Cultural Education

The starting point for our study was the document entitled Cultural Education in Warsaw published in November 2022 during the Cultural Education Forum: A New Beginning. The document supplements the #Warsaw2023 Strategy and The Cultural Policy for the Capital City of Warsaw. The recommendations about cultural education featured in the documents are meant to serve as guidelines for institutions of culture, schools, community centres, NGOs, and educators. Our goal is to study the guidelines both on the microscale, from the perspective of cultural education practice, as well from a broader, interinstitutional angle.

The process of researching the problem of cultural education in Warsaw is conducted in collaboration with the team of the Badania i Działania company headed by Magdalena Tędziagolska.

Study Part 1

The primary objective of this stage (January – March 2023) of the study was to develop a semantic map of the notion of ‘cultural education’ and determine its role and the challenges it faces. We wanted to better understand the values, aspirations and goals of people involved in various cultural education projects. Furthermore, our research aimed to identify the phenomena and practices most relevant to the cooperation between educational and cultural institutions that will be the subject of in-depth study in the next stages of the study. 

We invited 400 respondents from cultural and educational institutions to participate in the study. We received 126 responses to our survey and conducted 40 in-depth interviews. As a result of the study, 12 case studies were selected. The findings from the first stage will be included in the final report summarizing the first and second stages of the study.

Study Part 2

We continued with the second stage of the research between June and December 2023, this time focusing on diagnosing good practices, barriers, and challenges in the field of cultural education in Warsaw. We examined the institutions identified in the first phase of the research and conducted twelve case studies, including cultural institutions, extracurricular education facilities and non-profit organisations:

• Muzeum Warszawy
• Biblioteka na Woli
• MDK Łazienkowska
• VIII Ogródek Jordanowski
• Teatr Syrena
• MSN
• Centrum Aktywności Międzypokoleniowej
• Teatr 21
• Ośrodek Kultury Ochoty (OKO)
• Dom Kultury w Rembertowie
• Terminal Kultury Praga
• Przedszkole nr 17

We conducted several hundred hours of conversation during ninety interviews and spent dozens of hours observing over fifty different events and spaces. We also conducted four expert interviews and three focus group interviews with teachers.

In line with the methodological approach of action research, we opened up the research process to serve various groups affected by it and thus contribute to lasting changes in cultural education. We organised two networking meetings for cultural education practitioners and three workshops with representatives of the Education Office and the Culture Office of the City of Warsaw. The analysis and evaluation of cultural education activities was not an end in itselfs. We see great value in developing collaboration with a diverse group of stakeholders; it gives us hope that the developed tools and solutions will return to them, be applied and evaluated in further practice

The research process was extensive and conducted in multiple ways; detailed findings and recommendations will be presented in the final report in January 2024. It will be organised around external, intra-institutional, and cross-sectoral factors that shape cultural education in Warsaw.