Representations of Linguistic and Ethnocultural Diversity in Poland's Education Policy, National School Curricula and Textbooks

Abstract

With its recent entry into the European Union (EU) and the adoption of multiethnic democracy as a national policy, a key challenge for Poland is to transform its education policy and practice in ways that are consistent with multicultural and pluralist values. This paper examines Poland's efforts to address these issues by exploring changes in the national education policy, school curricula and history textbooks. The author argues that despite greater representation of minority languages and cultures in schools in Poland, a disjunction exists between the policy discourse of multicultural education and the reality of education practice that conforms to traditional Polish conceptions of interethnic relations. The study further shows that history textbooks sustain a discourse promoting the existence of Poland as an ethnically defined nation state, exclusive of minority identities and cultures. Ethnic minority integration continues to be associated primarily with a one-sided process of minority adaptation, rather than a process of interactivity and mutual recognition.