Quality Assurance in Education for Democratic Citizenship. Can this Strategy Work in Polish Schools?

Abstract

Education for democratic citizenship (EDC) encompasses all educational practices aimed at preparing young people and adults for life in a democratic society and helping them become active, informed and responsible citizens. The changes that have taken place over the past 18 years in Poland have not bypassed the school evaluation system. The country has slowly passed from a system of "hard control" to one of "soft supervision," and its control functions have been strongly limited to make way for consultancy and support.Obviously it is now impossible to foresee the future of school evaluation – many educators agree that the 2006 law meant less bureaucracy, but some add that it might also mean more control and less school autonomy. Whether and when we will see new regulations in this field remains unclear now. It can only be hoped that bodies running the school (both local governments and other "owners" of the schools), independent of the Ministry, will in some places (if not everywhere) support an initiative for real quality assurance. Incentives, such as diplomas or quality badges, might also help teachers and schools take part in a "pilot" or "large -scale" programme of introducing quality assurance in Education for Democratic Citizenship.