Teaching civics for sustainability in post-authoritarian order: The challenges of developing progressive citizenship in new democracies – Lessons from Poland
Restricted accessResearch articleFirst published online March, 2025
Teaching civics for sustainability in post-authoritarian order: The challenges of developing progressive citizenship in new democracies – Lessons from Poland
Civics courses have a great significance – they are supposed to train new cohorts of citizens to engage in multiple public roles in (democratic) society. How it is done depends on a multitude of factors, and teachers’ performance and program contents are among the most important. In post-authoritarian order like Poland, civic contents of educational curricula acquire particular significance: they must lay foundation for new forms of citizenship necessary for the consolidation of democracy. In new democracies, defining development is a lot more than talking about economic or political formulas. Ideas of sustainable development belong in a package of ideas which may anchor people in progressive world order, yet they meet resistance from the traditions and mindsets inherited from the previous system (homo sovieticus). SDG Civics, that is, that part of the catalogue of Sustainable Development Goals which directly refers to political agency, becomes a set of patchwork ideas incorporated into democratic citizenship. Through the study of academic curricula, textbooks, and government policies, this paper addresses the complexity of the problem of civics education in new democracies. It sees sustainable development as a concept wrestling with pressures coming from different ideologies, institutions, actors, and visions of the future. This article should be seen as a contribution to the discussions about the political nature of sustainability.
BabickiZ. (2019). Wartości społeczne w edukacji dla zrównoważonego rozwoju. Forum pedagogiczne, 9(2/1), 193–214. https://doi.org/10.21697/fp.2019.2.14
4.
BestJ. H. (1960). A review of the development of the concept of citizenship education since 1900. High School Journal, 44(3), 98–105. https://www.jstor.org/stable/40366441
5.
CastroC. J. (2004). Sustainable development: Mainstream and critical perspectives. Organization & Environment, 17(2), 195–225. https://doi.org/10.1177/1086026604264910
6.
CisekB. (2018). Reguły dyskursu obywatelskiego a mechanizmy dyskursu publicznego (na przykładzie stowarzyszeń i ruchów działających na rzecz edukacji). Prace Językoznawcze, XX(4), 19–37. [Civil discourse rules and public discourse mechanisms (on the example of associations and movements for education)]. https://doi.org/10.31648/pj.4472
7.
CzajaJ. (2008). Kulturowe czynniki bezpieczeństwa, Wydawnictwo Krakowskiej Szkoły Wyższej im. Andrzeja Frycza Modrzewskiego. [The Cultural dimension of Security].
FaganA. (2010). Europe’s Balkan dilemma: Paths to civil society or state-building?I.B.Tauris.
10.
ForteaC.ZlatiM. L.LazarescuI. (2023). Analysis of the sustainable development of the Eastern European countries from the perspective of the transition to the green economy. Ovidius University Annals, Economic Sciences Series, 23(1), 914–922. https://doi.org/10.61801/ouaess.2023.1.118
11.
GardawskiJ.RapackiR. (2021). Kapitalizm patchworkowy w Europie Środkowo-Wschodniej – nowa konceptualizacja. Warsaw Forum of Economic Sociology, 12(#:2), 76–100. [Patchwork Capitalism in East-Central Europe – New Conceptualization]. https://econjournals.sgh.waw.pl/wfes/article/view/3400
12.
GoreckiW. (2017). Traces of the Soviet Union. Homo post Sovieticus new Eastern Europe. Soviet Union. Issue #5.
13.
InglehartR.AbramsonP. (1999). Measuring postmaterialism. American Political Science Review, 93(3), 665–677. https://doi.org/10.2307/2585581
14.
JasiewiczK. (1986). Raport z badania Polacy '84 dynamika konfliktu i konsensusu Suplement. University of Warsaw Press. [Report from the research study Poles '84. Dynamics of conflict and consensus. Supplement].
KlepkaR. (2009). „Czynniki dynamizujące zmiany polskich elit politycznych po roku 1989” [the dynamics of Polish political elites after 1989]. Chorzowskie Studia Polityczne, nr, 2, 31–56. https://open.icm.edu.pl/handle/123456789/7680
17.
MaerzS.EdgellA. B.WilsonM. C.HellmeierS.LindbergS. I. (2021). A framework for understanding regime transformation: Introducing the ERT dataset. The Varieties Of Democracy Institute. Working Paper Series 113.
18.
MainwaringS. (1989). Transitions to democracy and democratic consolidation: Theoretical and comparative issues. South Bend, The Kellog Institute for International Studies. Working Paper #130 November 1989.
OhlmeierB. (2013). Civic education for sustainable development and democratic school development in Germany – Perspectives for the local community. In BrunoldA.OhlmeierB. (Eds.), School and community interactions (pp. 79–112). Springer VS.
SzadzińskaE. (2015). Proces kształcenia ukierunkowany na wartości społeczne” [Education directed at social values]. In Kuleta-HulbojM.GontarskaM. (Eds.), Edukacja globalna. Polskie konteksty i inspiracje [Global education. Polish contexts and inspirations]. Wydawnictwo Naukowe Dolnośląskiej Szkoły Wyższej.
28.
SzklarskiB. (1996). Semi-public democracy. Articulation of interests in systemic transformation. Institute of Political Studies.
29.
Uczelnie - Raport, Zintegrowana Sieć Informacji o Nauce i Szkolnictwie Wyższym POL-on. (2022). Warszawa, glowny urząd statystyczny, [integrated network of information about higher education POL-on. https://radon.nauka.gov.pl/raporty/uczelnie_2022
30.
VandermottenC. (2000). Building a continental area: Identities, differences and urban developments in Europe. Belgian Journal of Geography, 1(2), 114–142. https://doi.org/10.4000/belgeo.13949
31.
Van PoeckK.VandenabeeleJ. (2013). Education and sustainability issues: An analysis of publics-in-the-making. In BiestaG.De BieM.WildemeerschD. (Eds.), Civic learning, democratic citizenship and the public sphere (pp. 195–211). Springer.
