Developing into an effective Polish Teacher of English

The major aim of this work has been to explore the profile of an effective Polish teacher of English ten years ago and now. In particular, it has attempted to determine what competencies or kinds of professional knowledge distinguish this successful professional, as well as what personal teacher theories she seems to hold. In order to accomplish these goals, two interview studies were conducted, one almost a decade ago and the other recently. The results of the analysis of different spheres of an English language teacher’s professional competences may have significant implications for teacher education in Poland, and make it possible to identify these characteristics of the teacher that can foster their effective performance of the job. On a more general level, they also enable us to make some recommendations concerning the optimum preparation of potential candidates for becoming teachers of foreign languages in Poland. Due to the focus of this study, the tentative model to be presented here pertains to a profile of the effective language teacher in Poland. It is also important to keep in mind that the guidelines the present model offers are not necessarily applicable to another context, but to the Polish context at a time when the Polish educational system is still being affected by sweeping institutional and curricular changes.