Początki i rozwój oraz organizacja szkół urszulańskich w Tarnowie w latach 1877-1939

Abstrakt

The article presents the system of schools operated by Ursuline sisters in Tarnów in the years 1877-1939. Its aim is to show the origin, development and system of organization of the schools from their start in 1877 till the outbreak of World War II. History of the schools in Tarnów is presented chronologically within the frames of history of Poland.

In the initial part the character and structure of Ursuline school system is presented against the background of the overall condition of school education. Elementary and secondary types of education, both general and technical, were characterized in separate parts. History of particular schools was divided into two historically different periods. The year 1918 – regaining of independence, is the turning point separating the period of Galician autonomy and the twenty years between the two World Wars. From the very beginning Ursuline sisters took up teaching at the elementary level. The six-form Private `Higher' School that existed from the school year 1877/78 included, among others, the syllabus of the elementary four-form school. In September 1895 the sisters opened a private four-form Popular Girls' School, and when a secondary school was opened, they established in 1906/7 an elementary school preparing young people to attend it. Hence until 1918 the sisters ran two elementary schools.

Starting with the school year 1919/20 (after the reform that had been carried out) there was one Popular Four-Form Girls' School that was transformed into an Elementary School with four forms, and since 1932/33 with six forms. Soon after coming to Tarnów the Ursuline sisters took up education of girls at the secondary level. Although they established the first girls' secondary school of the general education type only in 1904, in fact they ran the Private `Higher' School from 1877/78 to 1906/7. After 1908 girls' secondary schools became increasingly popular in Galicia. In response to the need for this type of schools the Ursuline sisters in Tarnów established the Technical Secondary School that in 1922/23 was turned into the Humanities Secondary School. After Poland regained independence general education secondary schools started disappearing and it was then that in the place of the existing school a Teachers' Seminary was opened that existed to 1935.

The schools run by the Ursuline sisters were private ones but they were granted the Government license. In order to make sure their schools had all the rights state schools had the sisters made efforts to maintain in them high standards and they kept to the rule of a constant progress; they adjusted the types of their schools to the education authorities' requirements and to the needs of the nation.