Research on education for democratic citizenship in Poland
In: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-8562
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