History Education Reform in Post-Communist Poland, 1989-1999: Historical and Contemporary Effects on Educational Transition
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HISTORY EDUCATION REFORM IN POST-COMMUNIST POLAND, 1989-1999: HISTORICAL AND CONTEMPORARY EFFECTS ON EDUCATIONAL TRANSITION DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of the Ohio State University By Christine S. Parker, M.A. ******* The Ohio State University 2003 Dissertation Committee: Approved by Antoinette Errante, Adviser Robert Lawson Adviser College of Education Steven Miller Department of Educational Policy & Leadership Copyright by Christine S. Parker 2003 ABSTRACT This dissertation will describe and analyze how state officials, educators, publishers, and historians in Poland have addressed the task of reforming its national curriculum standards and supporting textbooks in the period of transition from the end of Communist rule in 1989 to the introduction of a new system of education in 1999. The goals of this study are to determine (1) the sources of transitional curriculum policies in history education and the role of reform actors in Poland since 1989; (2) why the history education curriculum reforms changed as they did between the creation of proposals and the eventual codification of the reform into law; (3) the influences on the reform of history textbooks during the transitional period; (4) the differences between anticipated goals and actual outcomes of the curricular and textbook reforms, and (5) how to account for those changes in light of the greater scope of the historical development of democratic education in Poland. This grounded study is based on multiple data sources, including documentary evidence, professional journals, and personal interviews with individuals participating in the reform of the history curriculum. The reader is presented with a historical summary of educational development of Poland since the 16th century, as well as with descriptions of history textbook reform and the process involved in rewriting the national standards for history. Textbook reform was influenced mainly by economic factors, which affected both the speed and direction of the reform. Curriculum reform was heavily influenced by both the historical inheritance of Communism and of pre-Communist educational development, as well as by the contradictory context of transition itself. The study concludes that the reform of history education in Poland during the transitional ii period 1989-1999 is best understood through the application of institutional frameworks which offer the most explanatory power for the events that transpired. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Yikes. Where to start. To Erwin Epstein, for starting me on the road. To Antoinette Errante, for seeing me through. Now you can finally don your commemorative Golden Gopher robes with pride. Extra special thanks to Robert Lawson and Steven Miller, for stepping in so very graciously at the last minute to save the day. To the Fulbright Commission in Poland, for the opportunity to meet and work with some pretty extraordinary people. To The Institute of Sociology, Jagiellonian University, for hosting me during my Fulbright tenrure, with extra special thanks to Dr. Kazimierz Bujak and Dr. Anna Orla-Bukowska for their guidance and insight. The Center for Slavic Studies, the Office of International Studies, the School of Educational Policy & Leadership, and the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures at The Ohio State University for continued financial support. To all of the Polish educators and historians who took time to sit down with a stranger over a cup of tea and share their experiences of a momentous decade in history, particularly Jerzy Pilikowski and Włodzimierz Mędrzecki. To my parents, who finally stopped asking when I’d be finished and who instilled in me the highest personal standards and a life-long love of learning. To my sister, Janice, for teaching me how to read at age 4 – I owe all of my subsequent academic successes to you. And to Casey, my calm in the storm, who always had a forehead kiss ready when I needed one. Thank you for keeping me sane and not allowing me to give up the dream. iv VITA September 20, 1968 Born, Camden, New Jersey February 1991 B. A., History; B. A., Russian Languages & Literatures, University of Massachusetts June 1993 M.A., Slavic Languages and Literatures, The Ohio State University 1998-1999 Fulbright Student Grant Recipient, Institute of Sociology, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland June 2002 M.A., Education, School of Educational Policy & Leadership, The Ohio State University FIELDS OF STUDY Major field: Education v TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT . ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS . iv VITA . v LIST OF FIGURES . ix CHAPTER PAGE 1. INTRODUCTION . 1 Significance of the study . 2 Rationale and background of the study . 