Teacher training: Parent-teacher relations in Poland

Abstract

A long-term, complex and radical reform of didactic methods and programmes as well as school system structure began in Poland in the year 1999. One of the fundamental assumptions of the educational reform was parents’ involvement in school life. “The aim of the undertaken actions, in the context of cooperation with parents, was reconstruction of the natural responsibility for a child’s fate, which should be borne by their closest relatives.[1]” School’s duties towards family may be divided into: guidelines for schools, principals’ duties, and tasks which should be fulfilled by the teachers. The law does not show directly precise guidelines for parents, except for the duty of enrolling a child for a school and ensuring it a space and conditions for studying. However, from the tasks the reform gives to schools, teachers and principals it can be deduced what the school may expect from parents.