The aim of this article is to present the selected findings of the research carried out over the last decade on the situation of foreign pupils undergoing their education in Polish schools. The thesis being verified is that due to the lack of intercultural competencies of teachers, the educational institutions are not able to deal with the rising problems. Final conclusions point the necessity of changes in teacher training programs.

Contrary to the huge involvement of various social groups, implementation of numerous aid programmes, social exclusion, discrimination, marginalisation are still present in various social groups all over the world, and various strategies of social inclusion, including administrative and legal tools for its practical implementation, prove to be ineffective. The aim of this article is to indicate mutual dependencies and conditions as well as social contexts determining the illusory nature of inclusion activities undertaken, first of all, in relation to people with disabilities, but also people excluded from reasons other than disability.

According to Anthony Giddens, the state of social investment was to be the third way between neoliberalism and the post-war welfare state, the quintessence of a future-oriented approach in which the state becomes an entrepreneur. In this concept, state expenditures are perceived as a form of investment in human capital and understood as positive prosperity. The implementation of the state of social investment entails the phenomenon of citizenship of responsible risk recipients. In the literature on social investments, the reflection is repeated that this model is the result of the need to respond to the radically changed economic and social order, including the challenges of a globalized knowledge-based economy. The model encourages active participation in the search for solutions for social structural changes, such as aging population, changing the family model or the labour market. Despite the fact that the social investment model is based on the free market perceived as the most suitable for the organisation of societies, this is no longer the so-called inexorable market. It emphasizes the need for government intervention and targeting market forces to improve both economic and social performance. The aim of the article is to verify the thesis about the investment paradigm of social policy between free-market mechanisms and the welfare state, two extremely different interpretations of contemporary socioeconomic reality.

The article herein discusses selected issues of the effectiveness of public governance model at the Province level of self-governance in regard to providing support services to persons with disabilities. Described herein are tasks for carrying out the policy of social inclusion of persons with disabilities that are the responsibility of the Province self-governance. Also described is the method for carrying out the said tasks and the most frequently used model of public governance. Discussed also are the critical challenges and flaws of the said model of public governance. Presented also are some suggestions for changes in regard to the discussed areas. The aim of the article is to analyze province social policy toward people with disabilities. The article also attempts to evaluate the methods used to implement it. The article is based on the analysis of legal acts regarding the social inclusion policy of persons with disabilities at the level of the province, with particular emphasis on the content of province programs on equal opportunities for people with disabilities and counteracting social exclusion and assistance in the implementation of tasks for the employment of disabled people. When writing an article, the dogmatic method was used in the analytical approach. The article proposes a thesis that the collaborative governance model used to implement the social inclusion policy of disabled people at the province level does not ensure sufficient control over the efficiency of using public funds, and thus does not guarantee the effective implementation of public tasks by non-public entities.

W artykule zaprezentowano główne teoretyczne i socjopolityczne argumenty tworzące tło dla inkluzji edukacyjnej. Uwypuklono w tym zakresie niektóre ważne zagadnienia związane z implementacją idei inkluzji w edukacji na gruncie humanistycznym i demokratycznym. Szczególną uwagę zwrócono na tzw. kluczowe kompetencje nauczycieli jako uczestników edukacji włączającej, a także na wymagania wobec personelu zarządzającego instytucjami oświatowymi. Artykuł prezentuje pewne sposoby rozwiązywania problemów w przyszłości, głównie poprzez edukację i szkolenie nauczycieli.

Intergenerational solidarity: anachronism or a chance for modern dimension of sustainable social responsibility?

This work is an attempt to answer the question whether in times of crises, digitalisation and the mediatization of social bonds the idea of intergenerational solidarity is still valid. The authoress provocatively questions the thoughts on social responsibility for the fate of the next generation. At the same time she wonders what the modern face of family interpersonal relationships in society is; sees a change, opportunities and threats. Reveals the best practices, based on which young people can promote intergenerational solidarity at local and regional levels and presents her point of view in terms of promoting effective solutions to exploit the potential of older people.

Intercultural education in the face of disability culture. Activities of selected NGOs in Lesser Poland Voivodeship – an empirical illustration

The article adopts a cultural understanding of the experiences of people with disabilities. Its purpose is an attempt to discuss disability as a minority culture in the context of the opportunities presented by intercultural education. From the perspective of the sociology of minority groups, the extent to which the dominant group’s perception of minority as cultural one is shared by the minority itself is relevant. In order to look at in-group concepts of education (using the Klon/Jawor database), the documents of NGOs from Lesser Poland Voivodeship involved in the education of people with disabilities were analyzed. The article refers to the minority nature of disability, the culture of people with disabilities, the state of expert literature on the education of this minority, and the results of our own research. It is based on an analysis of the literature on the subject and a study of the data collected from organizations dealing with people with disabilities, which set goals and tasks of an educational nature. The results of the conducted research indicate that there is a small number of initiatives aimed at building a culture of disability and that they are scattered, which in turn implies a lack of an institutional network of disability culture (at least in Lesser Poland Voivodeship).

In the article I have presented the opinions and assessments of experts/ practitioners working with handicapped people on the causes, fields of social exclusion, factors facilitating and impeding their social inclusion. The research described in the text presents a short report on the research conducted by me in 2010, which will be published in the book entitled Danger of the Social Exclusion of Disabled Women.