Z zagadnień budowania katedr

Abstract

Using the polysemy of the word, the author of the article sketches an analogy between building the mediaeval cathedrals and building university chairs. The similarity of both processes is noticeable in the existence of the tradition of long-term team effort, involving many people, which is the determinant of culture. This idea is developed on the example of the history of the Chair of Literature and Polish Language Didactics, established in 1958 in the Higher School of Pedagogy in Krakow. It is noticed that the decisive factors in the establishment, gradual organization and development, and consolidation of the chair staff were: a) specific needs of professional teacher training, b) formation of tools and methods of the team’s work which fostered extension of the team, c) clear description of the team’s scientific aims and didactic assignments in the functional organism of Polish studies in a pedagogical higher school. The present outline briefly presents subsequent generations of academics contributing to the shape and determining the scientific identity of the chair, starting with its Founding Father, Professor Władysław Szyszkowski. However, more attention is devoted to the conditions of constructing a numerous and well-functioning team. The listed determinants are: 1) consistency in acknowledging the unity of didactics of the Polish literature and the Polish language, which corresponds to the structure of teaching Polish at school; 2) attention paid to enriching the offer of subjects associated with the methodology lectures and classes; 3) strengthening the integrative role of didactic reflection in the structure of the Polish studies, and 4) focusing on the scientific research obligation, supported with the freedom of critical discussion on the team forum, and with collaborative research initiatives. These team actions (which are listed in detail in the article) bore fruit in the form of numerous and diverse individual publications, characterized by a common school of thought, and gradually articulating the foundations of the anthropocentric-cultural concept of teaching Polish. Over the five decades, the intensity of the team’s research effort has been reflected in the great number of doctoral and habilitation dissertations, devoted to the problems of teaching literature and developing language skills. The author notices that at present, with five independent researchers (with post-doctoral degrees) in the chair, after some of the researchers are deceased or retired, or assigned new tasks, the team faces a new situation, and questions arise concerning the directions of its further scientific development.