Topic: Local government

Author: Anna Rabiega

Addressee:

8th grade primary school student

Core curriculum:

XI. Democracy in the Republic of Poland.

The student:

4) explains the principle of political pluralism; lists the political parties whose representatives are deputies of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland and are members of legislative local government bodies; presents the objectives of political parties and shows that they compete in public life; finds information on the activities of a selected party (its regional or central structures).

The general aim of education:

The student presents the principles of the political system of the Republic of Poland.

Learning outcomes:

The student:

• explains the essence of local governments and analyses why they are important for the functioning of a democratic state.

• presents the territorial division of the Republic of Poland.

• analyses the way in which particular local government bodies are elected.

Key competences:

• communicating in a foreign language,

• digital competence,

• learning to learn,

• social and civic competences.

Teaching methods:

• discussion,

• drama,

• fishbowl conversation,

• teaching conversation using interactive timeline, interactive exercises.

Forms of work:

• self‑learning,

• work in pairs,

• 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 how local governments are elected and why they are so important for democracy.

2. The teacher asks a few students about their place of residence / legal domicile – village / town / city, commune, poviat and voivodeship. The teacher informs the students that together they will look for answers to the questions and that during their task, they can make use of the content of the abstract.

• How many voivodeships are there?

• How many poviats?

• How many communes?

• Who decides in local government elections about who is in power in a given commune / poviat / voivodeship? Can the parents of student A who lives in commune X decide who will be in power in commune Y where student B lives (when asking the question, the teacher uses real names of the communes and the students)?

• What is the difference then between the elections of local authorities and parliamentary authorities with regard to who decides on the composition of these authorities? Does it matter? Why does it matter?

Implementation:

1. The teacher informs the students that their task will be to take over the power of a local government in a selected commune, poviat, and voivodeship. Of course as part of democratic procedures! Before this happens, the teacher asks the students to familiarize themselves with the democratic principles of electing local government bodies by reading the abstract (“Election of local government legislative bodies”, “Election of local government executive bodies”).

Then, in order to complete the task, the students prepare in groups the following plan of action: „Plan for taking over the power in commune / poviat / voivodeship X”, by writing down in points:

• Depending on the level of local government assigned to the group – what exactly their goal is, i.e. which authorities can be „taken over” respectively in the commune, the poviat (municipality with poviat rights) and the voivodeship?

• Whose support they will have to gain in order to take up positions in the bodies of a given self‑government community;

• What the election procedure will be; The requirements that must be met by candidates for particular positions;

• What powers they will acquire as a result of the newly held positions; What their duties will be in the respective local government body;

• How they will convince the inhabitants of the local government community to:

• participate in the elections, and

• vote for their candidates?

(two most important arguments should be presented).

The teacher divides the class into six groups and assigns tasks - two groups will prepare a plan to take over power in a selected commune (one in a rural commune, the other in an urban or an urban and rural commune), other two groups in a selected poviat (one poviat needs to be a country poviat and the other a municipality with poviat rights), and the last two groups in a voivodeship. The teacher also informs the students that they should prepare for the presentation of the plan using the drama method and, if necessary, explains this method. Group representatives (one group can be represented by more than one student – the group will decide on the division of roles) will present the plan of taking over power at a meeting of the inhabitants' electoral committee. The teacher specifies the amount of time that is given to complete the task. Once the time is up, the students make their presentations. After they are finished, the class decides whether a given group convinced them to vote for it whether it has a chance to take over power in a given local government unit. The teacher displays on an interactive whiteboard the „Legislative and executive bodies in different local government units” scheme and during the voting, marks the units where power has been taken over by particular groups.

As a summary of the exercise, the teacher asks three students who were not as active during the group presentation to summarise which authority bodies are elected at the commune, poviat, and voivodeship level.

2. The teacher asks the students why they think local government elections and local self‑governance are important for democracy. The teacher informs the class that they will have a fishbowl conversation on the following topic: „Is participating in local government elections worthwhile?”. If necessary, he explains the meaning of this term.

The teacher asks the students to divide into two groups. The first group sits down in a circle and discusses the topic.

The teacher also reminds the rules of the discussion, e.g. to speak briefly and on point, not to offend others, not to interrupt others, not to raise one's voice, to listen carefully to others, etc.

The teacher clarifies the second group takes places around the first group and observes the course of the discussion. Its task is to analyse the selection and the effectiveness of arguments that are used, the observance of the rules and the general course of the discussion. The teacher determines the exact time of the discussion.

At the end of the debate, students can swap roles. Next, the teacher asks selected/willing students to assess the ability to hold a discussion, to stick to the topic, to select arguments, etc. of the other group.

3. The teacher asks the students to see if they can name all the Polish voivodeships and identify where the voivodeship authorities are located. In order to do this, students solve Exercise 1 in pairs. When the time to complete the task is up, the teacher displays the map of the exercise on an interactive whiteboard, while willing/selected students give their answers. If necessary, the teacher corrects and completes the students' answers.

Summary:

1. As a summary, the teacher asks the students to use the abstract's generator in order to create one test question of a single choice. The question is supposed to relate to the class topic. Then the students exchange the test questions or solve a couple of them together. The teacher ensures that the task is carried out correctly.

2. Homework proposal:

a. Write a short paper on the following subject: „Local self‑governance is the basis of the democratic system in Poland.”. Remember that the paper should include both arguments and counter‑arguments to the thesis it presents.

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

Local government

According to the Constitution the inhabitants of the units of basic territorial division form a self‑governing community in accordance with law. These inhabitants, directly or through the representatives they have chosen, manage the affairs of the community and carry out other tasks in the field of public administration, assigned to the local government by the legislator.

The local government reform was one of the most important in Poland after 1989.

Initially, the reform was limited to the level of the commune. The basis for the reform was the constitutional amendment of 8 March, 1990 and the statute on local government adopted on the same day. In 1998 the second stage of the reform was introduced, which included the reform of the territorial division of the country. Poviats were introduced and the number of voivodeships was reduced from 49 to 16. As of 1, January, 1999 there is a three‑level local government in Poland: commune – poviat – voivodeship.

Legislative and executive bodies in different local government units

Local government elections are held every four years. The inhabitants of each unit of the local government vote for their representatives to each legislative body (on the commune, poviat and voivodeship level), and choose a voit, town mayor or president of the city.

Election of local government legislative bodies

Election of local government executive bodies

In modern democratic states, the power is divided between the state and the local government authorities – representing the interests of the local community, elected and controlled by the community. From 1, January 1999, Poland has a three‑level territorial division of the state. Communes, poviat and cities with poviat rights are managed by the local government only, and at the voivodeship level the competences are divided between local government units (voivodeship sejmik and board) and government administration bodies (voivode).