Faith-based education in Polish public schools – From battleground to common ground

In Poland, which is a predominantly Catholic Christian country and still perceived as one of the most religious countries in Europe, not only is religious education reserved for private denominational institutions, but it can be also organized in public schools at all levels of compulsory education. However, in a changing cultural and educational climate the relevance of faith-based education in public schools is more often undermined in the name of neutrality and inclusivity. The main goal of the paper is to present current challenges for religious education for children offered in Polish public schools, and try to find answers to the fundamental question of how the right to religious education can be protected and promoted in the public education system. Thus, in the first part of the paper the authors present a brief legal framework of a confessional model of religious education adopted in Polish public schools, understood as the expression of religious freedom which plays an important role in managing the religious needs of students. The authors analyze the legal provisions that regulate faith-based education seen from three different perspectives — the child’s, parental and teachers’ rights. This legal background serves to delineate, in the second part, current conflicts over the presence of religious practices, symbols and references in public schools that are now perceived as a common battleground of ideological wars. With religion being increasingly privatized and public spaces largely emptied of religious references in many Western European countries, the authors emphasize a unique and enriching role of faith-based education present in Polish public schools that should not be considered a threat, but an opportunity to maintain religious and cultural diversity in modern societies. At the same time they discern an urgent need to find a reliable compass to direct both state and church actors along the way of peaceful cooperation and integrity in the public education system that cannot be stripped of religion.