Education in Poland
Encyclopedia
Since changes made in 2009 Education
in Poland
starts at the age of five or six for the 0 class (Kindergarten) and six or seven years in the 1st class of primary school (Polish
szkoła podstawowa). It is compulsory that children do one year of formal education before entering 1st class at no later than 7 years of age. At the end of 6th class when the students are 13, they take a compulsory exam that will determine to which lower secondary school (gimnazjum, pronounced gheem-nah-sium) (Middle School/Junior High) they will be accepted. They will attend this school for three years for classes, 7, 8, and 9. They then take another compulsory exam to determine the upper secondary level school they will attend. There are several alternatives, the most common being the three years in a liceum or four years in a technikum
. Both end with a maturity examination (matura
, quite similar to French baccalauréat
), and may be followed by several forms of upper education, leading to licencjat or inżynier (the Polish Bologna Process
first cycle qualification), magister
(the Polish Bologna Process
second cycle qualification) and eventually doktor (the Polish Bologna Process
third cycle qualification).
's Commission of National Education (Polish: Komisja Edukacji Narodowej) formed in 1773 counts as the first Ministry of Education in the history of humankind.
During the partitions of Poland
and the Second World War, much of Poland's education was carried on in secret (see Education in Poland during World War II
and Flying University
).
The education in the People's Republic of Poland
on the one hand vastly improved the literacy of all students, on the other hand some sciences (especially history and economics) suffered due to the communist preference for propaganda over facts.
The Polish education system was reformed in 1999. Primary school was shortened from eight to six years, and high school was changed from a four-year liceum into a three-year gimnazjum and a three-year liceum.
The grades were used to rate each student's performance at the end of a school year
and getting a 2 meant that the student would have to repeat the class (in all subjects) or correct the grade by taking an additional exam (egzamin komisyjny) before a specially assembled committee. Grades 3 and higher were passing grades.
The grades given for individual assignments, exams etc. during the school year were based on the same scale, but allowed also intermediate grades, made by adding a plus, a minus or, in case of some teachers, a double minus, to the base grade. These "fractional" grades had no official recognition in the system of final grades, but the common practice was to base the final grade on the average of all the grades accumulated over the year. Fulfilling all the expectations usually meant a 5, with 5+ being occasionally given as an "exceeds expectations" grade.
The full scale was therefore:
(where "=" did not mean "equals" but was a common way of writing "a double minus" by those teachers that used such grades)
In the early 1990s the system was extended by introducing new grades, 1 and 6.
In the new system, 1 is the failing grade, 2 to 5 are normal passing grades, and 6 means that the student exceeded the expectations. The system is used like the old one. Adding minuses to a 6 is extremely uncommon. The performance that is better than 5 but does not deserve a 6 is usually graded 5+.
So the full scale is:
Grades below the lowest official passing grades, that is 3=/3- in the old system or 2=/2- in the new one, in case of some teachers mean that an extra examination is necessary before passing the student. Most commonly the lowest possible passing grades were given as an indication of barely passable performance.
Because getting a 1 (2 in the old system) in any subject means that the student has to repeat the year, including all subjects that were passed, the teachers are very reluctant to give a failing grade and usually allow some form of special examination in the last weeks of the year to correct the grade to 2 (or 3 respectively). For the same reason, the failing grades are usually only given in the subjects deemed the most important (such as the Polish language or mathematics).
There is no grade 2.5.
5.5 or 6.0 is sometimes given as an "exceeds expectations" grade, but this differs among various universities and may be equivalent to 5.0 for some purposes.
"3-" is occasionally (but very rarely) given as a "barely passing" grade, but for all official purposes it is equivalent to 3.0.
The grading is done every semester (twice a year), not once in a school year.
Depending on the subject, the final grade may be based on the result of a single exam,
or on the student's performance during the whole semester.
In the latter case, usually a point system, not the 2–5 scale is used. The points accumulated during the semester are added and converted to a final grade according to some scale.
As a failing grade means merely having to repeat the failed subject, and can usually be corrected on
a retake exam (and in some cases also on a special "committee exam"), it is used much more liberally,
and it is quite common for a significant number of students to fail a class on the first attempt.
Generally, in 2005/06 the most popular obligatory foreign languages in Polish schools were:
In 2005/06 there were 49,200 students in schools for national minorities, most of them in German
, Kashubian
, Ukrainian
and Belarusian
http://www.stat.gov.pl/cps/rde/xchg/gus/hs.xsl/45_1901_PLK_HTML.htm.
Due to the education reform introduced by Polish education minister – Katarzyna Hall, students of Polish lower secondary schools must learn two different foreign languages. The main language (usually English) is taught 3 times a week and it's the language that students must write the egzamin gimnazjalny in. The second foreign language is taught 2 times a week and it's additional. The reform introduces two different levels of the exam – the higher lever (if a student has been learning the same language as the main one at primary school) and the standard level (if a student has started learning the main language at lower secondary school). The result of the exam is held to account when a student applies to the upper secondary level school.
