W niniejszym artykule autor przedstawia problem kryzysu legitymizacyjnego współczesnej demokracji. Dane empiryczne wskazują, że obywatele wielu skonsolidowanych demokracji stają się dzisiaj coraz bardziej nieufni (cyniczni) wobec wartości, jaką jest demokratyczny system polityczny. Okazuje się, że problem ten dotyczy dzisiaj młodszych pokoleń obywateli. Autor próbuje odpowiedzieć na pytanie o to, jak młodzi ludzie (studenci) postrzegają i oceniają system polityczny w Polsce, także stara się przedstawić szerszy społeczny kontekst legitymizacji demokracji. Dlatego też analizuje związek pomiędzy preferowanym modelem władzy a poglądami na skali przekonań autorytarnych/demokratycznych.

Opracowanie jest próbą spojrzenia na miejsce, jakie zajmuje edukacja uniwersytecka w procesie budowania projektu życiowego przez młodych dorosłych/cieszyńskich studentów na pograniczu polsko-czeskim. W tekście podjęty został ważny wątek, opisujący stosunek młodych ludzi do kształcenia, rozumianego nie tylko jako proces podnoszenia poziomu swojego wykształcenia, ale - w głównej mierze - wzrostu życiowych kompetencji, a także podnoszenia poziomu zadowolenia ze swojego życia. Jednym z wymiernych efektów tego procesu powinno być bardziej świadome podejmowanie decyzji i odpowiedzialności za siebie, a także własne życie i dokonywane wybory. Grupą, która w sposób najbardziej bezpośredni może tego doświadczać, jest młodzież studiująca, w tym opracowaniu opisywana jako „młodzi dorośli”. Przed nią bowiem otwiera się szansa nabywania nowych umiejętności w oglądzie świata i swojego w nim miejsca, które wzrastać powinny wraz z okazją do zauważania i pomnażania własnych zasobów, by łatwiej zabezpieczyć swoją przyszłość. Studiujący młodzi dorośli na pograniczu polsko-czeskim stanowią grupę, dla której ten etap edukacji jest przepustką do dojrzałości, a obecne w nim wydarzenia współtworzą jakość ich życia. Wspomniani młodzi dorośli są świadomi potrzeby utrzymania wysokiego statusu wiedzy i kompetencji za pośrednictwem sprofilowanej i ustawicznej edukacji, co sprzyja ocenie ich własnego życia jako zgodnego z zadaniem rozwojowym tego okresu i satysfakcjonującego na tym etapie.

Distance learning of pedagogy students during the COVID-19 pandemic – empirical considerations

The article presents the results of research conducted in 2020 among students of pedagogy of the Institute of Education and Communication Research of the Silesian University of Technology in Gliwice (Poland) regarding the evaluation of the quality of remote education introduced in response to the situation caused by the global COVID-19 pandemic and compared them with the results obtained by others native and foreign researchers, which made it possible to specify several conclusions for further work on the application of this form of education in academic education. The main method used in the research was a diagnostic survey with the technique assigned to it. The survey, taking into account the current situation of the university, resulting from distance learning during the pandemic, as well as other information disclosed by the media, consisted of two parts. The first part contained four questions (including those relating to demographic conditions). The second part consisted of questions focused on the research issues set out in this study, the main purpose of which was to learn about the opinions and views of students of pedagogy on compulsory distance education, implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results of the research have brought a lot of new information, important for the extended analyzes and measurements of remote education conducted in many countries during the lockdown, which will allow, during possible subsequent epidemic threats, to exclude the diagnosed and identified problems that hinder the implementation of remote education of students.

Development of students’ social competence in an age of online learning

The article is the research report. The aim of the investigation was to address the question how students evaluate the development of their social competence regarding learning online which became inevitable due to the COVID19 pandemic. 350 students from three universities in Opole participated in the research. The diagnostic survey method was applied. In order to collect the research material, an original online survey questionnaire was used. The study participants responded to questions on the basis of a fivepoint scale. The analysis of the results indicates that the highest valued competence for the respondents was the ability of selfmanagement in time (M=3.71) along with the ability of expressing one’s own opinion (M=3.66), whereas the lowest valued competence was maintaining relations (M=2.84) and regularity of learning (M=2.87). It also turned out that women valued the development of their social competence significantly higher than men (M=3.44; M=2.94). Considerably higher results also appeared in extramural students compared to fulltime students (M=3.63; M=3.27). Moreover, early years students rated the innovative approach to problemsolving and systematic learning significantly higher than older students.

