Series:Pedagogika, Dydaktyka

The Importance of Singing as a Personal Value in Children’s Development. Vol. 1: The Constants and Changes in the Development of Theoretical Thought at the Turn of the 20th Century

Śpiew jako wartość osobowa dziecka. T. 1: Stałość i zmienność rozwoju myśli naukowej przełomu XX i XXI wieku

Author(s): Jadwiga Uchyła-Zroski / Language(s): Polish

Keywords: importance of singing; personal value; children; constants; changes; development of theoretical thought; 20th century

The publication constitutes a pedagogical monograph which consists of two parts comprised of eight chapters. The first, theoretical part consists of three chapters, while the remaining five comprise a comprehensive empirical study, including methodology, research findings, in-depth analysis of those findings, and conclusions. The monograph is devoted to the analysis of singing and voice training in children from the perspective of personal values. In the first part of the monograph, the author refers to older research concerned with the development of voice in children, using lesser-known sources in Polish as well as other languages. Thus, the monograph addresses the issue also from the historical angle, allowing for broad analysis of the theoretical background for the subsequent empirical research. The theories cited in the monograph have been subject to thorough evaluation and comparative analysis. The monograph addresses both the constants and the changes in the theoretical approach to the issue, paying particular attention to the notions concerning development and voice training in children; assessment of the new—heuristic—method of vocal training; appropriate training for students preparing them for taking on the role of the teacher with regard to values and making value judgments; the role of fine arts universities in shaping creative attitudes in students. The theoretical part also includes the results of diagnostic and comparative studies of children and students, elaborated upon in the second part of the monograph. The proposed method, founded upon the principle of the creative process, is most effective when applied to elementary school students (class I—III); nonetheless, some of its elements can be utilised by parents and legal guardians in the home environment, and by teachers during music as well as music and movement classes in kindergartens, schools, and in therapy work with disabled children. This method as well as its didactic and educational benefits should be taught to students specialising in musical education, integrated teaching, preschool education, as well as to teachers working with special needs classes and counselors working with disabled children.

The education systems of people who are moderately, considerably and profoundly intellectually disabled (on the basis of the solutions implemented in England, the Czech Republic and in Poland)

Systemy edukacji osób umiarkowanie i znacznie oraz głęboko niepełnosprawnych intelektualnie (na przykładzie rozwiązań w Anglii, Republice Czeskiej i Polsce)

Author(s): Magdalena Bełza / Language(s): Polish

Keywords: special needs comparative studies; special needs education in Poland, England and the Czech Republic; intellectual disability; therapy

The present book represent a part of publications dealing with comparative pedagogy. It familiarises the reader with the research of the education systems of students with moderate, considerable and profound intellectual disability which are implemented in England, the Czech Republic in comparison with the native context. This enables us to classify the publication within the field of special needs comparative studies. Nowadays the instruction provided to this group of students experiences a period of dynamic changes which are described by the author with reference to the historical, social, cultural, economic and religious contexts. The path which enabled the development of solutions which today are functional in the countries under research – both convergent and divergent ones – is presented. The analysis of the systems itself in the perspective of theory and legislation was enhanced by research conducted among the staff working in institutions whose purpose is to provide instruction to intellectually disabled students (teachers, therapists, directors), which facilitates to a certain extent a verification of the theoretical image with the image of this type of education perceived by the people who are involved in it in practice. All of these themes are discussed in twelve chapters which correspond with the structure of comparative research – the chapters contain a description, interpretation and juxtaposition, and they treat questions such as: the essence of intellectual disability, the structure of the system of education, the forms and the types of institutions, support, theoretical bases, the legal functioning of the systems of education, the historical, economic, social, cultural and religious conditions. An element which is particularly interesting and which may attract the attention of the reader is the quasi-model of the education of moderately, considerably and profoundly intellectually disabled students that is suggested by the reader in the final chapter. Due to the fact that the publication combines strictly scholarly considerations with practical solutions which function in the countries under research, its recipients may include both scholars, pedagogues, sociologists, students and practicians who work in the field of special needs education.

Transmission of culture‑related content in the development of communicative competence (on the basis of Russian language pedagogy directed to Poles)

Przekaz treści z zakresu kultury w kształtowaniu kompetencji komunikacyjnej (na podstawie nauczania języka rosyjskiego skierowanego do Polaków)

Author(s): Izabela Nowak / Language(s): Polish

Keywords: transmission; culture; communicative competence; Russian language; pedagogy; Poles

