The article is an attempt to characterize the methodology of multidisciplinary empirical research, designed and implemented within technical, exact, natural, social, and humanistic sciences. Three paradigms have been characterized: Education 4.0, Industry 4.0, and Society 5.0. The author’s attention was drawn to the need for a clear formulation of detailed concepts as well as their content and context. The types of possible empirical research and the methods and techniques used in them were presented, attention was also drawn to the importance of the model used in the research. It was considered necessary to disseminate methodological knowledge for the reliable execution of empirical research, allowing for its repeatability, verification, and evaluation.

Memories of World War II (WW2) have a deeply cultural dimension and therefore are interesting for intercultural studies. This paper is based on an interpretative analysis of some field and desk research data, carried out in Poland by an interdisciplinary team of social scientists, educators and historians in 2018–2020. It is focused on socio-educational factors in the transfer of knowledge and memory of WW2. The researchers try to distinguish socio-educational factors responsible for the preservation of this memory across a range of age cohorts. Sources of knowledge, school curricula and socio-demographic aspects are set against the measured levels of historic facts concerning WW2. The data sets derive from questionnaires, telephone interviews and in-depth interviews with diverse groups of respondents along with a review of teaching history curricula in 1946–2020. On the basis of the findings, it is argued that a successful transfer of memory and knowledge of WW2 goes beyond teaching history at schools and beyond the contemporary political agenda. This article is meant to serve as a barometer of social changes in respect to fading memories of WW2.

In the pedagogical analysis undertaken in this study, some theoretical and methodological conceptualizations were applied, referring to the model of youth’s quality of life, developed on the basis of qualitative material collected in the course of international comparative studies – Tadeusz Lewowicki’s Theory of Identity Behaviors and Harold J. Noah’s model of comparing the quality of academic education. The basis for outlining the relationship between students’ life satisfaction and their sense of identity in the local, regional, national, European and supra-European dimension was the comparative research conducted in 2019–2021 in the Polish-Czech-Slovak borderland. The analysis and interpretation of the collected empirical material show that – although the neighbouring countries have undergone political changes, they belong to the European Union, and they collaborate in many areas – the living standards, but above all the influences in the educational sphere, the models and social values, as well as in lifestyles, are significantly different.

The existing borders have very often lost their meaning and do not fulfil the functions assigned to them for many centuries. Today, especially in Europe, many borders are “dematerialized” and exist mostly in the memory and consciousness of people. Contemporary academic youth is in a special situation – they participate in the rapidly changing sociocultural world and, at the same time, experience some phenomena that have never been present on such a large scale. The reflection upon the young, learning generation of Czechs, Poles and Slovaks is associated with an attempt to find answers to many questions, among which those regarding plans for the future and the sense of life satisfaction seem to be of great significance. What I have recognized as important is finding out if the young plan their future during their studies and/or work abroad and how they assess their sense of life satisfaction, taking into account two aspects – their family life and financial situation.

The contemporary socio-economic reality generates the need to create a life project that determines the direction of implementing important goals as well as of developing new competences. This inspires the individual to look for ways of thinking and behaving which can serve as protection against various risk factors. This applies to the factors which enhance socio-professional ambivalence, the difficulty of taking advantage of life opportunities and performing new social roles. The study introduces the subject of designing the future by academic youth. It is a group that, at the stage of entering adulthood, takes up the challenge of adequate learning about their own needs and confronting them with the value system, in order to realistically determine their capabilities, both at the emotional and behavioral level. Then they will be ready for their internal and external exploration. In early adulthood, developing a plan for life turns out to be both an important protective factor and a manifestation of proactivity. In this context, creating a plan for life can also mean taking care of oneself and one’s self-development.

