TABLE OF CONTENTS

SPIS TREŚCI

Publikacja “Kultura i Edukacja” w języku angielskim, udostępnienie wersji cyfrowej w wolnym dostępie i zabezpieczenie oryginalności publikacji zgodne ze standardem COPE – zadania finansowane w ramach umowy 853/P-DUNdem/2018 ze środków Ministra Nauki i Szkolnictwa Wyższego przeznaczonych na działalność upowszechniającą naukę.

The author aims at answering the question: “What activities do the authorities undertake to manage the multiculturalism of the city-state which is situated at the intersection of three cultural spheres (the Chinese, Indian and Islamic) and which constitutes a unique mosaic of religions, denominations, beliefs, ideologies, ethnic and language groups? To what extent do the undertakings of state authorities affect social behaviour of citizens and their mentality?”. Using the document analysis (especially of legal acts), the author discusses: demographical issues, with special regard to the policy of positive discrimination towards autochthonous population of Singapore – Malayans; religious pluralism and secularity of the state which promotes religious harmony; some examples of reactions of the society and officials to the attitudes and statements posing threat to religious harmony; the linguistic policy called multilingualism (with special focus on the role of Singlish – the language which is becoming an attribute of the Singapore identity); the values which school implants in learners so that they could live together and build inclusive society. The author concludes that – in the conditions of Singapore – multiculturalism is becoming a socially functional phenomenon, which enhances the construction of inclusive society and its successful economic, social and cultural development. In the face of the European crisis of multiculturalism, the author encourages researchers to pay more attention to the positive experiences of the countries which do not belong to the European cultural circles.

A man functions in a given area and significant places. The area, on one hand, reflects the way of thinking about the world, and on the other it expresses social life in its arrangement, at the same time serving as a mean to reproduce social relations. Thus, a man who utilises it and creates it is the one that enters it on basis of various types of relations. It can take shape of cultural space perceived as physical realm that carries cultural reality (a set of significances and signs). A cultural space understood like that entails the category of space, which (as a place of significance with its historicalness and rationality) plays key part on the process of shaping one’s identity. The culture of place at the same time fulfils unifying, directing and standardizing function of the social relations. Given the multicultural character of the place interculturalism is crucial, and within its framework the cross-cultural potential of individuals shaping intercultural space in a culturally diverse local setting. A man enters relations with the place whereas the place creates an area of mutual coexistence with the man. The Vilnius region is a place significant for its inhabitants, as it constitutes a cultural community located in the cultural borderland. The factors that condition it entail common cultural legacy, localness, interaction and sense of familiarity. They are accompanied by the skills of recognizing cultural legacy, followed by interactional competences and multi-dimensional growth. Cognition and understanding therefore shall be considered as the key elements of establishing a community at the meeting points of cultures, i.e. intercultural area. They should be favoured by actions undertaken in the local environment, by the mean of, for instance, folk art, folk culture, that both provide with cultural, educational and pedagogical functions.

Globalization processes stimulate the emerging of new cultural borderlands including, among many others, cyberspace and global cites. They create complex socio-cultural spaces of participation which can be described in the categories of diversity, instability, hybridity and creolization as well as multiple forms, ways, contents and institutions of socialization. The aforementioned changes impact the perception of the “place” category, the contemporary meaning, includes not only the physical space but also its history and cultural traditions. They also create new challenges and conditions for the processes of identity forming. Identification with the culturally diverse milieu can support development of the culture borderland identity. In certain conditions there can also be created a culturally uprooted protean identity or be neo-tribal identity of a bulwark defender. The above – mentioned processes and phenomena challenge contemporary education by creating new chances as well as jeopardizing socialization of youth.

The author presents activities of intercultural education that support the development of the identity of a modern man functioning in the conditions of multiculturalism. He analyzes three areas of intercultural education. The first, associated with the acceptance and giving meaning to inherited culture. The second one, focused on the development of individual identity, shaping the sense of freedom and responsibility for self-development in the process of learning about one’s culture and other cultures. The third is about shaping attitudes towards representatives of other cultures, awareness of universal values and acquiring dialogic skills in the numerous offers of the global world.

