Refugees as a challenge for intercultural education

The article presents the author’s concept of the continuum of intercultural relations referred to the cultural differences concerning refugees. This concept is based on the distinguishing of four stages of relationships: narrowly understood tolerance, cognitive interest, intercultural dialogue and cultural symbiosis. The ordering criteria used to distinguish the stages were: the sign of emotions related to the culturally Other, the sociocultural identity of the interacting individuals (especially people from the society that receives refugees), and the presence or absence of direct interaction between an individual representing the receiving society and the refugee. The concept of the continuum is presented against the background of the ideas underlying the emergence and development of the idea of intercultural education in Poland.

To green Ukraine and to those green meadows... The Eastern borderlands of the Second Polish Republic as an object of sightseeing interest for Poles – an attempt at a summary

This article is an attempt to look at selected factors accounting for the popularity among Polish tourists a few years ago of the area known as the Eastern borderlands of the Second Polish Republic (Pol.: Kresy). Methodologically, the autoethnographic study involves an analysis of desk research (the 2019 CBOS survey and the observations made by other researchers). Starting from the CBOS quantitative data recording the scale of Poles’ trips in this direction, the author looks at selected qualitative circumstances which may, to some extent, be behind the preferences diagnosed in the survey, but also behind the broader interest in these sites. The considerations include the (geo)political reality, specific (Eastern borderland-like) experiences, Polish traces, literature, film and Galician and migration myths – assigned to three main thematic areas (Europeanization versus a good national self-sense, Polish traces, and literature, films and myths). Although the essence of the considerations seems to favour Ukraine, the “question of priority” was left – as it is the case in quantitative research – open, focusing on broadening the context of the whole issue.

Japanese religious syncretism

Syncretism is a conceptual model that signifies the alliance, amalgamation, or combination of the assumptions of different religious, philosophical and cultural systems that are objects of interest in cultural, religious and social studies. Nevertheless, less attention has been paid to this process as an educational phenomenon. The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the issues related to Japanese religious syncretism. It comprises the presentation of the main religious currents and spiritual traditions present in contemporary Japanese culture, as well as the idiosyncrasies associated with their peculiarities that carry the potential for informal cross-cultural education. This translates into some peculiar features of the cultural identity of the Japanese with their eclectic and inclusive qualities. In contrast to the negative connotations associated with syncretism in the context of the European cultural milieu and Christian dynamics, Japanese syncretism in this regard has positive connotations because it implies reconciliation between religious traditions and communities that would otherwise be considered as competing with each other. Insights into the nature of religious syncretism in contemporary Japan as a process of heterogeneous fusion of faiths and beliefs (and the resulting traditions, rituals and symbols) present in the public space and sacred architecture, and identified in cultural discourse, will specify the capital for cross-cultural learning and cross-religious tolerance.

Cooperation of migrants with Polish diaspora organizations as a factor of social capital growth in a multicultural society

The article concerns the activity of the Polish community in Canada in the context of social capital. It presents the results of sociological empirical research carried out using an online questionnaire survey among Canadian Polish youth who cooperate with a Polish community organization and the one that does not undertake such cooperation. The respondents participating in the study function in the multicultural society of Canada on a daily basis, which – as it turned out in the course of the analyses – creates an opportunity to acquire and accumulate social capital resources. The article also describes selected theoretical concepts regarding this resource. Their analysis was made by taking into account three components that appear in Robert Putnam’s approach: trust, norms and connections of the respondents. It was presented how respondents define trust itself and what level of trust they have in relation to selected social groups. Their view on the relationship between belonging to social organizations (e.g. The Władysław Reymont Foundation) with norms and morality was also described. The article also presents the frequency of respondents’ contacts with selected groups and their opinions on social organizations. The empirical considerations allowed to verify the research hypothesis that cooperation with The Władysław Reymont Foundation is conducive to the social capital of migrants.

Identification and sense of pride among young Americans of Polish and Tibetan origins

Ethnic diversity in the United States is a dynamic phenomenon that affects all aspects of the country’s social, economic and cultural life. This is one of the characteristics that defines American identity and makes the United States one of the most diverse countries in the world. The article focuses on the identity of young Americans of Polish and Tibetan origins living in the Tri-State Area (Connecticut, New Jersey and New York). Students attending Polish and Tibetan Saturday Schools were selected for the study. These are two distinct ethnic groups, but it is assumed that maintaining the cultural heritage of their ancestors is what characterizes both of them. The research results confirm this thesis and indicate that the sense of identity is a natural need of a young person, expressed in a dual cultural pattern and a developmental task that should be undertaken. In both studies, a strong sense of pride in ethnic origin emerged, although it was articulated in different ways by young people. Students from both groups presented high cultural competences in their country of origin and country of residence.

Children’s intercultural education in Germany (the case of the activities of Familienzentrum Lebenshilfe Elmshorn day care centres)

The article contains considerations on intercultural education in Germany based on the example of Familienzentrum Lebenshilfe Elmshorn day care centres. Against the background of these considerations and referring to the thesis that early intercultural education provides an opportunity to develop lasting competences in the field of broadly understood coexistence, the German concern for intercultural education, care, help and support is presented. The Federal Assisted Living Association in the district of Pinneberg offers initiatives in this area through six integrated day care centres in Elmshorn, Pinneberg, Appen-Etz and Wedel. On the basis of the analysis of the activities undertaken in the city of Elmhorn and in day care centres, integration activities are shown – the ones that take place both in an intercultural perspective and in the family space. The article emphasizes that early intercultural education broadens thinking about education, understanding that a child is a learning entity striving for self-fulfillment, developing their own strength and possibilities in the process of “dialogue” with an adult. Early cultural education is also a path to peaceful coexistence based on mutual knowledge and understanding.

