Report on the 4th Seminar on Public Policy: Polish Historical, Educational and Scientific Policy. Organizer: Collegium of Economics and Social Sciences, Warsaw School of Economics, May 29, 2015.
My article is a succinct overview of macro-Polish governments' evolution over 25 years of political transformation. It is presented from the perspective of education for democracy, in a democracy and not about democracy. I explain how Poles, after they got rid of the monistic doctrine of the totalitarian state, have become subjected to a covert process of democratization of education and the school system. I analyze public education, mechanisms and structures for its management in a way that counteracts democratic change. The school is subjected to political game-makers. It becomes an institution which is painfully ineffective and without a face. This institution destroys tradition and causes intellectual regression. There are threats to educational reforms which lie not only in the sociopolitical mechanisms, but also and perhaps primarily within the education system, which has not created procedures to eliminate Pharisees of innovation from it. After 25 years of transformation, the Polish educational system is not only partially reprivatized but highly bureaucratic and fully involved in political parties. ; 38 ; 21 ; 42 ; 2 ; Studia Edukacyjne
Od roku 2004 łączne zadłużenie Amerykanów z tytułu zaciągniętych kredytów studenckich wzrosło o ponad bilion dolarów. "Edukacyjna bańka", jak bywa określane to zjawisko, stało się dla uczelnianej administracji i dla polityków problemem, który wymaga interwencji władz publicznych. Przedstawiana w artykule problematyka jest warta zainteresowania, bo stanowi bardzo dobrą ilustrację czterech głównych problemów: definiowania polityki wobec szkolnictwa wyższego jako części szerszej polityki publicznej; wykorzystania kredytów studenckich jako metody wspierania dostępności do wyższej edukacji; obecności i znaczenia dyskursu (i analizy dyskursu) w tworzeniu i badaniu polityki wobec szkolnictwa wyższego; oraz znaczenia badań innych systemów szkolnictwa wyższego dla przygotowania skutecznych polskich rozwiązań. Budowanie polityki opartej na dowodach (evidence-based policy) oznacza także konieczność krytycznej oceny rozwiązań przyjętych za granicą, by móc zrozumieć przyczyny tamtejszych sukcesów i niepowodzeń. Także i po to, by przekonać się o tym, czego należy unikać. ; Since 2004 the combined student debt in the United States has grown by more than one trillion dollars! This "educational bubble", as it is sometimes referred to, makes university administration and some politicians aware that some kind of government intervention is urgently necessary. The paper presents four main problems, used also as the illustration of broader research projects: the definition of higher education policy as a part of broader public policy; the use of student credits as the means of providing more inclusive higher education; the role of discourse (and discourse analysis) in forming and analyzing higher education policy; and the importance of discussing foreign higher education systems for developing the effective Polish higher education policy. The evidence-based policy approach requires the critique of foreign experiences and solutions that builds better understanding of their successes and failures. The main reason is to avoid the errors the others already made.
The article is an attempt to trace the changes taking place in vocational education in Poland, paying special attention to the possibilities of local and regional activities supporting vocational education. The conclusions presented in the text result from the author's expert experience related to the implementation of projects to support vocational education. The presented model of support for vocational education is currently carried out by the Bialystok Human Resources Training Foundation in the city of Białystok and Białystok Poviat as the Competence Centre of the Białystok Functional Area. The experience in the implementation of the project and its effectiveness is so universal that the project will be implemented throughout the Podlasie Voivodeship. It can also be a model for local government units running vocational schools.
The multicultural and multiethnic character of Śląsk Opolski frequently leads to emotionally heated disputes over such symbols of the past as historical monuments, anniversaries of historical events, cemeteries, signs with topographic names and so on, which is reflected in regional policy. History and collective memory are obviously used by the politicians of Śląsk Opolski (both by political parties and minority organizations) for their current political purposes, in order to achieve certain political interests (such as winning or retaining voters) by means of exerting an influence on the regional community or selected groups and by shaping certain attitudes and behaviors. The author refers to concrete examples of debates held in the region to explain the phenomenon of the politicization of history. She ponders the role of researchers, including political scientists, in preventing the politicization of the past and emphasizes the necessity for their taking a stand in the process of forming regional historical policy. ; The multicultural and multiethnic character of Śląsk Opolski frequently leads to emotionally heated disputes over such symbols of the past as historical monuments, anniversaries of historical events, cemeteries, signs with topographic names and so on, which is reflected in regional policy. History and collective memory are obviously used by the politicians of Śląsk Opolski (both by political parties and minority organizations) for their current political purposes, in order to achieve certain political interests (such as winning or retaining voters) by means of exerting an influence on the regional community or selected groups and by shaping certain attitudes and behaviors. The author refers to concrete examples of debates held in the region to explain the phenomenon of the politicization of history. She ponders the role of researchers, including political scientists, in preventing the politicization of the past and emphasizes the necessity for their taking a stand in the process of forming regional historical policy.
