Cognitive aging is characterized by a deterioration of episodic memory functions. Since episodic memory requires retrieval of context, it has been proposed that older adults suffer from a specific deficit in terms of remembering context associated with to-be-remembered information. At the same time, however, it has been argued that providing context information at the time of retrieval can ameliorate age-related memory deficits. These positions can be reconciled if older adults show a deficit in encoding specific, not meaningful (i.e., not related) item-context associations but demonstrate a preserved ability to encode meaningful item-context associations and retrieve them when both items and contexts are provided as cues. In three experiments, we demonstrate such a pattern of deficits and preserved functions by asking younger and older adults to encode pairs of words embedded in contexts, then varying whether these contexts are reinstated when the same pairs of words are restudied. We then examine how this manipulation affects – via spontaneous retrieval of item-context associations – metacognitive monitoring of the effectiveness of restudy in the form of judgments of learning (JOLs). Experiment 1, using semantically unrelated contexts, showed the context reinstatement effect in JOLs only for younger adults. Experiments 2 and 3, promoting encoding of context for older adults by using semantically related contexts, showed effects of context reinstatement for older and younger adults. Together, these results show that older adults sometimes fail to encode specific contextual associations, but if they do encode them, they experience no deficit in spontaneous retrieval of these associations.
Pozostałe osiągnięcia naukoweArtykuły (zamknięty dostęp)Journal article
This study explores how Ukrainian refugee students experience inclusion and exclusion in relation to educational participation and the social dimensions of schooling, and how these processes shape their educational trajectories and well-being. It focuses on students transitioning from primary to upper-primary education. The analysis drew on qualitative research involving Ukrainian refugee students (n = 55), their parents (n = 46) and institutional actors (n = 50). It identified three interconnected dimensions of inclusion and exclusion: (1) inclusion/exclusion to/from education referring to access to and participation in educational provisions; (2) inclusion/exclusion in education, concerning students’ everyday educational and social experiences within schools; and (3) inclusion/exclusion through education, referring to how educational arrangements, practices, and outcomes shape educational transitions and subsequent trajectories. The results highlight that inclusion and exclusion should be understood not as binary states but as multidimensional and dynamic processes that may operate simultaneously at different stages of refugee students’ educational pathways.
Pozostałe osiągnięcia naukoweArtykuły (zamknięty dostęp)Journal article
Objective
To examine how transnational family life and parent–child co-agency shape educational decisions among Ukrainian refugee children in Poland.
Background
Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, many Ukrainian families have relocated to Poland, where children navigate educational transitions amid legal, emotional, and educational uncertainty. Little is known about how these decisions are negotiated within transnational families whose members may remain dispersed across borders.
Methods
This qualitative study draws on interviews with 40 refugee children in the final grades of Polish primary school and 40 parents, conducted as part of the EduMAP research project.
Results
Parent–child co-agency was dynamic and often asymmetrical, which is shown within two aspects: gendered parental asymmetry and parent–child asymmetry.
Conclusions
Educational transitions emerged as negotiated processes of agency and co-agency within transnational family networks, rather than exclusively parental or child-led decisions.
Implications
Schools should support refugee children and parents by providing guidance on recruitment procedures and school options. Family-oriented support may strengthen children's participation while reducing excessive responsibility and helping mitigate educational inequalities.
The article examines the role of the language of schooling as a key condition for access to knowledge and achievement among Ukrainian students with forced-migration experience in Polish schools. The empirical material comes from the qualitative EduMAP project and includes interviews with 40 students in grades 7–8 of primary school and the first year of upper-secondary school in Warsaw and Lublin, as well as 14 interviews with principals, teachers, homeroom teachers, psychologists, and
intercultural assistants. Thematic analysis was conducted within a critical realist framework. Findings show that conversational proficiency in Polish is insufficient for equitable participation in learning. Success depends on mastering the language of schooling, including disciplinary vocabulary, argumentative structures, and academic genres required in literature, the sciences, mathematics, and exam tasks. Students employ compensatory strategies of limited effectiveness, such as machine translation and peer support. Institutional support is uneven and often focuses on everyday Polish rather than academic competencies. Intercultural assistants are positively evaluated, though role ambiguity and employment conditions limit their long-term impact. Exam accommodations mitigate barriers but do not substitute for sustained work on the language of schooling. The article argues for moving beyond marginal, add-on language classes toward a whole-school approach in which developing academic language becomes the responsibility of all subject teachers and is embedded in everyday pedagogy and exam preparation.
The chapter examines the Academy of Evaluation (AE), a pioneering capacity-building initiative for commissioning authorities in Poland’s evaluation system. Implemented between 2008 and 2017 through a partnership between the Polish National Evaluation Unit and the University of Warsaw, the AE delivered eight editions of postgraduate education to 250 civil servants from evaluation units across national and regional administrations.
The chapter analyzes AE’s evolution from a technical training focused on “contracting evaluations” to a comprehensive educational framework centered on developing “knowledge brokers” – intermediaries who facilitate evidence-informed decision-making in public administration. Drawing on program documentation, participant surveys, external evaluations and reflective analysis, authors discuss AE’s Theory of Change, curriculum and pedagogical approach.
The findings demonstrate that sustained academic programs can effectively build evaluation capacity among commissioning authorities, thereby improving the quality of terms of reference, contractors’ collaboration and professional networks within the evaluation system. However, the initiative’s impact was constrained by broader socio-institutional factors that affected evidence use in policymaking.
The chapter offers insights for designing evaluation capacity-building programs, emphasizing adaptive programming, practitioner-academic collaboration and evaluation within the context of democratic governance. It offers lessons for initiatives strengthening evaluation systems through professional development, focusing on curriculum design, institutional cooperation and alignment with socio-political contexts.
