Call for Papers: Ecologies of Education in the Context of Forced Migration

Posted Date: 2025-11-25
Expiry Date: 2025-12-20

Ecologies of Education in the Context of Forced Migration

 Recent humanitarian crises in the (Greater) Middle East and most recently in Ukraine have led to the reception of displaced people in Central and Eastern Europe, including a large number of minors. State responses were not uniform and, in some cases, restrictive – for example, the relocation of asylum seekers from Hungary to Germany in 2015 or the ongoing pushbacks and deterrence practices at the Poland–Belarus border. By contrast, the arrival of people fleeing Ukraine was met in many places – at least initially – with greater public and political solidarity (Schmidt et al., 2024). This refers not least to the introduction of temporary protection within the EU (as opposed to, for example, subsidiary protection).

At the same time, schools and educational institutions were often overstretched and had to develop improvised solutions for the inclusion and support of newly arrived students (Herbst & Sitek, 2023; Kollender & Schwendowius 2024; Küün, 2022; Macková, 2024; Stolarski, 2024; Woltran, 2024). In this situation, civil society organizations and NGOs proved to be particularly agile. Drawing on their experience in social work, language education, and community support, they rapidly mobilized networks and infrastructures and developed learning and support programs for both students and teachers.

Yet, while civil society initiatives play a vital role in constructing educational ecologies, their capacity to act is not unlimited. Across Central and Eastern Europe, NGOs and grassroots networks are increasingly confronted with shrinking spaces for civic engagement—manifested in reduced funding opportunities, tightening political control, or public distrust toward migrant-supporting organizations (Feischmidt, Pries & Cantat, 2019; Kocyba & Lewicki, 2020). These pressures shape the sustainability, scope, and autonomy of educational responses and thus form a crucial part of the ecologies this special issue seeks to explore.

This special issue therefore focuses on examining educational ecologies in Central and Eastern Europe, with particular attention to the role of civil society actors, non-formal educational initiatives, and their interaction with state institutions. We use the term educational ecologies to describe interconnected systems of relations through which displaced learners access and assemble support: households and peer networks; schools and teacher teams; NGOs, migrant organizations and local services; and policy frameworks spanning municipalities, states, and the EU. Ecologies are not static infrastructures but ongoing arrangements where resources, responsibilities, and meanings circulate, collide, or align. This perspective foregrounds coordination and friction across levels (micro/meso/macro/transnational) and asks how crisis responses sediment into routines—or dissipate—over time.

Possible research questions:

  • How do families navigate educational ecologies, and what strategies do they use to access resources across schools, NGOs, and community networks?
  • How do state institutions, municipalities, and NGOs distribute responsibility for refugee education, and what tensions emerge at those boundaries?
  • Which practices reproduce marginalization, and which arrangements enable inclusion in schools serving displaced learners?
  • How do crises such as displacement shift educational governance — do they lead to institutional innovation, temporary improvisation, or lasting structural change?
  • How do political narratives (e.g., solidarity, security, burden, humanitarianism) influence school policy and public attitudes toward displaced learners?

Submission Guidelines

  • Abstract submission deadline: 20 December 2025
  • Notification of acceptance: 10 January 2026.
  • Full paper submission: 31 March 2026
  • All submitted manuscripts will undergo a double-blind peer review process.
  • The earliest publication date for the special issue is October 2026.

Abstracts (max. 300 words) should clearly outline the research question, theoretical framework, and methodology. Please include a short author biography (max. 100 words), 3-5 keywords, and contact details.

Article types & length (indicative):

  • Research article: 6,500–8,500 words (incl. references)
  • Policy/practice essay: 3,500–5,000 words
  • Case/field report (empirical vignette, methods note): 2,500–3,500 words
  • Use APA 7 for references.

Languages: English (consistent with journal policy).

Ethics & data: Please indicate approvals/consents where applicable; anonymize participants, institutions, and files for double-blind review; share instruments or de-identified data when ethically and legally feasible.

Submissions and inquiries should be sent to the guest editors: kristina.kocyba@tu-dresden.de pawel.rudnicki@dsw.edu.pl

 

For Author Guidelines, please consult:

https://intersections.tk.mta.hu/index.php/intersections/view/forAuthors/#author_guidelines

New users should register at https://intersections.tk.hu/index.php/intersections/user/register

References

Barglowski, K., & Bonfert, M. (2022). Migrant organisations, belonging and social protection: The role of migrant organisations in migrants’ social risk-averting strategies. International Migration, 60(6), 267–281. https://doi.org/10.1111/imig.13002

Feischmidt, M., Pries, L., Cantat, C. (2019) Refugee protection and civil society in Europe. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan.

Herbst, M., & Sitek, M. (2023). Education in exile: Ukrainian refugee students in the schooling system in Poland following the Russian–Ukrainian war. European Journal of Education, 58(4), 575–594. https://doi.org/10.1111/ejed.12587

Hunt, L. (2023). Refugees’ gendered experiences of education in Europe since 2015: A scoping review. Review of Education, 11(3), e3441. https://doi.org/10.1002/rev3.3441

Kocyba, P., & Lewicki, A. (2020). Shrinking Spaces für die Zivilgesellschaft – Aktivismus unter illiberalen Vorzeichen [Shrinking spaces for civil society – Activism under illiberal conditions]. Forschungsjournal Soziale Bewegungen, 33(3), 561–570.

Kollender, E., & Schwendowius, D. (2024). Aktuelle Fluchtmigrationen als Anlass für diskriminierungskritischen schulischen Wandel? Empirische Analysen und Reflexion von Transformationserwartungen [Current refugee migrations as a catalyst for discrimination-critical school transformation? Empirical analyses and reflections on expectations of change]. Zeitschrift für erziehungswissenschaftliche Migrationsforschung (ZeM), 3(1+2), 74–89. https://doi.org/10.3224/zem.v3i1-2.06

Küün, E. (2022). Family language policy in families of Ukrainian origin: Maintaining ties to heritage and fostering well-being. Educational Role of Language Journal, 2022–1(7), 58–74. https://doi.org/10.36534/erlj.2022.01.06

Macková, L. (2024). Lessons learnt? War, exile and hope among child refugees (Czech Republic). Central and Eastern European Migration Review, 13(1), 73–92.

Schmidt, K., Harth, N. S., & von Harbou, F. (2024). Hierarchien der Solidarität. Interdisziplinäre Betrachtungen zur Ungleichbehandlung Geflüchteter aus Syrien und der Ukraine [Hierarchies of solidarity: Interdisciplinary reflections on the unequal treatment of refugees from Syria and Ukraine]. Zeitschrift für Flüchtlingsforschung, 8(1), 5–37. https://doi.org/10.5771/2509-9485-2024-1-5

Stolarski, P. (2024). Ukrainian refugees in Poland: Two schools under one roof—One is offline, the other one online. In L. F. Nathan, J. F. Mendonca, & G. Rojas Ayala (Eds.), Designing democratic schools and learning environments (pp. 441–452). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-46297-9_38

Woltran, F. (2024). “Pull-out classes” for newly arrived students from Ukraine: Social inclusion after entry into Austrian schools. Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/15562948.2024.2433515