The Polish Philology Didactics Congress (an interview)
The Polish Philology Didactics Congress began yesterday at the University of Wrocław. This year’s slogan was: “Disapproval – resistance – rebellion in the educational sphere.” We are discussing the event with prof. Marcin Cieński and prof. Dorota Michułka – the organisers of the Congress and members of the Faculty of Letters at the University of Wrocław.
More about the Congress: link
Agata Mitek: What are the main aims of this year’s Polish Philology Didactics Congress?
Prof. Cieński, prof. Michułka: This year’s Polish Philology Didactics Congress—“Disapproval – resistance – rebellion in the educational sphere”—will be interdisciplinary. We want to debate various matters related to Polish philology education in the broad sense—within both academia and schools—and to evaluate the combination of theory with practice. The aim here is not only to discuss philological issues whose subject and goal is an evaluation of the text from a linguistic perspective, a demonstration of its literary properties, of cultural and historical contexts, and finally in the long-term scientific perspective – a commentary, analysis, and interpretation of the text. We also wish to present the role of Polish philology—and Polish philology didactics—as a humanistic category embedded in a broader perspective, in connection with sociology, philosophy, pedagogy, psychology, cultural studies, and media studies. For that reason, we invited specialists representing various disciplines to deliver the plenary speeches, in the hope of a constructive interdisciplinary dialogue which will enable establishing the future role and position of humanistic education and determining the ever-changing role of school didactics of Polish studies. What bonded this year’s discussions together were the conversations of the specialists regarding the new “Polish studies” scientific discipline, as well as the changes in the education system and the school education reform. The reform, which has been in preparation since October 2023 and is being crafted by the team of experts under the tutelage of minister Barbara Nowacka and deputy minister Katarzyna Lubnauer, encourages a broader social debate.
AM: What are the main subjects which will be raised during the Congress?
Prof. Cieński, prof. Michułka: Our substantive anchor points and key concepts are the categories of disapproval, resistance, and rebellion. We decided that rebellion—in the philosophical, psychological, social, political, or axiological context (as a description of the human condition and ethical stances) against the existing values, social orders, legal regulations, and historical circumstances—is a natural human behaviour and may also be constructive. In addition, it undoubtedly affects humanistic education at large, shows people’s reactions to limiting prohibitions and regulations by foreseeing the necessity for change, provokes to evaluate the “old” order and to take on new challenges. It strengthens commitment and motivates actions directed at specific goals.
Within the educational sphere, reflections on the subject of resistance and rebellion clearly point to a socio-moral context which reveals, among others, the generational conflict—e.g. between a parent and a child or a teacher and a student—as well as a dispute about the “old” and the “new” values.
These issues are also very important for Polish teachers.
As we stated in the invitations to the Congress, rebellion in the educational sphere is also aimed at the excessive institutionalisation, programming, and functionalisation of teaching, at the mechanical encyclopaedisation and bureaucratisation of educational activities. Students—and teachers—therefore often rebel against assigned readings, literary cannons, and archaic interpretations, which hence conduces to new interpretations of literary classics or the search for new authority figures and role models. As researchers of children’s and young adult literature (a field with a 70-year-old tradition in the Institute of Polish Philology at the University of Wrocław), we also wanted to pay attention to teenage characters from children’s and young adult literature, who rebel against social restraints and patterns of life – the outsiders, loners, reformists, or ambivalent personalities which are linked by developmental psychology of children and adolescents with a natural—rebellious—attitude towards the world at this stage of development. Simultaneously, we wished to demonstrate that rebellious characters are brilliant observers of the world, who notice the lies, dishonesty, and evil of the adult world, and are often open to action and agency.
Rebellion is also a constructive element of changes in attitude towards literature and contemporary culture. It reveals the resistance to fossilised aesthetical norms, cognitive habits; stereotypical ideas about the world and its relations to the matter of art; disapproval of imitativeness, mimicry, and the conservative social function of art (after all, numerous avant-garde movements resulted from rebellious activities). In the research on literature, culture, and humanistic education from the point of view of rebellion and resistance, there also appeared a reflection-stimulating ethical turn, and difficult discussions about axiology and values—so significant in Polish language education and in shaping young people’s social competences. Another important subject of discussion during the congress will be the attempt to show how literature and Polish language education translate to the social sphere, and how literature and language may be utilised in societal actions—for instance, in terms of multicultural education, inclusive education, polemics, debates, the intercultural dialogue, or cultivating tolerance for Others. In other words, we want to demonstrate how to try to engage a young person in the problems of the contemporary world and “combine” student participation in culture with young people’s agency.
AM: Who can participate in the Congress? Is it open to a broad audience or directed mostly to specialists?
