Religion in a world-view neutral school. Challenges on the example of Poland

ABSTRACT

Under Communism, the Catholic Church in Poland played the role of guarantor of preserving the national traditions and defender of freedom. Such was one of reasons for removing religion from the state school curriculum by the government of Poland in 1961. The political transformation of 1989 changed the concept of the Polish state. Religion as a subject of school education was restored to state (public) schools in 1990 immediately after the political watershed. It was given a confessional and optional character. Although Poland is a pluralistic country (over 180 denominations) the dominant cultural and political role is played by the Roman Catholic Church. In this article we address the problems that appear in the context of religious instruction taught in world-view neutral public schools of Poland. We are not so much interested in detailed issues related to the teaching of religion sensu stricto, but in the presence of religion as such in state schools. We consider the pedagogical problem formulated in this way in the context of the legal principle of the world-view neutrality of the state in a democratic, pluralistic and at the same time hyper-religious society.

KEYWORDS:

• Religious education
• inclusive education
• public school and the government’s world-view neutrality

1. Introduction

Religious education in public schools and, more broadly, the presence of religion in the public realm is an important legal, political and pedagogical issue. In Poland, a country in which we are confronted with the phenomenon of hyper-religiosity, world-view neutrality of the state as a principle governing the activities of public institutions becomes even more a multifaceted challenge.

Religious formation and education at school in Poland has been explored in the field of theological catechetics. At the beginning of the 1990s, the religious pedagogy (theory of religious education) was established, a discipline combining theological, humanistic and social perspectives. In 2020 its achievements in Poland were summarised in a multi-authored publication which reconstructs the origins of the religious pedagogy, psychological, social and cultural determinants of religious teaching and upbringing as well as methodological issues. It is available in Open Access in English (Marek and Walulik 2020).

In Poland we are dealing on the one hand with the phenomenon of hyper-religiosity, on the other – with growing pluralism of world-views. The subject of this article is the question of the presence of religion in public schools as well as its legal and pedagogical determinants. As a research assumption we have adopted the principle of world-view neutrality of the state and the inclusive mission of public schools.

The public school functions in a tension between the constitutional imperative of the ideological neutrality (impartiality) of public authorities and the implementation of educational tasks. Resolving conflicts between the duty of impartiality of state educational institutions and the subjective nature of upbringing at school is primarily a problem of teacher ethics (deontology) (Milerski 2017). Its main idea should be the inclusive nature of the public school and the ethos of the common good (Milerski 2015).

In Poland, we are dealing with a vibrant discussion about educational ideologies. The principle of the state’s world-view impartiality cannot, however, be perceived as an ideological issue, but as a legal norm established by the Constitution of the Republic of Poland. The Polish solution in this respect is not an isolated model. It has been adopted in the laws of many countries, including the USA, France, Italy and Germany, and is also one of the assumptions of the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR 2021, 9, 34).

Our considerations concerning the impact of the principle of world-view neutrality do not apply to private schools, including social and religious ones. They only deal with state schools, which have a public character, what means that they are fully financed from public funds and are obliged – inter alia – to enrol all qualified candidates without any degree of discrimination. In Poland, they are attended by 93% of pupils.

The present authors are aware that the discussed issues invoke a number of controversies. There are even voices that the constitutional principle of world-view neutrality should be interpreted in a manner that suits the religious majority. This approach in fact nullify the meaning of this principle and invalidates it. Nevertheless, the Polish legislator and lawmakers of many countries expect neutrality-principle to be an instrument for the protection of pluralism, and in our text we tried to show how it should work in the Polish public school. In our opinion, the approach presented here has the full right to be present in the scholarly discourse, also because it is shared by many representatives of – for example – theory of intercultural education, religious pedagogy and citizenship education.

2. Typology of schools in Poland

There are various types of schools in Poland. From the perspective of the level and type of education we distinguish: pre-primary education, primary schools, stage I sectoral vocational schools, general secondary schools, technical secondary schools, post secondary schools and the higher education sector.

Irrespective of the level and profile of education, schools also differ in terms of the type of managing body, i.e. the institution that runs the school. From this perspective, we distinguish four types of schools: 1) state schools, the managing body of which are local government units or – in an insignificant number of schools – also the central departments of state (public schools), 2) non-governmental community schools run by community associations, 3) private schools run as de facto for-profit educational enterprises, 4) religious (confessional) schools, which are run by churches and other religious associations (denominations). State schools are financed from state subsidies and additional funds allocated by local government units. Other types of schools receive a portion of state and local government subsidies and additionally charge pupils tuition fees.