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
in Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
starts at the age of five or six for the 0 class (Kindergarten) and six or seven years in the 1st class of primary school (Polish
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
szkoła podstawowa). It is compulsory that children do one year of formal education before entering 1st class at no later than 7 years of age. At the end of 6th class when the students are 13, they take a compulsory exam that will determine to which lower secondary school (gimnazjum, pronounced gheem-nah-sium) (Middle School/Junior High) they will be accepted. They will attend this school for three years for classes, 7, 8, and 9. They then take another compulsory exam to determine the upper secondary level school they will attend. There are several alternatives, the most common being the three years in a liceum or four years in a technikum
Technikum (Poland)
A technikum is a vocational high school in the Polish educational system, designed for those who want to start working immediately after finishing their compulsory education or continue educations at universities or colleges...
. Both end with a maturity examination (matura
Matura
Matura or a similar term is the common name for the high-school leaving exam or "maturity exam" in various countries, including Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Kosovo, Liechtenstein, Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Serbia,...
, quite similar to French baccalauréat
Baccalauréat
The baccalauréat , often known in France colloquially as le bac, is an academic qualification which French and international students take at the end of the lycée . It was introduced by Napoleon I in 1808. It is the main diploma required to pursue university studies...
), and may be followed by several forms of upper education, leading to licencjat or inżynier (the Polish Bologna Process
Bologna process
The purpose of the Bologna Process is the creation of the European Higher Education Area by making academic degree standards and quality assurance standards more comparable and compatible throughout Europe, in particular under the Lisbon Recognition Convention...
first cycle qualification), magister
Magister
Magister is Latin for "master" or "teacher." It may refer to:* The Magister , an academic degreePositions or titles* A magister equitum, or Master of the Horse...
(the Polish Bologna Process
Bologna process
The purpose of the Bologna Process is the creation of the European Higher Education Area by making academic degree standards and quality assurance standards more comparable and compatible throughout Europe, in particular under the Lisbon Recognition Convention...
second cycle qualification) and eventually doktor (the Polish Bologna Process
Bologna process
The purpose of the Bologna Process is the creation of the European Higher Education Area by making academic degree standards and quality assurance standards more comparable and compatible throughout Europe, in particular under the Lisbon Recognition Convention...
third cycle qualification).
History
The Polish-Lithuanian CommonwealthPolish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was a dualistic state of Poland and Lithuania ruled by a common monarch. It was the largest and one of the most populous countries of 16th- and 17th‑century Europe with some and a multi-ethnic population of 11 million at its peak in the early 17th century...
's Commission of National Education (Polish: Komisja Edukacji Narodowej) formed in 1773 counts as the first Ministry of Education in the history of humankind.
During the partitions of Poland
Partitions of Poland
The Partitions of Poland or Partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth took place in the second half of the 18th century and ended the existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, resulting in the elimination of sovereign Poland for 123 years...
and the Second World War, much of Poland's education was carried on in secret (see Education in Poland during World War II
Education in Poland during World War II
This article covers the topic of underground education in Poland during World War II. Secret learning prepared new cadres for the post-war reconstruction of Poland and countered the German and Soviet threat to exterminate the Polish culture....
and Flying University
Flying University
Flying University was the name of an underground educational enterprise that operated from 1885 to 1905 in Warsaw, the historic Polish capital, then under the control of the Russian Empire, and that was revived between 1977 and 1981 in the People's Republic of Poland...
).
The education in the People's Republic of Poland
Education in the People's Republic of Poland
Education in the People's Republic of Poland was controlled by the communist state, which provided primary schools, secondary schools, vocational education and universities. Education in communist Poland was compulsory from age 7 to 15....
on the one hand vastly improved the literacy of all students, on the other hand some sciences (especially history and economics) suffered due to the communist preference for propaganda over facts.
The Polish education system was reformed in 1999. Primary school was shortened from eight to six years, and high school was changed from a four-year liceum into a three-year gimnazjum and a three-year liceum.
Lower education
In the lower education the old system used up to the early 1990s was:- 2 (niedostateczny, insufficient)
- 3 (dostateczny, sufficient)
- 4 (dobry, good)
- 5 (bardzo dobry, very good)
The grades were used to rate each student's performance at the end of a school year
and getting a 2 meant that the student would have to repeat the class (in all subjects) or correct the grade by taking an additional exam (egzamin komisyjny) before a specially assembled committee. Grades 3 and higher were passing grades.
The grades given for individual assignments, exams etc. during the school year were based on the same scale, but allowed also intermediate grades, made by adding a plus, a minus or, in case of some teachers, a double minus, to the base grade. These "fractional" grades had no official recognition in the system of final grades, but the common practice was to base the final grade on the average of all the grades accumulated over the year. Fulfilling all the expectations usually meant a 5, with 5+ being occasionally given as an "exceeds expectations" grade.
