TABLE OF CONTENTS

SPIS TREŚCI

Holistic concepts like culture have faced criticism for potentially shielding research from rigorous empirical testing. This study investigates whether cultural distinctions between Swedish-speaking and Finnish-speaking students can be empirically supported: that is, the microfoundations of school cultures. Specifically, the study compares the antecedent of sisu (self-discipline) among 15- to 17-year-old Swedes, Finnish-speaking Finns, and Swedish-speaking Finns. Using structural equation modelling on crosssectional survey data, we estimated and compared path coefficients and descriptive statistics from 2,691 participants. The findings reveal notable differences among Finnish-speaking Finns concerning the relationship between internet use in school and sisu, which also manifest as genderspecific differences, as the negative association between increased internet use in class and sisu is more pronounced among boys than girls. This gender discrepancy is less evident among Swedes and Swedish-speaking Finns. Another significant finding pertains to the relationship between obedience and sisu among Finnish-speaking Finns. For girls, there is a moderate positive association, while no such relationship exists for boys, indicating that Finnish-speaking girls are more likely than boys to respect teachers’ authority. This gender difference is not observed among Swedish-speaking Finns or Swedes. Overall, Swedish-speaking Finns exhibit path coefficient patterns more similar to Swedes than to Finnish-speaking Finns.

The Japanese realm of the sacred in its historical form has, since the dawn of time, been imbued with animistic, indigenous beliefs in supernatural deities, which subsequently evolved into the constitution of Shintō. With the arrival of Buddhism in the Japanese archipelago in the sixth century, a peculiar amalgam emerged, permanently defining Japanese culture, its syncretism, permeability, and openness to influences, particularly from China. Enriching the religious landscape with Confucianism, Daoist teachings as well as the phenomenon of sects (new religious movements), Japanese religiosity exemplifies an unusual fusion of philosophical and spiritual elements. The aim of this article is to provide an overview of the peculiarities of Japan’s religious mosaic, the dynamics of the intermingling of various philosophical currents and, and to demonstrate the idiographic nature of the religious landscape of contemporary Japan. The latter, as it turns out, is a fractious example of East Asian multiculturalism, open to religious eclecticism, syncretism, and mutual borrowing. A theoretical grasp of the above will be complemented by a presentation of two syncretic strands, namely shinbutsu-shūgo and shugendō.

The article deals with the results of the psychopedagogical experiment to find Polish and Ukrainian aspects of implementing the analysis methodology of social significance of a personal conflict behavior, made by the students. The study has been applied with the use of the authorial pscyhopedagogical exercises “Vibrations: ‘Me in a Conflict’” and “Vibrations: ‘Me and the World’”. The exercises were developed on the basis of archaic and historical, bioenergetical, art-therapeutic and systematic approaches. The study tasks implied to engage student youth to realize a social significance of a personal conflict behavior. It was concluded that youth usually consider a social conflict as the one which “exists separately” as an independent “mechanism”. They often forget that a person is an element of a social system; a number of negative psychoemotional conflicting behavioral patterns (intrapersonal and interpersonal conflicts) make psychoemotional state of the World – a social conflict on a systemic approach. At the same time, students’ comprehension of this aspect is not the understanding and a direct definite change of the worldview and a personal conflict behavior. With free vibrations description on the models of the psychopedagogical, and experimentally proved, an individual subconsciously states the sense of the conflict-making problem as the fact that everything starts with us, our responsibility for the display of a personal conflict behavior that is an intrapersonal conflict. The students prove the assumption made in the beginning: social conflicts start with an intrapersonal and the transfer into an interpersonal conflict of every person, and a cultural difference makes its intensification. In spite of a significant influence of a cultural difference made by the students, this definite experiment didn’t show the difference in the analysis results of a personal conflict behavior performed by Polish and Ukrainian youth. Additionally, Polish and Ukrainian students unambiguously specified the developed psychopedgogical exercises of the analysis methodology of a social significance of a personal conflict behavior made by students, as effective ones. At the same time there appears an urgent need for intercultural education of the necessity to form a personal anti-conflict behavior based on a tolerant recognition “of people of different cultures, and different cultures in one person”.

