Abstract
In September 2017 Ukraine adopted a new Education Act. However, a paragraph on ‘language of instruction’ has spurred dissatisfaction among ethno-cultural groups (Hungarians, Russians, Romanians, Moldavians) and state leaders in their ‘external homelands’. Ever since the Soviet era, there had been minority-oriented schools in Ukraine where all or most subjects were taught in locality-specific minority languages. The new law, however, limited the amount of instruction allowed in these languages, and favoured the state language, Ukrainian. Drawing on focus groups with parents and teachers, as well as interviews with local experts, this chapter examines how the language paragraph has been received in two very different regions: Chernivtsi, which borders on EU member Romania and has a large Romanian minority; and Kharkiv, bordering on Russia and with a significant Russian/Russian-speaking population. The languages of these groups are treated differently in the law ‘On education’, where instruction in the languages of the EU, like Romanian, is allowed to a greater extent than non-EU languages, like Russian, for which there are no provisions. Russians/Russian-speakers as well as Romanians see the language provision of the Education Act as part of the Ukrainian state’s ongoing nationalizing efforts, but Russians and Russian-speakers in Kharkiv seem to accept it more than do Romanians in Chernivtsi, where some have been defending their rights as an ethno-cultural minority.
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- 1.
The Ukrainian school system consists of three steps; primary education (1‒4 grade), lower secondary general education (5‒9 grade) and upper secondary general education (10‒12 grade). In this chapter the last two steps are referred to simply as ‘secondary education’.
- 2.
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Rogers Brubaker, National minorities, nationalizing states, and external national homelands in the new Europe, Daedalus, Spring (1995), 107–132.
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As the Venice Commission was asked to evaluate the law, perhaps the situation here is even better captured by David Smith’s ‘quadratic nexus’—the fourth nexus being that of international organizations. See David J. Smith (2002) Framing the national question in Central and Eastern Europe: A quadratic nexus?, The Global Review of Ethnopolitics, 2:1(2002), 3–16, https://doi.org/10.1080/14718800208405119.
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Brubaker 1995, 111–112 (n. 6 supra).
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Ibid., p. 116.
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Results of the 2001 census of Ukraine, http://www.demoscope.ru/weekly/2004/0173/analit05.php (accessed 16 October2020).
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Volodymyr Kulyk, Language and identity in Ukraine after Euromaidan, Thesis Eleven, 136 No 1 (2016), https://doi.org/10.1177/0725513616668621, accessed 8 October 2020.
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- 13.
According to the 2001 census, the Romanian ethno-cultural minority in Ukraine totals 151.1 thousand people.
- 14.
The Russian/Ukrainian term for headteacher is shkolny direktor; deputy head is zavuch.
- 15.
A guidance counsellor in the field of education, who works with teachers in a defined district as regards teaching methods, instruction materials, etc.
- 16.
According to UNESCO, 99% of primary school teachers in Ukraine are women http://ru.osvita.ua/school/news/23601/ (accessed 8 October 2020).
- 17.
Constitution of Ukraine, Adopted at the Fifth Session of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on 28 June 1996, Article 10; official translation, https://rm.coe.int/constitution-of-ukraine/168071f58b (accessed 27 February 2021).
- 18.
Constitution of Ukraine, Article 53 (n. 17 supra).
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Laada Bilaniuk and Svitlana Melnyk, A tense and shifting balance: Bilingualism and education in Ukraine, International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 11:3–4 (2008), 340–372.
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Volodymyr Kulyk, Language policy in Ukraine: What people want the state to do, East European Politics and Societies and Cultures, 27: 2 (2013), 280–307.
- 21.
Bilianiuk and Melnyk 2008, 352 (n. 19 supra).
- 22.
Ibid.
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Ihor Stebelsky, A tale of two regions: geopolitics, identities, narratives, and conflict in Kharkiv and the Donbas, Eurasian Geography and Economics, 59: 1 (2018), 40, https://doi.org/10.1080/15387216.2018.1428904.
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Margarita Tulup, Zakon ob obrazovanii v Ukraine: pochemu iazykovoi vopros snova vstal poperek gorla, Open Democracy, 7 December 2017, https://www.opendemocracy.net/ru/zakon-ob-obrazovanii-v-ukraine/ (accessed 6 August 2020).
