From the Beginning Again? Lifelong Learning In Polish Public Policy

Abstract

Introduction: This article concerns the public policy of lifelong learning in Poland after 2000, with particular emphasis on adult education.

Research Aim: The purpose of the research is to evaluate this policy from the andragogic point of view, identified with the humanistic and social approach, which places man and his well-being at the centre of social life.

Evidence-based Facts: The challenge of Polish public policy is the low participation of Poles in adult education in the light of comparative studies of the European Union and the external (i.e. on the part of employers) motivation of adults to learn. The analysis of the LLL strategic documents in Poland published after 2000 proves that there has been a broadening of the understanding of lifelong learning to the areas of non-formal and informal education, with a simultaneous tendency to standardize and quantitatively approach lifelong learning powered by the theory of rational choice. It was on this basis that the main tool for implementing the LLL policy in Poland, i.e. the Integrated Qualifications System, was constructed. The contemporary model of implementing LLL in adult education is characterized by the compensatory nature of goals, a market-based approach at the organizational level, and a mixed financing system.

Summary: From an andragogic point of view, LLL public policy in Poland requires a re-evaluation of the basic assumptions, i.e. the placing of democracy over the economy, social inclusion over competition, citizenship and personal development over profit and productivity. In the discourse of lifelong learning in Poland, it is the administration of competences that prevails, and not the question of their meaning and significance, as andragogues would like. The implementation of the Integrated Qualifications System means a new beginning for the Polish LLL public policy, burdened with a high risk.