The article deals with issues concerning the pedagogical aims of studying traditional humanities in present realities of Polish society, which at the end of the 20th century overthrew communism. The new political and civilization conditions have caused major social changes that require a new approach to the humanities. Meanwhile, in Poland there is still a traditional and conservative cult of national identity and heritage, which prevents the development of an open society based on cultural tolerance and understanding of the differences that separate us from the West and other cultures. Humanities should be an academic tool for shaping an individual and creative personality and not for preserving national cultural and historical mythology. Such social pedagogy leads to a closed society oriented towards the past and not towards modernity. An educational policy that promotes this attitude treats cultural heritage as a tool of political control over society. In our times, humanities consist in discovering and interpreting the world around us and in forming an independent thinking. Literature, philosophy and other liberal arts cannot be just a sterile studying of a dead tradition.

Educational policy is a complex social phenomenon which both determines and is determined by political, socio-cultural, economic or demographic conditions. It is treated as deliberate activities of state and local authorities strictly related to educational practice. Therefore, each educational policy should be a planned activity which is based on a broader programme and which takes into account developmental strategies not only of education but also of the region or state. The period following the system transformation in Poland has involved numerous activities which – from teachers' perspective – have been treated as unexpected or even threatening their professional situation or the whole education. however, J. Rutkowiak emphasizes that relations between politics and pedagogy result from social engagement of both educationalists and teachers in politics and, thus, it is indispensable to treat politics as a dimension of their daily functioning at work [1]. The following questions are raised: what are actual teachers' expectations from politicians and the educational policy? how do teachers assess the educational policy and situate it in their professional daily routine? Referring to Rutkowiak, is this policy a significant dimension of their daily functioning at work or a factor of unpredictable results which may appear at any time – the expected unexpected as the title suggests? what is presented in this study are some analyses of the data collected in the studies on educational policy and politicians, conducted among teachers in 2000–2014.