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- 26.
The Law on Education, adopted by the Verkhovna Rada on 5 September 2017, https://www.venice.coe.int/webforms/documents/default.aspx?pdffile=CDL-REF(2017)047-e (accessed 16 October 2020).
- 27.
Ministerstvo innostrannikh del Rossiiskoi Federatsii, https://www.mid.ru/kommentarii/-/asset_publisher/2MrVt3CzL5sw/content/id/2858373 (accessed 19 October 2020).
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Nathan Stormont, Ukraine’s Education Law may needlessly harm European aspirations, Freedom House 2 October 2017, https://freedomhouse.org/article/ukraines-education-law-may-needlessly-harm-european-aspirations (accessed 19 October 2020).
- 29.
Opinion on the Provisions of the Law on Education of 5 September 2017, Venice Commission (European Commission for Democracy through law) Opinion No. 902/2017 Strasbourg, 11 December 2017, https://www.venice.coe.int/webforms/documents/default.aspx?pdffile=CDL-AD(2017)030-e (accessed 19 October 2020).
- 30.
Law on Education 2017 (n. 26 supra).
- 31.
Sadecki et al. 2017 (n. 2 supra).
- 32.
Law on Education 2017 (n. 26 supra).
- 33.
Stormont 2017 (n. 28 supra).
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Volodymyr Kulyk, Shedding Russianness, recasting Ukrainianness: the post-Euromaidan dynamics of ethnonational identifications in Ukraine, Post-Soviet Affairs, 34: 2–3 (2018), 119–138, https://doi.org/10.1080/1060586X.2018.1451232.
- 35.
Poroshenko, November 2015, as quoted in Vladislava Reznik, Language policy in independent Ukraine: A battle for national and linguistic empowerment, in Language Planning in the Post-Communist Era. The Struggles for Language Control in the New Order in Eastern Europe, Eurasia and China, ed. E. Andrews (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018), 180.
- 36.
See chapter 4 by Rabynovich and Berg-Nordlie, this volume.
- 37.
Silviya Nitsova, Grigore Pop-Eleches and Graeme Robertson, Revolution and reform in Ukraine: Evaluating four years of reform, PONARS Eurasia, (2018). https://www.ponarseurasia.org/article/revolution-and-reform-ukraine-evaluating-four-years-reform.
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- 39.
Natalia Kudriavtseva, Ukraine’s Language Law: Whose rights are protected?, Focus Ukraine 8 July 2019, https://www.wilsoncenter.org/blog-post/ukraines-language-law-whose-rights-are-protected (accessed 19 October 2020).
- 40.
Informatsiinii Biuleten, Ministirstvo Osviti i Nauki Ukraini’ 2017/2018–2018/2019 http://iea.gov.ua/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/MOVI_NAVCHANNYA-2019.pdf (accessed 16 October 2020).
- 41.
The dataset did not include the occupied territories.
- 42.
For more information on NUS see Ukrainian Ministry of Education and Science ‘New Ukrainian School’, information in English, https://mon.gov.ua/eng/tag/nova-ukrainska-shkola (accessed 30 March 2020).
- 43.
See Chapter 6 (Aasland et al.), this volume.
- 44.
‘ЧO’ signifies that the interview was conducted in Chernivtsi region, ‘XO’ that it was conducted in Kharkiv. ‘ФГ’ signifies focus group. Each interviewee/focus group participant is numbered and listed in the table of interviewees in the Appendix.
- 45.
An amalgamated hromada or amalgamated territorial community is a basic unit of administrative division in Ukraine, see Chapter 6 (Aasland et al.), this volume.
- 46.
Dominique Arel, Language, status and state loyalty in Ukraine, Harvard Ukrainian Studies 35: 1–4 (2017/18), 233–263.
- 47.
Nitsova et al. 2018, 50 (n. 37 supra).
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Rumunska spilnota prosyt Poroshenka vetuvaty zakon ‘Pro osvitu’ cherez movne pytannia, Ukrainska Pravda, 7 September 2017, https://life.pravda.com.ua/society/2017/09/7/226317/ (accessed 16 October 2020).
- 49.
Nitsova et al. 2018, 50 (n. 37 supra).
- 50.
