Comparative Education of Wiktor Rabczuk (1931–2020): From the Study of Education in African Countries to European Education

Abstract

Wiktor Rabczuk was a well-known and respected researcher in Polish comparative education, a specialist in comparative research in the field of educational systems of African countries and Western European countries, a promoter of the “European dimension of education” in Polish schools. Rabczuk came from the school of comparative education, whose creator was Bogdan
Nawroczyński, and whose work was continued by his student – Anna Mońka-Stanikowa. It was under her supervision that Rabczuk wrote and defended his doctoral thesis, also in comparative education. Like his promoter, he conducted research on the education of Western European countries, becoming an expert on private education and educational policy of the European Union.
The aim of the article is to present the figure of a scientist – Professor Wiktor Rabczuk and to present his contribution to the development of Polish comparative education, especially during the period of Poland’s accession to the European Union. Rabczuk’s publications presenting the problems of education in European countries are still obligatory items for readers interested in these issues, but there is no comprehensive study of his achievements and scientific profile (apart from short biographies in the dictionaries of educators). The first part of the text presents an outline of Rabczuk’s biography, important from the point of view of developing his research interests. The next part of the article presents Rabczuk’s achievements in the field of comparative education. The study used the analysis of the content of Rabczuk’s publications and an archival query. The collected research material allows Rabczuk to be presented as the leading educational comparativist in Poland at the end of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st century.