Jerzy Wiśniewski
Secondary education in Poland
18 years of changes
This short paper is going to present the transformation of the secondary and upper-secondary
education in Poland during the period of the economic and social reforms introduced after 1989.
Two segments of the secondary education: general and vocational, have followed two different
tracks of reforms. The general secondary schools have benefited from the extended school
autonomy, deregulation of the curricula, free market of textbooks and thus they have been able to
attract more students. Most of their graduates aimed for the tertiary, academic education what
was a good motivation to learn.
While vocational schools, which were embedded in the economy of the socialist system and
consisted an integral part of the state-owned enterprises, suffered from the changes within the
economy (shrinking of the sectors of economy such as mining or heavy industry), the increasing
unemployment and the lack of a plan of the necessary changes within this part of school
education. The pace of the economic reforms was so quick that the vocational schools could not
catch up with the appropriate (not to mention any anticipated) changes in curricula, teaching
programmes and work organisation. As a result, graduates of that type of schools had difficulties
in finding any job. That worsened the already not very good image of the vocational education,
which had been considered as the worst option by both primary schools graduates and their
parents. The vicious circle of the intake of low-achievers, outdated teaching programmes and
instruction methods as well as poor outcomes (both in the terms of learning outcomes and their
relevance to the labour market needs) remained unbroken due to lack of vision of the vocational
education system reform.
The departure point – school education in “real socialism” period
The school education system existing in Poland before 1989 was characterised by
extremely far-going centralisation. Strategies and policy for the development of education were
designed by the authorities of the communist party. All other, even detailed, issues were decided
by the Minister of National Education. The powers of the latter covered the issues concerning:
•
curricula,
•
textbooks and other teaching aids admitted for use in school,
•
rules for the functioning of all types of schools,
•
rules for recruitment of pupils to schools,
•
organisation of the school network,
•
classification of occupations and specialisations in which education in vocational schools
was provided,
•
rules for awarding titles and diplomas attesting to vocational qualifications,
•
rules for organising and setting examinations.
The school education system comprised (graph 1.):
Eight-year primary schools (children aged 7 – 14) which task was to ensure all-round
development of the pupil and prepare him/her to continue his/her education in a secondary school
or in a basic vocational school training for employment.
General lyceums (4-year, age 15-18) provided pupils with a possibility of completing
general secondary education in four years. Having passed the final examination (maturity
examination, matura), the graduates were entitled to apply for admission to higher education.
Three-year basic vocational schools (in principle for students aged 15-17) trained skilled
workers. The graduates were awarded a certificate attesting to qualifications in a given
occupation. This certificate also served as the basis to apply for admission to supplementary
technical schools where students could complete their secondary education and take the maturity
examination. It was not the Ministry of National Education but individual sector ministries who
were responsible for running schools which trained specialists for a given branch of the economy.
Technical secondary schools (duration of 4 or 5 years; students aged 15-18, 19) awarded
to their graduates the vocational title of technician attested by a secondary school leaving
certificate. Upon completion of education in such schools, students could also take the maturity
examination they needed to pass in order to be able to apply for admission to higher education.
Post-secondary schools offered general lyceum graduates the possibility of acquiring
vocational qualifications and the title of technician.
pre-school education
0
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II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
VIII
I
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V
"zero" class
primary school
General
Vocation.
second.
Second.
Basic
vocat.
3
4
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7
8
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Graph 1. The school education system 1989
During the seventies and the eighties of the last century more than 50% of the 15-18 year
olds attended basic vocational schools, one third studied in secondary vocational schools and
only less than 20% were in the secondary general education. Such proportion of the number of
students in post-primary schools was the direct result of the policy of the communist party aimed
at up keeping the dominant role of the workers’ class. Eventually Poland at the beginning of the
nineties of the last century was among the European countries with the lowest participation rate
in full secondary education and consequently also among those with the lowest rate of
participation in higher education. This was not in line with the aspirations of young people as
most of them wished to complete secondary general education and they planned to apply for
higher education.
There were two simple mechanisms used in combination to maintain such distribution of
the primary school leavers: limited number of places available in general secondary education
(numerus clausus) and the entrance examinations to such schools.
The entrance examinations were organised by the regional educational authorities
(kuratoria) and comprised of two written tests: Polish language and mathematics. Applicants
were not allowed to retake the entrance examinations. At the age of 15 (completion of primary
education) as still covered by compulsory education, young people could not wait a year to take
again an examination to the chosen lyceum. Having failed the examination (or having obtained
marks not good enough to be accepted to the chosen school), they were bound to continue
education in a post-primary school, this most often being a basic vocational school. Only rarely
was this a school which offered training for an attractive occupation, e.g. in the service sector;
such schools were very popular and selected their pupils on the basis of a ranking of marks from
the primary school at the beginning of the recruitment period. When the recruitment to lyceums
was completed, no places were available in popular vocational schools. Underrating their
abilities, many primary school leavers did not try to take examinations to a secondary school,
fearing they might fail and be deprived of the possibility to choose their own further education
route. One can hardly say how many of them were entirely wrong in the assessment of their own
abilities and thus lost a chance to receive a better education.