The work focuses on the transmission of culture-related content in the didactic process directed toward the development of communicative competence. The aim of the author is to investigate to what extent this question is reflected in language teaching materials intended to teach Russian as a foreign language. The first chapter presents opinions associated with Russian studies and the methods which are currently applied. The description is diachronic in nature and it constitutes a point of departure to present the basic questions in the communicative approach and to direct the attention of the reader to the problem of interculturality. This part of the work discusses both the role of the process of thinking, the place of the maternal tongue as well as the question of linguistic kinship as those factors which determine the acquisition of the Russian language by Poles. The second chapter familiarises the reader with the problem of competence, which was investigated from the linguistic, psycholinguistic and language teaching perspective. The focus of this chapter has to do with communicative competence, which is referred to the modern language pedagogy. Another aspect which is considered has to do with the differences in the development of competence in the maternal and the foreign language which are taken into account during the process of teaching the Russian language to Poles. The third chapter discusses the concept of culture conceived of as a universum and its relationship with language was analysed. The crucial problem of this part of the work is associated with the selection of cultural content in order to use it in the teaching of Russian as a foreign language. The author suggested the concept of the organisation of the material at whose heart lies the research term leksykultura [lexiculture]. The shared collection of values and beliefs which is manifested in this term is recognised as the basic and binding factor which constitutes lexiculture. It may be presented in the day-to-day communication of the native speakers of the Russian language; an important role is also played by the semantic surplus which manifests itself in the Polish-Russian intercultural relations. Subsequently the author analysed whether or not the assumptions that were accepted are reflected in the selected textbooks whose purpose is to teach Russian as a foreign language. The presence of lexicultures was analysed in the perspective of their selection, mode of introduction and methodical activities directed to the student. The material that was collected was subject to a qualitative and quantitative analysis. The purpose of this analysis was to reveal whether or not in the modern Russian language pedagogy the model of learning a language in strict reference to the communicative application of language is promoted. The approach toward the transmission of culture-related content in the process of teaching Russian that is presented in this work is an attempt at departing from the traditional research works. The centre of attention is occupied by communication as the superior factor which determines the approach to the teaching of culture-related content and treats the language learner as a subject whose initial perspective on the world and the system of values was shaped by his or her maternal language and native culture.

The transformations of impossible syntheses. Towards the pedagogicality of the textbook historiography of upbringing

Przemiany syntez niemożliwych. W stronę pedagogiczności podręcznikowej historiografii wychowania

Author(s): Łukasz M. Michalski / Language(s): Polish

Keywords: textbook; history of upbringing; metahistory; narratology; pedagogics; philosophy of education; Hayden Whitel; Barbara Skarga

The work entitled “The transformations of impossible syntheses. A study on the textbook historiography of upbringing” investigates the intricacies of narrating contemporary historio-educational syntheses applied in academic education. The research strategy adopted in the present work implicates the assumptions of the metahistory of upbringing as well as the hermeneutic conceptualization of a text, which allows to perform the analyses both in the diachronic and in the synchronic context. Three main objectives of the research lead from the characteristics of textbook narration within the history of upbringing, through the outline of its transformations, up to the confrontation with what happened in the last century within the theory of historiography (especially in the context of the so-called ethical turn). The final research objective, which boils down to demonstrating the history of the historiography of upbringing against the background of humanistic “turns” oft-manifested in the theory of historiography, has also become a chance to find the areas hitherto untapped and potentially inspiring for the research conducted within the history of upbringing, but also for the consideration of the paradigmatic identity of the field itself. The opening perspective of the present study emphasizes the significance of the narrational dimension of academic textbooks, and therefore leads to looking upon such texts as not only the syntheses of facts from the past, but also as works characterized by a specific way of naming the educational phenomena that they describe, a network of concepts, an argumentative style or an axiological layer. For the sake of their conceptualization, the vision of text formulated in the book entitled “Granice historyczności” by Barbara Skarga has been adopted in the present work. This idea presupposes the existence of four “layers” in which the meaning of the content is effectuated – these are as follows: subject matter, categories, sense rules, and episteme. Each of the textbooks analysed in the present work is described in accordance with the classification outlined in this way. A broader investigation has been required especially in the case of the sense rules effectuated in historio-educational syntheses, for whose conceptualization a tropological vision of historiography formulated by Hayden White has been additionally adopted.Investigating the characteristics of individual textbooks has allowed to outline the paths of progress for this type of academic writing, originating in the mid-war period (the first of the textbooks analysed was published in 1934) and continuing to the most recent times (the last synthesis came out in the year 2012), and at the same time it allows to see how the narration has (or has not) historically changed at each of the four levels of content, and to what extent it is compatible with the transformations of the contemporary theory of historiography. As a whole, the disquisition emphasizes the indispensability of narratively conscious dealing with the history of upbringing as a basis for humanistic accent of the pedagogy itself.

The Time of Reading

Czas lektury

Author(s): Krystyna Koziołek / Language(s): Polish

Keywords: reading; Reading model; The Time of Reading

The book is devoted to the theory and practice of reading. Reading is a singular event – it is a contingent, individual and intimate activity; due to that, its history, theory and systematics are particularly hard to construct. Endeavours to analyse reading soon make one realise that such investigations belong to the field of experimental studies: studies on the nature of the experience of reading. The aim of the author is to reflect as fully as possible the richness and wonderful inconsistency of the activity of reading, as it corresponds to the intricate matter of life. In the chapters of the book, one can find the descriptions of various experiences of reading, transformed and arranged by the author into certain sequences or models. They make it possible to grasp the complex universe of the phenomena of reading as the forms of articulation of reading: the transmittable statement describing what happens with the readers and the text while reading.We do not know everything, and yet we have to speak and write about it, since we are anxious about our future. In order to do so – precisely, to think about ourselves and the world without sufficient knowledge about both – we have inventions concerning the past and the future at our disposal. Inventions and fictions are necessary for all of us. Literature and philosophy, which we learn to read at school and university, belong to the kind of “inventions” that prepare us for the times when different types of knowledge turn out to be inadequate or even useless. Proposed by the author, phenomenological reduction in the didactics of literature is to result in the establishment of a constant point of support for imagination and conversation. If school-level Polish literature and language teaching aspires to be engaged in the pursuit of preparing young people to put in an effort to understand the world they live in, an excellenttool is still at our disposal; this tool is literature, along with the act of reading it and the conversation by means of it. The time of reading is not a different kind of time – taken from life or complementing it. It is simply the time of life – as there is no other – spent in the company of books.