Wraz z globalnym starzeniem się populacji praca socjalna z osobami starszymi nabiera coraz większego znaczenia dla społeczeństwa. Jednym z głównych warunków skutecznego prowadzenia pracy socjalnej z osobami starszymi jest szkolenie wykwalifikowanych specjalistów posiadających m.in. pozytywną postawę w zakresie pracy z osobami starszymi. Postawy pracowników socjalnych powstają w dużym stopniu podczas przechodzenia kształcenia zawodowego. W artykule opisano wyniki badania komponentu poznawczego postaw wobec pracy z osobami starszymi studentów kierunku „Praca socjalna” z Rosji (m. Omsk) i Polski (m. Lublin i m. Kielce). Jest ono częścią badania postaw wobec pracy z osobami starszymi studentów kierunków pomocowych, prowadzonego pod kierunkiem prof. dr hab. Anny Kanios w ramach Programu im. L. Kirklanda.

The meaning of individual social capital for the emotional well-being of students during the COVID-19 pandemic

The article presents the results of the research conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021 among students of the University of Bialystok. The aim of the study was to determine the meaning of individual social capital for the emotional well-being of students. Emotional well-being has been defined as an overall assessment of an individual’s quality of life. Individual social capital is a potential resource of personal and social networks of individuals, which they “use” in various life situations. The study showed an interdependence between the individual social capital of students and their emotional well-being.

Religiousness and the sense of identity of students from the Czech Republic, Poland, and Slovakia

The subject matter explored in the article include the issues related to religiousness of university students. This category comprises their denominational structure, their attitude to religion, their self-evaluation of the essence of religion in life, the frequency of participation in religious practices. These categories are shown in relation to their sense of identity. The research with the use of the survey method was conducted among students from the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia who live in culturally diverse territories. The research results show the ongoing changes in Polish and Slovak societies. Young people take advantage of the possibility of making choices and their choices concern not only education and professional paths, but also the beliefs, behaviour and activities in the religious sphere. The surveyed students’ freedom of choice is manifested, among others, in their sense of a multidimensional identity and in the consciousness of belonging to the Church. Among the surveyed university youth – in the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia – one can observe the individualization of religiousness in the form of the departure from religious affiliation, as well as in “belonging without faith”.

Empathy of future teachers and their intercultural sensitivity

This article is empirical. It presents the results of a study aimed at determining the level of empathy and intercultural sensitivity of future teachers. Preparation of teachers to fulfil the pedagogical role of school, especially in the current situation caused by the war in Ukraine and the enrolment of approximately 200,000 Ukrainian children into the Polish education system, involves the necessity of adequate training of candidates for this profession. What is significant in this context is the definition of empathy, which should be understood as the ability to respectfully understand the other person and the inner power that guides and motivates an individual to pro-social behaviour. Another important element of that definition is cultural sensitivity understood as an indicator of cross-cultural communication ability, manifested in the readiness to interact with people from different cultures. The study was conducted employing a diagnostic survey with the use of a revised version of the Empathic Understanding Questionnaire by Andrzej Węgliński and the scale of intercultural sensitivity developed by Guo- Ming Chen and William Starosta in the Polish adaptation of Dariusz Majerk and Mariusz Korczyński. The survey involved students in pedagogical faculties from various higher education institutions in Poland. The results of the study reveal the need for pedagogical preparation of future teachers to fulfil their professional role to the highest possible extent.

The aim of this study was to develop a Political Elite Perception (PEP) Questionnaire with an exploratory mixed research design and to determine university students’ perceptions of university of political elites. At the qualitative stage of the study, a qualitative questionnaire was applied among university students (n = 160). The analysis of the qualitative data revealed that university students’ perceptions of political elites were grouped in seven main categories (intellectual capacity, political values, democratic attitude, personal traits, talents, power/influence, and interaction with the public/public benefits), and the questionnaire items were determined based on these categories. At the quantitative stage of the research, statistical analyses were conducted on the questionnaire that was applied to 383 university students. The study findings demonstrated that, according to the university students, the personal traits of political elites included charisma, courage, and self-confidence, but they also emphasized that political elites were intellectually inadequate, impartial, uncriticizable, unempathetic and non-compromising, and described the political elites as non-democratic.