Educational Politics and Intercultural Education – the Polish Perspective

Intercultural education is undertaken and implemented in the conditions abundant with contradictions. On one hand – in democratic states the official politics and legal regulations enhance multi- and intercultural education. On the other – the practice reveals not only the diversified needs of different ethnic, religious and national groups but also the issue of the hidden activity programme. Conflicting interests of various groups of significance in particular countries, the fearful attitudes to the Other, stereotypes and prejudices deeply rooted in social opinions are just some of the threats which hinder the promotion of the model of intercultural education. However, due to social transformations, this is the area which should be taken into account in educational policies. Politics itself is defined as an art of controlling and negotiating the interests of various social groups but is also treated as a kind of strategic game, of which the foundation is winning and losing. What seems of special rank is the awareness that no political system, even perfectly democratic, can provide all people with everything. Political activities always favour some at the cost of others. This largely derives from the fact that one of the essential, constitutive elements of politics is its axiological dimension, associated with creating particular ideas, ideologies and political doctrines. They organize the view of the world from a certain perspective, indicating the way of acting – the applied principles, norms or methods – of the people who implement them. Therefore, educational politics is also based on appropriate knowledge of the art of implementing what is possible among the postulates expressing the interests of different social groups. This gains significance in the culturally diversified environment, where educational politics should be especially focused on. Unfortunately, educational politics in Poland is one of the most neglected/abandoned fields of education. Obviously, this results from excessive influence of politics on the educational sphere in the period of communist Poland.