Suchergebnisse

Very few could disagree with the assertion that civic education is especially needed in societies that have recently freed themselves from authoritarian regimes. Education, which would aim at raising citizens' understanding of constitutional democracy, i.e. rule of law, limited government, individual rights, political participation, social activism. The main task of which would be to inculcate in adults that it is necessary to combine liberty with order, majority rule with minority rights, private rights with the public good. The question however, is how to overcome the communist legacy - that is, how to successfully combat indifference and distrust of citizens? The memory of the infamous 'political education' (wychowanie obywatelskie) is so strong that it still impedes many adults from attending any kind of non-vocational education. It also discourages many associations and institutions from including 'civics' in their educational offer. According to the few accessible studies presented in this report, the majority of adult Poles declare their attachment to democratic and liberal values. However, the "need for a democratic society is recognize rather than understood". As far as the research is concerned, general statements rather than actual research prevail in Polish academic publications. One can distinguish several reasons for that. As it was previously mentioned, education for democratic citizenship targeting adults is virtually non-existent in Poland. Thus, there is not much to be investigated. No purposeful, intentional courses in civics for adults are given – there are no interested providers or an interested public. ; LLL-EDC study, grant agreement n. 225292-CP-1-2005-1-DK-GRUNDTVIG-G1

Polish policy regarding adult education for democratic citizenship (EDC) is still to be formulated. Based on an extensive study of various documents, coupled with strong public utterances from leading politicians, one can only conclude that in Poland there exists no coherent EDC policy. While there is a growing number of official documents stating the importance of strengthening civil society, educational provisions for adults that would directly address issues of EDC are still to be designed and implemented ; LLL-EDC study, grant agreement n. 225292-CP-1-2005-1-DK-GRUNDTVIG-G1

De Tocqueville' tripartite structure (state - political society - civil society) could not be found in societies governed by authoritarian communist regimes in the twentieth century. Citizens of "a partocratic and mythocratic state that embraced every walk of life" had yet to find their place. The concept of the 'parallel society' was outlined by the Czech philosopher Václav Benda in late 1970s. He maintained that even a gentle form of opposition could, in due time, undermine the communist regime's omnipotent control over society. The goal of the parallel polis was "taking over… every space that state power has temporarily abandoned or which it has never occurred to it to occupy in the first place". The institutions of a parallel society were to undertake long-lasting work for the building of democracy, rather than plan for any immediate mobilization against authoritarian regimes. The already existing elements of civil society challenged state institutions at the grass-roots' level. It required quite an extensive amount of work and much effort to cope with a multitude of different tasks. A parallel society needed specialists able to compose curricula and syllabi for underground educational courses; people competent in printing technology to publish hundreds of illegal journals and books as well as those who were committed enough to risk their freedom in order to distribute illegal publications; others who provided refuge or help for the persecuted, who acted as hosts to printing houses or offered their apartments for classes, courses and public lectures. All this led to the building up of various communities of citizens which although limited in terms of their numbers, were nevertheless very committed, and which took the lead in public opinion formation

When studying Adult Education for Democratic Citizenship (AEDC) or discussing the relationship between adult education and civil society, one can attribute an NGO, or the "Interesting and Relevant Initiatives" (IRIs) gathered for this project, three roles: (1) as a supplier of services to civil society; (2) as an organisation (or a group of organisations) which is part of civil society; (3) as an exemplary power which itself visibly adopts and fosters the mind set needed for civil society to flourish Altogether 24 Interesting and Relevant Initiatives (IRIs) were analysed in the nine countries involved: Austria (AT/2 IRIs), Germany (DE/2), Denmark (DK/3), Spain (ES/3), Hungary (HU/2), Poland (PL/5), Romania (RO/2), Slovenia (SL/2), United Kingdom (UK/2). ; LLL-EDC study, grant agreement n. 225292-CP-1-2005-1-DK-GRUNDTVIG-G1