Katarzyna Baca believes that students achieve better results when we reduce pressure while increasing the challenges they face. This effect is evident in schools seeking alternatives to traditional teaching methods. She emphasizes that students’ motivation and engagement depend on the tasks and materials teachers create. With years of experience in pedagogy, Katarzyna is convinced that the overly formalized and bureaucratic teaching system effectively stifles the desire to learn. She advocates for injecting life into our classrooms, dedicating time and energy to fascinating lessons rather than excessive exams and tests.

With a 20-year experience in Foreign Language Teaching within the Polish Public System of Education, Ms. Baca has worked in primary, middle and secondary public schools, where she acquired experience in the following positions and fields:

• Erasmus+ Project Team Coordinator
• Founder and Leader of the Professional Learning Community 
• Head of the English Department
• Head of the International Cooperation Department
• Certified Examiner in matriculation examination

She has been an initiator, coordinator, and active member of international, interdisciplinary, and innovative projects for both teachers and students, as well as an EU funding expert. She is an author of didactic innovations, publications and eTwinning seminars on Storytelling, Creativity, Personal Learning and Thinking Skills, Building Learning Power, Cooperative Learning, and Project Based Learning. 

The projects she has implemented at schools have received eTwinning European Quality and Erasmus+ Good Practice labels. In the year 2023 her didactic and project work was honoured by the European Commission with the prestigious European Innovative Teaching Award (EITA).

Completed training programmes:

• Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, MBSR and Meditation classes
• First, Let’s Teach Students how to Learn, Marzena Żylińska, Budząca się Szkoła
• Growth Mindset and Building Learning Power, Edmund Rice College Kilnagleary, Carrigaline, Co Cork, Ireland (study visit)
• Pronunciation and Storytelling: from Phonemes to Fluency with Adrian Underhill Certification in Teaching English Pronunciation. Bell Cambridge, UK
• Creative Thinking Through Culture, CulturePolis, Corfu, Greece
• Mindfulness and Meditation: Outdoor and Relaxing Education, PROJECT MANAGEMENT SPAIN ERASMUS PLUS, S.L.U., Reykjavik, Iceland
• Creativity as the key to the future, Malatya Bilim Ve Sanat Merkezi, Turkey
• Intensive English C.1/C.2, Inlingua Edinburgh, UK
• Learning 2Learn, Richard Language College, Bournemouth, UK
• Creativity in the classroom, Bell Cambridge, UK
• Creative Teaching in Secondary Classroom, The Lake School of English, Oxford, UK
• Methodology Revisited, Revitalised and Re‑energised, Executive Training Institute-Malta