INNOVATIVE IMPERATIVES OF EDUCATIONAL TRANSFORMATION IN LECH WITKOWSKI’S CONCEPTUAL DISCOURSE

Abstract

Summary. This article presents a theoretical reconstruction and a comparative pedagogical analysis of the procedural model of transformational cultural education developed by the Polish researcher Lech Witkowski. By drawing comparisons with international experience, UNESCO’s visions and contemporary research on pedagogical agency, the article demonstrates the coherence and originality of the concept under consideration. Particular attention is paid to elucidating the essence of transformational initiation and the ‘explosive effect’ in pedagogy, identifying the key categories of the developed theoretical model of education, and highlighting the synergy between cultural ecology, tradition and innovative education as a promising interdisciplinary field.

It is argued that the quality of modern academic education is determined not by the passive assimilation of information content, but by the ability to assimilate cultural and knowledge-based experience, to challenge inadequate stereotypes, to broaden horizons of understanding, and to stimulate the learner towards self-transformation and responsible action. Five interrelated dimensions of the model are presented: transdisciplinary intellectual openness, transformational initiation, skilful (mature) reading as a factor in self-formation, pedagogical subjectivity and the teacher’s dialogical authority, as well as the transmission of education as a prognostic cultural and ethical good.

It has been demonstrated that this concept overcomes the epistemic, institutional and temporal reductions inherent in contemporary pedagogical discourse. The practical potential of L. Witkowsky’s scientific achievements for reforming teacher education and updating educational programmes through the pedagogical revitalisation of the classics and the humanisation of digital educational environments in the context of technological development has been outlined.

Promising areas for further theoretical and empirical research have been identified, including biographical studies involving students and teachers, analysis of real-world educational practices, the updating of educational programmes, comparative studies, and others.