Nauki o Wychowaniu. Studia Interdyscyplinarne
The profile of the journal is defined from the perspective of integral and comprehensive analysis of educational phenomena emerging from humanistic and social disciplines as well as pedagogical specialties. The journal is intended to initiate discussion on this precise kind of panorama of educational phenomena and contribute to promoting reflection on educational sciences and their institutionalization. In our view the journal is to represent interdisciplinary space aimed at exchanging thoughts, research and experiences. Through creating such a space we wish to focus on the multidimensional reflection on the subject matter of educational sciences together with their critical variants. Hand in hand we will take care of accounting for such aspects of practical pedagogy which require high levels of reflectiveness as our aim is to extend the perspective of analysis of educational issues in a continuous manner. Type: scientific journal, six-monthly, on-line version Branches of science: social sciences, humanities Range: international
Introduction. On the Concept of Lifelong Learning
Lifelong learning, whose roots reach back many centuries, emerges as a relatively recent concept in its modern form. Its importance in the educational discourse increased significantly following the announcement of the Lisbon Strategy in 2000. The article contributes to the debate on lifelong learning presented in Volume 21 of “Educational Sciences. Interdisciplinary Studies (NOWIS)”. It emphasizes the complexity and multidimensionality of the phenomenon, which, on the one hand, poses definitional challenges, while on the other, provides an impetus for a stimulating discussion on education and formal, non-formal, and informal learning in the contemporary world.
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Counsellogy is a young subdiscipline of the social sciences and humanities. It is dedicated to the study of counseling and guidance. The paper argues that this scholarly field stands in a twofold relation to education. The very object of research is one of these links. The other is provided by the interdisciplinarity of knowledge, which is produced, accumulated and generalized by various humanities scholars, as well as researchers from other disciplines. Crucially, both the use of counseling interventions and engagement in shared interdisciplinary scholarship-generating research on counseling are intrinsically educational.
Pedagogical Counseling and Theory of Helping Relationship to Face the Vulnerability of Our Present Times: Perspectives and Practices
Educational counseling, with its focus on relational and educational dimensions, is one of the most significant practices for promoting the well-being of individuals and communities. The paradigm upon which educational counseling draws is the theory of helping relationship as a dynamic process of personal accompaniment and regeneration of vulnerable people. The article develops a theoretical and practical reflection on educational counseling as a response to the actual existential vulnerability and widespread distress, as well as opportunities for educational development. Particular attention is paid to the role of educational counselor as a human professional and to the relational and pedagogical posture activated in dynamics of help.
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Education and Learning in the Lives of Old People – A Strategy for Development and Adaptation to Old Age
The article aims to present the educational activity of seniors not in terms of its outcomes but as a process that enables older adults to use it as a tool. This life strategy allows them to manage their potential. In doing so, they can familiarize themselves with reality and everyday life and acquire skills and competencies, not so much to adapt to changes but to be ready for them and respond appropriately. The article is theoretical; it concerns adult education, educational activity, and lifelong learning of older adults. In addition to explaining the theoretical framework determined by permanent education and lifelong learning theories, the background of social changes and civilizational development, treated as the socio-cultural context of the educational activity of contemporary seniors, will be indicated.
Memory As a Learning Tool For Older Adults
The article is a literature review aiming to capture memory’s essence as a learning process. Particularly interesting is the issue of memory, and therefore the ability to learn, in older adults. Modern neuroscience uses tools to study the human brain’s capabilities in old age. A review of research concerning the memory of older people indicates that non-declarative memory is responsible for acquiring skills or encoding and storing sensory information, which is relatively well preserved in late adulthood. Semantic memory, i.e., the system of concepts and general knowledge about the world, is well preserved (vocabulary resources increase with age), unlike event memory, i.e., episodic memory, which deteriorates significantly. Working memory, responsible for short-term storage and manipulation of information, is significantly weakened. From the point of view of learning in late adulthood, these data should make gerontologists happy because they indicate that a healthy older adult retains educational potential.
How Understanding the Nature of Science Supports Lifelong Learning
This study examines Polish citizens’ understanding of the Nature of Science (NoS) (McComas 2020) through public consultations on science communication in four areas: climate change, GMOs, vaccinations, and alternative medicine. Qualitative analysis of group discussions revealed that while all NoS elements were addressed, tools, processes, and products of science were most frequently referenced, with human elements and limitations mentioned less often. NoS principles were most evident among participants with higher education. The authors suggest using these insights as a litmus test for Polish citizens’ scientific literacy and advocate for professional science communication that goes beyond reporting findings to include explanations of scientific processes. This approach, they argue, can effectively support citizens’ lifelong learning.
