- Author
- Underwood James (University of Northampton, England), Van Hien Quyen (University of Northampton, England), Zhao Ying (Glocal Education Ltd, China)
- Title
- Differing Interpretations of Janusz Korczak's Legacy in Schools that take Inspiration from His Work: A Study in Four Schools in the UK and Canada
- Source
- Eastern European Journal of Transnational Relations, 2020, vol. 4, nr 1, s. 151-162, bibliogr. 16 poz.
- Keyword
- Edukacja, Dzieci szkolne, Studium przypadku
Education, School children, Case study - Note
- summ.
- Korczak Janusz
- Abstract
- The purpose of this paper is to present how a selection of current school leaders in two countries, other than Poland, the country in which he lived, perceive the legacy of Janusz Korczak. These two countries are the United Kingdom and Canada. Its role is to present these interpretations for debate and discussion among other school leaders and practitioners, who claim inspiration from him worldwide. We have not suggested that there is a correct or incorrect way to interpret Korczak, rather we are simply interested in how current practitioners perceive his work. The first part of this article is a brief summary of key aspects from the life and works of Janusz Korczak that have entered educational conversation within the United Kingdom and the wider Anglophone world. This has often been through writings by and for teachers or books written for schools, rather than academic texts or even Korczak's original works. Key aspects of his life story presented here are: those years leading the orphanage 'Dom Sierot', and most especially the final months of his life in the Warsaw ghetto, and the last recorded events of his life, including his refusal to go to Theresienstadt and his ultimate death in Treblinka. We also present in this section, because of an expectation that schools may have engaged with these, his views on how societal structures being designed by adults disadvantage children; and his valuing of children's voices, as well as his views on the problematic nature of authority. This paper is a discussion of four linked case studies. Participants for this study were four school leaders, two from the UK and two from Canada. The schools they lead are schools that in public facing aspects of their schools, such as school webpages or public vision statements, refer explicitly to the influence of Janusz Korczak. The method of data collection used within this study was unstructured interviews with school leaders. Through this process we discovered that there are commonalities in how his legacy has been perceived. These included, for all, intertwining his life and work and in doing so presenting him as a role model to children and teachers. Other aspects of his influence focused on student voice, the breaking down of hierarchy and the enabling of creativity. (original abstract)
- Accessibility
- The Main Library of the Cracow University of Economics
The Library of Warsaw School of Economics - Full text
- Show
- Bibliography
- Belfer, I. (2018). Janusz Korczak: The Man Who Knew How to Love Children: The Educational Philosophy & Life of the Great Teacher Told By his Admiring Student - A Child Holocaust Survivor. Yanuka, Poland.
- Frost, D. (2015, September). The role of teacher leadership in the transition to democratic society. Paper presented at the European Conference on Education Research (ECER) 2015. Budapest, Hungary.
- Gifford, E. (2018). The Good Doctor of Warsaw. London: Corvus.
- Grieg, A (2004). Dr Korczak's Example: a play. Edinburgh: Capercaillie Books Limited.
- Harris, A. (2013). Distributed leadership matters: perspectives, practicalities, and potential paperback. California, USA: Corwin Press.
- Holocaust Memorial Day Trust. (2020). Resources about Janusz Korczak. UK: HMD. Retrieved from: https://www.hmd.org.uk/resource/janusz-korczak/.
- Johnson, D. (2020, May). A history teachers journey: why we should all know more about Korczak's pedagogy as well as his life. Paper Presented at the British Council Teachers' Partnership Conference, London.
- Joshevska, M., & Kirandziska, S. (2017). The rise and rise of teacher leadership in Macedonia. In D. Frost (Ed.), Empowering teachers as agents of change: a non -positional approach to teacher leadership (pp. 79-84). Cambridge, UK: The Cambridge Network. Retrieved from https://www.hertscam.org.uk/uploads/2/5/9/7/25979128/blue_e-book.pdf.
- Marrin, A. (2018). A Light in the Darkness: Janusz Korczak, His Orphans, and the Holocaust. New York. NY : Knopf Books for Young Readers.
- Medvedeva -Nathoo, O. & Czernow, A. M. (2018). How to love a child and other selected works by Janusz Korczak. London, Chicago, IL: Vallentine Mitchell.
- Muller, B. (2020). Children under the Nazis. Resources for Teachers. Newcastle: University of Newcastle.
- Silverman, M. (2017). A Pedagogy of Humanist Moral Education: The Educational Thought of Janusz Korczak (1st ed.). New York, NY: Palgrave MacMillan.
- Smith, J. (2020, January). Learning from Polish colleagues. Paper presented at the ASCL Regional Conference. January. Cambridge, UK.
- The British Education Research Association (BERA). (2018). British Education Research Association revised ethical guidelines for educational research. UK: BERA.
- Underwood, J., & Kowalczuk -Walędziak, M. (2019). Professional communities among teachers: a summary of a conceptual framework. Polish Journal of Education Studies, 71(1).
- Yad Vashem. (2020). Resources for Middle School Children, Janusz Korczak. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem. Retrieved from: https://www.yadvashem.org/education/educational-materials/learning-environment/janusz-korczak.html.
- Cited by
- ISSN
- 2544-9214
- Language
- eng
- URI / DOI
- http://dx.doi.org/10.15290/eejtr.2020.04.01.08