Dr Basia Vucic

Janusz Korczak – doctor, writer, social activist, and loyal son of Warsaw. A respected expert on children’s issues and a pioneer in the child rights’ movement. To this day, he continues to inspire and connect people.
But... what do you really know about Korczak and his home?
Come walk in his footsteps, listen to absent voices and old legends as together we discover hidden histories and perhaps forge a new myth.

This book was published for the 2020 UNESCO Korczak Summer School.

This article will appeal to an interdisciplinary audience interested in the history of children's rights and international cooperation in general. Descriptions of the past decade often represent a crisis in democracy, heralding a decline in respect for human rights. As the COVID-19 pandemic further exacerbates social and political divisions, many scour historical precedents to guide policy choices. While scholars seek solutions from the West amidst the 1918 Spanish Influenza pandemic, this article explores Eastern Europe during the same period as the birthplace of international humanitarian relief efforts. Analysing the response to the typhus epidemic and famine during and after World War I (WWI), illuminates cross-border and local precedents offering solutions for present-day challenges. Usually overshadowed by military history, this analysis examines the simultaneous 'health revolution' developing from the emergencies of war, epidemic and famine. Employing an eclectic methodology, the author reverses the centre-periphery phenomenon to gain a Polish perspective and  uncover the 'hidden history' of saving the children. Though accompanying a tragic loss of life, amidst crisis appeared opportunity for influential people and civil society to shape the trajectory that changed the face of the 20 th century. As with other examples, there are lessons to be learned by governments, organisations and ordinary people by understanding the response to the typhus epidemic in Poland. Unlike more recent examples such as HIV or TB, questions of human rights, equality or international collaboration were rarely at the forefront. Instead, decision making for a response hinged upon national and economic interests, that is, winning the war against mortal enemies, the virus included. This article uncovers how an American food program aimed at the starving millions

The colonial discourse joins power and knowledge and is intimately linked with cultural and economic oppression. The conceptualization of childhood in Western society, the Child as the 'last savage' and the resulting institutional contexts runs parallel to the direct or insidious colonization strategies of past regimes. The body of work about children and childhood, particularly in education, form a developmental discourse which systematises and naturalises how the Child is understood. Over a century ago, Janusz Korczak published a scathing critique of "contemporary schooling" in Europe, resonating with a Foucauldian tone, describing the oppressive systems intersecting with age, gender, class and ethnicity to reproduce the societal norms and inequalities. Korczak challenged the pervasiveness of educational ideas such as evolutionary bias and developmentalism which continue their influence today. By undertaking a critical comparative (re-)reading of some of his lesser known writing, under the glare of Foucault, a post-humanist interpretation of Korczak emerges. By moving decisively beyond the adult/child dichotomy and differing from the fixed structures of his progressive education contemporaries, Korczak's pedagogical alternative offers critical theorists a new starting place to explore the metaphysical relationship between the knower and the known. As an educationalist who was simultaneously active across the main dimensions of education; ideology, research and practice, Korczak's everyday activism stands in contrast to the prevalent pedagogy of innocence and sympathy. Working from the 'bottom up', Korczak's vision demonstrates resistance to power, providing a refresh to philosophical discussions and presents new possibilities for ethical and democratic practice.

An exploration of the child's right to be heard within education as specified in the United Nations' Convention on the Rights of the Child. The author promotes a rediscovery of the philosophy of children's rights activist, Janusz Korczak and his relevance to early childhood services and schools, today.

A chapter from the book
Odrowąż-Coates, A. &Kwiatkowski, M. (eds.) (2014)  "The future of education and society through the eyes of social researchers." Warsaw (Poland): APS

At the turn of the twentieth century, Western European governments embarked on anti-terrorist agendas, labelling certain ethnicities as undesirable for spreading revolutionary ideas and criminal degeneracy. Several educational experiments emerged intending to eliminate the so-called degenerate element. Academics rarely consider this influence within famous examples by Maria Montessori (1870–1952) in Italy and Janusz Korczak (1878–1942) in Poland. Indeed, the conflation of the two educators obscures that each held opposing views in this critical debate. Years of war and revolution in Polish territories had produced multitudes of orphans, traumatised children and child soldiers. Following Polish independence in 1918, tensions remained high between ethnic minorities and ethno-nationalists. Social pedagogues aimed to rebuild society by drawing on Polish communitarian theories on rights and conflict. Engaging with this history of ideas related to cosmopolitanism and communitarianism disr...

The Jewish-Polish pedagogue, Janusz Korczak is traditionally associated with his orphanage in the Warsaw ghetto and his murder alongside the children during the Holocaust. A doctor and educator, Korczak is also increasingly acknowledged for his unique pedagogical projects such as the self-governing orphanages (democratic children’s homes) and his advocacy for child rights. Translations of his writing and the dominance of individualized interpretations for his motives, has resulted in Korczak being displaced from his socio-historical context of Warsaw. This paper seeks to increase awareness of the inseparable nature of Korczak’s Polish language texts to the Polish struggle for independence. The aim is to further investment into understanding the socio-historical context within which Korczak’s writing was rooted. When readers acknowledge the limitations of the translated Korczak texts, this encourages a greater appreciation of current Polish scholarship but also deepens the philosophi...