This study investigates the factors that hinder the professional development of cultural personnel in Poland despite their participation in skills training. The analysis was based on research carried out among cultural personnel in the Pomeranian Voivodeship in the second half of 2021, in collaboration with the Baltic Sea Cultural Centre in Gdańsk. Through a sociological lens, this study examines the narratives of cultural sector employees who report that skills training fails to yield the expected outcomes such as career advancement or improved organisational functioning. This study explores the reasons behind the negative outcomes of lowefficiency skills training, such as reduced job satisfaction, demotivation, and the desire to leave the cultural sector. The analysis is contextualised within the critical description of the Polish cultural sector’s conditions over the past few decades, focusing on employee hiring practices. This study highlights the systemic problem of limited professionalisation in the cultural sector in relation to skills training.

The article is a presentation of the results of our own research. Global threats were made the key research category, the characteristics of which are listed and described in the text. A procedure of our own research is presented in the article and the results obtained are analysed and interpreted. The aim of the research was to find out opinions on the probability of the occurrence of global threats and the strength of their potential impact on the social order in Poland in a ten-year perspective. The research was carried out by means of a diagnostic survey with the use of an original survey questionnaire. Three waves of the survey were conducted: in 2018, 2020 and 2022. The article identifies differences in the assessment of specific threats and their types in successive waves of the survey. From 2020 onwards, the highest rating is given to the probability and strength of the potential impact of economic risks on Poland. A systematic increase in the overall rating of the probability of occurrence and strength of the potential impact of threats on the country’s social order has also been documented.

present a theoretical and empirical perspective of life perception in the context of young people from two types of schools: primary school (13–15 years old pupils) and high school (16–18 years old students). Theoretical framework based on two theories: cognitive-experiential self-theory of personality by S. Epstein (1985, 1991, 1994, 2003) and Urie Brofenbrenner’s ecological theory (1979) and Polish condition for development in local environment described by many authors (Bańka, 2002; Mendel, 2005; Pilch, Lepalczyk, 1995, Theiss, 2001 and others). I was looking for dependencies between the image of life and interpersonal relations, dependencies between interpersonal relations and the sense of effectiveness and the differentiation of living conditions depending on the size of the place of residence (big city/medium sized cities/small town and rural environment). The image of life was analysed as beliefs about the ability to control events in it and personal effectiveness vs helplessness is a phenomenon mostly determined by learning experiences (reactions of the environment to the individual’s actions), although in part they are developmental in nature, being related to cognitive, emotional and social development. The results of the research, provided by diagnostic survey method, show that in adolescents aged 13–15, the image of life correlates significantly (p˂0,05) and positively (r˃0) with total interpersonal relationships and all its subscales (prosociality, non-aggressiveness, self towards others, support, no threat, others against me). In adolescents aged 16–18, I note significant correlations only in a few parameters – prosociality, self towards others, support and together with the category of interpersonal relations. I did not notice any statistically significant differentiation of living conditions depending on the size of the place of residence among young people aged 13–15 (all of them p>0,05). For the oldest group – among adolescents aged 16–18 – I find lower levels of self-efficiency in students in large cities. It is significantly lower than among adolescents from medium-sized cities and significantly lower than among adolescents from small towns and rural areas among adolescents aged 16–18. It confirmed that social ties, relationships in medium size cities, small towns and rural environments are more close and significant, and offer more opportunities for supporting personal development than big cities for adolescents at their 16–18 years of age.

The aim of the study was to explore the determinants of well-being and subjective happiness of high school students. The article presents the perception of happiness and the determinants of psychological well-being among high school students. The study was conducted on a sample of 60 high school students in Białystok, aged 16 to 18, using the Ryff’s Psychological Wellbeing Scale and a custom questionnaire to measure subjective happiness. The study employed both quantitative and qualitative methods. The results indicate that youth well-being is influenced by elements such as positive emotions, a sense of security and stability, social relationships, achieving goals and successes, as well as faith and spirituality. Considering the timeline, half of the respondents evaluated that current events have the greatest impact on their happiness. The largest group among the respondents – a total of 39% – rated themselves as less happy than others. The article also discusses the theoretical frameworks of well-being and happiness, including Seligman’s PERMA model and Ryff’s model of psychological well-being.

The purpose of this paper is to reveal practical creative activities within the framework of recognizing and developing passion and creative abilities of students aged 13 to 16 years of age, implemented at the Talent Academy of the Youth University of Real Education (MUER). The presented cyclical program initiated by the PRO Foundation is being implemented with the support of academic instructors from higher education institutions located within the Białystok Science and Technology Park. The initiative is an example of voluntary and free, non-formal education focused on expanding students’ development resources. The goal of the program is to develop key practical competencies of youth, including creative, social, and civic, which are necessary for functioning in real life. The paper assumes that the Talent Academy is an example of educational practice that creates a specific climate conducive to developing its students’ creativity and passion. For this purpose, an analysis was conducted of forms and methods of working with project participants in the context of the constituent elements of the selected creative climate concepts (Ekvall, 1996; Ekvall & Ryhammar, 1999; Hunter et al., 2005; Karwowski, 2009, 2019).