Beginning of changes 1989
The agreements concluded as a result of the Round Table negotiations in 1989 gave rise
to tremendous changes in Poland and throughout the Central Europe.
In September 1989, a new government was appointed with Tadeusz Mazowiecki as the
first non-communist prime minister for more than 40 years.
The Government soon launched radical economic reforms, introducing free-market
economy rules. The reform brought numerous advantageous effects: the very high inflation,
represented in three-digit rates, was curtailed; the Polish zloty was gradually made a convertible
currency; a Stock Exchange was established; and the privatisation of state-owned enterprises was
initiated.
Changes in the economy curbed recession and led to the increasing economic growth rate
in the following years. Simultaneously, these changes involved various social consequences.
Some citizens decided to take their chance and established their own businesses. Many of them
were successful; their living standard rose substantially and quickly. Those who were better
educated and knew foreign languages found employment in foreign companies, emerging in an
increasing number on the Polish market. This was another group that achieved success and
benefited most from the economic transformations.
These trends were, however, accompanied by the negative side-effects. Large state-owned
enterprises were facing bankruptcy or drastically reducing employment. Unemployment appeared
as a phenomenon unknown in the times of real socialism. This was a problem that neither citizens
nor public institutions were prepared to cope with. In particular the Ministry of Education was
unable to prepare proposals for any appropriate systemic measures.
One among many factors curbing efforts to initiate reforms of education was the belief
that it would require preparations and time to be implemented. Unlike the economy, education
should not be treated with a shock therapy. This view in ‘normal’ times could hardly be disputed.
However the educational authorities did not even try to elaborate a strategy of changing of
vocational schools to introduce instruments which would give them a chance to cope with rapid
changes in the economy and the labour market. There was also another obstacle to elaborate any
strategy of the reform. It was the absence of an institution responsible for data-gathering,
monitoring, analysing and strategic planning. Without such backup the Ministry was often
‘surprised’ by the side-effects brought by the developments in the economy, the labour market or
within the educational sector itself..
The fundamental economic changes mentioned earlier significantly affected vocational
education. Most enterprises that ran works-based schools refused to finance them any longer.
These establishments had to be taken over by the educational authorities. Moreover, the
enterprises that handed over their works-based schools would not guarantee employment to their
graduates. This meant a break-up of the model existing in the times of real socialism:
qualifications acquired within a narrow specialisation would no longer guarantee life-long
employment in one state-owned enterprise. That important change in the paradigm of the
vocational training was not accompanied by the introduction of any new forms of employers
involvement in defining the scope of specialisations, teaching content, learning outcomes or
qualifications. Also there was not enough effort made to develop the counselling and guidance
system to help young people in making informed decisions on their educational and professional
careers.
However, the take-over of most vocational schools by the Ministry of National Education
also brought about some desirable consequences as it initiated the process of transformations in
this sector of school education. The most important was the graduate reduction of the number of
students in basic vocational schools and the simultaneous increase of the number of students in
full (giving the possibility to apply for higher education) secondary particularly general
secondary schools. That responded to the social demand as the educational aspirations of young
people had increased and many of them aimed at the tertiary education. They also realised that
general education gave them better chance to find a job than narrow vocational training.
Other activities undertaken by the Ministry of National Education in the area of
vocational education included the following:
• introducing changes in curricula for subjects related to economy promoting
entrepreneurship;
• introducing modern foreign languages into curricula (this decision being difficult to
implement due to the shortage of teachers);
• introducing an optional subject „Elements of Informatics”;
• accepting for school usage 76 independently developed curricula and initiating the work
on curricular documentation corresponding to the new classification of occupations.
These changes were only to a slight extent meeting the needs of a reform of the vocational
education, a sector which urgently required to be adjusted to the conditions and needs of the
market economy. It was obvious that the basic vocational schools could not survive without
significant changes. It was clear as well that the changes should influence the whole post-primary
education. To develop such a comprehensive reform plan, the Ministry needed to decide on the
extent and the moment (in the student's school career) of specialisation. There were two
important factors which were taken into consideration. Firstly, how the wider access to secondary
education would affect the quality. Secondly, how the changes in the structure and specialisation
of schools would affect teachers employment. As said earlier, the discussions on different options
were not facilitated by any research or analytical work providing for informed decisions.
The practical answer to the first question was “stratification” of general secondary lycea.
In many cases local authorities converted basic vocational schools that did not attract enough
candidates into general education schools. Those schools accepted candidates who had lower
results on entrance exams in comparison with the candidates applying to the schools with long
tradition and the recognised prestige. Although the ‘average’ secondary school achievements
might be lower (although there was no systematic monitoring to give evidence to proof that)
‘traditional’ lycea have maintained their quality measured by the success rate in applying for
higher education.