Statistically, the vast majority of schools are state (public) schools. Example: in 2019, out of 14,369 primary schools 12,165 were state schools (approx. 85%). Out of a total of 3,061,500 pupils educated in all types of primary schools, 2,840,600 pupils attended public schools (ca. 93%).

These proportions can be also applied to other types of schools. In other words: as it has been said public schools educate ca. 93% of pupils in Poland, other schools run by associations, private enterprises, commercial law companies, or churches and other religious associations – ca. 7% of pupils (GUS 2020, 344–346).

All schools in Poland that issue universally recognised qualifications must meet the same basic requirements in terms of curriculum. They are all supervised by the minister of education and certificates issued by them have the same validity. Differences lie in the concept and quality of teaching in individual institutions.

Community, private and confessional schools may target their offer to social groups selected in terms of culture, economics and world-view. In other words, they may prefer particular social groups, values and world-views. Within this school sector there are schools associated with innovative educational programmes or a world-view orientation. Among them, in terms of world-view profile, the largest group are schools with a Catholic orientation. There are also a few Orthodox schools, Protestant schools and a Jewish school.

Public schools must be accessible and open to every candidate, regardless of their world-view or social and economic status (SES). Their task is not only to implement the school curriculum, but also to equalise educational opportunities, counteract discrimination and promote social inclusion. The world-view cannot be a reason for the marginalisation of a pupil.

3. Religion in schools

In democratic countries, religious education at school is usually understood as a form of: 1) shaping cognitive and practical religious competences, 2) supporting religious affiliation, 3) shaping integral personality in the biographical and social dimensions, 4) shaping individual identity in terms of general education, 5) implementing the transmission of cultural content, 6) building the integrity of pluralistic societies, 7) critically analysing social mechanisms and structures from a religious perspective. The ability to support the individual in a pluralistic situation plays an important role. This is confirmed by classic dissertations in the pedagogy of religion (Nipkow 1998), comparative studies (Osmer and Schweitzer 2003; Kyuk et al. 2007), pedagogical analyses of justice of the education systems (Grümme 2014) and analyses of the pedagogical reception of democracy (Hansen 2021; Jackson 2006; Schlag 2010).

In countries where religious education in schools is confessional, the above arguments are complemented by those referring to one’s affiliation to the religious community and self-identification with its doctrine, ethos and practices. The classic distinction between teaching ‘of religion’ (confessional model) and ‘about religion’ (supra-confessional or a study-of-religion model) is not always sharp and clear. However it must be noted that confessional teaching usually include some objective data on other faiths, religions, cultural, social or ethical issues (Boschki, 2008; Schweitzer 2006), and supra-confessional teaching does introduce a discourse on pupils’ subjective religious self-identification and forms in which they experience religiosity (Jackson 1997).

In this context originated the idea of an educational journey based on pupils’ experiences. ‘The postmodern account of these things is more pessimistic: we live today in a state detached from the great traditions that once gave meaning and purpose to our lives, in a kind of cultural vacuum where it is difficult to find any authentic choices at all. Individual world-views can be seen as remaining pieces of the grand narratives and what is left after the collapse of metaphysics. Our spiritual journey is more like wandering in a desert, and not like the chaotic situation that arises when we have to choose from a wide variety of world-views’ (Thalén 2021, 174).

The ‘educational journe’ is a metaphor for the study of religion as it guides students through a world of different individual experiences, identities and world-views. It does not exclude the normativity of one’s religion. However, it confronts the student with various expressions of faith. Thus, it is not a traditional study of religions, but a ‘journey’ through the world of individual experiences, which is then analysed from the perspective of objective study of religion. This concept combines the idea of teaching the confessional religion with the supra-confessional study of religions. Traditional religious studies lack pedagogy of individual experiences, while the typically confessional teaching of religion is by definition subjective. In Poland, where the vast majority of society belongs to one religion, the Catholic Church, a legitimate question arises regarding the possibility of introducing such a concept of teaching religion. So how is it in Poland?

Historically, teaching religion in Poland has been a part of school education. For centuries, Poland was an independent European state. It collapsed at the end of the 18^th century. In the years 1795–1918, Poland was partitioned by three powers: Russia, Austria and Prussia. In 1918 Poland regained its independence and in 1921 the new Republic’s constitution was enacted. Churches and other religious denominations recognised by Russian, Austrian and Prussian governments in pre-independence times gained legal status in the reborn Poland. They could also teach religion in state and private schools.

After the Second World War, Poland found itself in the orbit of Soviet Union. From 1945 religion was taught in schools, but it was gradually marginalised and displaced. The end came in 1961 with the passing of the ‘act on the development of the educational system’. It stated that the education system in Poland is secular. Since then, religious education has been conducted exclusively by churches and other religious denominations in their own premises. This state of affairs lasted until the political transformation of 1989/1990.