The article is an attempt to identify the tendencies displayed by university teachers towards the adoption of e-learning solutions in the academic environment. The paper is divided into four main sections. Section one explains the theoretical assumptions behind remote education and the role of the university teacher, with behavioral component being considered the core element. Section two describes the research methodology and defines the original research tool used to measure the scale of concrete actions taken by university teachers in their embrace of e-learning. On the basis of the analysis of the results, the importance of further education of academic staff for the improvement of the quality of education was demonstrated, regardless of the place of residence or professed values. The concluding section sums up the findings and puts forward recommendations for higher-education institutions in the area of remote education in the academic environment.

This article aims to present our own research, diagnosing the level of psychosocial competencies of academic teachers at technical university – the competencies which are particularly important in the mediatised world. The research was done among 141 academic teachers of the Silesian University of Technology with the use of a diagnostic survey in 2019–2021. An expanded statistical analysis allowed the interpretation and assessment of 13 variables describing the investigated competencies.

Poland has been becoming a migrant country over the past years, experiencing recently increased visibility of migrant children at schools. At the same time, the issue of their support and integration remains on the margin of educational policy and depends on the activity of local authorities and, above all, of school head-teachers and teachers. Drawing on the qualitative study carried out in 2020 within the project CHILD-UP Children Hybrid Integration: Learning Dialogue as a way of Upgrading Policies of Participation (Horizon 2020) in schools in Kraków and South-East Poland (where one of the centres for foreigners is located), this article comprises a discussion on the extent to which Polish schools are ready to accept migrant (including refugee) children, to enhance their agency and support integration processes. Therefore, it raises a question whether schools are able to effectively support migrant children linguistically as well as help them enter into peer groups in the course of their educational activities.

Since Poland joined the EU in 2004, intercultural education has become one of the fundamental goals of the Polish educational system. Many Polish educators believed that it was only through intercultural education that they would be able to teach students necessary skills which would support them in the transition to becoming truly multicultural and cosmopolitan. In other words, intercultural education was perceived as a must for post-socialist CEE countries in order to catch up with Western Europe. Our argument is that intercultural education has been created, developed and implemented in the specific context of Western, multicultural societies. However, our sstandpoint is far from negating its importance and role in education in the 21st century. On the basis of a critical reflection on the Eurocentric approach within educational studies, the problem is outlined of teaching intercultural education “by dry run” in the context of Polish schools – i.e. teaching about global dependencies without a direct link with or presence of cultural “Others”, who are usually known only through the media and literary canon. It is indicated that this form of education often fails to serve its goal as it is frequently implemented in a one-sided way: by Polish educators, in monocultural schools, as narrations about Others rather than their presentations through the lens of their experiences, stories or methodologies and so considering the voices from outside thecontext of Central and Eastern European countries.

The article presents the relationship between the grit factor and the mental well-being of young people recruited from high school students in Podlaskie Voivodeship (n = 275). The study was conducted using the Short Grit Scale (SGS) by A.L. Duckworth, the Psychological Well-Being Scales (PWBS) by C. Ryff and the Cantril’s Ladder of Life Scale. The obtained results indicate significant positive relationships of grit with the current assessment of the quality of life and mental well-being in each of the six dimensions measured with C. Ryff’s PWBS tool (autonomy, environmental mastery, personal growth, positive relations with others, purpose in life, and self-acceptance). Since grit is a construct showing positive relationships with well-being and quality of life and a modifiable one – it can be shaped at an early stage of development – it should be considered as an important element when drawing future educational plans.

The awareness of the society that it is responsible for what the nature looks like, as well as for developing human relations, results in the popularization of the idea of sustainable development. The aim of thos study is to present an analysis of the literature on the subject focused on the description of the reality and possible directions of changes in education, considering it as global challenges in three aspects of sustainable development: the economic, ecological and social. The greatest challenge today is to create a multidimensional view of a constantly deepening social and environmental crisis. The change that should be made in education should concern the processes that are aimed at combining the three aspects and at balancing their importance. The essence of education for sustainable development was shown in shaping the values, empathy and awareness that are needed to act for society, as well as the environment and the economy on a global scale.

