Poland

Abstract

The social significance of school in Poland is closely linked with the historical consciousness of the Polish people following the painful loss of self-determination periodically and the ensuing struggle against the “foreign” occupying forces. This resistance movement was actively supported by the Catholic Church, even in the absence of an own national government. In fact, according to statistics, more than 93 % of the Polish population were official members of the Catholic Church in 2005. Education, often in the form of an underground school system, made a significant contribution to this process teaching Polish culture and language to the following generation in preference to the foreign culture imposed on the population by the occupying force (Bingen and Ruchniewicz 2009).