Institute of Education

Director: dr hab. Danuta Uryga, prof. APS
Administrative Assistant: Dorota Goluch

• Pedagogical thought, education and care in modern Poland and Europe - historical and cultural context;
• Humanistic education: subjectivity, dialogue, encounter - anthropological and philosophical as well as empirical and practical discourse in academic education;
• Modern education in a comparative perspective – intercultural discourse;
• Practical and theoretical aspects of creativity;
• Methodological issues in the social sciences and in the humanities;
• Continuous education in the knowledge society and the media
• The child and the children’s rights in the modern world;

Institute of Special Education

Director: dr hab. Ewa M. Kulesza, prof. APS
Administrative Assistant: mgr Anna Staniaszek

• Diagnosis and assistance to children and youth with special and specific learning disabilities;
• Continuing social and vocational rehabilitation of persons with a disability into adulthood;
• Disability and society;
• Family environment of disabled persons;
• Educating pupils with learning disabilities;
• Integration and inclusion as an educational and a social process;
• Educational, rehabilitative and therapeutic effectiveness of various methods of working with disabled pupils;
• Teaching and special education professionals: competencies, training and professional development, personality profile
• Specific areas of study in special education:
  • education of blind and visually impaired persons;
  • education of persons with impaired hearing;
  • education of persons with intellectual disabilities;
  • therapeutic education: education of persons with chronic disease and impaired mobility;
  • psycho-pedagogy of social rehabilitation;
  • pedagogical therapy;
  • early assisted development;
  • social and vocational rehabilitation;

Institute of Human Development Support and Education

Director: prof. APS, dr hab. Agnieszka Olechowska
Administrative Assistant: mgr Elżbieta Petrykowska

Institute of Human Development Support and Education comprises four units: the Chair of Early Childhood Education, the Department of Early Childhood Pedagogy, the Department of Speech Therapy and Educational Linguistics, and the Department of Education for Sustainability.

Department of Early Childhood Pedagogy
The Department was established in 2004. Until 30 September 2019, the Department and subsequently the Chair was headed by Professor Edyta Gruszczyk-Kolczyńska. From 2019/2020, the Department is headed by dr hab. Małgorzata Makiewicz, Associate Professor at the Maria Grzegorzewska University.

The research interests of faculty members focus on the care, education, and upbringing of young children and school students. In particular, they concern the mathematical education of children at the preschool and early school stages, the difficulties related to learning mathematics, mathematical talent, understanding the world and its physical and other natural phenomena, children’s speech and language development, the process whereby students acquire knowledge and skills while using multimedia programs, children’s educational needs, supporting the psychomotor development of young children, children’s independence and the processes whereby they learn about themselves and their environment, pro-social behaviour in children, educational therapy for children with behavioural disorders, the development of the educational system, and the role of a teacher.

Chair staff take part in seminars and scientific conferences both in Poland and abroad, and they represent the University in many scientific and expert bodies. They are involved in both national and international research and teaching projects (e.g. Mathematics in Focus, Math&Art). They disseminate scientific knowledge by conducting training courses, seminars, workshops and exhibitions for teachers, parents and other education stakeholders. They also collaborate with domestic teacher training and development institutions. Many of the staff combine theory with practice, working in the formal and non-formal education system and in psychological and pedagogical counselling centres.

Chair of Early Childhood Education
The Chair is the successor of the Department of Early Childhood Education, which was established in the 1990s. The research of its staff focuses on social and pedagogical conditions accompanying children’s upbringing and education, and on training teachers. Of particular interest to the research staff of the Chair is the educational discourse and its impact on children’s knowledge, competence and autonomy, and creating an environment for the children to learn, participate, and create in. Research on the professional preparation of teachers places a particular emphasis on their competences related to the creative and emancipatory model of education and the ability to support children with special educational needs. Special emphasis is also placed on practical teacher preparation.

The Chair of Early Childhood Education is responsible for training early school teachers in Pedagogy, and currently also participates in the preparation of teachers for children in grades 1–3 in Preschool and Early School Education.

Teaching staff at the Chair of Early Childhood Education also undertake efforts to internationalise the University and collaborate with researchers from the following international centres: Agder University in Kristiansand (Norway), University of Macerata (Italy), University of North Carolina at Greensboro (United States of America), Trinity Washington University in Washington D.C. (United States of America), Kristianstad University (Sweden), Canterbury Christ Church University (United Kingdom), Katholieke Pabo Zwolle (Netherlands), University of Patras (Greece), and Western Norway University of Applied Sciences (Norway).

The Chair of Early Childhood Education also carries out research and teaching projects, including international ones.

Department of Education for Sustainable Development
This Department is the youngest unit within the Institute: it was established in 2018/2019. It includes staff responsible for the natural science and social education of future early childhood education teachers. The mission of the Department in the area of teaching is to promote field education, which activates both students and the school environment.

