School-to-School Collaboration in Poland: Mapping (Untapped) Potential

Abstract

This chapter aims to explore Polish experiences of school-to-school collaboration (SSC): a mosaic of dynamic interplay between history, culture, politics, economics, and education. Starting with a diagnosis of Poland’s education system as ‘fatalist’ via the lens of the cohesion/regulation matrix, this chapter reveals the complex nature of SSC in this country, which is underpinned by conflicting logics: the decentralized education system, the state’s desire for control over that system’s key mechanisms, and the heavily capitalistic influence of neoliberal pressures. Then, drawing on data from available policy reports and legal acts, as well as the authors’ own research experiences, this chapter offers some insights on promising policy developments and examples of good practices in SSC at national and international levels. Furthermore, this chapter identifies possible barriers that block the full utilization of the potential inherent in collaboration between schools. These include formal/legal barriers (e.g. lack of policies regulating the collaboration between schools, unstable education policy after 1989, and competition between schools) and normative/cultural barriers (e.g. lack of long-standing tradition and experience of cooperation between schools, the bureaucratic school management model, and lack of cooperation skills among the main stakeholders). This chapter concludes with a discussion of some key lessons for policy and practice in tangibly harnessing the potential of SSC as a means of addressing current education challenges in Poland.

Citation

Kowalczuk-Walędziak, M., Kędzierska, H. and Korzeniecka-bondar, A. (2022), "School-to-School Collaboration in Poland: Mapping (Untapped) Potential", Armstrong, P.W. and Brown, C. (Ed.) School-to-School Collaboration: Learning Across International Contexts, Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 127-141. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80043-668-820221008