, ‘Go home, why are you here?’”
Another thing he draws attention to is that children often solve problematic situations simply by separating themselves from one another. “When I volunteered with a youth organisation, in particular organising beach games in Bundoran, I tried to offer interesting tasks for everyone, but it was still clear that each group kept to their own.”
In his view, community efforts are needed to bring people together through shared interests — more joint sporting events, cultural activities, TV programmes about the positive impact of migrants, anything that will unite. “Perhaps it is worth starting conversations on this topic with children in schools, or additionally, outside of school. It is important that children develop their cultural awareness, so that it’s not just: I accept and understand only what is mine. We should show that the world is rich in different cultures. If a child grows up understanding that we are all different but each wonderful in our own way, that would be a safeguard against such things,” Mr Malatskovski believes.
Educational process
“The arrival of Ukrainian and other refugee children has brought changes to the educational process. It has made the schools more diverse and inclusive. Teachers now have children from many different backgrounds in their classrooms, which enriches the teaching and learning experience for everyone,” Principal of Kilbarron NS, Priscilla Leslie, says. “Teachers need to create a welcoming environment and adapt their teaching methods to meet the needs of students from different cultural backgrounds.”
Conflicts can arise between children with different nationalities at times, but we have not experienced this very often”
Oral language lessons are very important to ensure that the children become more confident in speaking English. According to Mrs Leslie, this in turn will help the children become more confident readers and writers. The teachers are also very aware that newcomer children may need emotional support due to the various circumstances some of them have witnessed or been through before they arrived in Ireland. Therefore, the teachers need to support the emotional well-being of the children.
Funding
The Department of Education provides funding for EAL teachers. These teachers provide language lessons to help refugee children learn English and integrate into their new schools. In Kilbarron NS, they now have an EAL (English as an Additional Language) teacher four days per week. They did not have this teacher until their new students arrived.
“Conflicts can arise between children with different nationalities at times, but we have not experienced this very often. We encourage the children to come to us if they feel that their country or culture is being disrespected,” Mrs Leslie continues. “We teach the children to consider different perspectives and to understand each other’s backgrounds. We encourage tolerance, empathy and mutual respect for different cultures and nationalities.”
To prevent serious conflicts or prolonged harassment of someone for any reason, there is an Anti-Bullying Policy in Irish schools. Last year, this policy was updated and renamed to Bi Cineálta Policy (Be Kind Policy). This policy is drawn up by the Department of Education, but each school must bring it to their Board of Management, teachers and parents.
The procedures in the Anti-Bullying Policy aim to create a positive school culture that prevents and addresses bullying behaviour. Schools are required to teach the children about bullying as part of the school curriculum. According to Mrs Leslie, the teachers must ensure that the children understand what bullying is and what they should do if they are bullied or if they see somebody else being bullied.
Schools are required to investigate incidents of bullying and take action to resolve the situation, provide support to students who have experienced bullying, and take action against students who engage in bullying behaviour. They must have a clear procedure for reporting incidents of bullying, and parents are encouraged to report any concerns to the school. The school must keep a record of all cases of bullying — what happened, why it happened, and the outcome — and this must be reported to the school Board of Management at each meeting.
Teaching the children about how holy God is can encourage them to develop good character traits, such as honesty, forgiveness, and self-control”
“When we teach the children about God, we help them to develop a strong moral foundation and a sense of respect for others. We teach the children values like kindness, empathy, and compassion, which can help children understand the importance of treating others with respect. Teaching the children about how holy God is can encourage them to develop good character traits, such as honesty, forgiveness, and self-control, which can lead to more respectful interactions with others,” Principal of Kilbarron NS, Priscilla Leslie, concludes.