Communicating as a process requires referring to the space of social communication, which I understand as the assumptions of the sense of communication symbols. Hybridity as a phenomenon in culture is on one hand a social fact, the effect of globalization processes, on the other it becomes a challenge in the process of educational narrative. Maintaining continuity and cohesion in culture in the face of the problem of hybridity and building communication capable of taking up this challenge seems to be an important consideration also (and perhaps above all) in the field of pedagogy. Multiculturalism as an idea, if it were to become a social principle, requires a debate of competent interlocutors. Hence the need to reflect on the communicative competence of the units of the multiculturalism standard.

The article concerns an important aspect of the sociocultural identity which is the self-identification of an individual as a member of the community. The author stress es the importance of the profile description of an individual’s sociocultural identity. He emphasizes the need of joint analysis of the four most important areas of macrocultural identification: euro_global, national, religious and regional. The text is concluded with a methodological proposal for the diagnosis of an individual’s sociocultural identification profile.

Contemporary neoliberal reality with clear and unambiguous rules of actions imposes tough social inter-dependences and obligations. At the same time, commonly present mainstream tendency to weaken interpersonal relations, to doubt in senses and meanings, and to accept each behaviour without the possibility to formulate personal attitude towards it, has led to total mess in human life. An unbalanced man hardly manages to exist in all devastated dimensions of his world: social, cultural, environmental and economical. The need to turn back and to reach the sustainable level of life becomes more and more clear. The route to sustainability needs ambitious, common and responsible education. The Decade of Education for Sustainable Development was the first global project. Now we should undertake activities presented in Global Action Plan. To make that immense plan become real we need properly and thoroughly prepared school teachers and academics. Pre-service and in-service teacher development becomes a global issue. Contemporary vocational obligations and expectations formulated towards that group of professionals considerably inhibit the process of change. That is why, the diagnosis of global pedeutological problems and tendencies is one of the most important steps for preparing a better plan to work with Polish teachers. The paper presents possible ways to work with students – future teachers – to develop sustainable awareness and attitudes, derived from proper knowledge and skills. Project X is one of the most interesting and inspiring educational tools. Basing on Polish primary and secondary curriculum, students of the University of Lodz learn how to think in sustainable manner, and how to join knowledge and skills from various schools subjects to build a holistic educational message.

The article presents the concept of community as a sociological category, there are various ways to define it, the importance of sentiment, moral order, identification and contact in its meaning is emphasized. A learning community is identified as a group of people in contact with each other, having a sense of bond, awareness of their own identity and individuality, as well as experiencing mutual support, recognition and belonging. The determinants of the process of shaping such a community in the school are indicated and the focus is on school-related factors. The teacher’s role in creating a school culture conducive to creating a learning community is emphasized. The teacher’s knowledge and skills, his personal characteristics and attitude to life are emphasized, as well as the teacher’s motivation for continuous learning, self-reflection and self-evaluation of everyday practice. As a result of the analysis, it is found that the creation of a learning community at school is fostered by the culture of cooperation, dialogue and creativity, and at the same time this type of organizational culture can be influenced by the learning community.

The undertaken study is aimed at presenting the knowledge and research experiences concerning developmental tasks and the borderland, as well as stimulating the discussion which might result in a more conscious approach and application of these categories in the context of pedagogy. The author presents a report from some studies conducted in the Southern borderland. The text becomes a part of the debate on the tasks of pedagogy – the education aimed at supporting the development of youth. The research into fulfilling developmental tasks, shaping youth’s identity and its many determinants constitute an important field of pedagogy. These studies enable the recognition of the real barriers for individual development in the social and cultural dimension, as well as the efficient or inefficient strategies of overcoming them.

