Ecumenical upbringing – the implementation of the organisational forms and the methods of the activity of schools above the primary level, taking under consideration the diversity of faiths and confessions on the land of Pszczyna

In the contemporary socio-cultural assumptions, there is a need for the program, which appeared to cultural pluralism and religious among students. This growing awareness of the existing different communities is one of the reasons that education assign a significant role in shaping the life model based on the interaction of individuals and communities, and entire societies - without destructive conflicts of national, ethnic, religious or cultural. The main foundations would be tolerance for attitudes and customs, respect for language, traditions, religions of all students, the mutual enrichment through exchange of values, instilling the principles of peaceful existence and cooperation in social and cultural opposition to any form of discrimination, and - apart from learning about their own history and culture - getting to know the values of other cultures. Functioning in a culturally diverse environment makes it assume a distinctive lifestyle, behavior and conduct, drawing from more than one source of culture, assimilating more or less consciously different values, directly experiencing other cultures and entering into direct interaction with its representatives. To do this, develop the concept of integral education and pedagogy open, inspired, among others, Christianity. Religious Education is to fill an important humanizing role. It gives a basis to build attitudes of intercultural dialogue and tolerance.

The role of methaphors in education, self-education and teaching on the example of skillful Buddhist pedagogical methods and means. [rev.] Paweł Zieliński: Aspekty pedagogiczne Sutry Lotosu [Pedagogical aspects of the Lotus Sutra], Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Humanistyczno-Przyrodniczego im. Jana Długosza w Częstochowie, Częstochowa 2021 (ss. 192)

This article is a review of Paweł Zieliński’s monograph Pedagogical Aspects of the Lotus Sutra. The author focuses primarily on the study of skillful pedagogical methods and means (upaya-kausálya) used by Buddhist teachers in the processes of education, teaching and self-education. These methods, as noted by Zieliński, have not been sufficiently analyzed and researched by Western representatives of the humanities and social sciences.

Urban primary schools for Jewish population in the multi-cultural Częstochowa of the interwar period

In the years 1918–1939, Częstochowa was a multicultural city just like the entire Second Republic was a multicultural country. Groups of people different in the aspects of their ethnic origin, speaking different languages, belonging to different religions, and also representing different cultures co-existed in it; nevertheless, it was Jews that constituted the dominant minority as far as religion was concerned. Economic development, territorial growth, and also increase in the population, observed throughout the period referred to hereinabove, and, first and foremost, a constantly increasing headcount of Jewish minority, rendered it necessary to organise social-cultural and educational institutions, the lion’s share of which were charitable and philanthropic organisations. The demographic structure in the years 1918–1939 determined the educational needs of the city as well. So as to ensure that Jewish population could undergo a compulsory education and complete it, the authorities of the city handed over three municipal primary schools (bearing the following numbers: 12, 13 and 15) to be used only and solely by the members of this very minority. The schools in question constituted an integral element of primary education in the city, and, therefore, suffered from the same difficulties with finding suitable buildings, personnel and organisation. It is, however, worth indicating that, thanks to the grassroots initiatives of the faculty in the aspect of the organisation of upbringing activities, these schools instilled the spirit of respect for the people of all confessions and nationalities, as well as for the state and local community.

Polylinguism and multiculturalism in the communication and educational space

The problems of the relationship between language and society attract the attention of researchers from different countries representing various scientific areas: philosophy, history, biology, linguistics, theology, pedagogy, psychology, etc. This study actualizes the sociological approach to the study of the social determinants of the formation of polylingualism as a means of professional communication. According to the sociological results, about 70% of the world's population, to one degree or another, speaks two or more languages, which imposes additional obligations on workers providing international professional communications (Beacco, 2002). Modern multilingual interaction should not be one-sidedly understood only as a borrowing of professional foreign language terminology. It includes the social background of the linguistic material: traditions, mimic and pantomimic codes, the national picture of the world - and becomes the most important factor in professionalization. Methods of systemic and functional analysis, comparison. generalization and collection of empirical data (expert interviews, content analysis).