As we already have noted, religious education was introduced to public schools in Poland in autumn of 1990. This development was accompanied by a vehement public debate on world-view and pedagogical questions. It was argued that the introduction of religious education in public schools would serve as a form of compensation to the Catholic Church for its commitment to democratic cause during the Communist dictatorship and as recognition of the right of citizens to be educated in accordance with their own world-view.

In 1992, on the basis of the 1991 Education System Act, the Minister of National Education issued an ordinance of 14 April 1992 on the conditions and manner of organising religious education in public schools (Journal of Laws 1992, No. 36, item 155). The ordinance has been amended many times since then but its core regulation has remained unchanged.

Religious education in public schools and kindergartens in Poland is optional. This means that in legal terms, participation in religious education is not so much a privilege of churches, as a right of citizens. Parents, legal guardians or – after reaching the appropriate age – pupils themselves declare their wish to participate in religious education. What parents, legal guardians or pupils themselves can do more specifically is to positively enrol in religious education at school/kindergarten. This is because attendance at religious education classes is governed by the principle of affirmative (positive) declaration, as it is in the case of ethics, a school subject perceived as an alternative to religious education (Zieliński 2014b). All religious denominations with a regulated legal situation in Poland can demand to be allowed to teach religion within the public education system, if there is a corresponding wish on the part of parents/pupils. This right can be exercised either directly at school or in so-called out-of-school catechetical posts. The exercise of this right presupposes the fulfilment of requirements imposed on all educational institutions in Poland in terms of organisation, competence and curriculum. It should be added, however, that the content of religious education curricula is determined solely by churches and other religious associations that teach religion in the public school system. The curricula are only submitted by them to the minister of education, who has no right to alter them (Milerski 2013; Zieliński 2009, 507).

Supporters of religious education at school in Poland justify it in various ways. One can distinguish several types of argumentation. In theory, they correspond with the arguments formulated in other Western European countries. In practice, however, conservative arguments prevail.

The first type of argument refers to the role of the Catholic Church in the history of the nation and the a priori importance of the Christian faith. In this sense, the Christian religion by virtue of its anthropological message should be an element of school education. Moreover, its introduction as a school subject is perceived – as it was already mentioned – as a form of compensation for the persecution or discrimination of the Church during the Communist period.

The second type of argumentation draws on understanding the essence of a human being as homo religiosus. Since humans are religious beings by definition, religious instruction should be part of school education. Conservative circles wield considerable influence on the churches’ position on social and educational policy (hyper-religiosity).

The third type of argumentation refers to the so-called ‘integral concept of a person’. It is not simply about the indication of the fundamental meaning of homo religiosus anymore, but rather the integration of various spheres of human activities. Among these spheres, spirituality plays an important role. Thus its development is not only a theological task, but also – because of the integrity of man – a pedagogical one.

The fourth type of argumentation is driven by political and cultural decisions. In countries where social identity is determined by religious traditions and the high standing of religious communities, religious education at school serves as an important element of cultural transmission and the construction of religious and national identity. Religious literacy and competence are recognised as a part of general educational canon.

In Poland, the above four types of justification prevail and are usually endorsed by conservative circles. Nevertheless, more and more frequently they are complemented by additional justifications. They correlate with the positions put forward in modern pluralistic states. Religion is an important element of social life, self-identification of individuals and the rights of individuals and social groups to preserve their identity. The practice of religion is subject of freedom of conscience and religion and the principle of mutual recognition.

The fifth type of argumentation is related to the matters of social integrity. In pluralistic societies with diverse world-views, religious education is a part of the process of experiencing and meeting people of different religious affiliations, of forming an open identity and of social inclusion.

The sixth type of argumentation refers to issues related to the essence of humanistic education. It emphasises the importance of shaping existential understanding and existential projects through religious messages, of shaping authentic existence, of teaching how to make conscious choices, maintain dialogical relations and read the symbols of cultural and religious texts. The hermeneutic concept of general and religious education is an indicator of this justification.

The seventh type of argumentation is related to the critical analysis of social life and the ideological functions of religions and world-views and their impact on social life. Religious, educational and social practices are analysed from the perspective of communication processes and emancipatory interests. In other words, they are analysed in terms of how they support the empowerment and emancipation of an individual through participation in religious education at school.

