Major directions of the activity of PTN in Poland

1. Major directions of the activity of PTN in Poland

2. The English/German Language Competition (Olimpiada) • The English/German language competition- organized since 1976 (English) (German: since 1977) by the Organizing Committeeunder the auspices of the Ministry of Education • such competitions are organized for high school students all over Poland and include, apart from English and German, the majority of courses taught in schools

3. Aims of the competition: • stimulating the interest in the English language among secondary school students • advancing the knowledge and appreciation of the civilisation of the English speaking nations • helping participants to prepare for university education • encouraging the gifted students to develop self-study habits • improving cooperation between academic and secondary school teachers in their work with high-aptitude students • creating an environment for constructive competition among students and for teacher creativity

4. Participants • Any secondary school student can enter the contest. • The number of participants has been steadily increasing, from a mere 5000 in 1976 to over 24000 this year. • This year around 18 000 students took part in the German language competition

5. The organization of the contest (1) • The competition consists of three stages: Stage 1 This stage is carried out in local schools. It is a written test prepared by members of the Organizing Committee. It is a very competitive event as only about 600 top students (out of 24000) qualify for the next stage. Stage 2 It takes place in nine districts (warszawski, mazowiecko-podlaski, lubelski, krakowski, wrocławski, łódzki, gdański, śląski, poznański). It is a two-level contest consisting of a written test followed by an oral interview. The level of the second stage - between FCE and CAE.

6. The organization of the contest (2) Stage 3 This is a final stage which takes place at the School of English, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań. Its level is comparable to that of Cambridge Proficiency Examination. Only around 55 best candiates take part in the finals (this year- 47 students did so) • Those candidates who have made it to the final receive awards and are free to enter any English Philology in Poland without having to undergo the recruitment procedure; • The organization of the German Language Contest is very similar.

7. Teacher training and language education in Poland: the offficial stance of PTN • Major problems concerning teacher training and language education in Poland: • the existence of many different institutitions specializing in teacher training (e.g., teacher training colleges, private schools, postgraduate courses, etc;)- lack of unified standards • teacher and language education is realized by both state and private institutions: quality of education is bound to be different in such places (compare a commercial nature of private institutions)

8. Major problems (2) • lack of a unified strategy that would implement the necessary changes in the system of teacher education • lack of a coherent and clear framework within which such a strategy might be implemented • lack of a unified system controling the quality of education in ALL (i.e., state and private) institutions

9. Major problems (3) • The regulation introduced on September 7, 2004 requires that B.A. studies in Poland which prepare future teachers should offer two teaching specializations: the major one and the minor one (which needs to be added to the existing curriculum- 400 extra hours on top of the already heavily loaded major syllabuses) • the regulation stipulates that if the two specializations are languages then a graduate should achieve the level of proficiency described as C2 (cf.the European Standards)- this is a highly unrealistic expectation, given only the 400 hours during which the minor subject is to be taught

10. The major/minor specialization: problems • the „minor” requirement: poses all kinds of problems: financial, logistic, etc. • it seriously overburdens students (students at some philology departments in Poland have close to 40 hours of classes per week)

11. Problems concerning academic teachers • lack of clearly established criteria for recruiting academic teachers (especially the criteria concerning their didactic skills) • lack of the scheme for in-service teacher training for academic teachers (the only stipulation in the currently existing Law of Education requires that Ph.D. students need to carry out their teaching practicum: max. 90 teaching hours per academic year)

12. Problems concerning standards of foreign language teaching at the university level • in the majority of the available projects of ministerial standards developed for teaching foreign languages at different specializations, requirements concerning foreign languages are limited to only one language; English is definitely favored over other languages; • English is defined in those standards as „recommended” or even „the only obligatory” foreign language (e.g. in standards developed for banking and finances at the Academy of Economics)

13. Problems concerning standards of foreign language teaching at the university level • this requirement stands in sharp contrast to the recommendations of the Council of Europe which specifically emphasizes that Europeans should know at least two foreign languages

14. Major postulates/suggestions of PTN • the major/minor specialization should not be obligatory but optional during the 3-year B.A. program of studies • Ph.D. studies should include an obligatory course in Methodology of TEFL; • the teaching practicum during Ph.D. studies should be supervised by a qualified teacher trainer;

15. Major postulates/suggestions of PTN • introducing the efficient system of monitoring the quality of teacher education in Poland in all institutions • defining clear criteria and requirements for teachers who are employed in institutions offering language teaching • definining the specialization „Language teaching didactics” (including both the major and minor languages, at the first (B.A.), second (M.A.), and third (Ph.D.) levels of studies)

16. Major postulates/suggestions of PTN • defining in detail the range of skills and competence that people working as teacher trainers should possess • language teaching didactics should be interdisciplinary (for instance, by being related more to social studies and psychopedagogy) • putting more emphasis on the teaching practicum and upgrading its status(also in terms of the financial gratification that teacher supervisors receive for their work)

17. Major postulates/suggestions of PTN • language policy in Poland should promote intercultural understanding; hence foreign language teaching at the university level should by no means be restricted to English only; • German, Spanish, French, Russian, and Italian, as well as other languages, should be promoted and offered as an alternative to English;