Abstract:

The paper focuses upon the curriculum reform movements of pre-school education in Poland (ISCED-0). The aim is to present and analyze the idea of child's social interaction resulting from the National Pre-school Education Curriculum Framework (NPECF) in Poland after four reforms since the first governments’ act (1964) to the newest one (2017). The Polish teachers are obligated to create their own teaching programmes for pre primary education based on NPECF. Therefore the paper concentrates on the way the NPECF (Ministry of Education of Poland 1964, 1999, 2008, 2017) envisioned pre-school child’s interaction with the agents involved in the education process: pupils, parents and teachers. Theoretical approach and framework are based on concepts of comprehension of the social feelings and understanding the social rules (Schaffer 1996) and shared intentionality (Tomasello 2007).

The following issues have been solved:
1) How have the concepts of pre-school education been developing based on NPECF?
2) How have the expectations for a child as a member of society been changing based on NPECF?
3) What kind of interactions are suggested for adults and children in the NPECF?
4) Do the NPECF respond to the pre-school children needs and rights?

This paper uses a qualitative content analysis approach to study formal documents. The analysis framework is based on curriculum (de)regulation concept (Kuiper, Berkvens 2013). Data analyzes (MaxQda) was performed on phrases referring to particular elements of social activities of children.

The paper undertakes an analysis of the curricula aiming to identify and describe expectation concerning child-adult interaction. The differences indicate the child’s role in the interaction with social environment. Conclusions present the results of this analysis and formulates rec-ommendations. Suggestions may be useful for pre-school principals, teachers, and students who create local teaching programmes for pre primary education based on NPECF.

Keywords:

Pre-school education, national core curriculum, social development, Polish educational policy.