Teachers in the Changing Polish Social Reality

The aim of the article is to show how social changes impose specific requirements on the school and teacher, affecting the modification of goals, tasks, content, methods of education and upbringing. This puts the teacher in a new and constantly changing situation and affects the conditions and content of the teacher's work. The existing interdependence between social progress and the development of education decides about the necessity and continuity of the modernization of the education system. The changing function of education leads to changes in the work of the teacher, who has to face growing and increasing requirements. The teacher must be familiar with new scientific findings and the possibilities of their practical applications, the requirements of various types of human production activities, and essential professional skills. The main characteristic of the evolution of the social role and task of the teacher is expressed in the gradual transition from the teacher's role as the sole source of knowledge and values to the role of the organizer of the educational process, the counsellor of the students, the guide to the world of scientific information and cultural values. This trend is present in many educational systems today. A teacher without thorough knowledge, without the ability to shape modern thinking, cannot fulfil his or her basic tasks.