Poland ASU trip day 3

Tuesday, October 19, 2010Today was another interesting day here in Poland. We gave a lecture to doctoral students on Teleplace, teacher collaboration, Active Worlds, and ways to network students and teachers with colleagues. The doctoral students shared with us that in their culture, collaboration and group work are not very well accepted until recently. Up until 1989 Poland was a communist country. So they basically started from scratch in 1989 with all aspects of life. Freedoms we take for granted, they still are getting used to having (open speech, free thinking, networking, entrepreneurship, etc.). On top of that, their education Minister has changed the entire education system multiple times in the last 20 years. They've gone from 11 grades, to 12, to possible 13 in 2 years (similar to our K-12). They educate all students now, even EC. More on all of that in a moment. So the doctoral students seemed eager to find new ways to integrate online, virtual classrooms, as well as, a collaborative structure such as PLCs as they become professors and school leaders. The professors at the university are also encouraging the students to think outside of the box, since they have so many possibilities that their predecessors never had. Several doc students discussed partnering with ASU doc students to work on collaborative research. We also shared information about our conference that we'll have on Friday and Saturday. Found our conference flyer online at http://www.k2b.yoyo.pl/program.html
After our lecture and Q and A, we had lunch with the Dean of doctoral students, several university staff and the Superintendent of the province that Poznan, Poland is in. As a nation, she shared, Poland is divided into 16 provinces or large districts. In each of those districts, there is a Superintendent (wasn't titled Superintendent, but served the same function as Superintendents do in NC). She serves that role for this district. She said she has 4000 schools, 60,000 teachers and 500,000 students in her district. WOW! Their role is very different in practice however. In schools here in Poland, she said there are no principals as we know them. Each school has a "lead teacher" who does all evaluations. They may also be called director, but I wasn’t clear on that. They have no effective teacher evaluation process. Schools are also self governing. They manage their own funds. Under her,and other superintendents, there are inspectors. She has 150 working for her. These people are each assigned a number of schools and must evaluate all of their schools in a 5 year period, or 20% each year. It sounded very much like the SACS process we do. They do not evaluate individual teachers, but instead evaluate pedagogy as a whole, processes in place, and certain documents. Anyway, she sat beside me at lunch and again later this evening where we were able to talk for close to 2 hours. She shared the way schools are structured. As of right now, students start school at age 7. Before starting primary school all parents are required to send their child to 1 year of preschool. Starting in 2 years, compulsory age will drop to 6 and add another year to their education. They go to Primary cycle 1 for 3 years. In this stage, there are no subjects. All curriculum is integrated. Then students move to primary stage 2 for 3 years. During this stage, subjects are divided and teachers instruct much like we do in elementary. To be a teacher, in primary, you are certified in EITHER cycle1 or cycle 2, but not both. Teacher training is very specialized to grade clusters, even more so than in America. After primary cycle 2, students go to 3 years of "gymnasjum"-which is similar to Jr. High School. It's associated with their next 3 year stage which is called "matura". Students take an exam at the end of Matura. It's a comprehensive exam of all knowledge from their education experience. Starting about 10 years ago, all students are required to take English and Polish every year of their education. On top of that, in matura, many students take Latin, Russian or German. We were able to observe a university class in session and speak to students. They don't sit in desks. They sit in rows on cloth chairs while the professor lectures. Because their country embraces change and growth since their revolution in 1989, professors seem open to us being in their rooms. Their culture seems to embrace becoming world class. We had an informal 2 hour session with some University Department of Pedutologii (I think it means the same as pedagogy). They teach education majors. This is where I talked to Elizabeth, the superintendent. Others from our group had similar conversations with their colleagues from Poland. We just discussed similarities and differences in our educational systems and how each may help the other. Elizabeth shared with me how they educate all students, even EC, but the major difference is that they assign EC students as groups of 3 to a "regular" classroom. Before they enroll, the entire group of non-disabled students and the teachers receive intense training on how to support and integrate the students into the class. There aren't EC classes, however the classroom teacher has an "advisor" who helps her plan for the students. The non-disabled students are taught how to work with peers, assist, build up, and include EC students as a part of class. They don't avoid labels or stigmas, they just hit them head on and say, "these students have disabilities, but they are equals. Here is how each of you are responsible for helping these students be successful." It was very intriguing. She said that severe and profound students can choose to go to a separate school. These schools are paid for by public funds, but housed in churches. The priests and nuns manage the schools. They work for free and use the $ to build new churches. I've also learned a great deal about the rough history of Poland- From Napolean, to Hitler, to the Russians. They've been attacked or assaulted many times. The people here are perhaps the most hospitable I've ever encountered. Even people who don't know us are very polite and generous. I found out that teachers here make the eqivalent of $1200 in US money a month before taxes. Medical doctors make about the equivalent of $1500 US dollars a month. Most professionals work 2 jobs. We were told that there are some in the society who genuinely miss communism because in communism, all workers got the same food rations, all teachers got 1 week free vacation on the cost paid for by the government, everyone, got the same clothing allowances, personal item allowances, etc. With the fall of communism, people have to work harder to get vacations, if they ever afford one at all and not everyone gets the same ammenities, etc. The younger generation love the freedoms and possibilities, but there are many from older generations who miss the "sameness" and structure. It's an interesting divide. For NCCS, there could be some very interested teachers here in Poland willing to partner with us to exchange ideas, collaborate, and more. Tomorrow, we visit a high school in the town of Jerzykowo and meet with their teachers and students. This is the first of 3 straight days traveling to towns within a 2 hour drive to meet teachers at 4 different schools in 4 different towns. These will be the some of the classroom teachers we will hopefully partner with in NCCS. We have 2 MS and 2 HS teachers in NCCS who have agreed to partner. Thanks to Sylvia White, I've passed out several bag tags, card holders and carabiners that say NCCS on them. We may have an influx of Polish applicants next year :) I hope all is well there. I'll write again tomorrow night.