The need for general education about built environment should become a key element in shaping an aware civic society.  

It is particularly important in Poland, a country which for the past 30 years – since the political transformation of 1989 – has been rebuilding and shaping anew its own culture of creating an urban space. It is not an easy process, practically nonviable without simultaneous social education.  

General education on built environment culture is requisite in this process. Realised both as part of the educational system and beyond it – in museums, cultural centres and institutions etc – it is the only way to raise social awareness as well as to boost the sense of civic responsibility for the shared space and natural environment. Competent educators are key elements in this process.  

Hence our decision to launch an inter-departmental, interdisciplinary postgraduate ArchiCulture: Architecture Educator studies programme which will enable us to train future educators, mediators and teachers, aware and competent enough to initiate individual actions, to run courses and to organise events, as well as to introduce classes in Baukultur. The idea behind the studies programme lies in promoting an interdisciplinary dialogue between pedagogical faculties and design and architecture ones.  

THE GOAL OF THE PROGRAM 

The goal of ArchiCulture: Architecture Educator studies programme is to train architectural educators so that they gain extensive expertise to popularise knowledge on built environment, in light of a general desire to improve the culture of construction and the quality of space that surrounds us. 

Future graduates will gain skills to develop and implement classes in general architecture and spatial education [PEA] as well as to further promote it in cultural centres and institutions as well as in primary and high schools. The studies will also equip them with competences to run “architecture and spatial mediation”, i.e. social communication on topics related to architecture and urban planning, and to the culture of shaping the built environment. They will offer an opportunity to broaden one’s knowledge in the field of architecture and urban planning, as well as in the mechanisms of planning and participatory processes. 

The extensive module of classes on methodology provides graduates with a wide range of practical and innovative tools (21st century competencies, STEAM education, exploratory education, contemporary media, design methods, etc.) and inspiration for creating original scenarios of classes, programs and educational events in the field of general architectural education – tailored to the specific nature of the recipients’ profession, various audience groups and areas of activity (school, culture, participation). The original scenarios and programs developed in the course of studies in the field of education (innovations, original educational program, etc.), culture, mediation and participation, will be accessible for the graduates to use directly in their professional activities. 

The ArchiCulture: Architecture Educator studies programme is cross-institutional. It is the first initiative of this kind in Poland, and perhaps even in Europe. We co-organise the programme together with the Pedagogical University in Krakow, the Faculty of Architecture at the Krakow University of Technology and the Faculty of Architecture at the Gdańsk University of Technology. Thanks to this cooperation, we would like to make the programme available to people all across Poland – as the participation in the studies is largely on a remote basis, they become accessible to interested parties from different corners of the country.