In the article is taken the issue of condition of pedagogy as a research field and academic discipline. Many critical researchers and analytics arrives at a conclusion that there is a crisis of: school, higher education, upbringing, teacher’s role, educational system etc. Thus, we face common demand of changes, adaptation, reorganization, modernization, emancipation of/for/towards that what is placed within the field of pedagogy. Fundamental questions about the scientific nature and paradigmaticness of pedagogy are being moved to the further plan and giving up place to the questions about: the state of the pedagogy/pedagogics, the quality of problems considered by it and its ability/readiness to solve those problems.

The article presents the common causes (external and internal factors) for reforming the national higher education, which actively began after the proclamation of the independence of Ukraine. Strategies of state policy in the sphere of education are presented. They are aimed at overcoming the crisis of the previous socialist education system, ensuring the state's needs for highly qualified specialists and scientific research, promoting development of the society through the establishing a competitive human capital. Ways and the complexity of formation and development of the national high school during the last decade of the XX–XXI centuries of the first decade are researched. Promising development vectors in the context of European integration, socially-oriented market economy and student centered learning are highlighted.

We talk about the crossovers between science and art with the artist and pedagogue Prof. Adam Wsiołkowski.

The author is trying to reconstruct the causes of moral panic around the concept of gender and she is searching for reasons why this category is used in the Polish press with the term „ideology”. Justifying the relevance of gender for pedagogy, she compares the arguments of the supporters and opponents of spreading scientific reflections about gender roles in school. Seeking opportunities for dialogue between researchers and essayists, she asks about the role of educators in re-thinking the gender theory and stresses urgent need to engage in a public debate.

In this text the author poses a question about the direction of the evolution of early childhood education, considering its specificity in the context of the academic nature of pedagogy itself and its historical development, and especially the modern trend for interdisciplinarity. The author associates sources of diversity of this sub-discipline with a focus on the child, emphasizing, on the one hand, the setting of the sub-discipline in the tradition, especially pedological and, on the other hand, a growing and critical phenomenological perspective of research in this area. In conclusion he emphasizes that a reorientation of the multi paradigmatic research conducted in early childhood pedagogy, its openness to differences, but also the use of the methodology of the humanities and social studies recognized by the international community of scholars, make this sub-discipline of learning begin to regain the appellation of an integral discipline.

Article presents results of research concerning condition of school pedagogy as a subdiscipline. Study was performed by Zespół Zadaniowy Pedagogiki szkolnej under the auspices of PAN. The condition of subdiscipline was described as: presence of formal entities of school pedagogy in universities, academic and didactic activity on subject school pedagogy. Quantitative and qualitative description underlies to preliminary findings concerning condition of school pedagogy.

The article discusses the position of young researchers within the field of Polish pedagogy. The article is based on a simple survey. The main objective of the texts is to analyze fundamental problems that the group in question is faced with. The key questions referring to young Polish researchers of pedagogy cover three areas: day-to-day reality of young researchers; research funding system; prospects and visions of changes of the current situation. Also, these three areas govern the structure of the article. In the final part, I attempt to present the main conclusions of the conducted analyses.

The aim of this article is to present circumstances of South american schools functioning in disadvantaged societies on the examples of brazil and peru. Those local societies have been struggling with social and educational poverty, illiteracy, ethnic conflicts, pressures connected with gangs’ activities, etc. in many cases they try to solve their problems on the basis of school which is the center of social activity. These issues are little known in poland and only from literature and journalistic writing what has created their stereotyped image. Meanwhile, you cannot overestimate pedagogical implications of this phenomenon.

The expectations of South american local societies are in many cases not the same as the expectations of school defined by creators and administrators of the education system. Pressures and conflicts usually are caused by discrepancy between the activities of the central institutions and the needs (expectations) of different ethnic groups, clans, families and individuals. Students speaking dialects or the languages of ethnic minorities, normally experiencing domestic violence and forced to work on the border of law, are regarded by the education system as the others/aliens. in such a situation the assistance comes from volunteers and professional educators working for non-governmental organizations. Many of them refer to the ideas taken from Freire’s ‘pedagogy of the oppressed’. he was convinced that a man will never be free alone and his hope of freedom lies in education realized in cooperation with the others. The condition of liberating the oppressed individuals and groups from treating themselves as inferior, powerless, dependent on the others’ support ( which is typical for disadvantaged communities) is, according to paulo Freire, obtaining a new level of awareness through, among others, participating in educational projects based on the idea of social dialogue and creating the feeling of independence, elf-responsibility and co-responsibility for their own community.

In reflection, which is the basis of the above article, i am trying to answer the following question: in what circumstances a school can be a place of social dialogue and fulfilment of basic expectations of disadvantaged communities members? i assume that even in such exotic societies as Latin american countries you can find a lot of inspiration for solving problems similar to those encountered in poland.