Zakon Ukrainy ‘Pro Povnu Zagal’nu Seredniu Osvitu” № 463-IX, Vidomosti Verkhovnoi Rady Ukrainy, 16 January 2020, https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/463-20 (accessed 20 October 2020).
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Aleksandra Deineko, Sabine Kropp and Aadne Aasland for helpful comments on an early draft of this chapter. Special thanks to Nikolay Sarkisyan for insightful comments at a crucial point in the working process.
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Appendices
Appendices
Table of schools
See Tables 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 7.5, and 7.6
List of interviewees
Participant number | Professional or organizational activity | Gender | Age | Language/s spoken at home | Ethnic self-identification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Kharkiv | |||||
XO1 | Headteacher | F | 27 | Russian | Ukrainian |
XO2 | Policy advisor | M | 39 | Russian, Ukrainian | Ukrainian |
XO3 | Deputy director for teaching and educational work | F | 32 | Russian | Russian |
XO4 | Deputy director, Department of Science and Education | M | 54 | Russian | Russian |
XO6 | Headteacher | F | 44 | Russian | Russian, Ukrainian |
XO7 | Headteacher | F | 64 | Russian | Russian, Ukrainian |
XO8 | Chief specialist responsible for ‘the New Ukrainian School’ | F | 49 | Russian | Russian |
XO9 | Headteacher | F | - | - | - |
XO10 | Headteacher | F | 32 | Russian, Ukrainian | Ukrainian |
XO11 | Deputy director, Department of Education and Science | F | 42 | Russian, Ukrainian | Ukrainian |
XO12 | Headteacher | F | 38 | Russian | Ukrainian |
XO13 | Deputy headteacher | F | 40 | Russian | Ukrainian |
XO14 | Headteacher | F | 57 | Russian, Ukrainian | Russian, Ukrainian |
XO15 | Headteacher | M | 53 | Russian | Ukrainian |
XO16 | Headteacher | M | 45 | Ukrainian | Ukrainian |
XO17 | Headteacher | F | 47 | Ukrainian | Ukrainian |
XO18 | Teacher | F | 45 | Russian, Ukrainian | Ukrainian |
XO19 | Headteacher | F | 65 | Russian | Russian |
XO20 | Headteacher | M | 43 | Ukrainian | Ukrainian |
XO21 | Acting head teacher | F | 48 | Russian | Russian |
XO22 | University employee, textbook author | M | 48 | Russian | Armenian |
XO23 | Pedagogical advisor | F | 55 | Russian | |
XO24 | Headteacher | F | 43 | Ukrainian | Ukrainian |
XO25 | Deputy headteacher | F | 56 | Russian | Russian |
XO26 | Headteacher | F | 44 | Ukrainian | Ukrainian |
XO27 | Education department specialist at district level | F | 44 | Ukrainian | Ukrainian |
XO28 | Headteacher | F | 42 | Ukrainian | Ukrainian |
Chernivtsi | |||||
ЧO1 | Acting head, district education department | F | 48 | Ukrainian | Ukrainian |
ЧO2 | Headteacher | F | 50 | Romanian | Romanian |
ЧO3 | Headteacher | F | 33 | Ukrainian, Romanian | Romanian |
ЧO4 | Headteacher | F | 43 | Romanian | Romanian |
ЧO5 | Headteacher | F | 43 | Romanian | Romanian |
ЧO6 | Deputy headteacher | F | 39 | Romanian | Romanian |
ЧO7 | Pedagogical advisor | F | 58 | Russian, Ukrainian | Russian |
ЧO8 | Director, Romanian Cultural Centre | M | 74 | Romanian | Romanian |
