Polish Teachers' Union (Polish: Związek Nauczycielstwa Polskiego, ZNP, also translated as Union of Polish Teachers,[1]Polish Teachers' Association, Association of Polish Teachers[2]) is the largest Polish trade union for teachers and educators[3] and their largest professional association.[4]
History
First Polish teachers trade unions date to 1905, the year that marks the period of unrest known as the Revolution in the Kingdom of Poland (1905–1907).[1][4] The Polish Teachers' Union has been created in 1930 from the merger of the Union of Polish Teachers of Elementary Schools and the Trade Union of Teachers of Polish High Schools, both dating to 1919.[1]
In the 1930s, ZNP, numbering over 50,000 members before World War II, and being the largest Polish association and trade union for educators, became increasingly influenced by socialists, which caused it to be eventually suspended by the conservative and right-leaning Polish government.[1][4] In response, the socialist wing of ZNP organized the large Polish teachers strike (1937), which succeeded in having the government back down and reinstate the organization.[4] ZNP at that time maintained also auxiliary institutions, such as the Pedegogical Institute, and run summer vocational courses.[1]
The Union is governed by the National Meeting of the Delegates which convenes every four years.[4] On day-to-day basis, the Main Office takes care of the routine organizational activities.[4]
^Josef Krauski, Education as Resistance: The Polish Experience of Schooling During the War, in Roy Lowe, Education and the Second World War : studies in schooling and social change, Falmer Press, 1992, ISBN0-7507-0054-8, [1], M1 Google Print, p.128-138