A brief history of the Faculty

In 1993, the Institute of Education, constituting a part of the Faculty of Social Studies, was transformed into the Faculty of Educational Studies. Prof. Zbigniew Kwieciński was elected the first dean of the new faculty. In 1996, he was re-elected to serve his second term (1996-99). The vice-deans for the term of office 1996-1999 were prof. Zbyszko Melosik, prof. Kazimierz Przyszczypkowski and prof. Aleksander Zandecki.
In 1999-2002 prof. Kazimierz Przyszczypkowski was elected the second dean of the Faculty of Educational Studies. The vice-deans for the present term of office (1999-2002) were prof. Zbyszko Melosik, prof. Ignacy Kuźniak and prof. Wiesław Ambrozik.
In 2002-2005 term dean of the Faculty was prof. Wiesław Ambrozik and prof. Dorota Żołądź-Strzelczyk, prof. Ignacy Kuźniak and prof. Tadeusz Frąckowiak were vice-deans.
At present (for 2005-2008) term dean of the Faculty is prof. Wiesław Ambrozik and prof. Dorota Żołądź-Strzelczyk, The vice-deans are prof. Zbyszko Melosik, prof. Tadeusz Frąckowiak and dr Ewa Kasperek-Golimowska. Today, the faculty comprises 22 departments and 3 sections. Studia Edukacyjne, Neodidagmata, Edukacja Medialna, Biuletyn Historii Wychowania, academic journals with nation-wide circulation, are published by the Faculty. Authors include many outstanding scholars from Adam Mickiewicz University, other Polish academic centres, and from abroad.
Research in the Faculty focuses, among others, on the following areas of interest: history of education (incl. the history of educational doctrines, schooling systems and educational methodology), various issues and aspects of didactics, educational aspects of methodological problems in education and educational studies, curriculum design, issues in higher education, socio-pedagogical and psychopedagogical aspects of the functioning of school, daily life at schools, theoretical and practical problems of adult education, educational reforms in the world, the linkage between education and cultural changes, the theory and practice of nurturing and care, the sociopathology of education, contemporary educational ideologies, social pedagogy, the legal foundations of nurturing and care, the environmental determining factors of educational aspirations, plans and aspirations of the youth in the context of sociopolitical transformation, the functioning of prevention and resocialisation systems, the theory and practice of special education, the problems of personal autonomy and social integration of the handicapped, emotional disorders in handicapped children, family psychotherapy, and health education.
The faculty departments co-operate with foreign European and US institutions, resulting in frequent visits and fellowships of the Faculty's students and staff abroad, and a growing number of foreign visiting scholars at home.
The Faculty staff have authored dozens of academic (as well as popular) books on various aspects of education and pedagogy. Some of them were financed by grants won in tightly contested competitions for sponsorship by governmental and ministerial organisations (notably by the government-level Committee for Scientific Research). Some of the publications have won the highest national academic prizes (those awarded by the Minister of Education and by the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences). An indication of the Faculty's high academic standards is the top 1 category which the Faculty has won from the national Committee for Scientific Research (KBN).