The challenge is critically adopting the existing legal, political, economic, and educational tools when aiming at a radical purpose. Thus, this research examines the role of prefiguration as communities transform social relations to reduce coercion and increase self-government, refashioning their culture and society.

This research draws upon historical archives to detail overlapping spheres of action by non-state actors to shape the trajectory that changed the face of the 20th century. [...] The war, epidemic and famine created conditions that facilitated such influential people and civil society to change political institutions, rewrite legislation, and challenge existing hierarchies.

The history of World War I and the Russian Revolution usually overshadows the response to typhus and the millions of starving children. Meanwhile, a simultaneous ‘health revolution’ developed from the emergencies of war, epidemic and famine. Though accompanying a tragic loss of life, amidst crisis appeared an opportunity for influential people and civil society to shape the trajectory that changed the face of the 20th century giving rise to the notion of children’s rights. This seminar uncovers how an American food program run by Herbert Hoover for ‘saving the children’ became not simply a vehicle for child welfare but democracy and freedom. On the ground, the organization partnered with doctors and social activists, declaring the child-citizen is not a future person but a human with rights today. This research delivers a new ‘usable past’ with a hopeful message during crisis and challenging times.

This article was drawn from a presentation at the 3rd International Congress of Children’s Rights and 8th International Korczak Conference. It aims to move beyond the historical details of Janusz Korczak’s life and the often-empirical examination of his pedagogical ideas. It seeks to resolve the disconnect between philosophy, theory and practice which permeates contemporary education in general. The participatory workshop upon which this article was based explored contemporary ideas about play, risk, nature and child rights. Korczak’s ideas related to early childhood are rarely featured in accounts of his pedagogy highlighting the ongoing low societal status of very young children. This article introduces lesser-known texts related to young children to readers familiar with Korczak's work. However, it also aims to engage with an international early childhood audience. By drawing upon current doctoral research, it includes brief comparatives between Korczak's work and contemporary education models such as Montessori, developmental psychology,, nature play and the Reggio-Emilia approach. Korczak’s innovative philosophy of 'respect and rights' and groundbreaking practical examples could turn social justice and rights into an everyday reality for schools, kindergartens and the lives of young children.

Suggested reference:
Vucic, B. (2018) Bobo in Today’s Kindergarten: Korczak’s Practice in Early Childhood Education, in (ed) Michalek, M. The Rights of the Child Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow – the Korczak Perspective (Part 1), Office of the Ombudsman for Children – Poland; Warsaw, pp 508-533

The Jewish-Polish pedagogue, Janusz Korczak is traditionally associated with his orphanage in the Warsaw ghetto and his murder alongside the children during the Holocaust. A doctor and educator, Korczak is also increasingly acknowledged for his unique pedagogical projects such as the self-governing orphanages (democratic children's homes) and his advocacy for child rights. Translations of his writing and the dominance of individualized interpretations for his motives, has resulted in Korczak being displaced from his socio-historical context of Warsaw. This paper seeks to increase awareness of the inseparable nature of Korczak's Polish language texts to the Polish struggle for independence. The aim is to further investment into understanding the socio-historical context within which Korczak's writing was rooted. When readers acknowledge the limitations of the translated Korczak texts, this encourages greater appreciation of current Polish scholarship but also deepens the philosophical inquiry into his work. This paper uses Korczak's texts to demonstrate how power and language reinforce each other by conflating the concepts of the oppressed into those of the oppressor. The purpose of highlighting flaws in translated texts is not simply to correct the error but to disrupt notions of identity; oppressed and oppressor, in relation towards the 'not-so-radically' Other. Examinations of Korczak's ideological experiences, either religious, cultural or political, move more of his own account from the periphery into the foreground. To date, the impact of Russian colonization and Poland's struggle for political independence within Korczak's texts has been given little attention and served to keep readers ignorant of this aspect. Whereas other studies have attended to Korczak's Jewish-Polish heritage, the focus here is on his political philosophy. The goal is to REplace Korczak by historically situating his ideas within his city of Warsaw and the intelligentsia of the time. This demonstrates that Korczak's critical pedagogy and work outside of the authority of the State, positions him today as a radical educator. Historically, he can be aligned with the ideas of specific social movements, especially anarchist theories. Rather than uniformity of ideas, the Warsaw intelligentsia at the turn of the twentieth century, both Polish and Jewish, was a democratic mesh with disparate individuals brought together in tactical cooperation for the struggle of nation building. The reader is introduced to Korczak in 'place' in order to illuminate a new reading of Korczak's texts and ideas as emanating from radical philosophical underpinnings.