Department of Didactics and Comparative Education

Prof. Renata Nowakowska-Siuta

Pedagogist, graduate of the University of Warsaw (MA 1994, PhD. 1998), received her Habilitation at The Maria Grzegorzewska University in Warsaw (2010), awarded with the title of Professor by the President of the Republic of Poland in 2020. She currently serves as Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences (2016-2020 and for the term 2020-2024). Expert of the European Commission in the Horizon 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions program, National Center for Research and Development, the Foundation for the Development of the Education System in the Erasmus Plus program and the European Solidarity Corps in school and higher education, the Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange the Kosciuszko Foundation. Member-Specialist of The Committee of Pedagogical Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences for the 2020-2023 term, Chair of the International Comparative Research Group within this Committee. Member of: the Comparative & International Education Society (CIES) the Comparative Education Society in Europe (CESE), Polish Educational Research Association, the JanuszKorczak Society. Author of many scientific publications including books on comparative education.

She has lectured at universities in (among others) Hamburg, Dresden, Madrid and the Institute of Polish Culture in Vienna. She also participated in study visits in Helsinki (2019), Florence (2022) and Jerusalem (2022). She has repeatedly received awards from the Rector of the University of Warsaw and the Christian Theological Academy in Warsaw for her academic achievements. In 2014, she was awarded the title of Academic Teacher of the Year by the University of Warsaw students’ union. She received awards and titles of a Promoter of Education Development (2018) and Aurea Praxis (2021). In 2014-2016, she coordinated projects at the Christian Theological Academy for Polish and Israeli youth, organized jointly with the Living Bridge Foundation and Spark Pro. In 2019-2022, she was the head of the Polish team of the TORAL grant “Training on religion as a lever towards mental and physical health” implemented under the Erasmus Plus Strategic Partnerships program in cooperation with universities from Turkey, Belgium, Bulgaria and Greece.  Her research interests concern issues related to comparative education, international educational policy, including especially the historical and cultural context in comparative studies, as well as the idea of university.

Prof. Marek Piotrowski

A physicist and discoverer of the magnetic wave structure in TbF_3,  an educator fascinated by the possibilities of using media tools. He is a member of the Media Pedagogy team at The Committee of Pedagogical Sciences at Polish Academy of Sciences. Co-manager of the largest remote education programs „The School with Class” (about 100,000 teachers), „Students’ Academy” (about 2,000 teachers), e-books portal – hundreds of thousands of users. Advocate of local educational reforms and management through Total Quality Management. Critic of PISA research. Conducting research in municipalities and counties and classes, he constantly returns to the environmental conditions that determine the educational achievements of students, schools and communities. He works with NGOs on LEGO Education, the universal bilingualism program, Bilingual Children, and the International Baccalaureate program. Awarded by the President of the Republic of Poland with Knight’s Cross of the Order of Rebirth of Poland for his work for democratic changes in Poland. Privately, fascinated by dog training, he studies how dogs train their owners.

Elżbieta Aleksiejuk, PhD

MA in Education with specialization in therapeutic pedagogy, PhD in Social Sciences in the field of Education. Graduate of The Maria Grzegorzewska University in Warsaw and Postgraduate Studies in Preschool Pedagogy with Therapy of Developmental Disorders at Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University in Warsaw. Her scientific and research interests focus on issues related to preschool and early childhood education, especially innovative solutions in working with a young student. She combines academic knowledge with practical activities by organizing internships for students and cooperating with many educational institutions. She teaches classes on the education of young students and alternative ways to solve their learning problems.  

Katarzyna Dmitruk-Sierocińska, PhD 

PhD in Education (The Maria Grzegorzewska University in Warsaw). Her research interests focus on issues related to preschool and early education, innovative forms of education for the young child, developmental and situational crises of childhood, thanatopedagogy and pedagogical diagnosis. She is the head of the Laboratory of Preschool and Early Education, coordinator of student internships and head of postgraduate studies: “Pedagogical preparation – teacher qualifications”. She is also an external activist in the campaign: “All of Poland Reads to Kids”, reviewer of training materials for professional publishing houses,and member of the Polish Association JanuszKorczak. She received the Second Degree Award for Organizational Activity (ChAT, 2015), the Second Degree Award for Teaching and Organizational Activity (ChAT, 2016), was awarded with Bronze Cross of Merit for her activity for the development of science (2015) and with the Medal of the National Education Commissionfor special merits for education and upbringing (2014). She teaches classes related to early education, early support of child development, and diagnosis in education.