The condition of teachers and their preparation for work, implications of intercultural education in Poland

Abstract

What is referred to are the results of nationwide quantitative and qualitative studies conducted in several academic environments. The research constitutes the background against which the condition (the current health, inner intellectual and professional situation) of future teachers is shown as well as the determinants of their preparation for work in multicultural conditions. An authored multisided model of teachers’ education has been also presented. The research approach and interpretation of results have been subordinated mainly to social developmental psychology, the idea of constructivist understanding of individual and social development and intercultural education. In applying the constructivist approach, incorporated into pedagogy from other disciplines, the author’s proposal can be seen referring to constructivism with the aim of understanding experiences of adults. It should be emphasized that in the pedagogical literature this mainly concerns the knowledge of small children. The presented study provides a lot of new information and opens new prospects of further research on the border of intercultural education and general pedagogy, pedeutology, several sub-disciplines of psychology and sociology, as well as of other fields of broadly understood humanities, which can enhance the development of intercultural pedagogy.