Learning in wartime: Reason for hope for the society of tomorrow

A researcher at the Université du Québec à Montréal examines the impacts of the armed conflict in Ukraine on children’s education

All over the world, children have the right to education. In countries with stable political regimes, universal access to quality learning and skills development is generally taken for granted. However, for children living in countries disrupted by political crisis, forced displacement or armed conflict, such access is often challenging.

“How is education provided against a backdrop of armed conflict? How do students learn when so many external factors are a source of instability and stress and can affect their cognitive abilities?” These are the questions Olivier Arvisais is asking. Arvisais is a professor in the department of learning at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) faculty of Education and is co-president of the UNESCO Chair for Curriculum Development’s Scientific Committee, also at UQAM.

Arvisais has had a keen interest in education in times of crisis ever since his doctoral studies, and has been focusing on educational initiatives set up for displaced populations, refugees, and people affected by armed conflict. As part of a project funded by the Exploration stream of the New Frontiers in Research Fund, he is now focusing on war’s effects on the learning abilities of students in Ukraine.

“Many people wonder whether these children are going to school, whether they have well‑trained teachers, whether they have access to educational resources, or whether their schooling is interrupted for long periods,” says Arvisais. “But few are concerned with the learning itself. When children go to school in the midst of armed conflict, are they really capable of learning to read, write and do math? That’s the central question of our research.”

With the help of an interdisciplinary, international research team, Arvisais seeks to understand how this context influences Ukrainian students’ ability to learn. He also aims to identify ways to support these students on a cognitive level and ensure their social resilience and psychological well‑being.

Arvisais’ study, which began two years ago, is being carried out on the ground with the help of two members of the National Academy of Educational Sciences of Ukraine: Maryna Melnyk, who is in charge of studying students’ cognitive psychology, and Maksym Halchenko, who leads the assessment of their overall health. The study’s preliminary results are fairly encouraging. The research team is currently analyzing the data gathered on 129 children in the cities of Kyiv and Kharkiv and has found that, thus far, the students are doing reasonably well cognitively and academically.

“Despite the difficult learning conditions, the results are positive,” says Arvisais. “The students’ ability to learn has been very well preserved. Their performance in cognitive tasks is very strong, as are their standardized test results.”

The research by Arvisais and his team will be used in part to develop training for teachers—of children in Ukraine and in other conflict zones—and for psychologists and social workers who provide psychosocial support. The findings will also be presented to parents, who play an essential role in children’s resilience and education outside school. The goal is to propose evidence‑based measures to support children in their learning.

Arvisais recognizes Ukraine is a special case, as a country that started out with a solid education system, well‑trained teachers and plentiful access at school to resources, including to psychologists. However, his research’s findings could potentially be applied in other conflict zones around the world.

As the children of today will help rebuild the society of tomorrow, the quality of education right now, and its influence on children’s development, has an undeniable impact on the future of countries currently at war.

“Children living in war‑torn countries like Ukraine sometimes have a bit more difficulty with cognitive flexibility,” says Arvisais. “Yet this ability is very useful socially, for understanding differing perspectives and finding strategies to resolve conflict.”

As global geopolitics become increasingly tense and complex, it is all the more important to provide as normal a learning experience as possible for children in war‑torn countries. This will ensure they can grow into citizens able to participate fully in resolving political problems and social challenges, in the hope of breaking the cycle of conflict.

In addition to examining students’ learning abilities and academic performance, the research team also aims to analyze boys’ and girls’ perceptions of stress, resilience and well‑being in comparison with their parents’. Specifically, the team is investigating the impact of social constructs on children’s psychological resilience. For example, in Ukraine, while parents tend to believe that boys handle the stress caused by armed conflict much better than girls, preliminary data shows that this stress may be harder for boys to manage. Such findings could prompt parents to reflect on how they interact with their children, and to take a different approach to helping them manage their emotions.

For Arvisais, the research offers a glimmer of hope.

“Our initial results have brought to light new considerations that go beyond the initial aim of our research. Thanks to our study of children’s learning in countries disrupted by armed conflict, and the additional research questions it has raised, we hope to contribute, in our own small way, to building a more stable world.”

Want to learn more?

To learn more about Olivier Arvisais’s work, check out his profile (in French only) on UQAM’s website and visit the website for the UNESCO Chair for Curriculum Development at UQAM.