They are unique further studies for experienced teachers. Studies attended by several dozen educators that came from all over Poland and run under the Polish-American Freedom Foundation and University of Warsaw School of Education.
On October 18, 2024, the postgraduate courses in Teaching Polish, History and Social Studies, and Class Management paths were inaugurated. Class Management is a path addressed to teachers of all subjects and focused on educational activities and psychological aspects of working at school.
During the opening ceremony, Prof. Jolanta Sujecka-Zając talked about the long process of preparing the program of the studies that ideally meets teachers’ needs and allows them to reach their own teaching and educating superpowers. The PAFF and UW School of Education director also spoke about the educational innovations: what they really are and when they become only a pretty wrapped eggshell. “At the Master of Education School, we will not ask if something is innovative but what we should do differently, what we should do more, and what less, how to act more effectively. We will look for solutions and methods that do respond to problems of liquid reality and civilization of excess, and first of all that lead to permanent change,” Prof. Sujecka-Zając noted.
The Master of Education School draws from experiences collected by the Polish-American Freedom Foundation and University of Warsaw School of Education over a decade of work with teachers, both beginners and experienced ones. Several thousand people have been trained over the last years and very often requests would arrive to launch the course of study that could give its students an opportunity for an in-depth reflection on their own methods of working and building supporting community. The very important issue was to create space for teachers from outside Mazovia region, and that’s why these studies are held in hybrid formula: 9 out of 11 sessions are online. That allowed the candidates from all over Poland to apply to the Master of Education School. Teachers from Garwolin, Olsztyn, Krotoszyn, Oleśnica or Międzyrzec Podlaski met at the weened workshops. And already at the first session its participants emphasized how much needed and invigorating it was to have an opportunity to reflect on the essence of modern school, on how teachers can develop themselves and support students without loosing their own well-being.
The outstanding feature of that course is an extensive tutoring program. Each student will have individual meetings with an experienced educator who will help them climb each subsequent step of Teacher’s Development Standards all year round. The innovative solution is also the analysis of recorded lessons conducted by the student, both with regard to teaching and educating/intervention methods used.
It is worth adding that this year – the first of the Master of Education School – there were many candidates willing to start their studies there. We could offer 60 places to which almost 130 people applied. Thanks to the grants from the Ministry of Education and Polish-American Freedom Foundation, studying at the Master of Education School in 2024/25 academic year is free. And probably the widely awaited Mathematics path will be opened in November.
