Conference Agenda

In times of intensified migration-related diversity, policy volatility, and societal transformation, uncertainty has become a constitutive condition of teaching and learning across European educational systems. This panel examines how uncertainty is produced, experienced, and pedagogically negotiated in school contexts shaped by forced migration. Drawing on empirical studies from Germany, Czechia, Poland, and Ukraine, the panel conceptualises uncertainty not as an individual flaw, but as a structurally embedded feature of educational practice with significant implications for inclusion and didactic decision-making.

The first contribution (Germany) approaches uncertainty from a structural-theoretical and professional perspective. Building on Helsper’s analysis of pedagogical antinomies (Helsper, 2004; 2016), it argues that teaching necessarily unfolds within tensions that cannot be resolved through technical expertise alone. From this perspective, uncertainty is a constitutive element of professional teaching. This insight is further specified through migration pedagogy, which conceptualises non-knowledge as a professional competence (Mecheril, 2010), understood as reflective awareness of the limits of one’s own knowledge and openness towards (refugee) students’ lived experiences. Drawing on qualitative data from the Erasmus+ project Act4Mig: A Course for Teachers on Forced Migration, the study reconstructs situations that generate didactic uncertainty - such as language expectations, dealing with trauma, or intercultural communication with parents - and analyses how teachers develop inclusion-oriented responses that professionalise rather than eliminate uncertainty (Paselka, Schneider & Combe, 2018).

The second contribution (Czechia) shifts the analytical focus to policy-induced uncertainty and its translation into classroom practice. Since the activation of temporary protection for refugees from Ukraine in 2022, Czech schools have been required to continuously adapt to frequently changing regulations related to residence status, access to education, and support measures. Based on mixed-methods research combining interviews, focus groups, and survey data, the paper conceptualises uncertainty as a systemic effect of policy volatility rather than as an individual characteristic of migrant pupils or their families (Bittnerová, 2024; Schwendowius et al., 2025). The findings show how shifting policy frameworks undermine long-term didactic planning, disrupt learning continuity, and challenge schools’ capacity to provide predictable and inclusive learning environments.

The third contribution (Poland) examines uncertainty through the lens of institutional visibility and educational security in refugee education. Focusing on the Ukrainian “Independence” school established in Poland after February 2022, the study analyses a community-based educational space that operated for an extended period outside the Polish school system and without formal school status. Drawing on qualitative research conducted between 2022 and 2024, the contribution conceptualises uncertainty as an everyday condition produced by institutional ambiguity. While the school functioned as a protective “safe space” that stabilised routines and sustained Ukrainian curricular continuity, its informal and only partially recognised position generated persistent insecurities, including uncertain recognition of learning outcomes, limited certification pathways, and unclear responsibilities for educational and psychosocial support. The analysis highlights the paradox of safety through invisibility as a strategy that temporarily mitigates uncertainty while reproducing new forms of precarity.

Extending the panel’s comparative focus, the Ukrainian case examines uncertainty in school contexts shaped by forced displacement, return migration, and ongoing war. Drawing on interviews with Ukrainian teachers conducted in 2025 within the Erasmus+ project Act4Mig, the contribution conceptualises uncertainty as a structurally embedded condition of educational practice rather than a temporary disruption. Continuous student mobility and cumulative educational losses following COVID-19, displacement, and war fundamentally reshape reintegration processes (UNESCO, 2024; UNICEF, 2025; Pron’, 2025). Teachers’ narratives show how language use, expectations of educational “catch-up,” and classroom routines function as markers of belonging and conditional inclusion, and how educators manage - rather than eliminate - uncertainty by prioritising socialisation, emotional safety, and inclusive pedagogical practices.