The eighth type of argumentation combines the calls for empowerment (emancipatory interest) and the creation of a pluralistic society as a communication community (communicative interest) with the idea of social inclusion. Since the emergence of critical pedagogy in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the concept of inclusion has been applied to programmes for integrating excluded people into life of society and, more broadly, for overcoming marginalisation. Marginalisation can have different causes: disability, low SES level, but also racial, cultural or religious distinctiveness. Religious education in school, conducted in a confessional form in Poland, must be modified in terms of the inclusive tasks of a public school. This applies both to the curricula themselves and the attitudes of teachers, pupils and parents. Religious education in a public school is not like catechesis in a local parish/local religious community.

Actually religion in school is not only the study of religion as a subject. It also involves the infiltration of religious elements into school culture. School culture are the explicit and implicit principles and values that regulate the work of schools in organisational, didactic and educational terms. The problem is, however, that these principles are not axiologically and ideologically neutral. Culture is ‘a set of practices, ideologies and values from which different groups draw to make sense of the world’ (McLaren 2015, 246). School culture is subject to political and ideological logic. If accepted blindly, it can become a source of domination of the majority over minority groups.

Examples of symbolic violence in some Polish schools include: 1) world-view declarations expressed in school documents, 2) informal educational influences on world-view and ethical issues, 3) cultural initiatives favouring the dominant religious world-view, 4) symbolic design of a school and the values it favours, 5) presence of liturgical practices in school celebrations (participation of clergy, prayers, religious services), 6) excessive presence of religious symbols in school (e.g. crucifixes in every classroom and the headmasters’ offices). Taken separately, at least some of these elements in itself would perhaps be acceptable. In schools where there is an accumulation of these, we are dealing with the phenomenon of symbolic violence.

4. Hyper-religiosity?

Poland is a country with a very high level of religiosity. In 2019, it had 38.41 million inhabitants (GUS 2020, 208). The vast majority were followers of the Roman Catholic faith – 32.44 million. Other denominations are far less numerous: Orthodox Christians – 507 thousand, Protestants – 140 thousand, Old Catholic – 22.6 thousand, followers of Judaism – 2 thousand, Muslims – 7 thousand (GUS 2020, 198–199).

The Roman Catholic Church operates on the basis of a concordat (agreement with the Holy See/Vatican signed in 1993, ratified in 1998), fourteen churches and other religious associations are subjected to separate parliamentary acts on the relationship between the state and them, including the Orthodox Church, the main Protestant and Old Catholic Churches, as well as Jewish religious communities and the traditional Muslim community. The remaining churches and other religious associations (currently 168) operate on the basis of an entry in the register kept by the governmental minister responsible for religious denominations (Stanisz 2020, 68).

Each of the more than 180 churches and other religious associations in Poland enjoys essentially the same rights. These relate in particular to public worship, property rights, subsidies for social institutions and the provision of their own religious instruction within the public education system. This is granted primarily by the Constitution (1997) and the Act on Guarantees of Freedom of Conscience and Religion (1989). Nevertheless, among religious communities the Catholic Church has factually the primus inter pares position. In this sense, its status is politically privileged.

The Statistical Yearbook of the Republic of Poland gives two contradictory bits of statistical information regarding the situation of Catholicism. These are, firstly, nominal data (38.41 million inhabitants of Poland and 32.44 million members of the Catholic Church = 84.4%) and, secondly, general percentage data – 92.7%. The difference between the data is 8%. The GUS statistics are imprecise. This is because the data on religiosity are based on church sources and not on own research. The baptism and confirmation records cover all Catholics ‘by birth’. In the case of Catholicism, the only act that excludes one from church statistics is the fact of an official, canonical apostasy. Few people in Poland dare to take this path of their own religious self-identification.

Census data are not helpful in determining the number of adherents. For political reasons (the Communist system marginalised religiosity), the former population censuses did not include questions about one’s confessional affiliation. It was not until the 2011 census that the question of confession was included. However, the answer was optional. 8.7% of respondents did not answer this question at all or gave an ambiguous answer (GUS 2013, 99–100). Thus, on the basis of the 2011 census, we cannot determine the exact number of adherents of each religious denomination in Poland. Only the census conducted in 2021 can give us more precise data in this regard.

The research centre dealing with the scale of religious affiliation in the Catholic Church is the Institute of Catholic Church Statistics (ISKK). The ‘Annuarium Statisticum Ecclesiae Polonia AD 2020’ published by the Institute does not provide data on the number of adherents (ISKK 2020). We can only refer to the percentage of dominicantes (38.2%), the number of people participating in weekly Sunday worship, and communicantes (17.3%,) the number of people participating in the Holy Communion. In spite of all, the cited data confirm – against the background of other European countries – the hyper-religiousness of Polish society (ISKK 2020, 4).

