Researchers from several Polish research centres are conducting research on childcare in Poland from the 19th to the 21st century. The project’s initiator and manager is Professor Paweł Grata, a historian from the University of Rzeszów.

Researchers involved in the project define care quite broadly, taking into account both scientific progress in this field, as well as the evolving place and manner of caring for children in the family and all forms of support for their development offered by external institutions: the state, local authorities, social organisations, religious associations.

Specialists in economic and social history, social policy, sociology, political science from various centres are involved. The result will be a 1,000-word historical dictionary “Childcare in the Polish lands in the XIX-XXI century” containing the most important concepts, people, events and institutions in this field. In addition to the printed version, the publication will also be presented on the website www.slownik.kulepszejprzyszlosci.pl.

The chronological scope of the research will cover the period from the mid-19th century, when the Polish lands underwent dynamic social changes, an element of which also became visible modifications in the perception of the place of the child in the family and society. The project aims to investigate and document the processes taking place in childcare over this period.

The results of the research can be used in the education of future social service workers in Poland and contribute to the practical use of the humanities in the development of education, the economy and society.

“However, the project and its publication effects will be a unique source of knowledge on such important for social development activities of the state, local governments, non-governmental organisations and individuals at the level of supporting the upbringing and socialisation processes of the young generation”, says Prof. Paweł Grata.

Arkadiusz Słomczyński