Authors

Iryna Kovalchuk¹; Iryna Fox²;  ¹ University College Dublin, Ireland;  ² Portobello Institute, Ireland

Discussion

Wars and crises change how and what we think about children. Academically speaking they disrupt conventional constructions of childhood by advancing competing aims: the urge to safeguard children from the worries and problems of the adult world and the effort by authorities to engage children as political agents whose actions and thoughts must align with national values, goals and state ideologies. In the context of the Russian-Ukrainian war, education has become a tool for political socialisation of children, which caused shifts in the educational curricula through the introduction of patriotic education.
Despite diverging views on the curriculum structure, with Ukraine following a less formal approach based on declaration of democratic values, and Russia adopting a more rigid system, both countries issued recommendations about the messages the teachers are expected to convey to children aimed to instil patriotism.  The text-based analysis of these documents conducted through the lens of the ontological security theory integrates the disciplines of linguistics, childhood, education and international relations studies to explore how political agendas shape narratives taught in schools across conflict-ridden Ukraine and Russia.
We compare how both states present their national self-narratives determined by the current geopolitical context through distinct ontological security-seeking strategies which form frameworks shaping school children’s perception of their national identity and commitment in an uncertain world. We argue that Ukraine’s self-narrative is based on emphasising the unprovoked aggression, while Russia’s strategy is based on avoidance of its role in the war. Nevertheless, both countries seek to mobilise children in the war effort ensuring their support and cooperation. The strategies to achieve this are evident in both sets of documents and evoke some historical parallels.
The insights produced by this comparative analysis advance our understanding into how adults construct the role of children in the war and contribute to the broader discussion on the politicisation of education, particularly in contexts where national identity and security are at the forefront of political discourse.