Inherited, acquired and individually shaped culture in selected creative biographies

The problem of identity forming is presented in the article on selected examples of creative biographies. The author points out how important in this process is the inherited culture, shaped in the family home and in the local environment. He also indicates how difficult the process of integration with the culture is when this culture is acquired in state educational institutions, conducting an internal dialogue to create an individual culture of being, achieving goals and values in positive freedom and civil disobedience. In the presented creative biographies, the author draws attention to the awareness of experiences and experiences in each of the cultures, to the ability and skill to resolve conflicts, negotiate, reconcile values, patterns, norms in the constant process of identity forming. The author draws attention to the development of a reflective identity project, conscious and responsible choices of content from each culture, the existential theme of the joy of living, being in harmony with oneself, which is particularly important in intercultural education.

Anti-refugee attitudes of social media participants and the goals of intercultural education

The purpose of this article is to present anti-refugee attitudes observed on the Internet which show the influence of virtual space on the formation of opinions on refugees. The data collected during the ethnographic research in the period 2015–2019 concern attitudes, behaviors and narratives negating the reception of refugees from the Middle East and North Africa, as well as the grassroots criticism of Internet users against sheltering refugees in the Polish territories. Social media were shown as a tool for expressing public opposition to the prospect of accepting refugees into Poland. Among the data, there were contents that comprised an indirect or direct negation of the goals of intercultural education. An analysis was conducted of the content posted on the Facebook platform on the website “No to the Islamization of Europe”, the functioning of which focuses on informing and commenting on the events related to the “migration crisis”. The research material includes the data from 2018 – a period when the attention of the creators of this medium focused on the potentially negative consequences of accepting refugees into Europe. The conclusions of the research justify and explain the need for the goals of cultural education, which is shown here as a way to counteract stereotypes.

Anthropologists facing the unsettling landscapes of the contemporary world in the Cool Anthropology context

The article is a reflection on the place, tasks and purpose of cultural anthropology in the contemporary world. It was inspired by a discussion that took place during Ethnology Without Borders 2022 Conference. The 21st century shook the foundations of anthropology’s relationship with politics and society: from the devastating pandemic and the increasing effects of climate change, to the outbreak of war in Europe. The author ponders how anthropology should operate in the face of these crises. The presentation of various research concepts aims to bring closer where the problem is while everyone means well. The article presents the achievements of some anthropologists who criticize actions based on good intentions and draws attention to the achievements of Anthropology of Development, which the author illustrates with some examples from her own observations made during field research in Nepal and NATO training. The Cool Anthropology trend is potentially a right direction for development of contemporary anthropology. The questions posed in the article are intended to provoke reflection on the author’s thesis that as anthropologists who are part of a privileged social layer, should ask themselves the question: how to reconceptualize anthropological activities outside the resources of the academic spheres in order to become socially useful.

Preservation of the culture and language of the Lusatian Sorbs in Brandenburg

Lusatian Serbs, also called Sorbs, are people living in Upper, Middle and Lower Lusatia. This small nation is a remnant of the Slavic settlement in East Germany (Brandenburg and Saxony). Lower Lusatia now lies in the state of Brandenburg, and Upper and Middle Lusatia in the Free State of Saxony. According to official data, in these areas there are approximately 50,000 – 60,000 Lusatian Serbs, of which it is assumed that two-thirds reside in Saxony and one-third in Brandenburg. The article draws attention to formal and legal issues aimed at protecting the culture and the Lower Sorbian language. The analyses carried out concern the general provisions of the European Union, Germany and more detailed guidelines adopted in Brandenburg. Legal acts are important formal means of protection, the effectiveness of which is expressed by the way of practice. Unfortunately, in Brandenburg, many of the existing regulations have no proper effect on everyday life or are distorted. The article is an attempt to identify the assumptions with the implementation, to recognize the limitations, but also to discuss the directions of improving the existing state.

Sexuality education in Poland and in educational systems in selected countries – model solutions and international initiatives

The article is aimed at the analysis of literature, international documents, legal regulations and research reports on the implementation of formal sexuality education in selected countries. There are many contradictions among researchers about the definition of sexuality education, its scope, the age from which it should be taught and learnt, people who should be its providers, its content and forms. These discrepancies are also present in the public sphere, where two strongly polarized discourses (the conservative and liberal) exist. National policies regarding sexuality education vary in the European Union. In some countries sexuality education has the status of a compulsory subject, is regulated by relevant acts, similarly to teachers training for this subject. In others, sexuality education curricula lack solid legal and theoretical basis. The analysis of selected documents and acts shows that the most effective type is the holistic sexuality education, which being part of the cultural sensitivity approach, addresses the development of knowledge and skills of education recipients, as well as the elaboration of appropriate attitudes towards positive sexuality and sexual and reproductive health. The existing research indicates also that the availability of data on sexuality education should be improved and further analysis is needed to enable better assessment of the situation, to ensure the evidence-based policy creation and strengthen the best identification practices.