Youth and the values of the democratic social order. A report from dynamic and comparative studies

The text is a presentation of the preliminary results of team research on the attitude of students towards the value of the renewal of social order, reconstructed in Piotr Sztompka’s “renewal decalogue”. On the basis of the results of the exploration carried out 30 years ago on “Youth in relation to the values and norms of social life”, a new scientific research was designed. It was carried out at several Polish and Ukrainian universities, in a group of students from several faculties. Ten values and forty norms of social life were assessed twice on a six-point scale. The respondents were first asked to indicate to what extent they considered certain values of social life as personally important and how they influenced their lives in various social situations. Then, they had to assess to what extent the given norms are noticed in their environment and are present in contemporary social life. The research report contains the results of the exploration of only a part of the study cohort, 272 students of pedagogy from Polish universities and 91 students from pedagogical universities in Ukraine. The obtained results were additionally compared with those obtained three decades earlier in a group of students of the same faculty.

Motivations of students coming from Eastern Europe to study in Poland – international, local and institutional context

The article comprises a presentation of the motivations that accompany students coming from Belarus, Lithuania, Russia, and Ukraine when deciding to study in Poland. The theoretical framework for examining the motivation of foreign students’ migration decisions is the push-pull factors model by Everett Lee. The analyzed material comes from an online survey of foreign students studying at the University of Wroclaw and the Maria Curie Sklodowska University in Lublin in December 2022 and January 2023. The study focuses on the factors that attract foreign students to specific destinations in three contexts: international (why Poland?), local (why a particular city?), and institutional (why a particular university?). The pull factors of greatest importance for foreign students from both universities turned out to be economic and cultural ones. The evaluation of the level of democracy in Poland was also significant. Taking into account the local context, it is worth noting that Wroclaw and Lublin attract not only with their original educational offer but also with their “urban atmosphere,” a “climate” conducive to ethnic difference. Social networks – understood as having family or friends in the country, the city of study or the chosen university – turned out to be the least important for the decision to study in Poland.

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).

Survival strategies of Ukrainian student-refugees (in the perception of general secondary school teachers)

The aim of the article was to identify and characterize survival strategies adopted by Ukrainian refugee students in general secondary schools. The study was grounded in qualitative research within the interactionist perspective, with the use of thematic analysis. The empirical material was collected through in-depth narrative interviews with twelve teachers from six schools located in cities of various sizes. The research revealed and described three main strategies employed by refugee students: distancing strategy (from teachers, education, and peer groups), engagement avoidance strategy (in classwork and homework), and non-learning of the Polish language strategy. The primary function of these strategies was to simulate the performance of school duties and assume the role of a learner. The strategies were students’ responses to the imposed situation of sudden and compulsory functioning in school in a foreign country, without knowledge of the teaching language and without preparation for participation in advanced secondary education. The strategies constituted a response to the lack of systemic, flexible, and functional solutions stimulating the adaptive processes of refugee students. The article concludes with practical implications regarding the necessity of developing a coherent concept of education for refugee students, as well as migrants who do not present sufficient competence in the Polish language at the secondary level.

Acculturation strategies among international students of English-speaking management programs in Poland

The primary objective of this study was to identify the acculturation strategies employed by international students enrolled in English-speaking management programs in Poland. The study employed two research models: the Tridimensional Acculturation Model developed by Ferguson et al. (2012) and the Relative Acculturation Extended Model (RAEM) proposed by Navas et al. (2005). Both models conceptualize acculturation as a multifaceted and context-dependent process. International students pursuing full-time management study programs exemplify a group susceptible to remote acculturation conditions (Ferguson and Bornstein, 2012). The study was based on in-depth interviews with 19 individuals and was carried out with the use of the Cultural Identity Mapping technique (Ferguson, 2018). Three acculturation strategies employed by students have been identified: separation (an orientation towards the culture of origin while rejecting elements of other cultures), integration (a simultaneous orientation towards two cultures), and multicultural strategy (an orientation towards more than two cultures). The identification of the third strategy contributes to ongoing discussions regarding the limitations of twodimensional acculturation models which fail to encapsulate the increasing complexity and diversity of individuals’ acculturation experiences (e.g., Sam & Ward, 2021; Rudmin, 2006). Finally, remote acculturation turned out to play an important role in the processes associated with the acquisition of the third culture.

Research and educational project “Ukrainian Teaching Materials 2022” for Wrocław’s pre- and early school education – a presentation of survey results

Alongside the tragic consequences of the armed conflict, the Russian attack on Ukraine in 2022 resulted in an upheaval within the educational system in Poland. This situation posed challenges for Ukrainian children arriving in Poland as well as for teachers and students in educational institutions where refugee children were being admitted without restrictions. The author’s research and educational project “Ukrainian Teaching Materials 2022” for Wrocław’s pre – and early school education in 2022 aimed to support the development of language skills among refugee children in their native language and in Polish, and to support preschool and early school teachers in this endeavour by providing them with appropriately prepared methodological packages. A diagnostic survey identified teachers’ needs regarding methodological materials. At the same time, a follow-up focus group interview conducted 30–40 days later presented teachers’ reflections and experiences in teaching in linguistically and culturally diverse groups during the initial period of the war migration. The project was also aimed to raise awareness among teachers and to cultivate an open attitude towards using bilingual and Ukrainian-language materials in working with children with war migration experience. Due to the collected extensive research material, the research findings were divided into two parts: the first part presents the theoretical and methodological context of the project as well as the results of the survey. In contrast, the second part presents the results of the focus group research and discussion based on the literature review.