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Description
In this project, we support school students on various levels of education throughout the whole Poland who experience unequal treatment, including humiliation, from teachers. In 2019-2020, we carried out a survey which showed that the problem of mistreatment of students’ rights affects up to 76.8 % of students. For example, 34.1 % have faced comments from teachers regarding their appearance. The existence of this problem is also confirmed by surveys carried out by municipal youth councils. It is also mentioned in the reports of the Supreme Audit Office on the state of Polish education.
Within the project, we provide counselling on school students’ right through a Facebook support group, email counselling and online consultations. We intervene in cases of law-breaking. We organise a series of ''Let''s talk about students’ rights'' worshops and meetings on education law and school students’ rights. We submit opinions, comments and recommendations to draft acts and regulations released by the Polish government on various aspects of education. We publicise the problem of violations of students’ rights all over Poland and encourage other NGOs to send in their opinions on released draft laws and propose new ones.
The direct beneficiaries of the project are school students experiencing unequal treatment, who will receive support when their rights are violated. Indirectly, the project will benefit the whole school community, who will gain a greater awareness of education law and the chance to make the laws fairer and more effectively enforced.
Summary of project results
The project aimed to solve two problems.
Firstly, it was to help ensure knowledge about students'' rights, both through the preparation and publication of guides and through individual consultations. Additionally, training and workshops are planned as part of these activities.
Moreover, the project was supposed to answer the question about the scale of violations of students'' rights in Poland. To investigate this, we conducted a survey and published the results in the form of a report.
The entire project was summed up by a conference aimed at promoting the research results.
Thematic part
1. Ongoing counseling and interventions
a) we ran a group on Facebook (it is still active),
b) we provided advice via e-mail - we responded to 625 inquiries,
c) we conducted online consultations in the field of student rights and educational law - 28 people benefited from the help,
d) we submitted comments on 6 national policies or legal acts in the field of human rights,
e) we have prepared 20 guide entries for the blog.
2. Preparation of the publication and its publication
a) We conducted a study entitled "Students'' rights in Poland. Awareness. Violations. Reactions", which aimed to diagnose the scale of violations of students'' rights in schools, as well as to learn how to respond to these violations.
b) We published the book "Student''s rights in Poland. "Research Report", which contains the study of the above-mentioned survey research. The report provides answers to questions about how often students encounter violations of the law, how they react to it and whether they suffer negative consequences because of it. The whole is complemented by a collection of fifteen essays about education, education, pedagogy, student rights and educational law.
c) The entire project was summarized by the conference "Student''s rights. Research Report", which took place on April 14, 2023 in Krakow. During the Conference, we presented our project activities and our research report on the state of compliance with students'' rights.
3. Organization of training, lectures and meetings
We conducted three meetings in the "Let''s talk about students'' rights" series. 57 people took part in the meetings. In addition, we conducted several training sessions. A total of 166 people benefited from these trainings.
Institutional development
We purchased two laptops and a smartphone and insured these devices. We also rented a VPS server. In addition, we organized two training and integration meetings.
Thanks to the project:
- many students and parents received information about student rights, could read guides in this area and obtain individual help,
- teachers were trained in students'' rights,
- comments were submitted on draft legal acts that influenced the legal awareness of society,
- a report on students'' rights was developed and a book was published, which contributed to the dissemination of knowledge about students'' rights in society, especially among teachers and school principals,
- the first conference on student rights in Poland was organized,
- The association increased its digital potential,
- members and volunteers of the Association took part in two training and integration meetings.