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Session code: 4-7-A207

Title: Building civic education in time of transition to democracy. Learning from abroad or learning from own past? The case of Poland.

Contributer/s: Elisabeth Buk-Berge

Abstract : One of the most urgent changes which had to be done in schools - as a part of the process of building democracy in a group of countries previously called Eastern Europe - was concerned with citizenship education. During the time of transformation this task had been met with certain challenges. Challenges related to circumstances created by ongoing changes and "heritage" from the near past. In this essay I will analyse these challenges with Poland as a case. Special emphasis will be put on the concept of "transformation", the problem of learning from abroad how to build civic education in post-socialist reality and the Polish and American collaboration on the "Education for Democratic Citizenship in Poland" project. Finally, in this essay I will discuss findings from IEA`s "Civic Education Study" and Polish surveys where adolescents attitudes toward democracy are put under scrutiny.