Dilemmas of Polish language education, or what the first years of reform teach us

The review article describes the effects of the hastily implemented reform of school education. Its effects were monitored by researchers whose observations appeared in the volume Dilemmas of Polish Studies in the reformed primary school edited by Zofia Budrewicz and Danuta Łazarska, published as part of the Annales Universitatis Paedagogicae Cracovienesis. Authors from many academic centres address the topics of overcrowded high schools (the socalled effect of the double year), students overloaded with learning, return of rote learning, as well as the process of full centralisation in education management (no teachers’ participation in preparing reforms), or politicised programme changes and haste. The volume contains many texts that critically analyse the new core curriculum in the field of Polish language education. Repeated allegations include: anachronism, lack of autonomy in the choice of texts, deprivation of references to modern times, dominance of theoretical terminology, marginalisation of communication practice, etc. In addition, some of the dissertations contained in the publication are based on empirical research and examples of so-called good educational practices.