Confused Learner. Online Health Information Seeking by Breast Cancer Patients
The aim of this study was to reconstruct online health information seeking behaviors during oncological treatment. The qualitative research, in the interpretive paradigm, was conducted in Poland and Croatia. Purposive sampling was used. The participants were breast cancer patients after the oncological diagnosis obtained no more than 5 years before the study. A total of 24 participants aged 34 to 76 were enrolled in the study. In-depth interviews were conducted. Reflexive thematic analysis was used. Five strategies of involvement or non-involvement in online information-seeking required by health crisis used by research participants were identified: overly active/obsessive online information-seeking, active online information-seeking, withdrawing from online information-seeking, avoidance, non-involvement. The strategies are also ways of coping with illness and learning during a health crisis. They are associated with many burdens. That is why some cancer patients become confused learners.
The Motivations of Adults for Engaging in Learning, Personal Development, and Acquiring New Qualifications
The aim of this text is to explore the motivations of adults for pursuing postgraduate studies, retraining in new fields, and participating in other training programs and courses, as well as to identify the factors that influence their engagement and success in the educational process. The theoretical section discusses the characteristics of adult learning and highlights the main motivations and needs of adults in this context. The empirical part focuses on a reflective analysis of adults’ experiences related to learning and self-development. The research was conducted using problem-centered narrative interviews. The results indicate that adult learners are driven by a variety of motivations, most commonly linked to professional, personal, and social factors. Motivation to participate in training plays a crucial role in adults’ personal and professional development.
The Potential of Gerontological Counseling
The rapid aging of the Polish population creates new challenges and needs, ­including the development of counseling services for older adults. The analysis aimed to ­identify the needs and expectations of older people in relation to counseling, diagnose the current state of gerontological counseling, and propose a model of gerontological counseling that takes into account the current social context. In the study, which used an interpretative paradigm, I reviewed the literature and conducted expert and informal interviews. The diagnosis points to the lack of a coherent, interdisciplinary system to support older people. The results of the study provide a basis for practical measures to develop a counseling system and educate gerontological counselors. In the proposed model, I assume the integration of counseling with senior policy. In the study, I raise the postulate of professionalizing gerontological counselors and propose a preliminary description of the profile of an academic ­graduate.
Distances and Avoidance: Teachers Confronted with Their Visibility on the Internet
The article begins by exploring the concept of distance, particularly within the sociology of education as discussed by Émile Durkheim, Pierre Bourdieu, and François Dubet. The notion of distance is thus problematized, enabling an analysis of the strategies employed by teachers who, by having virtual profiles on social networks, protect their personal lives and visibility outside of the school environment. The article uses an online forum to gather empirical data, specifically identifying teachers who accept former students on their personal pages and those who accept current students in a restricted manner, allowing limited interaction. These individual approaches provide some evidence of the moral norms that weigh on teachers, who engage in these private spaces in a negative manner, through avoidance rituals, to maintain an idealized image of their professional role.
Learning from European Lives: An Introduction to the LEuLiv Project
The purpose of this article is to introduce the Erasmus+ project Learning from European Lives (LEuLiv). This project is unique in its partnerships (Germany, Poland, Slovenia and Lithuania), the combination of diversity and synergy in the project’s concept and the fact that it encompasses four dimensions of biographical learning: the personal, inter-personal, social/societal and transcultural. Students from a variety of different academic and professional backgrounds in the partnership countries will learn the theoretical basis of biographical exploration with a focus on autobiographical memories as a resource in the present and conduct an interview with an older person (aged 60 or older). Project results include the creation of teaching manuals and innovative learning programs as well as a multi-lingual, multicultural biographical databank with 80 plus interviews to be used by the participating partners for future research and course development.
Lifelong Learning and Its Shadows in Adult Education
This article examines the dimensions of lifelong learning that cast a shadow over the concept itself. According to its originators, lifelong learning is intended to enhance reflective and critical thinking and to assist individuals in constructing a personal worldview that helps them make sense of the world around them. However, contemporary realities compel individuals to engage in learning that goes beyond these ideals: to reinterpret established concepts, resist indoctrination, cope with fake news, practice self-censorship, balance the sensitivities of others, employ inclusive language, cultivate psychological resilience in the fear of cancel culture, develop the skill of strategic silence, and publicly negotiate a situationally contingent identity. The article also explores factors that have facilitated the development and dissemination of lifelong learning. It concludes with a proposal for a form of learning provisionally termed ­anti-systemic, epistemically disobedient, emphasizing resistance to the spread of untruth.
