March 9, 2026
JOURNAL HISTORY
From the history of "Education Research Quarterly"
"Education Research Quarterly" is a Polish periodical of the Faculty of Education at the University of Warsaw. The journal was established in December 1956 by professor Bogdan Suchodolski (1903-1992), an outstanding humanist, expert in pedagogy, philosophical and historical-philosophical issues, head of the Department of Pedagogy.
The title of the journal referred to the "Education Research Quarterly" published in 1928-1939, which was initiated by the organization called Sekcja Pedagogiczna Stowarzyszenia Chrześcijańsko-Narodowego Nauczycielstwa Szkół Powszechnych. Bogdan Suchodolski was one of the journal authors at that time. Among other authors the journal published articles by Stefan Baley, Józef Chałasiński, Ludwik Chmaj, Józef Lewicki, Bogdan Nawroczyński, Henryk Rowid, Kazimierz Sośnicki, Stefan Szuman, Florian Znaniecki. The journal popularized the latest pedagogical knowledge and pointed to the relationship of education research with various fields of knowledge, especially psychology, sociology, and philosophy.
Professor Bogdan Suchodolski was the editor-in-chief of the journal from its beginnings until the end of 1969. In the years 1970-1972, the editor-in-chief was the education historian professor Łukasz Kurdybacha (1907-1972), who was the head of the Department of History of Education at the Faculty of Education at the University of Warsaw, as well as the head of the Department of the History of Education of the Polish Academy of Sciences.
After the passing of professor Łukasz Kurdybacha, a new editorial board was formed in 1974. The new editor-in-chief was professor Wincenty Okoń (1914-2011), head of the Department of Didactics at the University of Warsaw, and member of the Polish Academy of Sciences. From the year 1985 to 1992 the editor-in-chief was professor Czesław Kupisiewicz (1924-2015), a specialist in didactics, former vice-rector of the University of Warsaw, and former dean of the Faculty of Psychology and Pedagogy at the University of Warsaw.
In 1992, Czesław Kupisiewicz handed over the position to professor Andrea Folkierska, head of the Laboratory of Philosophical Foundations of Education at the Faculty of Education. In 2004 professor Fokierska started the initiative of a Consultative Board composed of representatives of European pedagogy - mainly German, English, Irish, and Israeli. Professor Folkierska was the editor-in-chief until the year 2011.
The foreign cooperation was continued during the work of subsequent editors-in-chief, professor Mirosław S. Szymański, educator and dean of the Faculty of Pedagogy (2012-2013), and professor Adam Fijałkowski, a historian of education ( from October 2013 to February 2021).
In March 2021, the position of editor-in-chief was taken over by professor Joanna Madalińska-Michalak, head of the Department of Didactics and Pedeutology at the Faculty of Pedagogy of the University of Warsaw, honorary professor at Aarhus University, vice-president of the World Education Research Association, WERA (from 2018), president of the Polish Pedagogical Society (2014-2020), president of the Teacher Educational Policy in Europe Scientific Network (TEPE Network) and member of the Board of Directors for Europe as part of the International Council on Education for Teaching - ICET and a member of the Board of Directors of the European Educational Research Association, EERA.
In the years 1956-1991, the publisher of the Pedagogical Quarterly was Państwowe Wydawnictwa Naukowe, and from 1992 until today Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego (University of Warsaw Publishing House). During the period of 65 years of publication of the journal a number of its features have changed but its structure stayed the same. Every issue of the journal consists of the following sections: "Articles", "Research reports", "Reviews", "Chronicle". The section "Our Authors" (currently "Notes on Authors") presenting short scientific biographies of the authors of texts published in the journal was added in 1979. The "Colloquia" section that includes texts mainly in English and German appeared for the first time in 2003.
The journal also includes the following sections: "Jubilees", and "In memoriam".
The journal is addressed to researchers and students, as well as to everyone interested in the issues of education research and pedagogy - both in retrospective and contemporary perspective.
Compiled by prof. dr hab. Janina Kamińska