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”.

The sense of identity of academic youth from the socio-ecological perspective

The article is aimed at analyzing the identifications of academic youth, with pedagogy students as an example, on the basis of the assumptions of Uri Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model. Particular importance was given to the socioecological and contextual determinants in which the sense of identity of emerging adults is formed. The aim of the research was to analyse the development of the sense of identity resulting from participation in the socio-cultural conditions surrounding the individual. The surveyed emerging adults (140 individuals) aged 20–25 answered the question “Who am I?” using the TST (Twenty Statement Test) by M.H. Kuhn and T.S. McPartland (1954). The research was a pilot study. The collected research material was developed using a holistic content analysis of self-definitions. On the basis of the research results, it can be concluded that the surveyed emerging adults most often use identifications related to the individual with respect to gender, possessed personality traits or to the defining oneself as a human being. In addition, there were categories of sense of identity resulting from social roles in the microsystem (a family member, a student or an employee). Less frequently, respondents identified themselves with their nation or religion, which are the result of macrosystem participation. In relation to this, educational and preventive premises were formulated.

Life plans of the inhabitants of the Polish-Czech borderland against a comparative background

The article concerns a part of the research carried out among learners and university students from the Polish-Czech border area (Prudnik, Nysa and Opole counties on the Polish side and Moravian-Czech district on the Czech side) within the Pradziad Euroregion Project. The theoretical aim of the project was to get to know the lifestyle and quality of life of the inhabitants of the Czech-Polish border area, their life plans and identity, as regards the activities of the Pradziad Euroregion, as well as the knowledge of young borderland inhabitants about the life and problems of their neighbours from abroad. The practical aim of the project was to raise awareness of the role of quality of life for the functioning of the society by popularising the issue (conferences, publications) and the possibility of enriching the knowledge of these young inhabitants. This article presents only the part of the research that deals with respondents’ opinions on life plans in the context of the Polish-Czech borderland. The analysis was focused on one of the specific questions of the research: What are the life plans of pupils and university students from the Polish-Czech borderland? The research results refer to the declarations related to plans to stay in the homeland, perceptions of the respondents’ place of residence, or perceptions of the different qualities of their own towns and countries. In the data analysis, statistical methods related to testing the statistical significance of differences between variables with the Chi-square test (x2) were applied.

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.

Stress management strategies, a sense of perceived stress and assessment of depression risk in a group of students of the “Borderland University”

The purpose of this study was to analyze the relationship between coping strategies, perceived stress and depression risk assessment in a group of students in the Polish-Czech borderland. 173 students from the University of Silesia participated in the study. The participants completed the Perceived Stress Scale, the Kutcher Adolescent Depression Scale and the Multidimensional Inventory for Measuring Coping with Stress. The correlation analysis showed that strategies described as adaptive (e.g., active coping, positive reappraisal and development) are negatively related to the perceived stress and severity of depressive symptoms. In contrast, strategies that can be described as non-adaptive (e.g., disengagement, denial) presented opposite (i.e., positive) relationship effects with the perceived stress and depressiveness. In the light of the obtained data, it seems that the repertoire of coping methods presented by individuals to deal with stress may be reflected in their perception of situations as aggravating and in their assessment of the risk of depression. Thus, future psychopedagogical interventions should focus on building personal resources by shaping adaptive (and minimizing those nonadaptive) coping strategies to improve mental health among borderland students.

In search of a participatory model in the intercultural education of students from diverse socio-cultural backgrounds – a research report

This article presents the results of a qualitative study based on the humanizing methodology and a transformative approach, conducted in a space of collaborative intercultural, participatory activities of children and university students, as well as female researchers. The intercultural activities and research were implemented in the third month of the war in Ukraine as a response to current challenges faced by Polish schools and universities. The results are obtained from participant observation (3) and semi-structured interviews (34) conducted with university students working with Polish and Ukrainian pupils, using the project method based on L. Lundy’s participation model in the space of the University of Warsaw. The analysis of the results presents the main aspects of how preschool and early childhood education students understand participation in their work with children from diverse sociocultural backgrounds. The study also showed how important it is to include Polish children and children with refugee and migration experience in the activities and joint participation, which allows one to build a safe space for verbal and non-verbal communication (through art) of children with children and adults.