Multiculturality in the (before)pandemic world and its meaning for the multicultural learning process

The phenomena of multiculturality is one of the key determinants that create the modern world and multicultural relations based among others on the meeting with the Other. The main purpose of the considerations in the presented text is to point the way how epidemiological threat connected with the expansion of SARS-CoV-2 virus has changed the perspective of preception of multiculturality and at the same time how it has determined (perhaps) the new thinking of the need of multicultural interactions. The author of the article appeals to both interdisciplinary literature subject and makes her own thoughts about the phenomena of multiculturality, presenting its meaning for the learning process. In the final part the most important conclusions and rethoughts about the multicultural society, chances and possibilities of its development in the globalised (before)pandemic world are contained.

[rev.] Krzysztof Maliszewski (red.), Pedagogika kultury–wehikuł przebudzeń. O edukacji nie-obojętnej [Pedagogy of culture – vehicle of awakening. On non-indifferent education], Wydawnictwo Naukowe “Śląsk”, Instytut Myśli Polskiej im. W. Korfantego, Katowice 2021

The authoress of the text written in the form of a review essay identifies certain traces, assumptions, metaphors, rhetorical figures, symbols and categories in the content of the following chapters of the monograph, which make understanding it as a whole consistent. Thus, they form the horizon for reading cultural texts for education. They are, for example: borderlands, borders, journey, road, returns, childhood, imagination and body. The transgressive nature of culture enriches man, and the cultural pedagogy is a metaphorical vehicle of awakening that saturates education with the factor of non-indifference.

Maxime Rovere, Co zrobić z idiotami. I jak samemu nie wyjść na idiotę, transl. Maria Zawadzka-Strączek, IW ZNAK, Kraków 2021, ss. 238

The text being presented is a review paper referring to the publication by Maxime Rovere (2021), Co zrobić z idiotami. I jak samemu nie wyjść na idiotę, translated by Maria Zawadzka-Strączek, Kraków: IW ZNAK, pp. 238. The title of the book of this French philosopher contains the word ‘idiota’ (which is the Polish word for ‘idiot’), which is the subject-matter of a multi-dimensional reflection in this paper. In the publication referred to in this paper, Rovere perceives idiots from the philosophical point of view as a problem relevant to relationships, society and psychology (intrapsychic). The author discusses the above-indicated issues in interdisciplinary terms, presenting the diverse possibilities of interpreting the notion referred to in the title of the book. In turn, social, professional, family-related and educational contexts are addressed by the author in his book.

Cultural transgressions in contemporary literary texts for children

Literature, also created with children in mind, to quote Kazimierz Brodziński, is a mirror of the age and the nation. Reacting to the change of cultural paradigm, it opens the borders, meets the current needs of the audience, adapts its repertoire to their interests and new narrative practices. Contemporary technological ubiquity generates an asymmetry of semiotic matter and communicative context, which realizes displacements in the area triad: culture-literature-media, thus triggering transgressions in literary texts. The questioning of the conventions of writing and printing causes modifications in the architectural structure of readings, which become on-linear, use the language of old and new media, and follow the example of audiovisual productions. The article highlights some of the transformations taking place in literature aimed at the on-adult reader in times of a culture that is changing anthropologically in spectacular and audiovisual way.

Implementation of intercultural aspects into the curriculum of Polish sign language as a foreign language as exemplified by the MOOC

This article presents the description of the course in Polish Sign Language conducted as an MOOC (Massive Open Online Course), and, in particular, the possibility of the implementation of inter-cultural aspects into the curriculum of Polish Sign Language as a foreign language with the application of this very formula. The technical structure of the course itself, and also methodological assumptions behind conducting it, are presented in this article as well. The description of the emplotment of the contents contained in it as a method of counteracting the phenomenon of abandoning the course and including intercultural contents into the curriculum of the course. What is discussed as well is the advantages resulting from including intercultural elements into instruction into Polish Sign Language.