Background information

On 24 February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine. As a result of Russian aggression, many Ukrainians fled to Poland.

On 12 March 2022, the Special Act regarding Ukrainian refugees (Dz.U. 2022 poz. 583) entered into force. The aim of the measure is to provide assistance to Ukrainians escaping Ukraine due to the war.

Content of measure

Starting on 24 February 2022 for a period of 18 months, a citizen of Ukraine may be employed as a teacher if they are literate in Polish to a degree that would allow them to teach Ukrainian refugees the language. Refugees can be employed as teachers or teaching assistants during the school year 2021/2022 in school preparatory departments that are dedicated to Ukrainian students. No Polish nationality nor documents are required to confirm the level of Polish language knowledge.

Regarding higher education, Ukrainian citizens who, as of 24 February 2022, had worked as academic teachers at a university operating in Ukraine and hold the required professional title, academic degrees, and appropriate qualifications for a given position, may be employed at a university as academic teachers without conducting competitions.

Use of measure

According to the Educational Information System (SIO) as of 14 February 2023, 1,792 teachers from Ukraine teach in Polish schools and educational institutions. This includes 1,120 teachers who have been employed in schools and educational institutions since 24 February 2022.

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Particular professions Migrants or refugees in employment	Does not apply to businesses	Migrants or refugees

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government Local / regional government	No special funding required

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	Unknown	Unknown
Form	Not applicable	Not applicable

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• Unknown
• Main level of involvement: N/A

Involvement

Unknown.

Views and reactions

Unknown.

Sectors and occupations

Sources

• 12 March 2022: Ustawa z dnia 12 marca 2022 r. o pomocy obywatelom Ukrainy w związku z konfliktem zbrojnym na terytorium tego państwa (isap.sejm.gov.pl)
• 04 June 2023: In Polish schools and kindergartens there are 187.9 thousand children and young people from Ukraine, who arrived after the outbreak of war (samorzad.infor.pl)