A/HRC/41/33/Add.433/Add.4
and civic competences and introduces them to the world of values such as dedication,
cooperation, solidarity, altruism, building social relations.
General education aims to strengthen the sense of pupils’ individual identity, fostering a
sense of self-esteem and respect for others, as well as shaping an attitude of openness to the
world and other people.
Accordingly, children in kindergarten learn to cooperate, recognize values related to social
skills and behaviours, respect the rights and duties of both themselves and other people.
The development of social and civic competences in primary school is mainly based on the
implementation of teaching content of school subjects such as Polish, history, civics,
geography, physical education, art and music.
For example, at civics classes, while discussing Human Rights, students learn that human
dignity is the basis of various moral systems and that it is a source of universal, innate,
inviolable and inalienable freedoms and human rights; they analyse the preamble of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, explore the rights and personal freedoms
contained in the Constitution of the Republic of Poland, look into children’s rights and
provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, talk about examples of the
activities of the Ombudsman for Children and the objectives of the UNICEF. They also
learn about the role of the Commissioner for Human Rights, discuss the activities of NGOs
to protect human rights. Pupils learn how to be tolerant towards minorities and how to
oppose intolerance.
Ethics lessons are devoted to teaching respect, understanding and love. Students learn about
kindness, altruism, caring, selflessness, volunteering, friendship, gratitude, compassion,
empathy, trust, personal integrity, tolerance, common good, cooperation, justice, the rule of
law, and solidarity.
Issues concerning the roles of men and women in the context of stereotypes, and, issues
related to family functions, fulfilling marital and parental roles, social roles, better
understanding of themselves and the immediate environment were included in the core
curriculum of the subject education for family life.
In the new core curriculum for secondary schools 2 (which will be applied in schools from
the school year 2019/2020), social and civic education is taught at the following classes:
Polish, philosophy, history, civics, ethics, education for family life, physical education.
In the core curriculum of civics, chapter Self-understanding, recognizing and solving
problems teaches human dignity and rights enjoyed by everyone, citizenship, and actions in
social life. It also teaches pupils to recognize cases of human rights violations and social
and political problems at local, national, European and global levels and offers ways to
address them.
The subject Education for family life teaches contents regarding interpersonal relationships
and their importance in social and emotional development. It focuses on mutual respect,
rendering mutual assistance, cooperation, empathy, concepts of 'masculinity' and
'femininity', marriage, parenthood, building lasting and happy relationships.
Ad part V “Economic and social life”, paragraph 39
Poland does not accept information on the implementation of sexual education in the Polish
education system contained in point 39.
It needs to be stressed that following broad consultations with all entities concerned and
with citizens, a consensus has been achieved to define mandatory sets of education goals
and teaching content in the field of sexual education included in the core curriculum.
2
Regulation of the Minister of National Education of January 30, 2018 on the core curriculum of
general education for general secondary school, technical secondary school and industry grade school
(Journal of Laws, item 467).
3
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