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VOCATIONAL SCHOOLING OF PROFESSIONALLY-ACTIVE YOUNG PEOPLE IN CZESTOCHOWA IN THE INTERWAR PERIOD

I. Wrona-Meryk

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to present complementary schooling in Cz?stochowa in the years since 1918 until 1939. The submitted text presents the difficult situation of schooling for males and females in the interwar period, among others, in the aspect of legal status, financial situation and finding premises. The authoress used the method of historical research constituted by the analysis of documents. In the course of research, it was established that, until the year 1937, there had been no legal regulations relevant to complementary schools in Poland. Bearing the above-mentioned situation in mind, in the year 1921, the Council of the City of Cz?stochowa enacted its own legal regulations, and somehow relieving national legislative bodies of their duties, introduced compulsory complementary education for young people at the age between 14th and 18th year of life. The above-mentioned arrangements did not change the standpoint of employers. A disapproving attitude to complementary schooling was principally the result of reducing labour force and diminishing returns. Education carried out in the part-time setting and physical exhaustion, resulting from working in difficult conditions, and extending working hours, and, from time to time, also the lack of aspirations or the awareness of the advantages of education, did little to attract young people to complementary education. The task of the complementary schools established during the interwar period was, first and foremost, to deepen the knowledge included within the scope of primary education, and, in the further course, to make attendees acquainted with the theoretical foundations of a given vocation. The institutions in question had didactic and upbringing functions. Their educational tasks were expressively placed emphasis upon after the year 1926, when it was endeavoured to make these institutions a tool of the realization of the idea of state-centred upbringing. This paper enriches knowledge about complementary vocational education in Poland, making it possible for working young people to acquire appropriate theoretical and practical qualifications in a short time.

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