Conferences of organisers of adult education in Poland of the interwar period (1918–1939)

(opracowanie w stulecie wydania „Oświaty Pozaszkolnej” – pierwszego ogólnopolskiego pisma poświęconego teorii i praktyce kształcenia dorosłych)

Abstract

Within the structure of the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Public Education of the reborn in 1918 Poland, the Department of Extracurricular Education was created in 1919. It was the central body coordinating adult education in the country. National adult education conferences became the strategy of this coordination. Fourteen of them were organised by the Department in the years 1920–1930. They gathered exceptional cultural and educational activists from all over the country. Their organisation was favourable for the integration of the environment and the adult education system, while significantly improving its quality.
In the 1930s, the Department of Extracurricular Education resigned from organizing these conferences. They were replaced by conferences devoted to further education and professional development of full-time adult education instructors employed in school district board offices and school inspectorates in counties. This change was undoubtedly the root of professionalisation and full time jobs creation. It was also a generational change when it comes to the staff employed in the management of the adult education system.