Challenges for the civil society: educating for democracy in Poland

The contemporary Polish society has been going through a process of radical changes for the past dozen years (and the process is still continuing), not only within the economic and political spheres, but also at the level of peoples' mentality. Undertaking the problem of the perspectives, for educating for democracy, one should begin by diagnosing the condition of a citizen society indicating the conditions for building such a society. The paper presents the degree of forming civil society in contemporary Poland with reference to exercising the right of electing the authorities of various levels, participation in associations, voluntary organizations, social movement and the level of social trust. Finally, the paper focuses on the perspectives of education for democracy in Poland.