This article chisels out the thesis that professionalism is something that is constantly being shaped, something that “is always ahead of us, so any complacency must be considered premature” (Witkowski 2018: 135). The question, therefore, of continuous professional and personal self-development and of ‘becoming’ a teacher is dictated today not only by the numerous and increasingly traumatic transformations of the world. The contemporary teacher has to be open and sensitive to them, and manifest the ability to deal with uncertainty, duality, ambivalence of the phenomena and problems of life. He or she has to teach how to live, how to be, who to be, and what to aim for. The quality and effectiveness of these activities can be ensured by a proficiency in self-education.
Review: Marcin Muszyński, "Uczenie się stawania się osobą starą", Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego, Łódź 2024, pp. 560
Marcin Muszynski’s habilitation monograph Uczenie się stawania się osobą starą [Learning to Become an Old Person], is an important monograph in the area of sciences dealing with the human aging process. The most crucial part, because it crowns the research process and indicates the author’s contribution to the development of theory, is the author’s conception of the learning model of becoming an old person, in which the key role is played by the proficiency of the aging person. Special recognition is due to the extensive methodological section of the monograph, which includes a natural history of the study and rich references to current international and Polish literature.
Report on the 4th Łódź Gerontological Conference from the Series “Reflections on Old Age”, entitled “Changing Old Age – The Faces of Ageing Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow”
The article presents a report on the 4th Łódź Gerontological Conference from the series “Reflections on Old Age” – “Changing Old Age – The Faces of Ageing Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow”, organized in 2025 by the Department of Andragogy and Social Gerontology, the Gerontology Section of the Committee on Pedagogical Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences, and the Association of Social Gerontologists. The conference provided an opportunity for scholarly debate on the broadly understood phenomenon of old age within a temporal perspective.
Department of Andragogy and Social Gerontology
Introduction. Theory in the Humanities and Social Sciences: Collusions of Approaches and Applications
The article is an introduction to the 20th volume of „Nauki o Wychowaniu. Studia Interdisciplinarne”. It presents the main topic of theory and its applications, and the conceptual framework of the volume together with an outline of its contents. In the summary, it shifts the emphasis to a discussion on the positions presented in the volume, engaging it and inviting it to continue.
On Theory and Contemporary Theorising in Social Sciences
Theory and theorising are essential issues for science. Every science. And especially for the social sciences. For this reason, the author of the article indicates some of the influential tendencies in these sciences that eliminate theory from thinking about the discipline and also from thinking about empirical research. Even though essential and groundbreaking theoretical works appear in world literature, mainstream publications reduce theory to quotes, lists, and sometimes only chapter mottos. The author ponders the conditions for this state of affairs. He concludes that reviewers are partly responsible for this state of affairs and are not always interested in original and - above all - independent analyses; they are not interested in working with the text. For this reason, authors engage in “compilation” activity, which can hardly be called scientific in the traditional sense. In the final word of this essay, the author enumerates the weaknesses of this state of affairs and possible long-term consequences for developing social science theory.
significance of theory in social sciences
Functions of Theory in an Empirical Study
This article describes three functions of theory in the process of empirical investigation. The first step involves defining the theory. The second identifies and explains its role in the process of forming a research problem, illustrating how theory links the empirical field to the scientific explanations sought. The third step discusses the role of theory in the operationalization process, emphasizing the relationship between theoretical and observational terms, as well as the formulation of research questions and hypotheses, justifying their observational language. Additionally, it is shown that interpretation can potentially transform the theory itself. The article is a presentation of the author’s way of thinking about the relationships between theory and empirical research in the methodology of social research.
Theoretical Turns in the Perspective of the New Humanities and Empirical Research
The article reflects on the nature of theoretical “turns” and the accompanying formation of a cognitive perspective, framed by reflections on the margins of research practice as well as Ryszard Nycz’s project of the new humanities. The research method applied is the analysis of secondary sources. The discussion focuses on defining the concept, its positioning within theoretical traditions, and reflections on its constitutive features.