The full scale was therefore:
- 2-,2, 2+
- (3=), 3-, 3, 3+
- (4=), 4-, 4, 4+
- (5=), 5-, 5, (5+)
- (6=), 6
(where "=" did not mean "equals" but was a common way of writing "a double minus" by those teachers that used such grades)
In the early 1990s the system was extended by introducing new grades, 1 and 6.
- 1 (niedostateczny, insufficient)
- 2 (initially mierny, poor, later renamed dopuszczający, passing)
- 3 (dostateczny, sufficient)
- 4 (dobry, good)
- 5 (bardzo dobry, very good)
- 6 (celujący, excellent)
In the new system, 1 is the failing grade, 2 to 5 are normal passing grades, and 6 means that the student exceeded the expectations. The system is used like the old one. Adding minuses to a 6 is extremely uncommon. The performance that is better than 5 but does not deserve a 6 is usually graded 5+.
So the full scale is:
- 1, (1+ is rare)
- (2=), 2-, 2, 2+
- (3=), 3-, 3, 3+
- (4=), 4-, 4, 4+
- (5=), 5-, 5, 5+
- 6 (6- is rare too)
Grades below the lowest official passing grades, that is 3=/3- in the old system or 2=/2- in the new one, in case of some teachers mean that an extra examination is necessary before passing the student. Most commonly the lowest possible passing grades were given as an indication of barely passable performance.
Because getting a 1 (2 in the old system) in any subject means that the student has to repeat the year, including all subjects that were passed, the teachers are very reluctant to give a failing grade and usually allow some form of special examination in the last weeks of the year to correct the grade to 2 (or 3 respectively). For the same reason, the failing grades are usually only given in the subjects deemed the most important (such as the Polish language or mathematics).
University-level education
The university-level education uses a numeric system of grades from 2 to 5, with grades every 0.5.- 2.0 – failing grade
- 3.0 – lowest passing grade
- 3.5
- 4.0
- 4.5
- 5.0 – highest grade
There is no grade 2.5.
5.5 or 6.0 is sometimes given as an "exceeds expectations" grade, but this differs among various universities and may be equivalent to 5.0 for some purposes.
"3-" is occasionally (but very rarely) given as a "barely passing" grade, but for all official purposes it is equivalent to 3.0.
The grading is done every semester (twice a year), not once in a school year.
Depending on the subject, the final grade may be based on the result of a single exam,
or on the student's performance during the whole semester.
In the latter case, usually a point system, not the 2–5 scale is used. The points accumulated during the semester are added and converted to a final grade according to some scale.
As a failing grade means merely having to repeat the failed subject, and can usually be corrected on
a retake exam (and in some cases also on a special "committee exam"), it is used much more liberally,
and it is quite common for a significant number of students to fail a class on the first attempt.
Foreign languages
Students in Polish schools typically learn one or two foreign languages at schools.Generally, in 2005/06 the most popular obligatory foreign languages in Polish schools were:
- EnglishEnglish languageEnglish is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
– 67.9% - GermanGerman languageGerman is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
– 33.3% - FrenchFrench languageFrench is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
– 13.3% - SpanishSpanish languageSpanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
– 10.2% - RussianRussian languageRussian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
– 6.1% - ItalianItalian languageItalian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
– 4.3% - LatinLatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
– 0.6% - Others – 0.1%
In 2005/06 there were 49,200 students in schools for national minorities, most of them in German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, Kashubian
Kashubian language
Kashubian or Cassubian is one of the Lechitic languages, a subgroup of the Slavic languages....
, Ukrainian
Ukrainian language
Ukrainian is a language of the East Slavic subgroup of the Slavic languages. It is the official state language of Ukraine. Written Ukrainian uses a variant of the Cyrillic alphabet....
and Belarusian
Belarusian language
The Belarusian language , sometimes referred to as White Russian or White Ruthenian, is the language of the Belarusian people...
http://www.stat.gov.pl/cps/rde/xchg/gus/hs.xsl/45_1901_PLK_HTML.htm.
Due to the education reform introduced by Polish education minister – Katarzyna Hall, students of Polish lower secondary schools must learn two different foreign languages. The main language (usually English) is taught 3 times a week and it's the language that students must write the egzamin gimnazjalny in. The second foreign language is taught 2 times a week and it's additional. The reform introduces two different levels of the exam – the higher lever (if a student has been learning the same language as the main one at primary school) and the standard level (if a student has started learning the main language at lower secondary school). The result of the exam is held to account when a student applies to the upper secondary level school.
See also
- Grade (education)
- Liceum Ogólnokształcące
- List of universities in Poland
- Polish science and technology
- Underground Education in Poland During World War II
- Education in the People's Republic of PolandEducation in the People's Republic of PolandEducation in the People's Republic of Poland was controlled by the communist state, which provided primary schools, secondary schools, vocational education and universities. Education in communist Poland was compulsory from age 7 to 15....