POLISH PEDAGOGICAL JOURNALS IN GREAT BRITAIN IN THE 20th AND 21st CENTURY

The article discusses Polish pedagogical journals published in Great Britain in the 20th and 21st century. Magazines for children and young people evolved from columns and sections edited in emigrant periodicals published in exile in London since 1940: «Polish Diary», and then since 1944 in the «Polish Diary and Soldier’s Diary» (e.g. ««Polish Daily» for Children»). They contained poems, stories, fairy tales from around the world, riddles, Polish legends and stories from different regions of the lost homeland, literary puzzles, stage shows, contests, Polish Christmas carols, excerpts from the classics of Polish literature (Adam Asnyk, Aleksander Fredro, Jan Kasprowicz, Maria Konopnicka, Ignacy Krasicki, Teofil Lenatrowicz, Adam Mickiewicz, Władysław Orkan, Lucjan Rydel, Mikołaj Sęp-Sarzyński, Henryk Sienkiewicz, Stanisław Wyspiański). They were also enriched with the writings of the best Polish writers living abroad. These magazines organized their own literary competitions for the young audience. Many Polish journalists, educators and scholars, who published in the columns of the emigrant periodicals issued in Great Britain (such as «News», «White Eagle», «Polish Diary and Soldier’s Diary», «Lviv and Vilnius»), repeatedly stressed the need to preserve the Polish national identity in the young generation of Poles living in exile. Polish children and youth, and their education and upbringing in the spirit of patriotism, love for the homeland and for the Polish language, were the subject of general concern for the whole community of adult emigrants. Over time, a segment of pedagogical journals developed. They included magazines for children and youth edited by the 2nd Corps of the Polish Armed Forces, Polish Combatants’ Association, Polish School Matrix Abroad, Scouts, Association of Friends of Children and Youth. They were issued with varying frequency. Periodicals for children and teenagers acted as a didactic support in Polish Saturday Schools all over the world. First of them were published during World War II and some are still being published. The most important ones are school, youth and scout magazines such as: «Our Paper», «Children», «Motherland Nurture», «It», «School Paper», «Together Young Friends», «On the Trail», «Links», «Burl». They are being used by parents and educational institutions overseen by the Association of Polish Teachers Abroad and Polish School Matrix Abroad. Their goal is to help develop national identity in Polish youths in exile: to teach them mother tongue, national pride and Christian faith in order to make them future social and cultural activists for Polish independence. All magazines for children, young people and their teachers, educators and scouting trainers promoted patriotic education, strived for the need to maintain the Polish identity in exile, through teachings about the true history of the country of their ancestors, geographical regions, customs, mother tongue and the Catholic religion – free from political censorship