Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 triggered the largest forced displacement in Europe since the Second World War, creating an immediate need for coordinated responses to the schooling and social inclusion of refugee children and young people across the European Union (EU). This article reviews and critically assesses the EU policy framework for community-based support—understood as locally anchored, multi--actor forms of assistance delivered in schools and within the child’s broader environment (family, neighbourhood, local public institutions and civil society organisations)—with a particular focus on education as a key integration pathway. We fi rst outline the Ukrainian refugee influx in relation to the EU’s 2015 migration crisis, highlighting salient differences in legal arrangements, political context, geographic proximity and demographic structure that have shaped policy choices and implementation capacity. We then examine integration challenges faced by children from Ukraine within the educational systems of four Member States—Poland, Germany, Sweden and Finland—focusing on access, placement, language provision, psychosocial support, and coordination between schools and local services. Against the backdrop of key determinants influencing refugees’ assessments of their situation in host countries, we map EU priorities, instruments and guidance for the social integration of migrant children and evaluate their coherence and practical relevance. The analysis is informed by a holistic model of educational integration that treats learning outcomes as inseparable from social, emotional and wellbeing needs, and it uses this model to interpret the rationale and limits of EU recommendations developed in response to mass displacement from Ukraine. The article concludes by assessing the strengths and gaps of EU-level action in enabling education-driven integration and by identifying implications for more sustainable, locally embedded support frameworks in future displacement contexts.
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