Organization of special education in Poland in the interwar period. Plans, achievements, deficiencies in the special education system

Abstract

The article presents special education in interwar Poland. After regaining independence in November 1918, the Polish authorities faced the need to rebuild the state, individual spheres of social life and education which had been under the authority of the partitioning authorities for over 100 years. Special education, which dates to the first years of the 19th century in Poland, also needed to be rebuilt. In the interwar period, activities in this field were undertaken primarily by people involved in the upbringing and education of abnormal children, as children with disabilities were called at that time. It is their commitment, seeing the sense in working for this group of children, that contributed to the resumption of the activities of institutions established during the partitions, as well as the creation of new ones. They developed working methods, prepared teaching aids, conducted propaganda campaigns, and educated the society. Very important for the developmentof special education, and not only in the discussed period, was the establishment, on the initiative of Maria Grzegorzewska, of the National Institute of Special Education an institution preparing teaching staff for special schools, one of the few operating at that time in Europe. Despite numerous difficulties, in the years 19181939, it was possible to develop the foundations on which the reconstruction of special education after World War II was based.