Topic: The executive power in Poland

Author: Anna Rabiega

Addressee:

8th grade primary school student.

Core curriculum:

XI. Democracy in the Republic of Poland.

The student:

5) (...) presents the method of election and basic powers of the President of the Republic of Poland (...);

8) (...) explains why it is necessary for the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Poland to be supported by a parliamentary majority (or to have its actions accepted by a parliamentary majority); presents basic powers of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Poland (...).

The general aim of education:

The student presents the principles of the political system of the Republic of Poland and basic public authority organs.

Learning outcomes:

The student:

• presents, by way of examples, the duties of the President of the Republic of Poland.

• presents and explains the process of formation of the Council of Ministers.

• presents the structure of the Council of Ministers and analyses its competences.

• analyses the competences of the Prime Minister.

• explains the political and constitutional responsibility of the executive power.

• analyses the relations between the legislative and the executive power in Poland.

Key competences:

• communicating in a foreign language,

• digital competence,

• learning to learn,

• social and civic competences.

Teaching methods and forms of work:

• discussion,

• mind map,

• WebQuest,

• source material analysis,

• fishbone diagram,

• teaching conversation using movie, interactive exercises.

Forms of work:

• self‑learning,

• group work,

• whole‑class activity.

Material & equipment needed:

• computers with loudspeakers/headphones and internet access,

• multimedia resources from the e‑textbook,

• interactive whiteboard/blackboard, felt‑tip pen/a piece of chalk.

Lesson plan overview (Process):

Introduction:

1. The teacher presents the goal of the lesson: You will analyse the structure, the competences and the responsibility of the executive power in Poland.

2. The teacher informs the students that they will use a fishbone diagram to put in order the general knowledge about the executive power in Poland and the way of its election. On the board, in the „head” of the fish, the teacher writes „Executive power in the Republic of Poland”, while the „fish bones” are added according to the students' suggestions, formulated in reply to the following questions:

• Who exercises the executive power in Poland? (President of the Republic of Poland, Council of Ministers)

• What is the composition of the Council of Ministers? (Prime Minister, ministers)

• Who authorizes the President of the Republic of Poland to run the presidential office? (the nation)

• Who authorizes the Council of Ministers to rule the country? (the Sejm)

If necessary, the teacher corrects and completes what the students are saying. Afterwards, the teacher asks a student to summarize what was said (i.e. to describe the completed diagram).

Implementation:

1. The teacher informs the students that at the beginning they will focus on the competences of the President of the Republic of Poland. In order to do this, the teacher asks the students to count to three, so that each student is assigned a respective number. Students with number 1 will solve Exercise 1, with number 2 – Exercise 2, and with number 3 – Exercise 3. All three exercises concern enumerating the competences of the President of the Republic of Poland. The teacher specifies the amount of time that is given to complete the task. When the time is up, willing/selected students with a given number present their solutions and the students from other two groups verify their correctness. The teacher listens and, if necessary, corrects the solutions. All three exercises are verified in this way, with the students changing roles, so that everyone gets to present his or her solutions and to verify someone else's solutions.

2. The teacher informs the students that in order to learn how the Council of Ministers is appointed, the class will watch the „How is the Council of Ministers appointed?”. The teacher asks the students with number 1 to focus mostly on the first procedure, the students with number 2 to focus mostly on the second procedure, and the students with number 3 to focus mostly on the third procedure. After the projection, the students' task will be to present the procedure that was assigned to them.

In order to sum up the exercise, the teacher asks the students questions of a cross‑sectional nature:

• How many procedures are there for the appointment of the Council of Ministers?

• What principle governs the decision to apply each subsequent procedure? What would have to happen for the next procedure not to be applied?

• Who is the deciding person in regard to the position of the Prime Minister in subsequent procedures?

• What majority of the Sejm is required to pass a vote of confidence in subsequent procedures?