The educational reform designed by Prawo i Sprawiedliwość (the Law and Justice political party) fits in a pattern of the previous Polish reforms, primarily due to the way they were introduced. The political rather than substantive factors determine their design, they are introduced too hastily, and the appointed experts are treated as an embellishment. This mode of operation is characteristic not only of Poland. The researchers cited in the text (J. Nelson, M. S. Archer, N. Luhmann) indicate its root causes and limited effectiveness. The state remains the most important player in shaping the educational system despite the attempts to reduce its influence on education under neo-liberal policies. However, the current analysis of its limited effectiveness should lay the foundations for a policy, which would take into account the need to reckon with the interests of other actors as well as to develop a long-term strategy.
In this article I make a critical analysis of educational policy in Poland during the 25 years of the political transformation. I try to refer to the Polish thoughts and practices of teaching experience in the period of 1918--1948. What is more, I present experiences of anti-socialist opposition during the socialist period. They influenced on impression in the works and commitments of many scientists and a new generation of academics. Furthermore, I indicate how my generation after 1989 went into the road of scientific autonomy and/or independence in the field of government and private education. Benchmark for these analyzes build up the hopes which we tied up with the Polish revolution of non- violence. Moreover, there was a strong disappointment, which revealed over the years due to the departure of distinctive political formation of the Third Republic of the ideals and the phenomenon of Polish "Solidarity" movement, and civil society, which included the move away from the base of participatory democracy. Finally, I look at how education as a science and practice of education fit into democratization of the Polish state and society. The key meaning for me has the perception of education as a common good, as environments and entities, institutions or management practices which participate in the democratic society. To sum up, this society is constantly in the period of recovery from years of experience not only fascist, but Bolshevik totalitarianism, too.
The purpose of the study was an investigation on a content of the core curriculum in Poland, for kin- dergarten children (aged 3–6) and primary school students (aged 7–18), in reference to educational demands, created by the global ecological crisis. As a source of these demands, IPCC Assessments Reports on Climate Change and UN over-arching strategies for sustainability and environmental education were used, as well as the European Union green policies' package (The European Green Deal). Poland, as a member of the EU and a party of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, is obliged to promote and implement "green" policies, through incorporation of them into national legislation and the state system of education. The analysis revealed in Polish core curriculum lack of content, connected with the global ecological crisis and climate change, as well as with strategies of combating them. This result shows a dramatic content gap in environmental education of Polish students, regardless the fact that ecol- ogy is a fundament of global and European developmental strategies. The responsibility for this situation is beard on decision makers for a state educational policy; in a context of Polish law, this is the Ministry of Education and the Minister for Education himself. ; The purpose of the study was an investigation on a content of the core curriculum in Poland, for kin- dergarten children (aged 3–6) and primary school students (aged 7–18), in reference to educational demands, created by the global ecological crisis. As a source of these demands, IPCC Assessments Reports on Climate Change and UN over-arching strategies for sustainability and environmental education were used, as well as the European Union green policies' package (The European Green Deal). Poland, as a member of the EU and a party of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, is obliged to promote and implement "green" policies, through incorporation of them into national legislation and the state system of education. The analysis revealed in Polish core curriculum lack of content, connected with the global ecological crisis and climate change, as well as with strategies of combating them. This result shows a dramatic content gap in environmental education of Polish students, regardless the fact that ecol- ogy is a fundament of global and European developmental strategies. The responsibility for this situation is beard on decision makers for a state educational policy; in a context of Polish law, this is the Ministry of Education and the Minister for Education himself.