Young people are increasingly engaging in contacts via social media. Although this activity is primarily a form of entertainment, students also treat social media as a learning-supporting tool. The aim of the studies presented in this paper was to determine whether using Facebook as an e-learning platform brings satisfying academic performance. Additionally, the application of the gamification feature was examined. Two quasi-experiments were conducted in which some of the subjects took part in traditional classes, while others participated in asynchronous classes conducted on social media. The results of the first experiment demonstrated that a Facebook-run e-learning course contributed to higher grades, while the second experiment showed the opposite effect. Gamification had a neutral or negative impact on the grades. The results are discussed in the context of differences between the designs of the two Facebook courses. The paper makes suggestions for future SNS-based or SNS-assisted classes. It is proposed to use informational feedback instead of a controlling one. Additionally, the use of team work is encouraged. The discussion includes a reflection on students’ autonomy.

Polish and foreign educational research on emotions is constantly developing. Scientific research conducted in schools and public libraries has not yet focused on the emotions felt by children in libraries. The article aims to reflect on the library as an educational space with its own emotional climate and to analyse the results of the pilot study and the primary version of the School Library Emotional Climate Questionnaire tool used in it. The study was conducted in a public primary school in Poland between April 2023 and June 2023 and 57 respondents took part. The study’s conclusions emphasise the importance of research on the emotional climate of libraries in developing solutions to improve the quality of functioning of this educational space.

The concept of Health Promoting Schools (HPS) aims to cause the desired changes in the health of the whole school community. Simultaneously, pupils are among the most important actors in the school setting. The successful implementation of the HPS idea depends on pupils’ active participation and contribution – which can be considered in the context of co-production services. It is based on the assumption that the effectiveness of services depends on broad involvement and appropriate contribution to their implementation not only by the organisers, but also by the direct recipients. Co-production can also develop in other phases: shaping the value chain, service planning, design, launch, management, delivery, monitoring and evaluation. Therefore, co-production builds support for planned interventions and creates a sense of co-responsibility among people involved in its development. Interventions that encourage stakeholder co-production are increasing, particularly in schools. The article discusses quantitative research results conducted among 500 school coordinators of HPS Programs implemented in Polish primary and secondary schools belonging to the HPS Network. So far, no research has been done in Poland on students’ co-productive behaviour as part of HPS programmes. Therefore, this article shows the potential of co-production approaches to promote health in Polish schools more effectively.

The subject and objectives of the research are conditioned by the topicality of STEAM education and the need for STEAM competences, the integration of science basics, the formation of competences in pre-service teachers and students, the instruction of the scientific method in teaching, the study of STEAM teaching methods, the dynamically developing digital society, gaps in the job market for IT specialists. Adequate hypotheses were developed. The study utilized various research methodologies, such as a review of existing literature, specific experimental studies, and the creation of research instruments like a questionnaire and a self-assessment for STEAM competencies based on the Likert scale from 1 to 5. The participants comprised pedagogy students from the University of Silesia in Poland (US) and Borys Grinchenko Kyiv University in Ukraine (BGKU), along with both pre-service and in-service teachers. The findings present key research outcomes and offer recommendations for higher education institutions and pre-service teachers.

The aim of the exploration is the attempt of complacency capture amongst teachers of elementary schools and organization’s culture as their workplace at urban terrain in Podkarpackie Voivodeship in Poland. The research was conducted in June, 2023 amongst 219 teachers from 17 public schools, what was 63% of education’s institutions from one research area. The Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI) created by Cameron and Quinn, was used to collect research material. Thanks to the questionnaire, it was possible to get opinions of the respondents on current and expected types of organization’s culture of their workplace (clan, adhocracy, market, hierarchy). It was proved that the respondents’ opinions are discrepant from their vision of well-managed institutions. The analysis of current and expected states revealed not only dominant types of the chosen elementary schools’ organization culture but also it enabled the Author to capture everyday difficulties of teachers at school. Only the need for school competitiveness (the market) in the opinions of those surveyed is non-differentiating aspect of the organization’s found and expected culture. Divergent perceptions of the present and desired other types of culture (clan, adhocracy, hierarchy) may result in an unfavorable sense of security among the surveyed elementary school teachers.