Individual traits, environmental factors and learning autonomy

Cechy indywidualne i czynniki środowiskowe a autonomia uczenia się

Author(s): Anna Studenska / Language(s): Polish

Keywords: learning autonomy; Diagnosis of autonomy; Questionnaire difficulty of autonomous learning; Support for teacher autonomy

The work concerns learning autonomy. The text consist of theoretical part and empirical part. Theoretical considerations are devoted to various approaches to autonomy, ways of measuring autonomy and independent learning as well as to present the knowledge on the relationship between individual variables, environmental variables and autonomy. The empirical part presents the assumptions of the empirical research on learning autonomy. The theoretical inspiration to undertake the research was the theory of multidimensional learning, assuming among others leading students gradually to independence in gaining knowledge, experiencing values and acting.Taking into consideration insufficiency of instruments measuring perceptions of autonomouslearning difficulty and scarcity of the data concerning the interplay of individual and environmental variables in shaping learning autonomy, two main research aims were formulated. The first aim was the construction of Autonomous Learning Difficulty Questionnaire. The items of the instrument were formulated on the basis of self‑education process as developed in Polish didactics and self‑regulation stages postulated by Barry Zimmerman. The second aim was to verify the model explaining variance in the perceptions of autonomous learning difficulty. The model was based on self‑determination theory assuming the role of individual and environmental traits in shaping person`s autonomy. In the model student` s autonomy support by parents and teachers as well as student`s temperamental traits were regarded as independent variables. The role of mediating variables was assigned to such variables as: student`s preferences towards teachers behaviours fostering autonomy, student`s learning motivation, sense of self‑efficacy and general autonomy.The participants of the main research were 454 students of middle school and secondary school. In the research EAS Questionnaire by Arnold Buss and Robert Plomin was used to measure tempermental traits of emotionality, activity and sociability. Data concerning general Autonomy was gathered by Adolescent Autonomy Questionnaire constructed by Marc Noom and coworkers. Instruments measuring other variables were constructed for the purpose of the research. Autonomous Learning Difficulty Questionnaire which has been constructed allows for the diagnosis of students` perceptions of difficulty of behaviours connected with independent learning such as: reflective evaluation of outcomes, motivational control and planning. Three results which emerged from the verification of the model of relationships between research variables are considered as most important. Among the factors which were taken into consideration in the research the low level of student`s self‑efficacy and low autonomy proved to be the ones strongest related with the perception of high difficulty in autonomous learning. It was also found that low level of self‑efficacy and autonomy is connected with high emotionality, which is the tendency to react with distress, fear and anger. The third result is that the connection between the perception of high difficulty in autonomous learning by a student and the low level of autonomy support received from parents.

Jaques-Dalcroze’s Eurhythmics in the education and therapy of children with symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

Rytmika Emila Jaques-Dalcroze'a w edukacji i terapii dzieci z symptomami nadpobudliwości psychoruchowej

Author(s): Ewa Bogdanowicz / Language(s): Polish

Keywords: Jaques-Dalcroze’s Eurhythmics; education and therapy of children with symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

The main problems in the majority of children with ADHD are attention deficits and disturbances in inhibiting their behavior. Many researchers and specialists emphasize the necessity of an early diagnosis and treatment of children with this genuine developmental disorder. They agree that multifaceted and multidirectional aid should be provided to facilitate development of these children taking into account their needs, capabilities and deficits in particular areas of development. One of the main advantages of the method known as Jaques-Dalcroze’s Eurhythmics – located within the pedagogic-artistic area – is its integrity, which should be understood in the context of the principles of psychology (for instance J. Piaget’stheory of cognitive development) and fields of art (dance, theatre), as well as in the context of the methodological principles and applied tasks which engage mind and body likewise, activating all the senses and stimulating each of the developmental areas. These invaluable advantages, observed in practice by teachers and therapists using this method, prompt us to stress the necessity of testing the effectiveness of the integrated musical-physical activities in correcting functional disorders in hyperactive children (including improving motor activity control, enhancing cognitive processes and improving social interaction). The following publication presents the results of the individual research concerning the effects of the integrated musical-physical activities of the Dalcroze Method on hyperactive six-year-old children.

Entrepreneurship as a value in education

Przedsiębiorczość jako wartość w edukacji

Author(s): / Language(s): Polish

Keywords: value of education; education; entrepreneurship

The purpose of the publication is to inter alia direct the reader’s attention to the value of education toward entrepreneurship in the broad understating of the educationalactivities of teachers and pupils and the indication of this innovative dimension of education in Poland after the systemic and political transformations of the 1980s.

