Educational policy in times of war 2022: A case study of the Twitter of the Ministry of Education and Science in Poland

Abstract

The aim of the conducted research was to analyze the activity of the Polish Ministry of Education and Science on Twitter and to diagnose and then describe the perspective (experiences, reflections, postulates) of Twitter users, thus enabling the analysis and evaluation of activities undertaken in the field of shaping education policy in times of Russian aggression to Ukraine. The subject of the research were entries and comments posted on the Twitter platform on the account of the Polish Ministry of Education and Science in Poland placed in the time period from February 24, 2022 (the first day of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine) to June 1, 2022 (celebration related to Children’s Day). The collected data were analyzed in the MAXQDA program in accordance with the prepared – described in detail in the article – code key. As part of the research, a total of 259 posts and 2,339 comments were analyzed. It turned out that Twitter users are reluctant to create recommendations (3% of all entries), while the vast majority of comments contain negative opinions and experiences related to education policy. The analysis also showed a worrying trend towards an increasing number of hate speech comments. Users often used the Twitter platform to mock politicians, but also made statements directed against the Ukrainian people. Based on the conducted research, it is extremely difficult to describe the activities undertaken in the field of education policy by the Polish Ministry of Education and Science. It should be noted that the analyzed entries in most cases are only very short messages, often referring only to visits or speeches by politicians. At the same time, it is worth emphasizing that comments posted by users rarely enter into substantive polemics, because they are usually only a vent for very negative emotions.