| dc.description.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. | en_EN |