In classical Protestant churches the situation is different, as they collect an annual church tax. This contribution is recorded in bank accounts and is used to determine the number of members who are entitled to make decisions in the church. Minors and people in financial difficulties are exempt from paying this levy. In consequence, adherents of the Protestant tradition are more numerous then the statistics reflect. Nevertheless, Protestant churches provide data concerning the number of people paying church levies. Due to the niche character of Protestantism, the number of Protestants does not play a role in determining the statistical level of religiosity in Poland.

Although in Poland one may speak of hyper-religiosity, however, Polish religiousness starts to show some cracks. Sociological studies diagnose the creeping secularisation of Polish society. It is not excessively high, but nevertheless noticeable.

An important social research centre in Poland is the Centre for Public Opinion Research (CBOS). The centre conducts a de facto annual survey of religiosity. In 2020, a report was issued summarising 20 years of research in this field. 86–87% of respondents declared themselves as believers. 7% of respondents declared themselves as unbelievers, while another 7% described themselves as non-practicing believers. It means that approx. 86% of Poles consider themselves to be believers, while 14% do not declare or do not practice religion (CBOS 2020, 3).

In a study on the rationality of school education (Milerski and Karwowski 2016), the researchers analysed not only the school educational rationality as such but also the attitude of secondary school pupils towards religious education. Detailed analyses will not be included at this point, however one should note the relationship between the dominant rationality and the justification for attending or refusing to attend religious education. The strongest correlation has been established between praxeological rationality and religious education and hermeneutic rationality and religious education. In both cases, the arguments ‘for’ and ‘against’ referred to these rationalities. Where praxeological rationality was dominant, the respondents mainly cited utilitarian arguments for participation or non-participation in religious education at school (belonging to a religious tradition, church rituals necessary for marriage, family tradition, evaluation of others, technical issues related to the organisation of lessons). It was similar in the second case, except that the arguments were hermeneutic. In short: ‘I attend religion classes at school because they allow me to better understand myself and the world’ vs. ‘I do not attend religion classes at school because they do not allow me to better understand myself and the world’ (Milerski 2019).

Religion is subject to various social processes. One of the most important of them is the secularisation of society. Analyses of secularisation processes have a long history. L. Feuerbach linked the origins of secularisation with the ideas of the Reformation in the 16th century followed by the social and economic emancipation movements. They triggered the emergence of modern pedagogy of religion (Schweitzer, Simojoki). Since the 1960s, theories of secularisation related to the economic analysis of social change began to take shape, which emphasised the importance of the so-called heretical imperative, the imperative of choice (Berger 1997, Th. Luckmann 1996). In Poland they were popularised in the 1990s (Mariański 1993).

Let us recall that the concepts of Berger and Luckmann – despite the differences between their views – changed the understanding of secularisation. Secularisation ceased to be synonymous with atheization. According to Berger and Luckman, secularisation is a process of transformation marked by selectivity, individualisation and privatisation of religiosity. Religion does not die, but only changes its shape. Undoubtedly, it is an important factor which explains changes in the perception of and participation in religious education in public schools in Poland among pupils.

Currently, across the country and at all school levels, approximately 80%–88% of pupils participate in religious education. However, the 2020/2021 school year saw a significant decline. In Łódź, the third largest city in Poland, the percentage of pupils participating in religion instruction at school at all levels of education fell below 50%, and in the case of vocational schools it was 25% (www.dzienniklodzki.pl; accessed on 04.01.2021). We refer here to press reports based on data from the town hall of the city in question. Leading statistical centres (GUS, ISKK) do not provide us with such information.

Hyper-religiosity in Poland is confronted with the processes of modernisation and enlightenment of society. Conservative attacks on liberal circles, an anti-feminist position, radical criticism of the LGBT community raise questions about the support of the Roman Catholic Church in Poland for conservative behaviours. Such a statement cannot be generalised and applied to the entire Roman Catholic Church and all its adherents of course. However, the critical tendency of some religious circles is becoming more and more visible. These circles could perhaps benefit from reading the memorandum of the Protestant Church in Germany „Religiöse Bildung angesichts von Konfessionslosigkeit. Aufgaben und Chancen” (EKD 2020).

5. Religious education in public schools as a legal issue

The world-view impartiality or neutrality is to be seen as further development of the principle of church–state separation implemented in the USA since the end of the 18th century (Pfeffer 1967, 154–155; Nussbaum 2009, 284). While the principle of separation directly concerns the separation of state and religion, the principle of world-view neutrality is intended to extend further: also to the non-religious world-views that have spread significantly throughout the world since the 20th century. Ideologisation of the state, usually leading to oppression of at least some of its citizens, can have both a religious face, as has been known for centuries, and a non-religious one, as exemplified by the actions of atheistic totalitarian and authoritarian systems which emerged in the previous century.