ЧO9 | Deputy director, Centre for Advanced Training of State Employees | F | 58 | Romanian | Romanian |
ЧO10 | Member, Romanian Society of Writers in Bukovina | M | 72 | Russian, Ukrainian | Russian, Ukrainian |
ЧO11 | Member, Romanian Society of Writers in Bukovina | F | 76 | Romanian, Russian | Romanian |
ЧO12 | Headteacher | F | 63 | Russian | Russian, Ukrainian |
ЧO13 | Headteacher | F | 39 | Romanian | Romanian |
ЧO14 | Pedagogical advisor for primary education | F | 50 | Romanian | Romanian |
ЧO16 | Headteacher | M | |||
ЧO17 | Headteacher | M | 59 | Russian, Ukrainian | Ukrainian, Russian |
ЧO18 | Headteacher | F | 43 | Ukrainian | Ukrainian |
ЧO19 | Headteacher | F | 48 | Russian, Ukrainian | Jewish |
ЧO20 | Headteacher | F | 54 | Moldavian | Romanian |
ЧO21 | Headteacher | M | 63 | Romanian | Romanian |
ЧO22 | Headteacher | M | 52 | Ukrainian | Romanian |
ЧO23 | Pedagogical advisor | F | 33 | Russian, Ukrainian | Ukrainian |
ЧO24 | Headteacher | M | 57 | Romanian | Romanian |
ЧO25 | Headteacher | M | 58 | Romanian | Romanian |
List of focus group participants
Focus group code | Participant number | Gender | Age | Language/s spoken at home | Ethnic self-identification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Kharkiv | |||||
ФГХO_учителя | 4 | F | 61 | Russian | Jewish |
ФГХO_учителя | 1 | F | 55 | Russian | Ukrainian |
ФГХO_учителя | 7 | F | 52 | Russian | Ukrainian |
ФГХO_учителя | 9 | F | 41 | Russian, Ukrainian | Ukrainian |
ФГХO_учителя | 2 | F | 49 | Russian | Russian |
ФГХO_учителя | 3 | F | 55 | Russian | Ukrainian |
ФГХO_учителя | 5 | F | 43 | Russian, Ukrainian | Jewish |
ФГХO_учителя | 6 | F | 47 | Russian | Russian |
ФГХO_учителя | 8 | F | 39 | Russian, Ukrainian | Ukrainian |
ФГХO_учителя_2 | 5 | F | 44 | Russian | Ukrainian |
ФГХO_учителя_2 | 6 | F | 48 | Russian | Russian |
ФГХO_учителя_2 | 8 | F | 48 | Ukrainian | Ukrainian |
ФГХO_учителя_2 | 7 | F | 50 | Russian, Ukrainian | Ukrainian |
ФГХO_учителя_2 | 9 | F | 46 | Russian | Russian |
ФГХO_учителя_2 | 3 | F | 57 | Russian | Russian |
ФГХO_учителя_2 | 2 | F | 50 | Russian | Russian |
ФГХO_учителя_2 | 1 | F | 32 | Azerbaijanian | Azerbaijani |
ФГХO_учителя_2 | 4 | F | 49 | Russian | Ukrainian |
ФГХO_родители | 11 | F | 42 | Russian | Ukrainian |
ФГХO_родители | 6 | F | 42 | Russian | |
ФГХO_родители | 3 | F | 40 | Russian | Belarusian, Italian, Lithuanian |
ФГХO_родители | 1 | F | 37 | Russian | Ukrainian |
ФГХO_родители | 5 | F | 42 | Russian, Ukrainian | Russian, Ukrainian |
ФГХO_родители | 7 | F | 34 | Russian | Ukrainian |
ФГХO_родители | 2 | M | 37 | Russian | Ukrainian |
ФГХO_родители | 4 | F | 38 | Russian | Ukrainian |
ФГХO_родители | 8 | F | 47 | Russian | Russian |
ФГХO_родители | 10 | F | 38 | Russian | Ukrainian |
ФГХO_родители | 9 | F | 32 | Russian | Ukrainian |
ФГХO_родители_1 | 2 | F | 27 | Ukrainian | Ukrainian |
ФГХO_родители_1 | 7 | F | 22 | Ukrainian | Ukrainian |
ФГХO_родители_1 | 5 | F | 36 | Russian | Russian, Ukrainian |
ФГХO_родители_1 | 6 | F | 35 | Russian | Russian, Ukrainian |
