Cechy przywódcze i/a proces ich rozwoju u uczniów klas wojskowych
Leadership traits and the process of their development in military class students

Summary/Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to identify leadership traits and ways to develop them in students of military classes from Military Preparation Units (Polish: Oddziały Przygotowania Wojskowego, OPW) present at Polish secondary schools, since school year 2020/2021. The aim is to determine whether attending OPWs fosters the development of leadership traits, although these are not included directly in the curriculum, as well as to identify ways to improve the educational process in this regard, and to verify the usefulness of practical activities for assessing these competencies. The paper also aims to verify the tools used. The research was conducted at a military high school in Bielsko-Biała as a pilot study (N = 27) on a limited purposive sample. The assessment was carried out by teachers and the observer. The research posed the following central question: do, and if yes how, uniformed classes prepare for the role of the military commander by developing and shaping leadership traits? The research was based on theoretical and empirical methods, using document analysis, participant observation during day and night classes, the survey technique and Belbin’s group role test, among others. The results show that the relationship between the frequency of roles and the grade point average proved to be weak and non-significant (Pearson r = 0.187; Spearman ρ = 0.126). The application of a 360° questionnaire in combination with participant observation revealed discrepancies in the assessment of leadership traits made by teachers, the form master and the observer. The final conclusions emphasise that the OPW favours the creation of the conditions for modelling leadership behaviours. However, there is a need to standardise the assessment, adapt it generally to the age of the subjects, and to train teachers in this area.

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