Teacher in the School Environment: A Reflection on Pierre Bourdieu’s Theories and Teacher Narratives

Nauczyciel w „polu” szkolnym – w świetle teorii Pierre'a Bourdieu i nauczycielskich narracji

Author(s): Małgorzata Zalewska-Bujak / Language(s): Polish

Keywords: teacher; school' Pierre Bourdieu

The monograph constitutes an attempt at providing a teacher’s perspective on their work environment. Due to my interest in identifying how – and where – teachers see themselves within the school environment, I decided to provide them with an opportunity to speak for themselves and, through personal interviews, study the everyday challenges of their profession. The possibility to access first‑hand accounts of the professional experiences of teachers has allowed me to gain deeper insight into their work environment. Moreover, it has allowed me to look as if through their eyes at both the people and situations they encounter, and their own initiatives, as well as the standards according to which they operate. In addition, it has enabled me to recognise the meanings which they assign to everyday occurrences, processes and structures of their professional life.On the other hand, Pierre Bourdieu’s theories shed a different light on the study of the teacher’s place in the school life. Those theories, in turn, serve as the methodological basis forthe analysis of the teachers’ experiences. The application of that theoretical framework, however, differs from its use in quantitative research projects and does not consist in empirical verification of the assumed theoretical model. Instead, chosen concepts derived from Bourdieu’s conceptual apparatus allowed me to describe and interpret the meanings which teachers assign to their experiences in the school environment.In the opening part of the book, I present the macrosocial conditions regarding the teachingprofession, including both the national tendencies to politicise the school environment, aswell as the global trends manifesting in – often covert – attempts at construing it as a sphereof neoliberal influence. Further, I introduce the theoretical background utilised in order to interpret the results of the study, and elaborate on selected Polish research studies on the nature of pedagogy, using Bourdieu’s theories.Moreover, the monograph includes an overview of my own methodological perspectiveon my research concerning teachers in the school environment. This includes: a discussionregarding the subject of the study and my interpretative stance; an outline of aims and selected problem areas; an overview of data gathering, including interview procedures; a characteristic of the research subjects; and, finally, an overview of the applied strategies for working with the empirical research material and the use of analytical tools.In the following parts of the book, I analyse and interpret my research results, which includes:1) a description of the habitus revealed by the teachers, showing the way in which theyinform the teacher’s perception and everyday professional functioning; 2) a reading of the school as a place of reproduction and symbolic violation, resulting from the factual inequality among the students maintained under the guise of official and formal equality, as well as revealing certain mechanisms of reproduction functioning in the school environment, which – according to Bourdieu – result in the capital following the capital, allowing the social structure to remain unchallenged; 3) a discussion of the symbolic violence of the school environment (owing to the description of sources cited by the teachers and the forms of symbolic violation which emerge in the school environment); 4) a description of the teachers’ strategies of surviving in the school environment – since it appears that the subjects engaged in play make efforts designed to maintain the subjects’ positions within the environment, using strategies which, in their understanding, will enable them to retain their status. The subjects engage in those actions according to their habitus, which allow them to find their place within the school structures and enable them to utilise generally acknowledged practices and procedures in the process of developing strategies.

The Distance Learning Method in the Development of Competencies in Foreign Language Writing

La méthode d’enseignement à distance dans le développement de la compétence rédactionnelle en langue étrangère

Author(s): Beata Gałan / Language(s): French

Keywords: distance learning method; information and communication technologies (ICT); learning strategies; language competencies

The subject of this work is a reflection on the effectiveness of the distance learning method in the glottodidactic process. The author concentrates upon: an analysis of properties of the remote method basing on various forms of distance learning, an overview of information and communication technologies (ICT) used in education, a reflection on the editing process in a foreign language, and a discussion about didactic and social aspects of an educational virtual space (a virtual classroom). On the grounds of theoretical considerations, empirical studies were conducted; their main purpose was an observation of properties and an evaluation of the efficiency of the distance learning method in developing competencies in foreign language writing. In the studies, the hybrid approach – combining quantitative and qualitative analyses –was utilised. In order to verify the effectiveness of the distance learning method, a didactic experiment was carried out, which made it possible to compare the results achieved in the traditional system and in the virtual space. The quantitative analysis was supplemented with a number of reflections on the specificity of the distance learning method and the virtual classroom.Consisting of the pilot study and the main study, the experiment was conducted within the framework of higher education, in a composition course included in the “Practical knowledge of French” module. One group of students starting to learn French as an at least second foreign language participated in the experiment. The aim of the study was to examine the influence of the distance learning method on the development of writing skills in a foreign language. In order to compare the educational effects, a half of the classes in the course were conducted in a classic form, and another half – in the remote learning system by means of the Moodle learning platform. Non-final grades (ones received in the course during the term) became the research material necessary to compare the results, and the obtained data were subject to statistical processing. The pilot study brought comparable results of average grades, but it also provided valuable guidelines concerning the untypical dispersion of the results. In the main study, conducted on 47 people, an ordinary comparison of average grades also suggested a similar efficiency of both methods. However, the study of significance of the differences by means of the t test revealed that the online method proves to be more effectivein a statistically relevant manner, but it brings measurable benefits only to a specific target group, using adequate learning strategies.Additional information was provided by the qualitative analysis. It demonstrated that – despite rather frequent and regular Internet usage, also for educational purposes — students’ attitude to distance learning is relatively varied. Student point to both advantages and opportunities offered by the distance learning method (development of autonomy and learning strategies, access to various didactic materials), and its limitations (lack of direct contact with the teacher, lowered motivation). The interviewees’ responses clearly emphasise not only the differences between the classic method and the distance learning method, but also the specificity of working in a remote system, which requires a huge amount of self-discipline, regularity, and involvement. The key to success in the distance learning process is a set of competencies and skills related to learning strategies (high level of autonomy, self-discipline, autonomy in problem solving, conscious time management, regularity). Such a set is defined in the work as the habitus of the virtual classroom.An evaluation of the effectiveness of the distance learning method is an obvious priority of academic teachers in the light of virtualisation of higher education. The conducted research provided significant information concerning the efficiency and specificity of the distance learning method, which will make it possible to use this method in a more conscious manner in the practice of academic teaching. However, the classic method still remains the privileged one, and the teacher–student relation — a relevant feature of this kind of teaching practice. Nevertheless, the potential of the distance learning method turns out to be significant. The optimal solution is, certainly, the hybrid method, combining direct contact with distance learning elements. To sum up, the main conclusion emerging from the conducted study is that the distance learning method proves to be effective only to a certain target group, members of which use learning strategies that are appropriate to this type of work.