The aim of the article was to present the main problems related to the functioning of a child with a rare disease at school and to show the forms of support for the child and his family offered by the school. In the text, I present the results of research carried out using the method of narrative interview among parents of children with a rare genetic disease. Respondents present difficult choices related to the choice of school and frequent changes of educational facilities for their children. They also show positive examples of support provided to the child by the school and educators. Parents appreciate that the teachers establish a subjective relationship with the child and parents, provide the child with proper care during classes, innovate in teaching and the attitude of openness that is passed on to the school community.

The cyclic survey, carried out on a representative group of Poles, indicate some changes taking place in the Polish society – what has changed is Poles’ attitude to their own activity which brings no profit but is of general social significance. With no doubt, growing social engagement is a positive phenomenon. The issue which the author has explored for years is the activity and engagement of teachers – especially those inhabiting the Polish-Czech borderland. Borderland is a space which enhances intensive activity and engagement. Transfrontier activities are largely addressed to schools and teachers and the cooperation in the examined area of the southern borderland is very intensive. The research was inspired by earlier projects addressed to teachers on both sides of the border. Its aim was to find out whether the views of teachers engaged in projects are close to the views shared by a broader, representative group of school workers. The obtained empirical data were processed with the use of statistical methods: for testing the statistical significance of differences between variables the chi-square test (χ2) was used, and for measuring the intensity of the relation between variables – Cramer’s V coefficient (0 ≤ V ≤ 1). The research focus was on the surveyed teachers’ activeness concerning both the participation in transfrontier projects and the search for knowledge of the neighbours. The research was also aimed at finding out how the teachers evaluate the activeness, in the field of establishing closer contacts between Poles and Czechs, of other subjects – politicians of all levels and educational institutions or associations. The analyses of the research results concerning this issue reveal the respondents’ strong criticism. It seems worth mentioning, that the respondents themselves present little interest in the activities aimed at establishing closer Polish-Czech contacts.

School is the basic institution introducing into the world of civic values and shaping prosocial attitudes and behaviors. Properly shaped social and intercultural competences are essential for proper functioning in everyday life, which is why in the education process they should be constantly developed and concern both teachers and students. By taking an active part in the mutual learning process, individual individuals can become citizens of the world with high competences. In addition to theoretical considerations regarding the desirable competences of teachers and educators working in a multicultural classroom, the article presents statements of representatives of the pedagogical group allowing to estimate their social and intercultural competences and their self-esteem in this regard.

The article presents the problem area of animation as a pedagogical method of working in the environment which is differentiated as regards its social, cultural and regional aspects. The environmental diagnosis is meant to identify local capitals which can offer support for a group of animators participating in the socio-cultural project, whose goal was activation of the examined local community. The author shows the role of the institution of culture functioning in the region of cultural and ethnic frontier in the social reception.

In the article the author stresses importance of including intercultural education content into kindergarten education and presents examples of positive results brought by teachers’ actions in this field. The author formulates and empirically verifies the thesis that implementation of intercultural education in kindergarten positively affects the development of social competences of children, improves their relations with peers and arouses in a child the will to get to know himself/herself and others.

The article deals with the important issue of defining the role and place of the university in the contemporary world. Globalization processes force far-reaching changes in social institutions, universities are also not free of them, so it is necessary to re-read the university’s mission in the context of current cultural changes. The inspiration for the conducted analyzes are the assumptions of the social theory developed by one of the most versatile thinkers of the twentieth century – José Ortega y Gasset.
Using the analytical-synthetic method as well as the historical-comparative method, the topicality of the main assumptions formulated by Ortega y Gasset was demonstrated. Among them, the most important place is occupied by the postulates regarding the proper definition of the university mission. The basic thesis is the distinction between science and culture. While modern culture draws heavily on science – mainly technical and natural sciences – it is important to distinguish these two areas, giving decisive priority to culture. From this main assumption comes a number of logical consequences related to the necessary amendments to the university education profile. The general preparation of a humanistic profile, which is not only an introduction to the social reality but a sensitization to higher values, should definitely have greater significance. The education of professionals – specialists in narrow fields – can not be deprived of a broader reference to the cultural context. The University will properly implement its mission if, in addition to professional preparation, it will be able to prepare its graduates to live with others in the society.

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