The work is a compendium of information and a study of Polish-Latin American relations, with particular emphasis on the implications of Poland's accession to the structures of the European Union in the context of the country's policy towards Latin America. The monograph is the first in the literature on the subject in which the title issue has been presented within the framework of the entire post-cold war period, i.e. 1989/1990–2016, and in a comprehensive way, on the political, economic, scientific and cultural levels. The author has focused on the analysis of bilateral relations with Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Colombia and Venezuela. The determinant of such a choice was the desire to discuss Poland's relations with its main Latin American partners. In accordance with the government document Strategia RP w odniesieniu do pozaeuropejskich krajów rozwijających się [Strategy of the Republic of Poland with regard to non-European developing countries] of 2004, Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Mexico were included among the priority partners, while Colombia and Venezuela were defined as important. These are the Latin American countries with which Poland conducts political dialogue both bilaterally and multilaterally (within the EU or the Pacific Alliance, which includes three of the countries listed in the Strategy – Mexico, Chile and Colombia), and Brazil, Argentina, Mexico and Chile account for the largest percentage of Poland's trade with the region (about 75%). As far as the historical experience of mutual contacts is concerned, it should be noted that these countries, especially Brazil and Argentina, were the main directions of emigration from Poland to Latin America. The work also mentions Poland's relations with other countries of the region, such as Cuba, Peru, Panama and Ecuador. The study is devoted to the post-war period, but it takes into account the context of Poland's earlier policy towards Latin America, divided into the most characteristic stages, corresponding to continuity and change in the bilateral relations. It discusses Poland's contacts with the countries of this region in the 17th and 18th centuries, as well as in the 19th century, when there was an increased emigration of Poles, especially to Brazil (the so-called Brazilian fever) and Argentina. The title issue has been presented in the bilateral and multilateral dimension, taking into account the formal and legal basis and the results of meetings at the highest and lowest levels. Factors hindering and facilitating relations between Poland and Latin American countries and the position of these countries in the foreign policy of Poland have been identified. Determinants and tendencies in Polish policy towards the Latin American region, its manifestations, as well as dilemmas and challenges that appeared in the 21st century have been presented. Moreover, arguments for intensification of mutual relations in bilateral and multilateral forums and potential areas of cooperation in the field of political, economic, scientific and cultural relations have been indicated.
The main purpose of the article is to present the evolution of legal regulations regarding national minorities in Ukraine, the structure of these minorities and the dynamics of demographic change. The authors analyzed the geographical distribution as well as the political, cultural and educational activity of the most numerous national minorities. They presented the main reasons for the increase or decrease in the size of the largest national groups. The political and legal foundations of minority activities, the specificity of the organization of their educational institutions, national-cultural associations and ethnic parties were analyzed. Particular attention was paid to the problematic provisions of the new Education Act (2017), which reduced the status of languages of national minorities in education and led to the deterioration of relations with individual countries with which minorities are associated. The authors discussed the most severe problems in bilateral relations arising from Ukraine's policy towards minorities and some ideas on how to solve them. The main methods of improving nationality policy in contemporary Ukraine were also presented.
Bilateral relations between Poland and Latin American countries have been largely determined by the history At the time when the countries of that region fought for their independence, Poland did not exist as a sovereign state and was erased from the political map of Europe for many years. Therefore, the establishment of diplomatic or commercial relations with the states of the Latin American region was not possible. However, the countries of Latin America, which in the last century began an intense process of political and economic changes, have rapidly gained recognition in international relations, which as a result influenced their relations with the rest of the world. The active policy towards the Latin American region, conducted, among the others by the European Union, including countries neighbouring Poland, as well as the growing political and economic needs of our country, pose a number of new challenges to the Latin American policy of Poland. The research area of this paper focuses on Poland's foreign policy towards some specified Latin American and Caribbean countries in the post-Cold War period from 1989/1990 to the end of 2016 (regarding also some relevant topics in the first half of 2017). The main part of the work focuses on the analysis of Poland's foreign policy in relation to several Latin American countries: Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Colombia and Venezuela. The choice of the countries was aimed at presenting Poland's relations with the main partners of our country in Latin America. In order to show the whole spectrum of Poland's foreign policy towards some specified Latin American countries, its character was described in a multidimensional manner in four different and complementary dimensions: political, economic, cultural and scientific. The main research objective of this paper has been to present the essence of Poland's foreign policy towards Latin American countries in the post-Cold War period, at a political, economic, cultural and scientific level, taking into account the key aspects of relations from previous years, as well as presenting trends and elements of continuity and change shaping policy of the Third Republic of Poland towards the countries of the Latin American region. The author's aim was to present the main dilemmas and problems of the Latin American policy of Poland, as well as potential areas and reasons for intensifying cooperation on various levels with the countries of the region, in view of the challenges facing Latin American policy of Poland in the second decade of the 21st century.
This article provides a scientific reflection on the need for considering the issue of new technologies and their development in contemporary social policy in Poland. The article focuses on three selected areas of social policy, which are most intensively influenced by the development of new technologies: labor market policies, education policies, and telecare, including some elements of senior policies. The publication initiates further discussion on the current challenges and dilemmas faced by social policymakers. It corresponds to the specific experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic related to intensified, technologically mediated forms of communication and remote forms of using social services. It argues that rapid development of new technologies changes the goals and ways of putting social policies into practice. Drawing on theoretical assumptions of technological determinism and new institutionalism, the article aims to conclude that adequate institutional and legislative changes should be the consequence of technological changes and they should lead to greater compatibility of systemic solutions with citizens' everyday practice.