Meta-analysis for Supporting Empirical Theories in Educational Sciences
This article explores the role of meta-analysis and systematic review in developing and refining empirical theories in educational sciences. It highlights the method’s value in synthesizing research findings, identifying patterns, and improving the explanatory power and coherence of theories. It also underscores the skepticism present in academic circles, especially concerning meta-analysis. While meta-analysis is widely used in evidence-based approaches, its adoption in educational research sometimes remains locally limited due to concerns about data quality, methodological heterogeneity, publication bias, and perceived epistemic incompatibility with constructivist or interpretive paradigms. The author argues that these challenges can be addressed through methodological rigor, data transparency, proper contextualization, and interdisciplinary training in statistics, epistemology, and logic. Meta-analysis is presented not only as a statistical tool, but as a means of supporting intellectual inquiry and collaborative theory-building. The article calls for greater integration of meta-analytic methods into education research, emphasizing their potential to enhance the quality, comparability, and transparency of scientific knowledge.
The Specificity and Originality of Pedagogical Research Methodology
The authors present arguments for the existence of methodological specificity of pedagogical research, providing examples from Polish and foreign research practice. They consider this issue in relation to three basic stages of research: discovering and posing research questions; selecting research strategies and methods and their implementation; analysis, interpretation, evaluation and communication of results. The essence of pedagogical research is its practical aspect and taking into account the situational context of the phenomena being studied. The questions asked (stage 1) must have a broad scope, taking into account the genesis of the phenomenon. At the stage of analysis and interpretation (3), it is crucial to develop guidelines for practice, and even implementation programs and projects, which define pedagogy as a practical science. Due to the fact that currently the research methods are the least specific (2), the authors draw attention to research conducted using the arts-based research (ABR) method, analyzing its features that are valuable from the point of view of pedagogy, such as: methodological novelty and creativity, a clear ethical perspective, the possibility of investigating issues that have not been addressed before, empowerment of research participants, resistance to artificial intelligence interference, an attractive form of communicating results in the social environment, etc. The ABR method can also foster the hitherto little realized interdisciplinarity of pedagogical research.
In Search for an Agile Epistemology: Implicit Conceptions in Research
This theoretical article explores the role of implicit conceptions in scientific research, focusing on how these hidden frameworks influence the design, execution, and interpretation of studies. Drawing on the concept of tacit knowledge (Polanyi 1966; Malik 2023), it examines how researchers’ intuitive and non-verbalizable understandings shape their theoretical, methodological, and collaborative practices. The discussion is structured around four dimensions: tacit knowledge as an epistemological foundation, researcher identity, contextual influences, including paradigmatic and epistemological tensions, and the assessment and monitoring of implicit conceptions. The article emphasizes the need for epistemological flexibility, encouraging researchers to navigate positivist, interpretative, and critical paradigms based on the phenomenon under study. It critiques the “publish or perish” logic, advocating for prioritizing quality and knowledge advancement over market pressures. By adopting interdisciplinary and transversal approaches, researchers can address complex phenomena more comprehensively. Finally, the article highlights the importance of lifelong and cross-disciplinary training to equip researchers for contemporary scientific challenges while fostering innovation and adaptability.
The Concept of the Model and its Role in Science. From Polish Methodological Discussions
Models are used in the natural and mathematical sciences as well as in the social and legal sciences. The very notion of a model gives rise to interdisciplinary reflection on the meaning of the term. The article focuses on selected typological solutions that have been carried out in Polish scientific discourse. The text presents the position of Izydora Dąmbska, Zygmunt Hajduk and Ryszard Wójcicki, as well as some more contemporary typologies of models used in scholarship. The reconstruction is intended to bring us closer to the concept of a model, to show its multidimensionality in both structural and functional dimensions.
Teachers and Theories in Pedagogy: Barriers to Applying Theory in Practice
The article addresses the issue of implementing pedagogical theories into educational practice, highlighting the tension between the academic sphere and the daily realities of teachers’ work. It discusses the functions of pedagogical theories and identifies barriers to their implementation, including the shock of entering the teaching profession, the traditions prevailing in specific institutions, routine approaches to tasks, fear of failure, and work overload. The conclusion proposes action research as a means to integrate theory and practice, emphasizing its potential to generate knowledge that is relevant and useful in educational realities. Such research fosters reflection on practice, enhances teachers’ competencies, and boosts motivation for change, which can contribute to improving the quality of education in the face of contemporary challenges.
Discoverers, Designers, Researchers: An Interdisciplinary Analysis of Adult Attitudes Toward Children’s Sexuality
This article explores adult attitudes toward children’s sexuality by applying Mieczysław Malewski’s andragogical typology of epistemic stances – those of the explorer, the designer, and the researcher – as its primary interpretative framework. These three approaches allow for a nuanced understanding of how adults engage with the topic of child sexuality, ranging from exploratory to normative-practical and critical-reflective orientations. The typology is further enriched by cultural and structural perspectives drawn from Pierre Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus and cultural capital, and from Bronisław Malinowski’s view of social norms as functional elements of culture. Together, these perspectives reveal how socio-cultural conditions shape what is deemed acceptable, moral, or educationally appropriate in relation to children’s sexuality. The article presents adult sexual education not merely as a process of knowledge transmission, but as an ethical and transformative practice – one that fosters increased awareness, inclusivity, and responsible caregiving.
