Polish students are among the best-prepared young citizens in Europe. While they demonstrate an excellent understanding of social issues and the mechanisms governing a modern state, they show a very low level of trust in public institutions and the political system. Building this trust and a sense of agency is set to be the biggest challenge for the new school subject – civic education.
“Young people understand social issues and what is happening around them very well. In international studies conducted two or three years ago across 20 countries, Poland ranked third or fourth, which is a very strong result,” emphasizes Jędrzej Witkowski, president of the Center for Civic Education, in an interview with Newseria.
The results of the International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS 2022) confirm the high civic preparedness of Polish eighth graders. Poland ranked third (after Taiwan and Sweden) with an average score of 554 points. Nearly half of the students (48%) achieved the highest proficiency level (A), while only 5% were in the lowest category (D).
“At the same time, young people in Poland stand out from their peers in other countries for their lack of trust in the social and political sphere. They rarely trust politicians, politics, public institutions, or even schools. They evaluate the political system and its functioning very critically and feel marginalized within it,” says Witkowski.
Only one in three students believes that Poland’s political system functions well. Among the 20 surveyed countries, Polish eighth graders were among the most distrustful of parliament, government, political parties, but also of the judiciary and police. They were also less likely than their peers abroad to imagine joining a political party or supporting a candidate’s campaign in the future. Interestingly, the more knowledge students possessed, the more critical their assessments became.
Teachers surveyed indicated that civic education in Polish schools had so far been taught in a fairly traditional way, tied to the curriculum and focused on knowledge and simple subject-based skills. Starting in the 2025/2026 school year, a new subject – civic education – will be introduced in schools. According to the Ministry of Education, its purpose is not only to provide knowledge about the state and democracy but above all to allow young people to experience citizenship in practice through social initiatives, cooperation with institutions, and implementing their own projects.
“The key challenge for civic education, which guided us in creating the curriculum, is not so much expanding knowledge, but building trust in public institutions and the political system. We assumed that trust is best built through interaction. If a young person goes to court, meets a city councilor, or talks to the mayor, it strengthens their trust in the public sphere. That’s why we emphasize interactions among students themselves, but also between students and public institutions,” explains Witkowski.
According to ICCS 2022, only slightly more than one-third of Polish eighth graders said that people can be trusted completely or to a large extent. Between 2009 and 2022, this indicator dropped by 22 percentage points, from 58% to 36%. Students’ trust in schools is also low – only 45% expressed trust in them, the lowest result among surveyed countries. The new subject aims to change this.
“I would like the outcome to be greater trust in one another, in fellow citizens, and in public institutions; greater courage in taking on challenges and responsibility for what is happening around us – in neighborhoods, local communities, and also in the form of electoral participation. Voting is also an expression of responsibility for the country, for the common good, rather than a belief that one should only look out for oneself because others are a threat,” says Witkowski, who participated in drafting the new curriculum.
The new subject will be introduced in upper secondary schools from the 2025/2026 school year. In general high schools, it will be taught for two hours in the second grade and one hour in the third grade. In technical schools, two hours in the second grade and one in the third. In vocational schools, one hour each in the second and third grades.
Through these classes, students are expected to understand the most important processes and phenomena in social and political life, take interest in selected issues, and form opinions based on reliable information and personal values. They will also be encouraged to solve social problems bottom-up. Lessons aim to teach young people how to understand social and political disputes and to formulate independent opinions based on facts, without imposing ready-made views. The program also promotes constitutional values such as respect, responsibility for the common good, and openness to diversity. As Witkowski stresses, the curriculum contains no provisions that could divide society.
“Maintaining neutrality was a top priority for us, and there was no controversy about this in our team – we were all convinced it was essential,” says Witkowski. “We drew a clear line between areas where the curriculum may be persuasive – the aspects that unite us as Poles – and areas where it remains non-persuasive. You will not find prescriptive statements on divisive issues. For example, we do not say whether the European Union is good or bad. We say that 17-year-olds should be able to form their own opinions about the balance of EU membership based on reliable information. We don’t declare whether migration is good or bad – we say students should understand how migration is used in political discourse. Even when discussing the separation of powers and controversies around the judiciary, we emphasize that young people should familiarize themselves with conflicting perspectives on judicial independence.”
