As deputy Education Minister, Katarzyna Lubnauer, said - Civic Education will present a new approach to teaching:
"We are moving away from the so-called memorization, which is very often talked about by students, teachers and which parents also complain about. As part of Civic Education class, students will gain knowledge and competences. Above all, however - they will also acquire a sense of agency, which is so important in the context of teaching this subject."
The expert leading the team developing the core curriculum of the new subject is the Civic Education Center's Jędrzej Witkowski, PhD. He said that the new subject will support creating civic society - also outside the class, through various activities.
"We have created a 'cafeteria' of 16 civic activities - and each student will have to carry out at least 4 actual civic activities during the 2 years of education. The students themselves will choose what it would be - it could be a street survey, a public collection, some national or international anniversary celebrations, a meeting with a counselor or volunteering"
- Jędrzej Witkowski listed during a press conference dedicated to the new subject.
The ministerial draft of the core curriculum of Civic Education will be ready in October. Public consultations will also start then. If introduced, the new subject will replace the much-discussed and controversial History and the Present (HiT) and Education for Family Life (WDŻ) classes - introduced and much loved by the previously ruling conservative Law and Justice party.
"The biggest problem with History and the Present subject was that it did not present facts, but one-sidedly valued certain things instead. It did not allow young people to form their own opinions on certain issues. And above all, it was completely devoid of what we would call civic education"
- current Minister of Education, Barbara Nowacka, told Polish public broadcaster Radio Zet, underlining the reason for the planned swap.
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Source: IAR, PAP