The principle of state impartiality was formulated on the basis of the belief that each world-view is constituted by a unique set of views on life, which is never universal and, in particular, never shared by the entire population of a given state. According to specialists, including philosophers, psychologists and ethicists, a world-view of each individual is unique (Dębowski 1996, 195).

The concept of the state’s world-view neutrality (impartiality) has its opponents, also in Poland, although it is clearly a minority group compared to the circle of its supporters. They argue that the idea is self-contradictory. They assume that each country promotes a certain world-view, including a system of values conditioned by that worldview. It appears that the opposition to the principle of neutrality is based on a misunderstanding. Critics of state’s neutrality/nonpartiality ascribe to it a meaning that is not intended by this principle’s promotors: they confuse world-view neutrality with axiological neutrality. A world-view neutral state refrains from deciding which world-view is correct (including especially its metaphysical components, e.g. concerning the existence of a deity, the meaning of an individual’s life, and the afterlife), allowing natural competition and dialogue between them. On the other hand, the world-view neutral state advocates a specific axiological system, shaped in the permanent democratic, pluralistic debate of people of different world-views and expressed primarily in legal norms and the actions of authorities resulting from them. Opponents of the principle of world-view neutrality also wrongly disregard the fact of its introduction into the legal order of most democratic countries and its in-depth interpretation in the legal doctrine of many countries, what also is the case in Poland (Brzozowski 2011; Ciszewski 2019; Mezglewski 2009, 99–109). At the same time, opposing the principle of neutrality, they often do not indicate what specific world-view the state should promote and who should play a key role in defining it.

The basic clause of the Polish Constitution on the world-view neutrality/impartiality of the state reads as follows: ‘Public authorities in the Republic of Poland shall be impartial in matters of convictions, whether religious or philosophical, or in relation to world-views, and shall ensure freedom of their expression within public life’. (Article 25 Section 2).

Article 25 section 2 is a part of a set of provisions on individual and collective freedom of conscience and religion, including relations between the state and churches/religious associations, which are to be shaped on the basis of the separation of state and religiousbez institutions. However, the Polish Constitution, proclaiming the directive on the state’s world-view neutrality, allows expressis verbis religious education in schools. Indeed, Article 53 Section 4 of the Constitution contains the following clause on this issue: ‘The religion of a church or other religious association that has a regulated legal situation may be taught in schools, but other persons’ freedom of conscience and confession shall not be infringed thereby.’

Does the constitutional permission to teach religion in a state school preclude the application of the principle of neutrality in the whole life of public school? The answer to this question should be negative. The Constitution treats religious education in state schools as an exception to the principle of neutrality, not as a factor overturning it as a norm regulating the whole school life. The way the matter is presented in the quoted Article 53 Section 4 leads to the conclusion that religious education in public schools should first of all have the following features

1. it is a school subject and therefore an activity contained in lessons; like any school subject, it must respect the pragmatics inherent in the school process;

2. it teaches ‘religion of a church or other religious association’, so the content of the teaching of this subject is determined by the particular religious community that decides to teach it at school; it can be confessional or offer results of objective religious studies – the decision belongs to a particular church/religious association or to a number of churches/religious associations that decided to teach it jointly;

3. religious education may be provided by a ‘religious association that has a regulated legal situation’, i.e. one that has formally arranged its relations with the state; no church or other religious association is obliged to provide such education;

4. participation in religious education must be voluntary for all; lack of willingness to participate must not entail any negative consequences, as is apparent, inter alia, from the constitutional clause which stipulates that ‘other persons’ freedom of conscience and confession shall not be infringed’ (Zieliński 2014a, 258–259).

The application of the principle of world-view neutrality in Polish public schools may serve as one of the key factors ensuring the cohesion of the school community. Its reliable application may in particular prevent conflicts caused by religious and other indoctrination as well as radical contestation of the non-coercive expression of world-views (religious and non-religious) at school. The benefits of making this constitutional directive a reality can be traced by discussing the main manifestations of school activity in which the world-view factor features strongly. For this reason, three problems in this area will be taken up below: 1) the display of religious and other world-view symbols; 2) the content of the educational communication in schools; 3) the role of teachers as persons responsible for the implementation of neutrality principle.

