Possible Role of Universities in Democratic School Reform: from “Ivory Tower” to “Flower Tower”

The article presents a brief case study of a project involving cooperation between secondary schools and Jagiellonian University. An evaluation of the project is presented in the context of tension between two alternative paradigms that describe relationship between schools and universities. The traditional approach seems to be built on the concept of influence, whereas one advocated by the Democratic School Reform emphasizes partnership. A parallel is drawn to alternative visions of relations between students and teachers, allowing to identify basic dimensions which differentiate the described approaches. These dimensions are then applied to evaluate the project.