Why Do Teachers Dislike Educational Theory?

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18778/2450-4491.20.11

Keywords:

pedagogical theories, teacher, didactics

Abstract

Scientific theory holds a dual significance in education: substantive, as it provides learning content, and instrumental, as it explains the process of mastering it. In this second role, it becomes the subject of ongoing doubts, debates, trials, and fascinations. Educational theorists spare no effort in attempting to match the methodological rigor of the natural sciences, yet their achievements in this regard are often heavily questioned by practitioners. The author of the article examines these controversies within the unique context of Poland, a Central Eastern European country still affected by authoritarianism. In an increasingly globalized world, cultural differences between social functions and their executors are, in the author’s view, becoming more pronounced.

Author Biography

  • Bolesław Niemierko, SWPS University

    Bolesław Niemierko – a pedagogue specializing in general didactics, educational measurement issues, and the methodology of pedagogical research. His primary interests focus on the psychological and pedagogical principles of the learning process and the methods for assessing and evaluating students’ achievements. He is the author of numerous publications, including textbooks on educational diagnostics, achievement assessment systems, and test theory. A pioneer in the application of student achievement tests, he is also a critic of the misuse of these tests and their results. He served as both organizer and scientific patron of national studies on school achievements conducted as part of the project of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), with results published in multiple volumes in Poland and abroad. He has been a Fulbright Scholar at the University of California, Los Angeles, and has received grants from IREX and the Kosciuszko Foundation. Twice awarded the Scientific Prize of the First Faculty of Social Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences in the fields of pedagogy and psychology, he was also a long-time Chair of the Scientific Committee of national conferences organized by the Polish Association for Educational Diagnostics.

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Published

2025-07-03

Issue

Vol. 20 No. 1 (2025): Theory in the Humanities and Social Sciences: Collusions of Approaches and Applications

Section

Articles

License

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

Niemierko, Bolesław. 2025. “Why Do Teachers Dislike Educational Theory?”. Nauki O Wychowaniu. Studia Interdyscyplinarne 20 (1): 128-35. https://doi.org/10.18778/2450-4491.20.11.
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