Living up to the intercultural education in a monocultural school. The case of Poland

Since Poland joined the EU in 2004, intercultural education has become one of the fundamental goals of the Polish educational system. Many Polish educators believed that it was only through intercultural education that they would be able to teach students necessary skills which would support them in the transition to becoming truly multicultural and cosmopolitan. In other words, intercultural education was perceived as a must for post-socialist CEE countries in order to catch up with Western Europe. Our argument is that intercultural education has been created, developed and implemented in the specific context of Western, multicultural societies. However, our sstandpoint is far from negating its importance and role in education in the 21st century. On the basis of a critical reflection on the Eurocentric approach within educational studies, the problem is outlined of teaching intercultural education “by dry run” in the context of Polish schools – i.e. teaching about global dependencies without a direct link with or presence of cultural “Others”, who are usually known only through the media and literary canon. It is indicated that this form of education often fails to serve its goal as it is frequently implemented in a one-sided way: by Polish educators, in monocultural schools, as narrations about Others rather than their presentations through the lens of their experiences, stories or methodologies and so considering the voices from outside thecontext of Central and Eastern European countries.