4 The meaning(s) of democratic freedom . 5 Textbooks, curriculum, and society . 7 Definition of terms . 9 Overview of the study . 15 2. THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS . 18 I. EDUCATIONAL TRANSITION . 19 A. General theories of educational transition . 21 B. The end of communism as… . 37 C. McLeish (1998): political frameworks . 40 D. Bray & Borevskaya (2001): Economic frameworks . 42 E. Effects of democratic transition on teachers . 43 F. Reform during transitions: unique challenges . 45 G. Educational transitions: summary . 46 II. HISTORY AND HISTORY EDUCATION IN TRANSITION. 47 A. What is history? . 48 B. School history versus other kinds of history . 53 C. Understanding versus belief in history education . 55 D. Understanding versus belief in history: the post-communist context . 59 E. Conflict in the classroom . 61 F. History in transition: from authoritarianism to democracy . 63 G. History as political discourse . 64 H. History's "unique" place in Polish education . 65 I. Political realities of history education . 67 vi III. THE TEXTBOOK . 72 A. What it means to reform a textbook . 72 B. Descriptive features of textbook types . 74 C. The authority of text . 76 D. Students and the history text . 78 E. Using/exploiting textual authority . 80 F. The politics of textbooks . 82 G. Ideology: a definition . 84 H. Textbooks and the politics of publishing . 85 I. Texts as commodities . 87 IV. CONCLUSION: TEXTBOOKS, MEANINGS, AND TRANSITION . 89 3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY . 91 Research methodology. 92 Origins of the study . 93 Description of study . 96 Data analysis . 99 Study shortcomings/limitations . 101 4. AN HISTORICAL SUMMARY OF EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN POLAND . 102 I. EDUCATIONAL REFORM IN THE 18TH CENTURY: THE NATIONAL EDUCATION COMMISSION . 104 A. The noble estate and traditional social structure . 104 B. Education before KEN . 106 C. Explanations for the rise of KEN . 109 D. Historical context of KEN. 111 E. Pragmatic considerations: Textbooks and teachers . 114 F. The legacy of KEN . 116 II. EDUCATION IN POLAND UNDER PARTITION: 1795-1918 . 119 III. THE SECOND REPUBLIC: 1918-1939 . 125 A. The Sejm Nauczycielski (Teachers' Parliament) of April 14-17, 1919 126 B. Competing interwar educational ideologies . 128 C. 1932 School reform of Janusz Jędrzejewicz . 131 D. Influential educational theories developed during the interwar period 134 E. Interpreting the interwar period . 137 IV. OCCUPATION: 1939-1945 . 138 V. POST-WORLD WAR II: 1945-1948 . 141 VI. EDUCATION IN THE PRL (PEOPLES' REPUBLIC OF POLAND): 1948-1973 . 144 vii VII.CONCLUSION . 149 5. HISTORY TEXTBOOK REFORM IN POLAND: EFFECTS OF THE FREE MARKET ON EDUCATIONAL TRANSITION . 150 The long road to textbook reform . 153 The early post-socialist period . 158 The early 1990s . 159 The effects of transition in the textbook industry . 161 Publishers' versus reformers' goals . 163 The 1999 textbook reform and the new textbook model . 167 Textbook approval processes . 170 The necessity of risk . 170 Conclusion . 173 6. THE CREATION OF THE BASIC CURRICULUM IN HISTORY FOR POLISH SCHOOLS . 174 I. HISTORY CURRICULUM REFORM IN POLAND. 175 A. Guiding principles of the history curriculum reform group . 176 B. Response to the initial attempts at defining the Basic Curriculum . 178 C. Basic challenges . 179 D. Second wave of reform . 180 E. Reflections on the work of the history curriculum group . 180 II. THE ISSUE OF HOLOCAUST EDUCATION . 191 A. The Polish-Israeli Textbooks Commission's recommendations for textbooks . 192 B. Recommendations go unheeded . 195 C. The interpellation in the matter of Holocaust education. 197 D. Beyond the interpellation: the debate over educational oversight . 202 7. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS . 205 REFERENCES . 237 APPENDICES . 255 A. Response Form for Potential Interview Subjects . 255 B. Sample Letter Requesting Personal Interview with Specialist in History Education . 257 C. Written Confirmation of Willingness to Participate in Exploratory Study . 260 D. Exploratory Questionnaire for Secondary School History Teachers Regarding Textbook Choice . 263 E. List of Interviewees . 269 viii LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE PAGE 1. The Partitions of Poland . 120 2. Comparison of contents – Basic Curricula for gimnazjum, 1997-1999 . 185 3. Comparison of contents – Basic Curricula for liceum (secondary school), before and after the interpellation . 201 ix CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION In June 1999 in Oslo, Norway, an international collection of education officials, historians, history teachers, and scholars of history education convened at a conference on the misuses of history in Europe. Sponsored by the Council of Europe’s Council for Cultural Cooperation, the conference was to serve as a forum for discussion about the misuses of history that have occurred in the past, why those misuses occurred,