A culturally diverse school in Poland. Experiences of Bydgoszcz teachers in the first period of the war in Ukraine

The article describes the experiences of Bydgoszcz teachers working in culturally diverse schools in the first period of the war in Ukraine (from February 24 to April 22, 2022). The basis of the article is the analysis of the statements provided by the participants of the conference “A Ukrainian student in the Polish education system. How to help teachers create a multicultural learning environment?” organized at the Kazimierz Wielki University, by its Department of Didactics and Studies on Culture of Education and the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Centre for Teacher Education in Bydgoszcz. The statements presented in the article concern the experience of eighty teachers from Bydgoszcz schools of various levels as well as academics, doctoral students and students working in educational institutions. The article is a contribution to the methodical trend of intercultural pedagogy. It contains practical tips on the work of teachers in culturally diverse classes, developed on the basis of current statements provided by people taking care of refugees from Ukraine.

Challenge – opportunities – connections – dimensions of parental participation in the school space in the context of cultural diversity

School is an institution seen through the lens of its openness to relationships with the environment, with its partners, including the students’ parents. A desirable type of relationship between school and the family involves the families’ participation in school activities. In view of the above, this paper is focused on the determinants of parental involvement in the school life. They are structured by reference to the three dimensions of the Triangle of Participation model, which includes challenge (important matters, benefits), capacity (parents’ own abilities and circumstances), connection (the support provided). They offer a starting point for thinking about promoting and supporting parents’ participation in joint activities with teachers, accommodating for the cultural diversity of the parent community. They also make it possible to see the importance of consciously initiating and maintaining these subjects’ participation in school activities, which are adapted to suit the parents’ resources and capabilities, and the importance of showing support for their own initiatives, subject to common consent and legal regulations. Viewing parental involvement in the school life through the lens of these dimensions of participation is in line with the thinking of ‘school as a space of recognition’.

On the growing importance of intercultural education in schooling, social pedagogy, and social work

The article contains reflections on the growing importance of intercultural education in the context of Polish pedagogical literature. Statistics related to the internationalization of the Polish social context are explored. The following scientific journals in Poland and Europe were selected, considered important in the discursive space of social pedagogy and social work: European Journal of Social Work, International Journal of Social Pedagogy, Pedagogika Społeczna quarterly, Pedagogika Społeczna NOVA (Social Education NOVA), Praca Socjalna (Social Work) and the journal Edukacja Międzykulturowa (Intercultural Education). Their content was analyzed in terms of topics in the field of intercultural education with the use of quantitative systematic semantic analysis to establish how many articles (directly related to intercultural education and intercultural context) and in what periods were published in the selected journals. This part of the article is its empirical section, based on desk research of the existing documents. The thesis on the growing importance of intercultural education in the fields of social pedagogy and social work was presented and arguments in support of this thesis were formed.

Abilities and creativity in a intercultural perspective

Cultural variables are increasingly being taken into account in new models of ability and creativity. This is due to changes in the definition of terms, socio-cultural changes, and international cooperation. The role of international comparative research is growing. Usually, the divergence is used: individualismcollectivism. With few exceptions, most of the research is conducted in Western institutions. Western countries and highly developed Asian countries are most often compared with each other. The results of the research indicate cultural differences in recognizing and educating gifted and creative students. The article comprises an outline of the main areas of cross-cultural research on abilities and creativity. The conclusions indicate a discrepancy between the development of theoretical knowledge and school practice, where there are cultural barriers to the education of the gifted. The main problem here is the underrepresentation of students from minority groups in educational programs for the gifted. Teacher’s work with gifted students in multicultural conditions is a special challenge. It requires socially equitable and differentiated strategies for diagnosing giftedness. Gifted students from culturally diverse groups have specific educational problems and needs. They are doubly exceptional students.

Children’s literature sensitizing to situations of exclusion threat – selection and pedagogical implications

Children’s literature of the last decade of the 21st century presents a number of narratives that show the need to be attentive to numerous situations that threaten to exclude a person from certain social groups. These books can be described as particularly sensitive to harm of the neighbour. The aim of the article is to show the fate of literary heroes in selected children’s books, in which they directly or indirectly face the problem of discrimination and social exclusion. The situations that I would like to draw attention to are: homelessness of another person, poverty, exile. My goal is achieved by analyzing selected children’s literature of both Polish and foreign (mainly Swedish) writers. The text is composed of two parts. In the first, I present the existing state of knowledge in social sciences and humanities on social exclusion and the process of non-existence, in the second part of the text, I present conclusions from the content analysis of selected children’s literature. Each of the books selected for analysis can function in the early school readership as close to the ideas of intercultural education and philosophy of dialogue.