An autobiographical lecture at the Faculty of Social Sciences of The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, presents the genesis and evolution of my research projects in their tight connection with the ontology of development and educational achievements in science and school practice. It is an introspective and socio-historical insight into the emergence of ideas, the scope of my personal involvement in radical changes in pedagogy as science and practice from kindergarten to university professor. My works have been appreciated, among other things, by rewarding the third honorary doctorate honoris causa.

Pedagogy is not an autonomous science, independent in terms of cognitive theory and methodology from other sciences. Both the subject – man, the method – a specific way of explaining and justifying key statements, and the goal – the fullness of a person’s personal life, are not formulated without a philosophical, especially anthropological reference. Each of the existing pedagogical concepts naturally assumes a specific vision of the world and man, which remains beyond the competence of pedagogy. Pedagogy only assumes it, makes it a starting point for further discourse in the area of its research. It follows that pedagogy is not an autonomous science in relation to philosophy. Therefore, the educator must be aware of what kind of philosophy it is and whether it meets the criteria of rationality and reasonableness of scientific discourse. In the face of the contemporary confusion of thinking about man, referred to as the “anthropological error,” especially when confronted with the dynamically spreading ideology of the so-called multiculturalism proclaiming the equality of different anthropologies and different theories of education, there is an urgent need to recall and critically rebuild the tradition of personalistic pedagogy. Upbringing should be anchored in ethics as a theory of morality and understood as the actualization of human potential in the perspective of “being-for-others.”

The motto of the article signals that ‘the great cultural change’ on the turn of the 20th century is going to be the context for reflections on the identity of pedagogy. The problem of identity has always been controversial; however, it is particularly visible in the circumstances of change. In the article I attempt to weaken the argumentation used by the advocates of marginalising that problem in an academic discourse in order to remind statements of leaders of Polish pedagogy encouraging undertaking the problems of the identity of pedagogy. I also try to convince the reader that it is possible to form important questions about the new connection between pedagogy and educational practice in the context of a discourse about the identity of pedagogy.

Born and died in Warsaw. Irena Wojnar started studying the humanities during World War II, at the clandestine University of Warsaw. Between 1946 and 1949 she continued her studies at the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Warsaw, in the so-called Seminar of Pedagogy II. In 1949 she was formally employed at the University and remained there until her death. Between 1958 and 1960, as a holder of the Ford Foundation scholarship, she studied at the University of Paris (Sorbonne), where she defended her doctoral dissertation “Situation actuelle de la jeunesse par rapport a l'art”. She did her fellowship and obtained habilitation at the University of Warsaw in 1965. In 1976 she became an associate professor and in 1985 a professor. From 1967 to 2004, prof. Wojnar headed the Laboratory and afterwards the Department of the Theory of Aesthetic Education at the Faculty of Pedagogy of the University of Warsaw. Professor Irena Wojnar was a member of the Committee on Pedagogical Sciences at the Polish Academy of Sciences (1976–2012, since 2016 an honorary member), the Prognosis Committee “Poland 2000 Plus” at the Presidium of the Polish Academy of Sciences (1970–2011, since 2011 an honorary member). Professor Irena Wojnar is an author of almost 300 publications: monographs, edited and co-edited collections, scripts, anthologies, translations and scientific articles. She promoted more than 400 MA and 29 PhD works.

The Bill defines a requirement which are base of the academic teacher periodic evaluation. The question about criteria, conditions, and instrumentality in the evaluation process should be asked. The investigation was conducted based on 32 evaluation sheets used in 22 Polish universities. As a result the characteristics of the sheets and their construction were displayed. The occupied position or the scientific degree of employee determines the disproportion in the scope of assessment conditions. Another results show main domain which are considered during evaluation of teacher activity. A scientific category of university turned out significant for the scope of an attention paid to these domains. The evaluation sheets were arranged in a typology on the base of their characteristics.

From the perspective of her own experience as the chairperson for the Central Commission for Degrees and Titles, the author provides a critical description of the state of academic development among academic teaching staff between 2011 and 2016. Alarming phenomena as far as academic promotions are concerned undergo an analysis in the context of social, political and structural changes, as well as institutional mechanisms on the ministerial level and at particular universities, taking into consideration the human factor.

The fact that postmodern pedagogy strongly encourages researchers to get involved in the process of understanding, analyzing and creating meanings is surely one of its virtues. In this context, the works of the Elderly Gentlemen's Cabaret appear to be quite an extraordinary phenomenon. They allow us to rediscover the somewhat forgotten ways of perceiving culture as a source of understanding, helping us live our lives more consciously. A discrete theatre pedagogy, allowing us to make ourselves more familiar with the works of Przybora and Wasowski, is a great material for awakening a personal interest, as well as an inspiration and a working method in sensitive education.

