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Health Education in Schools and the Voice of the Church: a Conflict of Values or a Necessary Debate?
Abstract
As of September 1, 2025, marking the beginning of the 2025/2026 school year, significant changes will be introduced into the system of education and upbringing implemented by the Polish educational framework. One such change involves the replacement of the current subject Education for Family Life with a new subject titled Health Education. This change has sparked considerable controversy and provoked public debate at both ideological and worldview levels. Various actors, including the Polish Bishops’ Conference and numerous other social groups, have expressed their positions on this crucial matter. Within the media discourse, criticisms have emerged denying the Catholic Church in Poland the right to participate in this discussion or to engage in efforts aimed at the moral formation of Polish society. The article offers an analysis of the circumstances surrounding the introduction of the new subject, along with a critical examination of the curriculum content as outlined in the national core syllabus. The central thesis posits, first, that the proposed content – at least in part – may pose a potential risk to the well-being of young people. Second, the article aims to justify not only the right but also the necessity of the Church’s involvement in this discourse, arguing that parents retain the right to object to their children’s participation in the subject. The study employs a method based on the analysis of relevant sources, materials, and official documents pertaining to the issues discussed.
Keywords:
health education, family life education, Catholic Social Teaching, Polish Episcopal Conference, values, child protection, familyMost read articles by the same author(s)
- Artur Banaszak, Education for Democracy in the Light of Catholic Social Teaching , Kościół i Prawo: Vol. 13 No. 2 (2024)
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.