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1. Policy Framework

2. Formal learning

3. Non-formal and informal learning

4. Quality assurance/quality guidelines for non-formal learning

5. Educators' support

Policy Framework

Due to the change in the Government, many policy documents (including long-term ones) were removed from the governmental web pages, and are yet to be replaced by new ones. Regardless, citizenship education and the development of social and civic competence in Poland were and likely are to be singled out as key development directions. Formally, values and competencies such as civic engagement, social sensitivity, tolerance, anti-discrimination were present in the curricula for elementary and above-elementary schools. However, the previous government’s education policy in practice was completely different. No dissent from centrally established vision of the social order, understanding of the civic and national community, as well as of the particular understanding of social norms was tolerated. The new government promised to change the basic school curricula, to open schools up for social organizations, and to treat children and youth as partners. Aside from that, there exists a strong non-governmental movement which established a number of demands regarding school reform, the so-called Civic Education Pact (Obywatelski Pakt dla Edukacji). They focus on ideas such as school autonomy instead of central management, schools aimed for the 21st, not the 19th century, school of equal chances and equal treatment, school of democracy and social engagement, school for pluralism.

Another example of the change in approach to children and youth is the change at the position of the Commissioner for Children’s Rights (Rzecznik Praw Dziecka). Currently, the Commissioner is a 33-year old attorney who has been working with children’s rights since being 19 years old. She openly names youth as partners and participants in the public debate. “A new approach in the Commissioner’s office is something that had not been sufficiently stressed thus far: the need to yield the floor to the young people, and making them full participants in conversations regarding their rights”. The new Commissioner has made a 17 year old in the autism spectrum into one of her deputies. This represents a significant change in the government’s attitude towards the youth. The previous commissioner would audit schools rewarded for being LGBT-friendly, suspecting them of corrupting the youth.

Formal learning

Civic education has always been present in Polish schools. In recent years, it became the object of fierce political debates. The previous government introduced a new course, History and society, which meaningfully changed how civic education was conducted, and replaced the old Social knowledge course. The current government plans new changes in this area, and work on formulating a new approach is ongoing. According to the ICCS International report citizenship education in Poland is compulsory and integrated into some subjects. It includes extracurricular initiatives, as well as team work and special initiatives, but lacks classroom experiences and cross-curricular approach.  The latest research (2023) shows that  young Poles (aged 16-26) have similar views when it comes to features of the democratic system. 69% thinks, że voting is a citizen’s responsibility (compared to 73% in Europe), 58% that elections are an effective way to to change things (57% in Europe), 32% believes their vote doesn’t count in elections (35% in Europe). However, there is a worrying belief that the school system does not offer sufficient preparation for voting. Only 30% of young Poles believes that „I have been well prepared for voting at school or further educaction” (39% in Europe – this is the lowest result in Europe, with the highest being Germany and Italy at 48%). As such, the Polish education system still leaves much to be desired.

Non-formal and informal learning

Education leading to a better civic participation is one of the main topics of non-governmental youth organisations or those supporting young people in Poland. There are several programmes at national level that support various forms of civic and democratic participation. In Poland, school governments are the basic place in which to gain the social skills necessary for civic participation. The compulsory presence of pupil/student representations in schools is required by parliamentary regulations: Education law (Prawo oświatowe), and civic activism, especially volunteer work, is awarded extra points during recruitment to education institutions. The same legislation encourages heads of schools to cooperate with non-governmental organisations and promote voluntary activities among pupils/students. Regulations and official recommendations requiring the presence of student representatives in Polish school-governing bodies apply to all levels of education (ISCED 1,2,3).  The main body among non-governmental organisations in the field of citizenship education, the Centre for Citizen Education , organises programmes oriented towards the strengthening of the competences of students, teachers and heads of school.

Measures to encourage student participation in the local community and wider society

Presently there are no regulations in Poland obliging pupils or students to participate in activities serving their local community outside of school, however, there are solutions oriented towards prompting those groups to engage in voluntary activities. Participation in such activities which is mentioned in student CVs is taken into account and formally recognised during the upper secondary school recruitment process and could be decisive in the case of strong competition. However, such a solution is being criticised for its instrumental treatment of voluntary work. The core curriculum (podstawa programowa), which is an official ministerial document applicable to citizenship education for all three ISCED levels, demands that teachers strive to encourage and prompt pupils and students to take part in the social and political life of local communities and in other forms of citizenship-related activities. National priorities for voluntary activities focus on the development of youth information rather than on an encouragement or a formal obligation to perform any form of voluntary work. The thinking behind this is that the lack of interest in voluntary service is caused by insufficient awareness of its benefits among young people.

