Klauzula sumienia w szkole

Abstract

Discussion of the conscience clause at schools concerns the possibility to refuse the teacher’s actions incompatible with his conscience. This possibility, though questioned by many as unlawful, results from Polish legislation and international law. It is a consequence of freedom of conscience guaranteed by the Constitution of the Republic of Poland and a number of international and national legal acts. There are many situations in which reveals the conflict between the duty of performing a given program or command of educational authorities and their own convictions. They concern mainly the same vision of the school and its functions, school programs and the underlying concept of the human being and interpersonal relationships at the level of professional work of the teacher. In all these situations, the teacher should be a person of conscience, i.e. to follow his voice, which sometimes means opposition to the content of curricula and textbooks, orders of superiors or the prevailing customs.