1. Below is the link and content of the event announcement on the WSE UAM website:
https://wse.amu.edu.pl/kalendarz-wydarzen-wse/zycie-wydzialu/wydarzenia/rocznik-demografia-najsmutniej-polska-ksiazka,- czy-wyzwonia-dla-pedagogiki
The event is part of a scientific project titled „Law and Demography” carried out by the Ferenc Madl Institute of Comparative Law in Budapest and the Academy of Central Europe, as part of the Central Europe Professors’ Network research group. Professor Marek Andrzejewski has been working in this team for three years now, and this year he prepared a report titled: Law and the Demographic Situation of Poland
2. Description of the event.
On 21 November 2023 in the hall of the Scientific Council of the Faculty of Educational Studies of Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, an event disseminating the research program implemented by the Central European Professors’ Network on the relationship between law and demography was held. The event was titled „Demographic Yearbook – the Saddest Polish Book (pedagogical consequences)„.
It was a meeting open for all Faculty employees and students.
In the discussion Prof. INP PAN Marek Andrzejewski was joined by educational scientists employed at the Faculty of Educational Studies of Adam Mickiewicz University: Prof. Emeritus Wiesław Ambrozik, Prof. UAM Maciej Muskała, and Dr. Joanna Rajewska de Mezer.
The discussion touched on issues raised in the paper presented at the beginning of the meeting by Prof. Andrzejewski. The report concerned the poor demographic situation of Poland. The basic data was presented based on the „Demographic Yearbook for 2022”. The data contained therein was largely taken from the National Census conducted in 2021. They are therefore irrefutable and provide a full and in-depth picture of the demographic situation. They trigger analyses and forecasts regarding many aspects of the functioning of Polish society. Poland is not an exception in Europe in terms of poor demographic parameters, but Poland’s situation is certainly one of the most dire.
The very bad demographic situation in Poland is manifested primarily in the low reproductive rate, which has been consistently low for almost 30 years. At that time, approximately 1.3-1.4 children per woman of reproductive age were born. It is well known that to ensure generation replacement the rate should be 2.1. There are no reasons to expect a change in the attitude of Polish women towards having children in the nearest future.
From a demographic point of view, a very unfavorable factor is a significant increase in the number of divorces. In the 21st century, approximately 3 million Poles, i.e. every tenth adult, have been divorced.
At the same time, a decline in the number of marriages has been noticed. People getting married are about 8 years older than they were 25 years ago. Decisions to get married much later than at the beginning of the 21st century lead to postponing the decision to conceive a child (the first and most often the only one).
As a consequence, Polish society has aged significantly. More and more people have reached post-working age, and there are fewer and fewer children. This has huge consequences for the financing of social security and induces far-reaching changes in the economy. For example, the demographic situation results in changes in the health care system (various types of medical care dedicated to seniors) as well as in social assistance (including the need to provide care for the growing number of seniors who cannot be taken care of by their families).
Significant demographic changes affect also the education system (fewer children attend, and a higher percentage of children from Ukraine and Belarus arrive, as well as from other countries). Prof. Andrzejewski has emphasized that all these changes breed also numerous pedagogical problems. During the discussion part of the meeting, attention was paid to the fact that many Polish families have only one child, and therefore in schools the only children dominate. This not only generates upbringing problems for parents, but it also makes it even more difficult for the only children, who are nowadays very focused on themselves and have less ability to cooperate with friends and make friends. Another characteristic feature is that these children have less intense friendships, which are additionally weakened by the abuse of electronic devices by young people.
Another serious problem is that there are more and more children of divorced people in schools. This means that many children in schools have gone through or are presently experiencing divorce-induced trauma.
Divorces are often the result of immaturity, selfishness, and inability to cope with the crisis that naturally occurs in marriage. Married couples are less and less determined to fight for their relationship and marriage. They give up their attempts to save the union too quickly.
It has been concluded by the discutants that contemporary children and young people are mentally weaker than their peers in the past, among other things, because of living in a broken family. In Poland, the need to develop health services dedicated to people with mental disorders, including children, has become a serious social problem.
The interlocutors noticed the need to change the profile of pedagogical studies, in particular reducing the number of students specializing in „preschool and early school pedagogy”, and paying more attention to social work and supporting seniors.
The interlocutors agreed that drastic demographic changes have a strong impact on many pedagogical issues and should prompt in-depth reflection on the demography-pedagogy relationship.
