Mała szkoła jako wielka sprawa – i szansa – edukacji

Abstract

Small school is presented here in a model and idealizing approach as well as an “island of educational resistance”, which opposes the processes of educational destruction. As a model and a metaphor of school education and as a source of inspiration for shaping the teacher’s imagination, small school still constitutes a topical challenge for pedagogical reflection. What is explored in this study are the principles of functioning and characteristic values of the small school, particularly in the context of the dominating “educational giants”. This also becomes an occasion to promote the slogan: “Small school as a great matter and a chance for education”. Small school may be recognized as a way of thinking about the right functioning of the educational system and as a space favorable to pedagogical activities aimed at building independence and subjectivization. The presented article may be read as a thought experiment concerning a vision of school which fulfils the desired values. Partially, this is also a manifesto postulating a particular model of education, implementation of which is enhanced in a small school.