Courses Preparing for Teaching English in Early School Education at Selected Polish Universities – an Example of (Dis)unity?

Abstract

In the following paper, the author attempts to investigate whether the fact that the curricula of courses preparing for teaching English in pre- and early school education in Poland are supposed to follow the same formal guidelines included in both European and national regulations is reflected in their unification indeed or still certain discrepancies between them exist that can influence their quality. In order to achieve the anticipated goal, the author studies selected curricula of teacher training courses in Poland with the view to comparing them and, hence, demonstrating potential similarities and contrasts between them. The research is based on four teaching programmes organized by Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Jagiellonian University in Cracow, and the University of Warsaw. Importantly, to provide the answer to the question posed in the very title of the article, the author scrutinizes the Polish Qualifications Framework and the guidelines for organizing teacher training included in specific national regulations that constitute the background to the further examination of the problem in the paper. Then, a thorough analysis of the curricula of the aforementioned teaching courses is conducted. In the next step, the studied programmes are compared and the author concludes that in spite of the apparent unification of standards in terms of teacher training organized by Polish education institutions, certain discrepancies between the courses still emerge and they may influence the quality of the programmes. Thus, the final part of the paper is devoted to a brief consideration of the question, whether diversifying the curricula of teaching training courses constitutes an asset for students or rather it may have pejorative consequences leading to inequality of the gained qualifications that are supposed to be satisfactory in each case.