A six-year-old at a school desk – lowering the compulsory school age in Polish education system

Sześciolatek w szkolnej ławce – obniżenie obowiązkowego wieku szkolnego w polskim systemie edukacyjnym

Author(s): Agata Rzymełka-Frąckiewicz / Language(s): Polish

Keywords: school desk; compulsory school age; Polish education system

“Many representatives of economic and social sciences, including pedagogues and sociologists, share the view that it is the acquired education, the knowledge and professional competence that determine our place in the hierarchical structure of social relations today. Broadly understood education has a decisive effect on the achieved social position, the social prestige of individuals, social groups and also entire societies (states). Schools are an important part of the process of becoming a social being, […] they significantly influence the life chances of its members”. In highly developed countries, education constitutes the most important factor of professional and material success. According to Tadeusz Pilch, “[…] today it is neither birth nor even, in a sense, possession that determine the social position of man. Today, the most common truth has become the most common rule: as one’s educationis, so their fate is”.Formerly illiteracy meant ignorance of the alphabet, and thus inability to read and write. At present, the term ‘functional illiteracy’ is in use. An illiterate person is a person who knows the letters, knows how to read and write, but does not comprehend the texts he/she reads andis not able to use the information provided with the writing (e.g. manuals explaining how to operate devices, instructions on how to use something, how to take medication, etc.). Today‘s educational expectations are even higher. An increasing number of developed countries are deciding to lower the compulsory school age, thus making the period of formal education longer.The presented work deals with issues related to the attempt to lower the compulsory school age of children to six years of age in the Polish educational system during the period of so-called transitional regulations, when it was the parents‘ decision to enrol a six-year-old child at school. The paper comprises information on how the age of education and the structure of education in Poland has changed over time, what solutions concerning school age and structure of educational institutions have been adopted by particular countries in Europe, and what specific solutions have been introduced in education within the frame of theproposed educational reform.In the empirical part, the following research has been presented: a review of national social opinions on social acceptance of the proposal to lower the compulsory school age to the sixth year of life of the child; an interview conducted in 2013 with the then Minister of NationalEdu cation – on the assessment of the prevailing social situation and the opinion of the Minister about the project and the procedure of the introduced changes to the educational system; interviews with directors of selected primary schools in Katowice, who had experience of working with a six-year-old child in their institutions; the results of questionnaire surveys conducted among parents of six-year-old children who startededucation at primary school.

Information and Communication Technologies and E-learning in Contemporary Education

Technologie informacyjno-komunikacyjne i e-learning we współczesnej edukacji

Author(s): Eugenia Smyrnova-Trybulska / Language(s): Polish

The book is a systematic study in the field of information and communication technologies and e-learning in contemporary education taking into consideration a competencies-oriented approach. The current educational system is in the middle of global changes. That is why future specialists should be fully prepared to live in an open information space, which includes the formation of the skills necessary in the 21st century so as to ensure their continuous development in the course of life, in both informal and formal forms. In modern society, we observe new world trends – technological, economic, cultural, ecological changes – that are a part of a rapid and fluctuating process of globalisation. Contemporary university also changes, along with its information-educational space. Its components change, including technologies used, content, resources, subjects and objects (students, academic teachers, administration), the teaching-learning process, and the whole educational process; what also changes are principles and tools of management, of communication, and of cooperation in the educational environment itself and outside of it. Taking such tendencies into consideration, the quality of the virtual educational environment in a modern educational institution has to be based on realising educational needs of students, their expectations, contents, and technologies they use also due to their own learning experience. Filling the virtual educational environment, the quality of its content, and effectiveness of its use by students – aiming at educating future specialists, competitive on the contemporary labour market – depend not only on the level of teachers’ ICT competencies, but also on numerous various factors and conditions, such as the strategy of development of a university’s e-environment, effectiveness of its functioning, the educational offer, and ensuring the quality of education, including e-learning. In addition to theoretical aspects of the main issue, the book also presents chosen research results, obtained within the framework of several projects the author of the monograph participated in, including IRNet international project, realised by the international consortium under the di rection of the author.