Partnerships between formal education providers, youth organisations and youth workers 

In the context of Poland differentiating between partnership and long-term cooperation can be sometimes challenging. Legal regulations encouraging schools to open up to voluntary service and cooperation with non-governmental organisations (youth organisations in particular), to create favourable conditions to establish local partnerships and co-operation for citizenship education. In practice, youth organisations (most often the scouting association), are, alongside the student councils, the most important partners of schools in initiatives promoting active participation in social and civic life. An agreement which was signed in 2010 by the Polish Scouting and Guiding Association  and the Ministry of National Education allows Scouting Association units to conduct educational activities in schools for the benefit of students, and exchange youth work experiences and methods. The Ministry also agreed to act as patrons for initiatives put forward by the Polish Scouting Association aimed at children and youth education and to consult draft legislation regarding children and youth education with the Association. Although the document does not explicitly mention cooperation in enhancing citizen participation, it is difficult to imagine the absence of this aspect in joint activities. Good relationships with scouting organizations did not translate into wider acceptance for schools’ cooperation with NGOs. The Minister of National Education from the previous government tried, at several points, to get a legislation passed that would empower the Ministry to closely surveil all the organizations cooperating with schools. The hidden goal of the previous government was to exclude organizations that the politicians saw as leftist, liberal, and immoral. In practice, this included all the organizations working in areas of human rights, rule of law, support for minorities (including LGBT+ youth), anti-domestic and anti-addiction work). Those attempts were met with broad social opposition and were vetoed twice by the President.

Supporting non-formal learning initiatives focusing on social and civic competences 

The biggest projects supporting youth participation in civic and political life were run by government agencies and focus on donations, education and - to a lesser extent - on operations. They frequently included formal and non-formal education borderline activities, although they tend to be more focussed on building teacher competences and a better exploitation of the school environment, mainly by giving ideas for interesting and non-standard forms of citizenship education. The Centre for Education Development  played the main role in this type of governmental activity at central level. The use of past tense in this paragraph is not accidental. During the previous government, such initiatives were being sunsetted. The tab at the ORE web page titled Social and civic competences mostly contains information from 2018, with single entries from 2020 and only one from 2021. They dealt with matters such as diversity, human rights education, and so on. It can be assumed that the new government will seek to work in this area.

EU programmes targeting youth are a vital contribution supporting and disseminating non-formal education in the field of social and civic competences. Since 2007, projects directly aimed at the promotion of young people’s participation and civic competences have been funded under such programmes as Erasmus+. 

The programme Active Citizens Fund – National (Aktywni Obywatele – Fundusz Krajowy), is one of the 12 programmes that are being enacted and Poland and are financed by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through EEA and Norway Grants 2014-2021. It is one of the programmes meant to assist social organizations, with special focus being on outreach towards the youth. “Active Citizens Fund – National supports work of organizations throughout Poland, but puts special focus on assisting activities by less experienced organizations from outside large cities, and from areas with limited access to support programmes and infrastructural assistance, as well as organizations that target their activities towards groups threatened by discrimination and exclusions. In all of its operations, the youth is a group of special focus.”.

At present, the Batory Foundation is implementing a similar project entitled “You have a say, you have a choice” (Masz głos, masz wybór). The Centre for Citizen Education is another organisation providing a number of educational and stimulating activities for young people. The campaign “The youth goes to vote” (Młodzi głosują) consists in the organisation of voting in secondary schools on the eve of elections and is its most spectacular and best-known initiative. Since the project’s inception in 1995, up to 3 millions young people across the whole country have participated in the project each time an election has been held. Apart from this campaign, the Centre for Citizen Education creates programmes and educational projects in the following categories: school development and improvement, citizenship education syllabuses, educational and civic projects in the field of culture, heritage and media, student government, volunteering, global responsibility, etc. Some examples of projects implemented by the Centre for Citizen Education include: School of Democracy, Youth in action, School of diversity.

Ahead of the 2023 elections, many NGOs organized pro-turnout outreach campaigns. They were especially targeted towards encouraging young women to turn out at the polls. The campaigns turned out to be a huge success – the turnout at the last elections was record-high, including among people aged 18-29. This is confirmed by social research: young people were most likely to have seen elements of those campaigns (49% aged 18 to 29) and women aged 18 to 39 (54%).

Quality assurance/quality guidelines for non-formal learning

The general quality of Polish citizenship education and its results can be evaluated on the basis of comparative international studies. Expert supervision is the most commonly applied method in the case of non-formal education. All major nationwide programmes typically contain an evaluation component. However, there is no generally accepted codified quality assurance system.

Educators' support

Support offered to those active in the field of citizenship education is provided under a number of programmes. Most of them offer participation in training sessions and webinars. They also provide teaching aids such as textbooks and scenarios. Larger programmes such as Erasmus+ or organizations such as the Centre for Citizen Education have local resident networks helping in the field as well as mobile trainer teams. “Training Trainers” is a widespread practice.