1. Religious symbols began to be displayed in Polish state schools following the introduction of religious education in them, which took place shortly after the collapse of the Communist system (1990). These were mainly crosses with the figure of Jesus Christ, and to a lesser extent images of the Virgin Mary, Pope John Paul II, etc. These symbols appeared not only in classrooms, but also in other school facilities such as halls, libraries, canteens and administrative rooms. The initial submissiveness of the school community towards this phenomenon has over time been replaced by an attitude of relative assertiveness. As a consequence, the number of such images has decreased in many educational institutions located in large cities. They have mainly remained in classrooms where religious education is conducted. Greater saturation with religious symbolism is found in small-town and rural schools, where religious circles consider such displays to be as a sign of faithfulness to the religious tradition represented by the religious majority.

Presence of religious symbols in public buildings undoubtedly demonstrates the preference of the authorities for the religious group or groups that identify with the religious image in question (Pilich 2012, 55–60). There are no universal religious symbols, each of them always reflecting the imagery of only some part of the religious scene. Hence they are perceived as particularistic depictions, difficult for acceptance by followers of other confessions, and even more so by non-religious people. Even if such images are placed on the initiative of private persons (e.g. parents or religion teachers, who often put them up without agreeing this step with the school authorities), tolerating them in the public space is a sign of acceptance on the part of representatives of the state authority (headmasters/headmistresses and teachers are the main representatives of this kind). The principle of world-view neutrality of the state requires that public authorities should not identify with particular world-views, so it is only symbols that unite rather than antagonise people of different beliefs should exist in the common school space. These include in particular the national emblem and the national flag. However, due to the constitutional sanction for religious education at school, religious images are permitted in the course of religious instruction (portable symbols may be used for this purpose) or may be located in rooms that are exclusively used for religious instruction (so-called catechetical classrooms). The suggested treatment of religious symbols should be applied on a par to strong non-religious world-view symbols, especially emblems that negate religion (e.g. shields with the crossed-out crucifixes).

2. The educational communication is multifaceted. Not only does it include the content taught in class on individual subjects or communicated in individual contact between teacher and pupil, but also, among others, the content announced during ceremonies and other school rituals, pupil visits to non-school institutions, excursions and other activities outside the daily school routine, during meetings between teachers and pupils’ parents. A key role is of course played by activities of the so-called ‘school day’, i.e. mainly lessons on individual subjects. Operating in this space, the imperative of world-view neutrality cannot require that school discourse be sterilised of any elements associated with religion or other world-view expressions. If this were the case, the school message would be characterised by a fundamental falsification for it is impossible to imagine a world free of religious inspirations or non-religious reflections of a world-view nature. Without them the great achievements of, for example, Michelangelo Buonarotti or Albert Einstein would not have been possible. However, presenting the greatest achievements of culture and science in the context of the development of civilisation, teachers and other participants of school life should do it in a multilateral, critical, proportional and constructive way, avoiding indoctrination in any direction, religious or anti-religious. For it is the task of educators to guide the addressees of the school process towards an independent, sovereign perception of the world in accordance with their chosen identity (Zieliński 2013, 49–67).

An important problem comes with possible discrepancies between the content of religious instruction in public schools and the content of other classes and school activities. Same churches or other religious associations teaching religion in state educational institutions may promote beliefs that are in conflict with the axiology established in a democratic state and expressed in the school curriculum. They will, for example, oppose women’s equality, object abandonment of certain behaviours in the process of bringing up children (for example using physical violence against children), protest against the equality of non-heteronormative people, question the science of evolution, the need for vaccines or oppose certain interpretations of the historical process (e.g. those perceiving the creation of the European Union as a positive civilisational achievement). Such a state of affairs must be regarded as undesirable. There must be no destructive dissonance in school, i.e. on the one hand pupils learn the universally accepted findings of science in the mainstream of school activity, while on the other hand they are confronted with their negation during religious lessons. State authorities should not accept such a situation. To this end, it is necessary to bring the message of school catechesis into line with the state axiology expressed in legal regulations and administrative rulings (the school curriculum is adopted in such rulings). If the state and a church/religious association fail to reach an agreement in that regard, the religious community in question should be excluded from the state education system. Of course, freedom of speech and freedom of conscience and religion allow for the contestation of many statements propagated by the state by various world-view groups, including churches and other religious communities. However, this can take place outside the state school system, which is maintained by the general taxpayer.

3. The main burden of implementing the principle of world-view neutrality in state schools obviously lies with the teachers (Mezglewski 2009, 100–101). As employees of public institutions (mostly run by local government authorities), they are officers of the state bound by special obligations, including those under Article 25 Section 2 of the Constitution. In the latter respect it is a fully constructive task, as it consists in ensuring cohesion within the school community, seeking solutions that, in the inherently heterogeneous group of pupils and teachers, introduce behaviour that minimises the possibility of conflicts on the basis of world-view.

