Global citizenship Education (GCE) is not prioritised or promoted within the Polish education context. On the school level, the Polish education system is not particularly oriented towards GCE; on the academic level, the literature is scarce and mostly focused on content analysis of textbooks, the curriculum and the government policies
However, this does not necessarily mean that the same conclusion can be made about the polish youth. Firstly, research among school actors i.e., students, teachers, leaders as well as other providers of GCE such as NGOs is extremely limited. Secondly, in the recent years there were several instances where polish students protested nation-wide to make themselves heard in relation to e.g., Covid 19 school closure or climate change. Thus, GCE becomes a very interesting question in the Polish context and the STUDACT project, which takes the bottom-up approach, has the potential to make a significant contribution to the field of GCE in this country.
By inviting ‘student voice’ young people can be given an opportunity to exercise their rights and take a more responsible role in their education. This study will focus on understanding perceptions and attitudes of Polish and migrant students towards GCE as well as their active participation in projects related to GCE. Specifically, the project aims to concentrate on three subfields: human rights, climate crisis, and body positive campaigns. The research will focus on middle-class students aged 15-18 from public, private and international secondary schools in polish urban areas. As GCE in Poland is predominantly promoted by various NGOs (e.g., Grupa zagranica; Ośrodek Działań Ekologicznych, Centrum Edukacji Obywatelskiej, E-globalna, Instytut Globalnej Odpowiedzialności) a range of thematic NGOs/youth clubs will also be approached and 10 students will participate in the Photovoice activity.
