Crisis of democracy and education reforms in Poland after 30 years of political transformation

Abstract

In this article I make a critical analysis of educational policy in Poland during the 30 years of the political transformation. In the transition period in Poland from 1989 till 2019 education did not become a source of ongoing changes in the country. A further formations of power, selected through elections, instead of decentralizing school system, allegedly led to the creation of new models of school in a corset of centralism. To make matters worse, the prime ministers of the following governments from different political parties, taking into account their own or party interests, employed the ministry of national education (or their decision-making power apparatus), who had disturbed communicational relationships with the public. In this article I explain the reasons for betrayal of elites in the context of fundamental assumptions of the “Solidarity” movement in the years of 1980–1989. As a result Polish society abandoned the deliberative and participatory democracy. I look at how education as a science and practice of education fit into democratization of the Polish state and society. The key meaning for me has the perception of education as a common good, as environments and entities, institutions or management practices which participate in the democratic society.

Keywords

• educational reforms
• educational policy
• critical pedagogy
• school
• democracy
• contradiction
• educational perpetrators
• educational policy