Innovativeness in pedagogical practice. Vol. 1: Theory and practice

Innowacyjność w praktyce pedagogicznej. Tom I: Teoria i praktyka

Author(s): / Language(s): Polish

Keywords: innovativeness; the formation and education of the youngest children; theory and practice; pedagogical reflections

A monograph which is presented in two volumes, entitled “Innovativeness in pedagogical practice. Theory and practice”. Vol. 1 and “Innovativeness in pedagogical practice. Pedagogical reflections in theory and in practice”, Vol. 2, constitutes an original treatment in terms of broadly conceived innovativeness in pedagogical theory and practice. The publication contains considerations devoted to the role of a teacher-innovator in the creation of the didactic-educational process, of the care-related and organisational functioning of the kindergarten and the school, and hence to the necessity of the education of future teachers toward innovative thinking in the process of education. The publication also contains examples of innovation drawn from pedagogical practice in kindergarten, in 1-11 classes (of the elementary school), as well as of the education of future teachers of pre-school children and the teachers of early school education. The publication is intended for a broad group of teachers and researchers who are sensitive to the changing social and cultural environment, in which theoreticians and practitioners engaged in the creation of the process of education of children constantly find themselves. It constitutes a compendium of theoretical and practical knowledge in the field of innovative activities in the work with a child. The monograph may constitute a source of inspiration for appealing didactic solutions associated with children for students, teachers and parents.

The teaching and the promotion of the Polish language in the world. Assessment – status – perspective

Nauczanie i promocja języka polskiego w świecie. Diagnoza – stan – perspektywy

Author(s): Władysław Miodunka,Jolanta Tambor,Aleksandra Achtelik,Romuald Cudak,Danuta Krzyżyk,Jan Mazur,Bernadeta Niesporek-Szamburska,Kazimierz Ożóg,Adam Pawłowski,Dorota Praszałowicz,Anna Seretny,Roman Szul,Agnieszka Tambor,Tadeusz Zgółka,Małgorzata Smereczniak,Karolina Graboń / Language(s): Polish

Keywords: education; teaching Polish; Polish as foreign; mother tongue; foreign language; second language; heritage language; Polish literature; Polish culture; Polish cinema; promotion; certification

“The teaching and the promotion of the Polish language in the world. Assessment – status – perspectives” is an indispensable item in the library of teachers, lecturers, instructors, Polonia activists, promoters of cultural activities, journalists and diplomats – to put it briefly, all people who are concerned about the prestige, the fate and the status of the Polish language in the world and all people upon whom the fate and the status of the Polish language depends. The publication was developed by the following team of authors: Władysław Miodunka, Jolanta Tambor, Aleksandra Achtelik, Romuald Cudak, Danuta Krzyżyk, Jan Mazur, Bernadeta Niesporek-Szamburska, Kazimierz Ożóg, Adam Pawłowski, Dorota Praszałowicz, Anna Seretny, Roman Szul, Agnieszka Tambor, Tadeusz Zgółka (collaborators: Małgorzata Smereczniak, Karolina Graboń). The authors at the same time constitute a team of experts appointed by His Magnificence Rector of the University of Silesia on the basis of an agreement with the Ministry of Science and Higher Education in January 2017 in order to develop a strategy of the teaching and the promotion of the Polish language in the world which was supposed to involve the following items:• the teaching of the Polish language as a foreign language in all age groups, at all levels, both in the system of non-higher education and higher education and in all forms;• the promotion of the Polish language in the world, along with an indication of the priority geographical areas and the areas of substance, as well as the instruments of promotion;• the coordination of the activities and the establishment of the tasks of the particular institutions;• the indication of the scope of the necessary legislative modifications and the means of financing.The work on the strategy was completed in July 2017, the book is going to be released in July 2018. The chronological distance is slight but it is quite eventful. Above all in October 2017 one established the National Agency of Academic Exchange, an institution which took over the tasks of the Bureau for Academic Recognition and International Exchange, but also of a number of other sections, divisions and departments. Before the publication of the work the authors attempted to introduce the necessary changes, which take into account the new situation. However, this was not always possible.The authors assess the current status of the teaching and the promotion of the Polish language in the world and they put forward the best solutions to solve the problems, they suggest the best solutions possible. We realise that prompt realisation of some of the changes which are proposed is not possible, for it would require huge system-related modifications – however, these are maximum plans, which indicate the ills of the current state of affairs and the things which are relevant to teachers, students, parents of children of Polish origin and foreigners who learn Polish for a variety of reasons (e.g. migrants, refugees, as well as re-emigrants, who enter the Polish system of education), things which are also relevant to the enthusiasts of Polish literature, Polish theatre, Polish cinema, to people who stay abroad where access to the products of culture is sometimes considerably limited; to Polish tourists, travellers, passengers who are hard put to receive Polish announcements in airplanes, Polish-language customer service in trains or Polish notices in such airports. Fragments of this publication will be useful for students who major in foreign language pedagogy, for post-graduate students who train to become teachers of the Polish language as a foreign language. The work should be consulted by teachers, lecturers as well as students. Inspiration from this work ought to be drawn by people who are responsible to introduce certain changes, to make certain decisions and introduce some solutions which are put forward.The work describes the status at the turn of 2018 – the status which remains the same system-wise. It furnishes a basis for re-thinking, it indicates the things that may be fixed quickly and easily, and the things which require a greater deal of effort. We would like to indicate clearly – and this is very important – that the work also presents all of the accomplishments, triumphs and the strong points of Polish-as-a-foreign-language education and the promotion of Poland and the Polish language.

