Problematyka edukacyjna we współczesnej debacie publicznej

Abstract

The rise in social status of education is a characteristic of our time. It is determined by a complex network of various conditions, of which the most prominent are: democratic transformations in the modern world, dynamic progress in science and technology, development of the market economy, popularization of the modern means of information transfer, and globalization processes present in all aspects of life. In such a situation, education cannot remain outside the field of interest of the authorities and the political opposition. In Poland, as in other countries, the educational debate is dominated by the voices of conservatives, liberals, social democrats, and radical thought followers. In comparison with the Western countries, however, the ideological background of particular educational policies is not so obvious, and the views expressed by representatives of various political options are inconsistent, eclectic, and considerably more confused. Thus both the right- and the left-wing programmes of educational reform are incoherent and self-contradictory. Lack of sufficient support from own scientific research and an authentic domestic movement of pedagogical innovation brought about a tendency in Polish education to follow blindly foreign educational solutions. This lasted throughout the whole period of transformations. Still, many crucial educational topics remain outside the field of public debate, which may prove that it does not fulfil its elementary functions.