This article discusses reflections on doing research with and about migrant children, focusing on addressing “race” and racialization processes as well as integrationist implications of “doing good” among both school professionals and researchers. The motivation is to contribute to a more nuanced understanding of how to research integration while also promoting a child-centred approach and taking children’s own understandings and opinions into account. Written at the threshold of the phase of analysing data from fieldwork with children, which is one of the main analytical tasks in the MiCREATE project, this article is a summary of some focus points and concepts that turned out to be of importance during the ongoing epistemic reflexivity process in the research project. Taking a point of departure in general methodological reflections on a structuralist-constructivist approach and on constant epistemic reflexivity, three approaches that could be useful in reflections and analyses are suggested: reflections on the concept of integration, on race and diversity, and on researcher positioning within a research project both while studying practices of “doing good” and aiming at “doing good” in itself as well.

The aim of the study presented in this article was to verify the presence of the assumptions of anti-discrimination education in the lyrics of songs featured on the album “Hip-Hop racism stop! #1”, a project launched as part of a Polish campaign called “Music Against Racism”. The study involved using the content analysis method in an interpretative paradigm according to the contextual theory of meaning. The main conclusion is that the use of songs as a form of educational support can be a valuable element in the anti-discrimination education, but it is crucial to call for “negotiating with young people the content of existing culture”, which may provoke discussion with students about the ways in which words are used to form a specific image of the world. Another important conclusion is the “paradox of violence” referring to a tendency to appeal for the rejection of violence, while at the same time using violence-provoking words.

The article encourages comparative perspectives on people who emigrate and immigrate. It draws attention to the knowledge of the history of migrations: most European countries faced emigration in the early 20th century, while in the beginning of the 21st century, they witness immigration that exceeds emigration. The most common reason for immigration in Slovenia is employment. Work permits are issued to people who come to work here, because they are needed. Yet, it is people who come, not workforce, and these people have families. Consequently, the second most common reason for immigration is family reunification. When discussing immigration, we underrate the role of bilateral agreements, yet they pave the way for greater economic migration between the signatories. Knowing the migrations of past and present, including official statistical data and the emigration-immigration perspective, it is extremely important to understand that there are people behind these numbers. The article comprises a recommendation to publish texts that include not only numbers, but also people with their life stories, immigrants and emigrants in the same publication. To develop intercultural education, it is essential that migrations and diversity are a part of the curriculum and teaching materials.

The article concerns selected problems in the development of the Internet in terms of its impact on the religious attitudes of young Poles. On the base of the research on the use of the Internet and the development of religiosity, their situation is presented in the context of the situation of American teenagers. Americans are one of the largest media markets and have strong and traditional Christian communities. Therefore, certain trends in religious attitudes could have appeared earlier and outlined more strongly there than in other parts of the world. Which of them are reflected in the Polish situation? How is the Internet used by young users in the United States and Poland? Is there anything specific to the Polish situation in shaping religious attitudes via the Internet? The final results of the comparative analysis undertaken are to lead to conclusions showing the characteristics of the Internet that enable it to influence the shaping of the world-view and to forecast directions in which these changes may go. Research on the Internet’s influence on religiosity has a short history, but dynamic changes in both religiosity and technology call for the opening of new research spaces.

The paper presents an empirical test of the theory of gender revolution by Goldscheider, Bernhardt and Lappegård in Poland and Austria. The two countries were chosen because they both are examples of conservative welfare states and intend to enlarge the involvement of men in childcare. The authors conducted a trend analysis to investigate the specific stage of gender revolution the two countries can presently be situated in. The statistical analysis was based on the data from the International Social Survey Program (ISSP) at three different points in time: 1994, 2002 and 2012. The analyses revealed that the level of egalitarian attitudes in Austria is more prominent than in Poland. In both countries, women tend to be more egalitarian than men. The growth of egalitarian attitudes towards gender roles is increasing over time, but only in Poland. However, in Austria an increase in egalitarianism in domestic and care work can be observed over time.