Tender pedagogy. The educational value of works and activities of Princess Izabela Czartoryska née Flemming

Czuła pedagogia. Edukacyjny walor dzieł i działań księżnej Izabeli z Flemmingów Czartoryskiej

Author(s): Jolanta Skutnik / Language(s): Polish

Keywords: Izabela Czartoryska née Flemming; cultural education; festivity; animation; participation; cultural mediation; museum; museum education; interpretation of heritage; educational work; social activity; upbringing; theatre; court;garden;

In the present study, which aims at the interpretation of works and activities of Princess Izabela Czartoryska née Flemming (1746–1835) from pedagogical perspective, various analytical tropes converge that encompass the scope of her political, social, aid and educational activities, but also her social, artistic, and even ecological work. Following these tropes, it was not difficult to recognize in princess’s activities early forms of animation in its social and cultural dimension; proposals of educating in museum and through museum that anticipate American ideas of the interpretation of heritage; and even precursory forms of social and educational work. In an obvious way, these activities of the princess did not originate in social or cultural vacuum. On the contrary, they were inspired by ideas and actions of people who accompanied her at different stages of her life, supported philosophical trends and intellectual movements at the turn of the Enlightenment and Romanticism, enriched the works and conceptions that constituted the foundation of her self-educational practice. The effects of her works were validated by the positions of her pupils and significant achievements of the members of the society that were gathered around Czartoryska. A specific symptom of these actions were the works promoting humanism that took the form typical of Puławy district referred to as “fellow feeling”. The scope of influences and inspirations instigating the analyses undertaken in the present work is very broad, covering non-obvious but intentional reference to contemporary ideas of social participation, cultural mediation, and interpretation of heritage, which combined historical experience with present-day discourse devoted to cultural education. The extent of these references and the amount of analysed facts that shed light on the activities of Princess Czartoryska may at times seem to overweigh the main trope of the analyses. It is, however, structured by the explicit orientation of the research. All of the research goals, regardless of how detached they may be from the main topic, invariably focus on the person whose meaning of life consisted in the activities undertaken out of love to mankind. And this is the conclusion which is still valid today.

Scribble in the child’s artistic creation

Bazgrota w twórczości plastycznej dziecka

Author(s): Urszula Szuścik / Language(s): Polish

Keywords: Scribble; visual perception; artistic creativity;stimulation;

The book presents the assumptions and results of the pedagogical experiment on the genesis of scribble and its transformation by stimulation of visual perception. The study involved children aged 2 and 3 years. As we know, the scribble period is one of the most difficult periods to study in the development of child’s drawing creativity. During this time, the areas of cognitive, enactive and communicational development of the child are formed and integrated. It is a discovery for the child to have left the first graphic trace. I asked myself a question concerning the extent to which the child’s visual stimulation determines his/her original drawing – a scribble. To what extent does his/her visual stimulation change as a result of this impact in terms of the diversity of linear quality, colour patches and shapes – figures? What, therefore, new formal features does the scribble acquire? These are some of the questions I tried to answer in the present work. My approach to the analysis of children’s scribbles rests upon my assumption that this is a kind of specific endeavor able to rebuild the child’s visual and motor experience by means of stimulation of his/her visual perception. The research hypothesis involved the stimulation of children’s artistic creativity depending on the shaping of their visual perception by strictly defined visual stimuli within colours, lines and figures. Visual stimuli formed perceptual patterns determined by individual research tasks. The experiment covered 15 exercises, including five exercises on colors, five on lines and five on figures. The book consists of three main chapters and extensive appendices. I discussed the issue of a scribble in the development of the child’s artistic expression in the first chapter of the work, referring to the concept of the development of artistic creativity and visual perception of selected researchers. I described the development of visual and artistic values in a child’s scribble, namely a line, a color patch, a circle and a figure. I attribute a special role to the development of the child’s visual perception. Moreover, I think that the formation of the semantic aspect of the scribble is one of the elements of the child’s cognitive development that leads to thought-drawing transformations. This issue is presented in the theoretical analysis of the work. Child’s scribbling was an inspiration for many artists; that’s why I have resolved to discuss this topic in this chapter. Seeking answers to this problem, I have contrasted selected examples of children’s scribbles and works of art. In my opinion, what combines them in the beauty of the simplicity of artistic solutions is creative intuition. In the second chapter of the work, I have presented the assumptions of my research, research problems, adopted hypotheses, research procedure, variables and indicators. The whole research was of complementary character. The third chapter of the book presents the analysis of the research results and their interpretation. This is where I provide evidence to support my thesis about the importance of stimulating the children’s scribble by means of visual perception. It can be concluded that the child’s scribbles illustrate and create a chain of transformation of his/her experience. An integral part of the book is a CD, which contains the quantitative and qualitative analyses of the research results, selected examples of children’s artworks from the research that show the diversity and originality of solutions in children’s scribbles. The experiment, conducted and presented in the monograph entitled Scribble in the child’s artistic creation (2019), proved that the formation of visual thinking in children takes place by means of visual perception. Such a process leads to the enrichment of their perceptual experience and the ultimate result: artistic activity.

