The Priorities and Challenges of Diaspora Education Policies in Poland and Lithuania

Abstract

The changing character of diasporas and states’ politics intersect with new challenges in the policymaking process. This study aims to investigate the priorities and hardships of the diaspora education policies in Poland and Lithuania. The study applies the three-dimensional approach (Lesińska, Popyk 2021) to study diaspora policy and draws on qualitative research with the diaspora state institution representatives in the two countries. This paper compares the role of diaspora education policy in a broader policy context, alongside presenting the challenges, namely “socio-demographic”, “methodological”, “political” and “financial”, that state institutions face while ensuring education for the young members of diasporas. It contributes to the scholarship on diaspora policies studies by presenting how state institutions approach and govern the relationships with young diasporas through ensuring education and support social and cultural life of diaspora schools.