Undeniably there is a lot of material in Polish school, and it often happens that students are even overloaded with it. Studies show that young people are tired of the amount of knowledge they have to absorb every day. Many experts are discussing how to improve students' situation.

Prof. Krzysztof Biedrzycki expressed his opinion about Polish education system. He is a habilitated doctor, twentieth-century literature historian and education researcher. He teaches at Jagiellonian University and the Institute of Educational Research.

Prof. Biedrzycki's article was published by oko.press on May 9, 2023. The scholar comments on the Polish education system. He says that Polish school has not developed well enough even though we live in the 21st century already.

Technology is developing at an astonishingly fast pace. Every day we can hear about new challenges of artificial intelligence among other things. The public's mindset is also changing. This has been greatly influenced by the pandemic and the ongoing war in Ukraine.

The professor stresses that despite development and changes in mentality and customs, the role of religion is rapidly diminishing, and people are looking for explanations about the world.

"Young people are concerned about their future, because both climate change can be worrying and the economy is losing stability. It's hard to choose a profession if you'll have to change it every few years," Krzysztof Biedrzycki writes on the oko.press portal.

Professor recalls that the Polish education system has not changed since 2016. He also tells us that education in Poland is focused on imparting knowledge based on quasi-academic syllabus. He therefore claims that it seems to be preparing students for all fields of studies.

The idea is to convey as much material as possible. Biedrzycki believes that once students absorb all the information, they won't know what to do with it anyway. He explains that students won't be able to review information critically or verify facts on their own.

"There is no time or strength to think and cope with the assimilation of knowledge in a flurry of information," says the professor.

Brain research shows that the learning process should be based on:

1. attention;
2. active engagement;
3. feedback on mistakes;
4. consolidation of knowledge.

Krzysztof Biedrzycki stresses that the current core curriculum ignores brain science and the psychology of learning. He claims that it was written as if the world had stopped a century ago.

The professor even cites as an example a Polish middle school science program from 1922. The system used more than 100 years ago was less overwhelming with ready-made knowledge and encouraged students to reach out to certain sources on their own to spark their curiosity about the world.

The Jagiellonian University lecturer suggested what a new core curriculum could look like. He was inspired by education in Finland in particular, but did not ignore Poland's experience with core curricula.

According to Prof. Biedrzycki, general education must encompass the entirety of education. All subjects should be subordinated to specific goals. Biedrzycki says that it is not necessary to create the aforementioned goals from scratch, since the competencies described on the basis of the European Parliament's recommendations can be adopted.

The Jagiellonian University professor also created a hierarchy of competencies that could be applied:

• cognitive competence (curiosity about the world);
• communicative competence (communication in the mother tongue and foreign languages);
• scientific (including mathematical) competence;
• social competencies (including civic and professional competencies and those related to entrepreneurship);
• digital competencies;
• cultural competence;
• competencies related to personal life (including health).

What do you think of Biedrzycki's proposal?