Homo Sovieticus in policy versus teacher leadership in Polish international baccalaureate practices

ABSTRACT

This paper seeks to extend discussion on teachers’ leadership within International Baccalaureate schools in Poland. Background for the discussions on leadership in Polish context of education is the term Homo Sovieticus [in English: Soviet Man], a notion associated with sarcastic and critical reference to an average conformist person living in the Soviet Union or in other countries of the Eastern Bloc in Europe, a spineless person who lacks any ‘bottom up’ initiative. In the paper, it is claimed that teachers’ limited leadership in a centrally steered system of teacher training in Poland, demonstrates features of leadership developed according to the Homo Sovieticus model of the citizen. Strong emphasis onto leadership within international culture do not let Homo Sovieticus features and behaviors to develop. In this understanding, international schools with strong emphasis on leadership in Polish post-soviet educational landscape creates path of evolution from stereotypical perception of teachers as passive ‘Homo Sovieticus’ to leader within school curriculum.

Acknowledgments

The inspiration to write this paper came from research work I undertook as part of a project entitled ‘Planned and implemented functions of International Baccalaureate programs in Poland’, financed by the National Science Centre Poland (grant number 2018/02/X/HS6/00596) and founds of Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Lodz, Poland.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Narodowe Centrum Nauki [2018/02/X/HS6/00596].

Notes on contributors

Joanna Leek

Joanna Leek is a Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Lodz, Lodz, Poland.