Prof. Cieński, prof. Michułka: We invited representatives of various professions related to humanistic education sensu lato; Polish teachers who are either a part of or are interested in all education-related fields, both in academic circles and beyond. We wanted to demonstrate the relations between scientific research and school practice (e.g. in the sphere of the school reception of literature) and to incorporate different perspectives of research related to the sphere of education (showing the theoretical aspects and the problems of practical didactics). Our goal was a multiplicity of voices—university professors, literary scholars, linguists, cultural experts, librarians, pedagogists, psychologists, sociologists, media experts, Polish teachers – in short: everyone who is involved in Polish education in the broad sense, in theory and in practice.
AM: What are the most important speakers of the Congress? Would you be able to name some key participants?
Prof. Cieński, prof. Michułka: We would like to emphasise the participation of a number of distinguished researchers who are going to deliver their plenary speeches at the congress. The invited speakers represent various scientific disciplines and research areas, including literary studies, linguistics, culture studies, philosophy, political science, psychology, intellectual history, cognitive narratology, cultural anthropology, social communication, journalism, and humanistic education at large (with the inclusion of engaged humanities and media studies), and most importantly – Polish education and school didactics. Among many others, we would like to enumerate: prof. Ryszard Nycz, prof. Tadeusz Sławek, prof. Ryszard Koziołek, prof. Magdalena Rembowska – Płuciennik, prof. Jarosław Płuciennik, prof. Bogumiła Kaniewska, prof. Igor Borkowski, prof. Marcin Cieński, prof. Tomasz Chachulski, prof. Leszek Koczanowicz, prof. Grzegorz Leszczyński, prof. Anna Oleszkowicz, prof. Krzysztof Biedrzycki, prof. Anna Janus – Sitarz, and our prominent linguist – prof. Jan Miodek.
AM: Could you tell us more about the panel discussions and workshops which will take place during the Congress?
Prof. Cieński, prof. Michułka: The rich programme includes a number of panel discussions related to domains of discourse which are important from the point of view of the challenges in contemporary humanistic education and in Polish education of the 21st century: “Reform of education: about rebellion and challenges in the face of the currently proposed changes”, “Ecodidactics”, “Algorithms and the rebellion of subjects. Advanced technologies in humanistic education”, “Literary awards: literary life institutions or tools for renegotiating the cannon?”, “Word and image in school and academic Polish education”, “Polish studies abroad”, “Children’s and young adult literature: the (post)revolution landscape.” Additionally, we have some thematic sections: “(Re)visions of the cannon and the core curriculum”, “Disapproval of boredom, or on the innovations in school education”, “The new Polish teacher – ‘post-rebellion’”, “The Polish teachers’ resistance to constant change”, “Old Polish challenges of contemporary didactics – accustoming to rebellion”, “Rebellion against values, rebellion as a value and a path to dialogue – ‘crises’ of contemporaneity and a new edition of axiology.” Apart from scientific debates, it is worth it to visit two cultural institutions, important for Wrocław: the Wrocław Literature House where we will meet with writers: Anna Cieplak, Filip Zawada, and Marcin Czub, and the Performative Arts Centre of the Grotowski Institute for a spectacle/performance/art installation called “Seven”. There will also be various didactic workshops conducted by practical didactics, educators, creative writing specialists, and researchers who study education through theatre, for example: “Rebellion against the cannon or praise for tradition”, “Theatre in Polish education – postdramatism, playing with Stanislavski, and the relationality of affect”, “Rebellion against traditional assessment? Gamification techniques in practice.”
AM: What are your expectations towards the results of the Congress? What changes or actions is this event supposed to inspire?
Prof. Cieński, prof. Michułka: This event is prestigious in the area of discourse which is currently conducted in the scientific and public sphere in connection to the new position and function of Polish education in contemporary humanistic studies and to the role of Polish studies as a new scientific discipline. We hope it will enable an integration of scientific and teaching communities, foster the creation of shared objectives in the education of Polish teachers in the 21st century, and facilitate the modification, transformation, and changes within university curricula in humanistic fields—mostly ones connected to philology and culture studies. We believe that contemporary Polish teachers should be equipped with new competences connected to a variety of scientific disciplines and fields concerning not only literature and language, but also knowledge of culture—film studies, theatre studies, art history—and knowledge of media (e.g. new technologies). They should have social skills, be open to the new challenges of the contemporary world and ready to talk about difficult and controversial subjects. It seems to us that it is not the mandatory literature cannon or a list of specific examples of Polish and foreign literature masterpieces that will determine the shape of contemporary education of children and adolescents. Instead, we would like to create a “set” of important issues, topics, and problems, around which we could gather texts that are worth discussing. Another education reform is ahead of us, and with it a new core curriculum and new schoolbooks. Perhaps during the Conference, we will be able to establish the demands which will be taken into consideration by the Ministry of National Education, as they prepare new educational documents and curricular guidelines, crucial for future Polish education on all levels. That is what we are hoping for.