The staff are involved in the promotion of good educational practices at the preschool and school level, and make efforts to see that the “third mission of the university” is fulfilled, cooperating with environmental organisations (the GAP Poland Foundation) as well as schools, non-formal education institutions, and local government bodies.

In 2018/2019, the University’s relationships with other academic centres that implement educational programmes aimed at promoting the principles of sustainable development were formalised. The University signed an agreement with the Warsaw Regional Centre for Expertise on Education for Sustainable Development (a UN agency); in the work of the Centre, the University is represented by three employees, two of whom are Department staff. The Department’s involvement in the Centre’s work results in beneficial changes to the syllabi of subjects taught by its staff, participation in scientific conferences, including papers presented by staff at national and international conferences, and projects implemented for the benefit of the local community. The Centre nominated the University for the 2019 UNESCO Hamdan bin Rashid Al-Maktoum Prize for Outstanding Practice and Performance in Enhancing the Effectiveness of Teachers 2019–2020 (for the project entitled Environmental education for sustainable development in initial teacher education, which was financed by Norwegian Funds).

The Department conducts research into the educational needs of students in the field of natural science education, the styles adopted by teachers, the importance of children’s contact with nature, the cooperation between educational institutions and the social environment, and the introduction of the idea of sustainable development into teaching theory and practice.

Department of Speech Therapy and Educational Linguistics
The Department of Speech Therapy was established in 1989, i.e. at the time when the Maria Grzegorzewska University started to offer the first five-year full-time course in Speech Therapy in Poland. The creator and first head of the Department was Professor Halina Mierzejewska.
The unit currently has 11 research and teaching staff.

Department staff organise and co-organise speech therapy conferences at the University and participate in numerous scientific conferences in Poland and abroad, most recently at the CAPAC (Consumer and Professional Advocacy Committee) on global standards of care for seniors with cochlear implants. The staff also cooperate with many research centres, e.g. the University of Geneva, the Institute of Applied Polish Studies at the University of Warsaw, the Medical University of Warsaw (the Chair and Clinic of Otolaryngology, the Department of Rehabilitation, the Pediatric Hospital of the Medical University of Warsaw), the University of Physical Education in Warsaw, the Faculty of Education of the University of Warsaw, the Faculty of Education and Philology of the University of Rzeszów. Department staff includes the National Consultant in Neurologopedics at the Ministry of Health as well as members of ministerial expert groups (e.g. the expert group tasked with the development and updating of the Neurologopedics specialisation programme at the Medical Centre for Postgraduate Education and the expert group in medical rehabilitation affiliated with the Agency for Health Technology Assessment and Tariff System). It should also be noted that Department staff sit on scientific boards of various journals: the Annales Universitatis Paedagogicae Cracoviensis, Studia Logopaedica and Neurolingwistyka Praktyczna (Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Pedagogicznego w Krakowie), Forum Logopedyczne (Polskie Towarzystwo Logopedyczne, Oddział Śląski).

Institute of Art Education

Director: dr hab. Stefan Paruch, prof. APS
Administrative Assistant: Paweł Jakowlew

• Drawing
• Painting
• Sculpture
• Graphics
• Graphic Design
• Multimedia, Photography, Film
• History of Art
• Art-therapy
• Animation of Culture
• Music Education
• Literature

Institute of Philosophy and Sociology

Director: dr hab. Danuta Duch-Krzystoszek, prof. APS
Administrative Assistant: lic. Ewa Burska

• Crisis of civilization, society, economy and culture;
• Globalization processes;
• Subjectivity and democracy;
• Interdisciplinary and disabilities studies;
• Health and family;
• Ethical problems of globalization;
• Ethics of responsibility;
• Poverty in the post-communist world;
• Sociology of culture;
• Sociology and anthropology of the family;
• Ethics and democracy;
• Logic;
• Philosophy of language and the mind;

Institute of Applied Psychology

Director: dr hab. Paweł Bronowski, prof. APS
Administrative Assistant: Małgorzata Gawron

• Factors enhancing the development of mental health;
• Psychological and social problems of persons with a disability;
• Psychological and social problems of persons suffering from somatic illnesses;
• Psychopathology of human development;
• Personality and human development;
• Psychological and cultural factors enhancing human development;

UNESCO/Janusz Korczak Chair in Social Pedagogy

Chairperson: dr hab. Anna Odrowąż-Coates prof. APS
Secretary General: dr Cecilia Zsögön

The mission and research activities of the UNESCO Chair consist of initiating and coordinating interdisciplinary studies on the effects of social environments on a child's development, life opportunities and well-being; socialization and education, intercultural communication, reproduction of social systems, sustainability and social responsibility within the UN SDG's especially goal number 4, 5,10 and 16.