Uniwersyteckie kształcenie nauczycieli historii w okresie Drugiej Rzeczypospolitej

Abstract

Graduates of historical studies from five state universities (University of Warsaw, Poznan, the Jan Kazimierz University in Lvov, and the Stefan Batory University in Vilnius) that were active during the Second Republic of Poland were primarily employed in the secondary school sector. With that perspective in mind, they were adequately trained in subject contents, methodology and (to a lesser degree) teaching techniques. First of all, the students participated in historic seminars covering all major epochs in history and supplementary disciplines, social and economic history and regional history. They listened to lectures delivered by many outstanding historians, such as M. Handelsman, O. Halecki, W. Tokarz, L. Piotrowicz, W. Konopczyński, J. Dąbrowski, K. Tymieniecki, A. Skalkowski, F. Bujak. The supervisors of all seminars in contemporary universities were leading historians who guaranteed a high level of studies. There were few practical classes and assistants’ task was to prepare books, bibliographical sources and other didactic aids more than to conduct teaching activities. An important factor that had a great influence on the course and the outcome of historical studies was equipping university libraries and laboratories with textbooks and other published materials. Universities varied considerably in that respect Warsaw and Cracow were equipped best, in Vilnius the situation was the worst. The list of authors of major textbooks included the names of L. Piotrowicz, R. Gródecki, J. Dąbrowski, S. Zachorowski, W. Konopczyński, H. Mościcki, A. Szelagowski, O. Halecki, W. Sobieski and others. The mentioned Piotrowicz also prepared a set of wall maps for ancient history (Greece, Italy, and the Roman Empire). The system and course of M.A. seminars at the pre-war universities reveal a considerable strictness of studies completion and obtaining the M.A. degree. The activity of the Pedagogical College, and especially teaching programmes and curriculum of methods of teaching history course appear very interesting and may be an inspiration for the modem teacher training practice at university level nowadays.