Why Do Teachers Dislike Educational Theory?
Scientific theory holds a dual significance in education: substantive, as it provides learning content, and instrumental, as it explains the process of mastering it. In this second role, it becomes the subject of ongoing doubts, debates, trials, and fascinations. Educational theorists spare no effort in attempting to match the methodological rigor of the natural sciences, yet their achievements in this regard are often heavily questioned by practitioners. The author of the article examines these controversies within the unique context of Poland, a Central Eastern European country still affected by authoritarianism. In an increasingly globalized world, cultural differences between social functions and their executors are, in the author’s view, becoming more pronounced.
On the Evolution and Problems of Defining General Pedagogy in Pedagogical Lexicography
The article addresses the issue of the evolution of the status of pedagogy in the Polish context. Historically, the boundaries between general pedagogy and its subdisciplines, such as the theory of education, have become blurred, reflecting changes in research dynamics and socio-political transformations. After 1989, discussions on the identity and methodology of general pedagogy were replaced by broader debates on the identity of pedagogy as a discipline. The article highlights the challenges in analyzing contemporary and historical literature on general pedagogy, particularly in the context of hidden ideological influences or undisclosed worldviews of authors. General pedagogy, as a foundation for empirical and theoretical research, is aimed at understanding education. This knowledge contributes to identifying the relationship between scientific and everyday conceptualizations of education, especially in the context of systemic transformation and cultural changes. It thus calls for the revision and enhancement of the framework of general pedagogy to address contemporary challenges and developmental barriers effectively.
Whitehead: Naddania i (w)zrosty by Lech Witkowski: A Commentary for the Educational Sciences in the Context of the Francophone Discourse
The subject of this article is an analysis of Lech Witkowski’s latest book, Whitehead. Naddania i (w)zrosty dla humanistyki i edukacji (2024), conducted in the context of the reception of Whitehead’s thought within the Francophone discourse, as well as from the perspective of its significance for broadening the horizons of the educational sciences. The broad thematic scope of Witkowski’s work, as well as of Whitehead’s writings and their Francophone reception, necessitated a selective approach. The analysis focuses on several key concepts that enrich the discourse of the educational sciences. These include, above all: the concept of a culture of possibilities, encompassing the potentials for socio-cultural growth and embedding; the concept of processuality, developed in a spirally harmonious rhythm, which also includes the tension between order and chaos; and the concept of becoming, which entails the processes of self-formation and self-creation. The article also signals critical moments and translational remarks within the Francophone reception of Whitehead’s thought.
Paths of Debates and Discussions on Educational and Social Research and Issues of Diagnosis and Measurement. Review of Academic Events from the Turn of 2024 and 2025
In 2024 and2025, important academic events on the methodology of educational and social research took place in Poland. The 9th and 10th PTP Pedagogical Methodology Seminar, the 11th Transdisciplinary Symposium of Qualitative Research, and the V International Symposium on Autoethnography and Narrative 2025 devoted to autoethnography showed a shift in interest towards participation, affectivity, and crossing the boundaries set by tradition and applicable standards. Reflections on the role of the researcher, research ethics, and the embodied and dialogical approach to cognition also played a special role. Another significant event was the XXX PTDE Conference, devoted to the diagnosis of educational needs, measurement methods, and analysis of examination results, whose next edition will take place in 2025 in Krakow.
Introduction. Family in a Biographical Research Perspective
Biographical research in the social sciences has gained significant importance in the analysis of changes in the structure and functioning of the contemporary family in recent decades. This research allows for a deeper understanding of how individual life stories of family members intertwine, creating a common narrative that shapes the identity of the family community and the quality of the experience of the co-presence of its members. In Poland, this research approach is being intensively developed by various research centers. In the text, we analyze the thematic scope of the volume, which focuses on the issue of the family as a dynamic socio-cultural system, in which everyday experiences of members create a unique community. We draw attention to the multi-contextual nature of the approaches to the subject matter in the presented articles, such as intergenerational transmission, parenting experiences, and the role of communication in the family. They refer to various experiences that influence the formation of the identity of family members.
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