Abstract:

Since 24 February 2022, instruction has been conducted under the conditions of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In many places, lessons were cancelled or have been delivered using various digital technologies. The main objective of this paper is to present the results of the research that describes how lessons have been conducted during the war. In particular, research questions focus on the following areas:
(1) Did Ukrainian pupils continue learning, when the war started, or was there a period without lessons?
(2) If there were/are lessons, were/are they face-to-face or online?
(3) If there were/are online lessons, what devices did/do the pupils use?
(4) What subjects did/do they learn? (5) If English was/is taught, what skills did/do they practise? What aids, methods, and applications did/do they work with? Data were collected in the form of ´life stories´ from the pupils in the oral or written format. The research sample consisted of 40 pupils; 15 pupils of primary school age (7-11 years, grades 1-5), 25 pupils of lower secondary school age (12-15 years, grades 6-10). The structure of the life story consisted of semi-structured questions; primary school pupils answered them orally to the authors, and lower secondary school pupils wrote the life story following the semi-structured questions. The research is carried out within the project that focuses on the support of Ukrainian learners in their new country after the invasion. The process how the research sample was formed is limited by two facts: (1) Three months after the beginning of the project, a new condition appeared that required to sign the ethical approval by a respondent parent; this requirement disabled us to collect data online from respondents still settled in the Ukraine or in other countries of the world, as we planned in the project because we were not able to get the parent´s approval; (2) at the time of research all respondents attended the basic school that has long-time cooperation with the faculty of education and prospective teachers have their teaching practice there. The results showed that lessons had been held in many places during the first weeks of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Smartphones were available as minimum equipment, some pupils had notebooks. Quality Internet access was a basic prerequisite for online learning; it was often held in the face-to-screen form; some educational applications were available but not necessary.

Keywords:

Digital technology, online learning, Ukraine, learning English, Russian invasion.