3. The teacher displays Exercise 4 on the interactive whiteboard and solves it together with the students. As the students answer each question, the teacher turns the flashcard and together they verify the answer.

4. The students again work in three pre‑defined groups. This time however, students with the same number should sit together because they will work together. The class will use the WebQuest method. Each group's task will be to draw up a mind map of the topic assigned to their number and to support the mind maps with specific examples found on the internet:

1. Composition of the Council of Ministers.

2. Competences of the Council of Ministers (as a whole and of individual ministers).

3. Competences of the Prime Minister.

Students draw up the mind maps using a selected web application, e.g. coggle.it, because during each group's presentation, the respective map will be displayed on the interactive whiteboard. If this is not technically possible, students can prepare mind maps on sheets of paper.

The teacher specifies the amount of time that is given to complete the task. When the time is up, the representatives of each group present their topics and support their presentations with examples found on the Internet.

If necessary, the teacher corrects and completes what the students are saying.

5. The teacher asks the students to find Articles 145, 156, 157 and 198 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland on the Internet and to read them, and afterwards to solve Exercise 5. The teacher discusses the correct answers with the students.

Summary:

1. At the end of the lesson the teacher asks: If there was going to be a test on the material we have covered today, what questions do you think would you have to answer?

The students present their suggestions. If the students do not manage to name all the most important questions, the teacher may complement their suggestions.

2. Homework proposal:

a. Put in order all the competences of the President of the Republic of Poland referred to in exercises 1, 2, and 3, assigning them to the appropriate categories (specified in each task).

b. Listen to the abstract recording to review the material and new vocabulary. Then do the vocabulary exercise at the end of the chapter.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

The executive power – the President of the Republic of Poland and the Council of Ministers

According to the Constitution, the President of the Republic of Poland and the Council of Ministers exercise executive power in Poland. This means that the creators of the Constitution adopted a model of shared executive power characteristic of parliamentary‑cabinet systems. However, contrary to the classical parliamentary model, the President of the Republic of Poland does not only perform a representative function, but also has his own competences in selected areas of the executive branch. This does not change the fact that the most important competencies in the area of the executive belong to the Council of Ministers and the Prime Minister.

The structure and competences of the Council of Ministers

Cabinet ministers may originate from the Sejm and Senate, but they may also be selected from outside of the legislature. There are two categories of ministers:

• department ministers, who exercise authority and responsibility within the central government’s administration;

• ministers without portfolio, who do not direct any of the government’s administrative bodies, yet perform tasks designated to them specifically by the Prime Minister.

Competences of the Council of Ministers

• coordination and control over the government administration,

• foreign policy,

• finances and public property,

• creating and executing the law (in the form of regulations),

• national security.

Competences of the Prime Minister

Political responsibility of the Council of Ministers

The Council of Ministers is politically accountable before the Sejm. Each of the ministers, the Prime Minister or the whole cabinet may be held accountable for their policies thanks to the institution of the vote of no‑confidence.

The cabinet will also be dismissed in one of the following instances:

• when the Sejm has not passed the vote of confidence in the Council of Ministers,

• when the Prime Minister resigns,

• when the newly elected Sejm holds its first sitting.

The political responsibility does not mean the Council of Ministers (necessarily) broke the law. It means that the Sejm is not satisfied with the way the policies are being implemented, and no longer trusts the Council to carry out the executive function.

The relations between the executive bodies – the Council of Ministers and the President of the Republic of Poland – and the legislative are quite complicated. On the one hand, there are some characteristic solutions for countries with a parliamentary‑cabinet system of government, and on the other – for those with the semi‑presidential system. The first group includes the dependence of the formation and duration of the Council of Ministers on the will of the parliamentary majority and the formal separation of the executive power. The solutions borrowed from the semi‑presidential systems are primarily the election of the President in the general (universal and direct) elections, active participation of the President in the process of forming the cabinet or the independent competences of the President, especially within the scope of legislative power, like the right to introduce legislation or veto the statutes adopted by the Sejm.