Next edition: 15-17 march 2013

The horizons of education

The 16th Education Fair and held at the same time the School Equipment Exhibition and the 11th Poznań Trade Fair Meetings - Books for Children and Young People, were visited by over 30,000 people. Most of them were young people, standing before the decision of selecting the next stage of their education and their parents or guardians. Of course, there were a lot of teachers, principals, pedagogues and those involved in education and the school system at the fair.

The fair was  an exceptional opportunity for meetings, talks, discussions and conferences. Cold visitors were quickly warmed by the great, warm atmosphere of the fair, emotions were evoked by the rich and often unconventionally presented  offer of the exhibitors. And the offer was presented by nearly 200 schools of all levels and 50 universities from around the country and abroad: the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Spain, Germany, Hungary and the UK.

Colourful presentations

The fair's exhibition of public and private schools, elementary schools, middle schools, high schools, post-secondary schools, language and higher education schools was not only interesting, but also colourful and artfully arranged. The stand of "Akademicki Poznań” was arranged in a special way, in which individual information points of  Poznań's public universities had symbolic shapes of the pillars of knowledge. Next to them, there were stands of universities from other cities. They attracted prospective students with an interesting educational programme and good learning conditions. "The interest in studying at the University  of Warmia and Mazury is very high - as it was last year  and all indicates that we will include the presence at the fair on a permanent basis in the calendar of our marketing efforts. Last year's participation in the fair has brought 70% increase in the number of students from Poznań and Wielkopolska." - said  Paweł Łojewski of the University of Warmia and Mazury.

Young people were very interested in proposals from foreign universities, they asked detailed and insightful questions, which indicated that  they already have some knowledge about  studying abroad, but have not yet made a final decision.

Attention! The danger of becoming successful! Here is my school and it can be yours! - these are just the examples of slogans with which schools tried to attract attention to their offers. The incentives to become interested in a school were many. The students showed the work they did, showing off already gained skills. And so, future hairdressers arranged hair, make-up artist did the make-up, you could even treat yourself to a massage. Interesting demonstrations were carried out not only at the stands, but also on the stage, on which you could take a short first aid course. In turn, the students of vocational schools in Poznań presented themselves in the Professions' Avenue.

At the fair's EKO FORUM, various forms of entertainment were combined with environmental education. Some workshops were conducted during which children e.g. wove carts from wicker, lectures and competitions were held as well. At the Wielkopolska Craftsmanship Chamber's exhibition, items made by the representatives of increasingly less popular professions, such as: basketry, embroidery and stained-glass making were shown.

Sports education

According to this year's fair's motto "Education - Sports - Upbringing. Let's learn to win!”, many events  were related to sports. On the sports field, prepared in the exhibition hall, sports associations from Wielkopolska conducted demonstrations of: fencing, volleyball, wrestling, judo, acrobatics and cycling, discussing in detail the principles of these sports disciplines. Football and field hockey games were played. A panel discussion for students and teachers devoted to competition "Let's learn to win" was very interesting. The conference "Health education in the work of a physical education teacher - potential strategies and examples of solutions" was held. Sports enthusiasts had the opportunity to meet directly with great Polish sports champions: a 14 times national champion in rowing, Julia Michalska, a Polish Championships medallist in the discus throw, Żaneta Glanc, a canoeist and three times vice-champion of the world and two times vice-champion of Europe, Marta Walczykiewicz and an Olympic gold medallist, Szymon Ziółkowski.

Specific benefits

Young people and their parents used the fair mainly to gather information about schools and educational programmes. The opportunity to talk with teachers and students, the analysis of different teaching profiles and development perspectives allowed them to gather information, helpful when deciding on further education.  Individual advice from pedagogical and psychological counselling centres turned out to be valuable for many people.

Teachers and educators participating in the fair could, in turn, find out about the direction of interest of potential candidates for students. Teachers of post-secondary and high schools compared the arrangement of lessons, developed according to the new core curriculum, with the expectations of parents and young people. School principals, teachers and representatives of local governments - all who want to make sure that children and young people learn in better-equipped facilities, could acquaint themselves with the offer of producers and distributors of teaching aids and school, playground and sports field equipment at the specially designated School Equipment Exhibition. At the Digital School's stand, equipped with interactive whiteboards, computers, software and network management, one could see  how easily new information technologies can change the learning process and the functioning of an educational institution and seek advice from available experts on the spot.

The Education Fair was a good opportunity to meet people professionally involved in education. It was here that many important and interesting conferences, touching upon most current educational problems and issues were held. Only the meetings organised by the Teachers' Training Centre  in Poznań were attended by 1026 teachers.  During the fair, one could  not only  look closer at methods and techniques  facilitating learning - presented at the School Equipment Exhibition, but also talk about them at conferences. Also  the conference  "I decide about Europe - by getting to know it",  referring to the Polish Presidency of the EU Council -  proved to be very popular.

We invite you to  the 17th Education Fair in March 2013 with a conviction that it will be even more attractive.