While obliged to safeguard the school’s world-view neutrality, teachers – like all other citizens – naturally have their own world-views. However, by virtue of their freely chosen profession, they must control their own world-view expression. This constitutional principle does not require teachers to abandon their world-view. After all, world-view may be the source of many positive qualities of the teacher in question. However, its manifestation, for the sake of the pupils, should be restrained and expressed in contents and behaviour that are free from elements typical of world-view one-sidedness, indoctrination, manipulation and proselytism, both religious and anti-religious. Due to the fact that the Constitution allows for religious instruction in public schools, those conducting catechesis are not obliged to observe the discussed principle of neutrality or impartiality. However, when they teach other subjects this principle applies to them in all their activities outside catechesis. A catechist incapable of such objectivity should not be allowed to teach other subjects, including being a class teacher.

6. Conclusions

Polish society has traditionally had strong ties with religion. It is dominated by followers of the Roman Catholic Church. It was Catholicism that became the leading factor of opposition to the Communist dictatorship after the Second World War. That is why, after the fall of Communism in 1989, the Catholic religion gained a particularly strong position in the democratic Polish state. This was also reflected in the educational space.

Three decades of Poland’s presence in the democratic world have brought many fundamental changes in social life. One of them is the progressing process of secularisation, including significant secularisation of the youngest generation. Manifestations of this phenomenon will become increasingly visible in the school space: the presence of Catholicism will probably weaken even more and voices contesting the standards of social life postulated by the Catholic Church may intensify. In order to ensure a balance between conservative and progressive voices, between supporters of a far-reaching presence of religion in education and their opponents, religiously indifferent persons and representatives of religious minorities, a regulatory instrument is required. It can be seen in the principle of the neutrality/impartiality of public authorities in religious, philosophical and world-view matters laid down in the 1997 Polish Constitution. It formulates a directive to school staff to restrain world-view expression of any kind and to unite pupils and other participants in the educational process around common values, embraced by the axiology of a pluralistic democratic state. It is a pedagogical challenge that concerns the entire of educational activity: school culture, the teaching of religion, the teaching of other subjects with religious content, the relationships between pupils, teachers, parents and the local community, which are based on an ethic of respect and mutual understanding.

From the presented remarks the following conclusions can be drawn regarding the world-view impartiality of the school as a state institution. Let us repeat – we do not refer to the situation of private, including religious, schools, which – under the applicable law – may freely define their own educational and particular world-view based programme.

» In Poland, as in many other countries, the principle of the state’s world-view impartiality is not an ideological postulate, but a constitutional norm.

» Ideology can be defined in various ways. Ideology as a form of indoctrination, creation and imposition of a specific world-view is opposed to the mission of the public school. Ideology as a form of social awareness that expresses the particular interest of a social group regarding the organisation and patterns of social life (critical theory: the majorities are dominant) influences the practice of every social institution. In the latter approach, the public school as a social institution is never completely ideologically neutral.

» A public school carries out not only didactic but also educational tasks. Education is not a process of simple information exchange, but an existential interpersonal relationship, validation of professed values, modelling and discussion of subjective beliefs. In this sense, the public school is not an institution that is completely neutral towards subjective attitudes.

» A public school differs from private, including religious, schools in that it is an institution subject to the constitutional legal norm of the state’s world-view impartiality and should strive for neutrality as a guarantee of self-determination and psychological and social security of each individual. A public school should be a school open to all students, regardless of their world-view. It is an extremely important challenge in a country dominated by one religious tradition, and at the same time in a pluralist country in which there are many religious and ideological minorities.

» A public school in its declared and undeclared activities within the teaching, education and institutional culture should be guided by the ethics of the common good and the ethics of mutual recognition.

» A public school is not only an educational and organisational institution, but also a living environment. A general legal rule will not solve itself specific school problems. The tension between educational problems and the constitutional norm of the state’s world-view impartiality cannot be resolved with a detailed catalogue of legal principles as such. It is a problem of shaping the ethical sensitivity of teachers, parents and students, and of creating a catalogue of good practices.

» In a public school, the catalogue of good practices should respect – inter alia – the following elements: 1) educational content objectively presenting different world-view traditions, 2) the comparable nature of religious curricula adopted by different confessions, 3) ethos of mutual recognition, 4) didactics referring to different existential experiences (educational journey through the world of different experiences), 5) culture of critical and constructive discussion, 6) inclusive and discursive culture of the school as an institution, 7) interfaith cooperation, 8) prudent and balanced presence of religious symbols at school, 9) elimination of worship and other religious practices during general, obligatory for all students, school celebrations.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).