ФГХO_родители_1 | 4 | F | 42 | Russian | Ukrainian |
ФГХO_родители_1 | 1 | F | 47 | Russian | Russian |
ФГХO_родители_1 | 3 | F | 35 | Russian | Ukrainian |
Chernivtsi | |||||
ФГЧО_учителя | 7 | F | 50 | Russian, Ukrainian | Romanian |
ФГЧО_учителя | 6 | F | 47 | Romanian | Romanian |
ФГЧО_учителя | 1 | F | 73 | Romanian | Romanian |
ФГЧО_учителя | 4 | F | 45 | Romanian | Romanian |
ФГЧО_учителя | 5 | F | 73 | French | Romanian |
ФГЧО_учителя | 3 | F | 33 | Romanian | Romanian |
ФГЧО_учителя | 2 | F | 52 | Russian, Ukrainian | Romanian |
ФГЧО_учителя_1 | 1 | F | 31 | Romanian | Romanian |
ФГЧО_учителя_1 | 2 | F | 50 | Romanian | Romanian |
ФГЧО_учителя_1 | 3 | F | 30 | Romanian | Romanian |
ФГЧО_учителя_1 | 4 | F | 25 | Romanian | Romanian |
ФГЧО_учителя_1 | 5 | F | 50 | Romanian | Romanian |
ФГЧО_учителя_1 | 6 | F | 29 | Romanian | Romanian |
ФГЧО_учителя_1 | 7 | F | 29 | Romanian | Romanian |
ФГЧО_учителя_1 | 8 | F | 31 | Romanian | Romanian |
ФГЧО_учителя_1 | 9 | F | 60 | Romanian | Romanian |
ФГЧO_учителя_1 | 10 | F | 55 | Romanian | Romanian |
ФГЧО_учителя_2 | 9 | F | 35 | Ukrainian | Ukrainian |
ФГЧО_учителя_2 | 10 | F | 20 | Ukrainian | Ukrainian |
ФГЧО_учителя_2 | 8 | F | 34 | Ukrainian | Ukrainian |
ФГЧО_учителя_2 | 3 | F | 35 | Ukrainian | Ukrainian |
ФГЧО_учителя_2 | 6 | F | 31 | Ukrainian | Ukrainian |
ФГЧО_учителя_2 | 5 | F | 24 | Ukrainian | Ukrainian |
ФГЧО_учителя_2 | 1 | F | 23 | Ukrainian | Ukrainian |
ФГЧО_учителя_2 | 7 | F | 44 | Ukrainian | Ukrainian |
ФГЧО_родители | 3 | F | 36 | Romanian | Romanian |
ФГЧО_родители | 4 | F | 38 | Romanian | Romanian |
ФГЧО_родители | 1 | F | 32 | Romanian | Romanian |
ФГЧО_родители | 6 | F | 32 | Romanian| | Romanian |
ФГЧО_родители | 2 | F | 34 | Romanian | Romanian |
ФГЧО_родители | 5 | F | 33 | Romanian | Romanian |
ФГЧО_родители | 7 | F | 32 | Romanian | Romanian |
ФГЧО_родители_1 | 2 | F | 32 | Romanian | Romanian |
ФГЧО_родители_1 | 4 | F | 38 | Romanian | Romanian |
ФГЧО_родители_1 | 8 | F | 50 | Romanian | Romanian |
ФГЧО_родители_1 | 1 | F | 42 | Romanian | Romanian |
ФГЧО_родители_1 | 3 | F | 34 | Romanian | Romanian |
ФГЧО_родители_1 | 5 | F | 38 | Romanian | Romanian |
ФГЧО_родители_1 | 6 | F | 32 | Romanian | Romanian |
ФГЧО_родители_1 | 7 | F | 49 | Romanian | Romanian |
ФГЧО_родители_2 | 2 | F | 44 | Romanian | Romanian |
ФГЧО_родители_2 | 6 | F | 36 | Romanian | Romanian |
ФГЧО_родители_2 | 7 | F | 35 | Romanian | Romanian |
ФГЧО_родители_2 | 3 | F | 39 | Romanian | Romanian |
ФГЧО_родители_2 | 8 | F | - | - | - |
ФГЧО_родители_2 | 4 | F | - | - | - |
ФГЧО_родители_2 | 5 | F | - | - | - |
ФГЧО_родители_2 | 1 | F | 35 | Romanian | Romanian |
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Myhre, M.H., Muradyan, O., Nekhaienko, O. (2021). Educational Reform and Language Policy in Ukraine: Implementation in the Border Regions. In: Aasland, A., Kropp, S. (eds) The Accommodation of Regional and Ethno-cultural Diversity in Ukraine. Federalism and Internal Conflicts. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-80971-3_7
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