Quality in Language Teaching. Theoretical Considerations and Practical Solutions

Jakość w kształceniu językowym. Rozważania teoretyczne i praktyczne rozwiązania

Author(s): / Language(s): English,Polish

Keywords: quality in language teaching; language teaching

Able student in Polish and English school space. A comparative study

Uczeń zdolny w polskiej i angielskiej przestrzeni szkolnej. Studium komparatystyczne

Author(s): Marcin Gierczyk / Language(s): Polish

Keywords: education; talented student;comparative research;

The present monograph constitutes another instance of discussion concerning selective-stratification function performed by school, in particular its model of educating able students. Part One is centred on an attempt at defining key concepts including: ability, talent, prodigy, from both historical and contemporary perspective. Subsequently, there were analysed such phenomena as labelling able students, and the non-conformity and risky behaviours in a context of creative attitudes. What is more, there were described mechanisms of educational failure which, paradoxically, leads to attaining life success, as illustrated by persons functioning in public sphere. Later on in Part One, the author gave an account of the education systems’ functioning in the school space of England and Poland in relation to able students. Part Two of the monograph is a presentation of the assumed methodology of the author’s own research. It also encompasses the analysis and interpretation of relevant empirical material which was collated in the course of the undertaken research. The conclusions of the monograph pertain to education of able students in Poland and England, accompanied by the implications for pedagogical practice.

Teacher and Pupil. Theory and Practice of Reception and Transmission of Information in Early School Education Grades 1–3

Nauczyciel i uczeń. Teoria i praktyka odbioru oraz transmisji informacji w edukacji wczesnoszkolnej

Author(s): Beata Oelszlaeger-Kosturek / Language(s): Polish

Keywords: questions and statements of students; communication acts; activities and actions;Information;

The publication concerns the subject of teacher-students communication in the context of the educational process in the early grades of primary school. In chapter one, the issues of information and knowledge were addressed with regard to their transmission and reception from the sender to the recipient, including the context of an educational process. The activities and actions undertaken by a teacher working with students in grades 1 through 3 were presented. From this perspective, the communicative competence of the teacher was analyzed as a main factor in the whole communication process in the classroom.In chapter two, the most relevant linguistic and philosophical aspects related to the subject were discussed. The focus was on the fundamental types, characteristics and functions of utterances. A variety of questions and statements that could be formulated by children in grades 1–3 was characterized. A typology of these utterances was proposed in the context of representative literature on the subject.In chapter three, research issues were outlined. The subject of research, its goals (theoretical and practical), and research problems were discussed. Three strategies along with methods, techniques, and tools applied for the purpose of the author’s own research were presented. The theoretical aim of this (diagnostic) research was to recognize essential questions and statements uttered by students of early school age, shaping the educational process. The practical aim was related to the search for innovative and valuable strategies and methods – the entire concept of the training of students of pedagogy to become early school education teachers. The main research problem concerned specifically the role of students’ questions and statements in the educational process in grades 1–3.The results of research were illustrated in tables and charts, and a non-stereotypical quantitative-qualitative analysis regarding the reception and transmission of information between a teacher and students was proposed to describe daily schoolwork. A novelty is a multilevel analysis of the communicative acts initiated by students and their continuation or lack of continuation according to the teacher’s decisions, and a development of different communication models based on this.In chapter four, conclusions, certain generalizations, and postulates were proposed, as well as an attempt to develop innovative components in the training of early school education teachers. In the final chapter of the book, chapter five, questions and statements of early primary grade students (grades 1–3) that were asked and formulated in a specific educational context were gathered, along with teachers’ replies to these questions and statements.The lists of students’ questions and statements can be used as source materials by academic teachers in educating pedagogy students – future early school education teachers. They can also be useful in preparing all kinds of research papers (for instance diploma dissertations, M.A. theses, and others).In conclusion, numerous findings and postulates were formulated, which contributed to the development of the author’s original conception of the training of early school education teachers. The publication is provided with a bibliography, a list of tables, charts, diagrams, and examples. A separate part is an appendix, which includes Przewodnik do badań nad pytaniami, stwierdzeniami uczniów oraz czynnościami i działaniami nauczyciela (A Guide to Research on Questions and Statements of Students with Activities and Actions of a Teacher) along with research tools and numerous charts supplementing the research outcomes that were presented and interpreted in chapter three.

Jealousy and scientific research. A study in the field of pedagogical logology

Zazdrość i działalność naukowa. Studium z zakresu naukoznawstwa pedagogicznego

Author(s): Alicja Żywczok / Language(s): Polish

Keywords: Science studies; scientist; scholar; jealousy; university;scientific research;

The author decided to focus this research project on the issue of destruction in the academic development not in order to brand the evil existing in a certain environment, institution or an occupational group. One of her motives was the desire and the necessity to reveal the stumbling blocks in the academic development in the form of “artificial obstacles”, created by jealous individuals, which strain the relationships and complicate the progress of academic career for others, especially as regards the practice of unequal treatment of employees (not always in the form of mobbing, but relatively often – as distributive inequality). Among other motives for focusing this research on jealousy was the author’s concern and worry for the quality of life of researchers as well as the quality of their occupational activity (dynamism of individual academic development). The aim of this study, whose results are hereby published, was to fathom the opinions of academics (researchers and academic teachers) concerning the symptoms, types and conditions, as well as ways of preventing chronic jealousy in this occupational group. Increased and long-term jealousy, manifested most often in the form of hostile behavior towards other employees has come to be considered as an inhibitor of scientific development, that is to say a factor that makes it difficult both for the person who feels jealous and for the person who becomes the object of jealousy, to carry on a relatively normal occupational life. The structure of this monograph (250 pages) contains the answers to the research problems and outlines how these answers were reached. Apart from the table of contents and a detailed introduction (which justifies the undertaken scope of the studied problems, describes the methodological and organizational foundations for the study and presents the structure itself of the monograph), the work contains 7 chapters closely related as regards the studied subject matter, the end, bibliography, personal index, a summary with key words and a note on the author.