AM: How do you picture the role of Polish studies in the contemporary world? In what way does the Conference foster its development? What challenges is this branch of science currently facing?
Prof. Cieński, prof. Michułka: The attitude to the role, position, and function of Polish studies—also as a new scientific discipline—has changed over the past few years.
There are several research areas inspired by the arrangements of the 2023 “Towards New Polish Studies” Programme Conference organized by the University of Silesia, which became a certain set of guidelines and future postulates for us, Polish teachers. The chances of Polish studies as a discipline were emphasised during the conference, demonstrating its formative role in determining a new national identity, its significance in building democracy and shaping new socio-cultural competences. Naturally, the participants pointed to its new links with linguistics and literary studies, as well as other disciplines; they also emphasized the new principles of synergy. The meaning of various subjects was included in the discussions, for example text editing, relations between old and contemporary literature, comparative literature; different methods and theories used in Polish studies research were accentuated. The infrastructure of Polish studies was also considered, with a special stress on the subjects of evaluation, grants, publishing houses, competitions, and the position of Polish studies within the university structure. There was an emphasis on the new role of digital Polish studies, in connection to digital tools in the work of Polish teachers, digitalisation, and research networks. As established in the discussions, the internationalisation—e.g. glottodidactics, translation studies, global Polish studies—of modern Polish studies will have a major role in determining its position in humanistic research.
Finally, the participants debated on the subject so important to us—the prospective teacher training in Polish studies and its wise programming which should include the rapidly changing reality, the civilisational, social, and cultural changes; and by extension, on the new role of Polish teachers who, in their work as mentors for children and teenagers, face social and political challenges of the 21st century, and the unsteady value systems.
It seems to us that the 2024 Polish Philology Didactics Congress organised by the Institute of Polish Studies aligns perfectly with this discourse. We hope that the interdisciplinary nature of the issues discussed at the congress will define the new social role and vital position of Polish studies in modern humanities and in the new, action- and agency-oriented education of future Polish teachers.
AM: In what way does the Congress determine contemporary problems of Polish education and the education of children and adolescents?
Prof. Cieński, prof. Michułka: The issues connected to challenges and difficulties in contemporary Polish education of children and adolescents appeared in the programme of the Congress in two dimensions.
Firstly, in relation to problems strictly connected to Polish education, e.g.: students not reading the assigned texts, overloaded curricula (on all levels of school education), surplus of assigned readings, lack of time to cover certain cultural texts and to cultivate one’s interests and hobbies, poor reading abilities (especially apparent in the case of longer or archaic texts), radical functionalisation of Polish education (for example, focusing largely on preparations for school-leaving exams), shortage of texts which would relate to contemporary times, lack of subjects relatable for 21st-century students, and insufficient media competences of teachers.
Secondly, in relation to problems of pedagogy, as well as developmental psychology of children and adolescents, especially the problems children and teenagers face as they try to adjust to contemporary reality which often poses a threat to them in both the emotional and the social sphere: disinformation on the Internet and cyberbullying, involvement in social media, lack of proper relations with peers in real life, axiological confusion and a search for solid values, lack of agreement with adults (parents and teachers), lack of authority figures; and finally peer pressure, aggression, and bullying, which often generate a lack of self-confidence, social isolation, and loneliness, which in turn lead to substance abuse, and eventually—depression.
AM: Have you noticed any changes in the attitude towards literature and the Polish language as a school subject in the last few years?
Prof. Cieński, prof. Michułka: Yes, the formula of Polish education has changed over the last few years. The curricula—within both university and school education—have been expanded to incorporate more than literary texts: cultural texts (films, plays, paintings), functional texts (e.g. journalistic or non-fiction), texts from the sphere of popular culture (e.g. crime fiction, fantasy, comics, graphic novels), and media texts (e.g. computer games, along with the issue of gamification). Linguistics now includes more than descriptive grammar—it extends to the role of language in social communication, in dialogue, polemic, and debate skills, in theory and practice of argumentation, in the language of journalism and advertising (e.g. the language of persuasion), and in media language which may spread misinformation. Subjects such as the art of writing—which a lot of students still struggle with— (e.g. journalistic workshops or creative writing classes, popular among young people these days), elements of language culture or rhetoric (as the art of speaking) should, as we believe, play a great part in modern Polish education.
Thus, as indicated by the modifications and transformations of Polish education programmes, which have taken place in the last few years (in both academia and schools), there is a distinct aspiration towards interdisciplinary pursuits in relation to humanistic education (including non-formal education) and engaged humanities (with a special emphasis on the development of social and cultural competences). It seems to us that the above arrangements are explicitly confirmed by the subjects of speeches at our Congress.
Translated by Natalia Tkaczuk (student of English Studies at the University of Wrocław) as part of the translation practice.