In this text is taken the issue of doctoral studies as the highest level of formal education as well as the first stage of their research careers. Use the category of “critical mass” I put questions about the PhD program in the discipline of Pedagogy. One of the context of analysis of “critical mass” is the number of the pedagogy students I and II degree and the social contexts of education as well as employability qualified pedagogs. Then, I ask, who and why needs a PhD in pedagogy. At the end I discuss the European trends in doctoral education with comparing it to the dominance the administrative and bureaucratic approach to doctoral studies in Poland.

This introduction to the volume outlines the conception of the pedagogical city. The author stresses flows, or continuous exchange between citizens as specific to city life. Such flows concern also thinking, which contributes to the creation of a community that one may identify, afer Aristotle, as koinopolis – an educational community of shared thinking, ‘a great teacher’. Against the background of the condition of the global city, the conception of pedagogical city contributes to the theory of social pedagogy, and to the conception of pedagogy of place in particular (including urban community education). One may speak, in this context, of koinpolitanism – a trait of thinking capable of inspiring the flow of changes taking place in the cities of today. The papers collected in this volume contribute to the development of this idea.

The ideas of pluralism, their various theoretical developments and ideological concretizations, as well as their promotion and the attempts at implementing them in social practice, constitute a current signum temporis. Pedagogical reflection seems to be particularly sensitive to the issue of pluralism, to its understanding and practising, to multidimensional references of pluralism to the world of values. This especially concerns the values and conflicts of values which are close to various forms of educational activity. What is considered – more or less critically – in pedagogical reflection are different aspects and consequences of the idea of pluralism concerning the currently existing ideas. Simultaneously, the multitude of the ideas of pluralism is taken into account – the ideas which refer to the broadly treated sphere of pedagogical activities and institutions. Pedagogical reflection also considers the threats which co-occur with pluralism or are aimed against it and which are carried by pluralism itself, e.g. in the sphere of education. An expert in the contemporary pedagogical thought and practice, Bogusław Śliwerski, asks: “Will we manage to save the world of pedagogical thought, the pedagogy open to difference, to pluralism (not to be mistaken for another illness which is relativism)?”. By confronting pluralistic perspectives of pedagogy with current ideological and social challenges, he makes this question one of the leading issues in pedagogical and metapedagogical studies. What seems to be heard in this question as well is the appeal to save the world of pedagogical thought as an open world characterized by pluralism, doing this through honest reasoning conducted from different standpoints and perspectives. The assumption of this question comprises the axiologically consolidated belief that it is worth “to save the world of pedagogical thought, the pedagogy open to pluralism”. This is also an inspiration to undertake the (presented in this text) thought concerning the pluralistic perspectives of pedagogy and various faces of pluralisms in the critical recognition of metapedagogical reflection in the case of the Polish pedagogical thought after 1989.

In the early 21st century, the concepts and theories which constitute the theoretical and methodological foundation of the traditional 20th century resocialization pedagogy (divided into three basic groups characterized by different theoretical and methodological approaches) got largely outdated. Therefore, contemporary resocialization pedagogy searches for new inspirations. What can become one of the new theoretical- methodological concepts is creative resocialization. The presented study concerns the assumptions of both the traditional resocialization pedagogy and its new varieties, with special focus on traditional and current theoretical and methodological contexts.

The article outlines the conceptual assumptions of pedagogy underlying university education, re-defined with regard to the dynamic conditions underlying contemporary culture. The authors concentrate on constitutive educational forms that define the nature of semiosis in education, as well as their exposure and transformation. In connection with this, there is a focus on the concept of “symbolic politics”, which aims to liberalize the practice of pedagogy, freeing it from the dictatorship of a transmission form of education, as well as creating conditions for strengthening discursive relationships and a reflexive discursive attitude. As a result of the implementation of this form of symbolic politics, those involved in education do not promote the prevailing discourse but become agents capable of discursive reflection in action as well as participants in processes of discursive design and creation.

The goal of this paper is to discuss changes implemented in Danish early childhood education influenced by neoliberal ideology, and views concerning the new requirements for teachers (pedagogues) at private and self-owned kindergartens. The paper describes the historical tradition of Danish kindergartens based on children’s free play and democracy, allowing children to develop social skills and cognition through exploration and discovery, and giving practitioners a great deal of autonomy. The new trend in Danish early childhood education is towards detailed planning of work and accountability-based-assessment, which contradicts the traditional philosophy. It pushes teachers to create programs that develop children’s readiness for school and to implement teaching methods based on educational standards mandated by the government. The results of this research project, based on interviews conducted with teachers and educational experts, demonstrates the educators’ criticism of this new approach and their attempts to save democracy as a central value in education

In the article, the author analyzes the phenomenon of adapting Bogdan Suchodolski's pedagogy to changing political circumstances several times: from his fascination with mainstream politics in the 1930s, through intensive practice of Marxist and socialist pedagogy after World War II, to universal humanism and tragic humanism in the 1970s and 80s. Following R. Englert, the author calls this adaptability of pedagogy to political changes “pedagogical cairology”.