The opening of new lycea on the basis of basic vocational schools brought also a partial
answer to the second problem: the employment of teachers. Partly, because in lycea there were
jobs for teachers of general subjects. But what could have been offered to vocational teachers and
trainers? One could say: further and continuing education and training might be the answer.
Unfortunately there was not enough attention or support given to that segment of the education
system.
Tertiary Education
The Ministry was concentrated on the increase in the participation rate in higher
education. The number of students in higher education increased from 403.8 thousands in
1990/91 to 794.6 in 1995/96 and 1584.8 in 2000/01 with the corresponding net enrolment rates
9.8%, 17.2% and 30.6 %. Such significant increase in the participation was possible due to the
changes in the system of financing of state universities (based on the number of students), the
possibility of charging fees from students of evening and extramural courses in public higher
education and the possibility to open private higher education schools. Consequently the access
to higher education became easier and many secondary school graduates eagerly used that
opportunity. They rightly believed that with the higher education diploma their chances for
employment (even good employment) would be much higher. Also they postponed the moment
of entering the labour market. The side effect was that only few secondary school graduates were
interested in continuing education in post-secondary non-higher education.
An important development in the area of education and training in the early 90-ties was
the establishment of foreign language teacher training colleges. This new type of higher
education institution in the Polish education system was set up primarily as a response to the need
of promoting foreign language teaching in Polish schools.
To make the readers fully aware of the importance of establishing teacher training
colleges, it should be recalled that teachers were trained in various faculties of higher education
institutions as specialists in a given branch of knowledge who, however, were not well prepared
to work in school. Elementary education teachers could acquire necessary qualifications by
taking two-year post-secondary courses in the so-called teacher training institutes. Teacher
training colleges equipped the graduates with practical teaching competences and – thanks to
intensive collaboration with foreign partners – prefect knowledge of languages.
One can hardly overestimate the importance of the establishment of teacher training
colleges. As a result of this decision, a new model of teacher training was introduced as an
alternative to that based on master-degree courses in universities. It turned out soon that this was
the beginning of a wider process of diversification of higher education. Large higher education
institutions existing for many years began to set up teacher training colleges within their
structures. Simultaneously, study programmes in many faculties were changed so as to enable the
student to obtain the degree of bachelor or engineer after three years of study. Those who have
obtained the first degree may study for the master degree.
The same years saw the establishment of a large number of non-public higher education
institutions. They were authorised by the Minister of National Education to provide only
bachelor-degree courses as they were not prepared to offer master-degree courses in terms of
staff and organisational requirements. Like teacher training colleges, non-public higher education
institutions were often established in smaller towns where no universities existed. These
initiatives attracted the support of local authorities which were right to see them as a chance for
young people in their area to obtain higher education qualifications, and thus to boost the prestige
of the town. Obviously, better educated inhabitants provide better conditions for investment in a
given area (human capital), thus increasing chances for faster economic growth. This approach,
shared by the Government and the Parliament, led to the adoption of the Act on Schools of
Higher Vocational Education in June 1997.
Unfortunately, as in many other countries, higher vocational schools aspire to became
universities. Some regulations on employment in different professions did not help them in
promoting the recognition of the bachelor (engineer) diploma. For example for teaching in a
secondary school or to apply for the civil service the master degree is required. Now the higher
vocational schools are not considered as an important alternative to the academic higher
education. They are rather treated as the first stage of the tertiary education followed by the
master degree courses.
Technical lyceum
Alongside with the structural changes in the secondary education there were efforts
undertaken to change the curricula. The overall direction of the changes was the “generalisation”
of vocational education. The idea was to increase the share of general education subjects in
curricula and teaching programmes and to replace narrow, specialised vocational training by
more general training covering branches of economy and trade.
The result of that policy was the opening in 1993 of a new type of secondary vocational
school - a four-year technical lyceum. The school provided general secondary education courses,
giving students the possibility to obtain the maturity certificate and to complete general vocation
oriented education covering a selected sector of the economy (specialised section). The following
specialised sections were set up in the technical lyceum: economy and finance, electrical and
power engineering, chemistry, environmental engineering, mechanical engineering and
technology, agriculture and food, services and economy, administration and business support
services, social sector and services, electronics, wood technology and forestry, steel industry and
metallurgy, textile and clothing industry, communication and transport.
When the technical lycea were introduced into the system the plan was that the next step
would be the development of the short specialised courses at the post-secondary level. Such
courses would give the possibility to obtain vocational qualifications and enter the labour market.
As shorter and oriented to the needs of the labour market the courses could be an alternative to
the academic, higher education studies. However that ‘next step’ has never been fully and
consequently implemented.
As it could have been seen in the last decade of the twentieth century the changes of the
secondary education in Poland were more the consequence of changes in the economy than the
result of the implementation of clearly designed educational policy. That fact was highlighted by
the examiners of the OECD review of educational policy in Poland 1995. “The examiners had
difficulties in discovering a clear and coherent national strategy concerning VOTEC. They found
that such a strategy could only be meaningful if research on VOTEC and its curriculum is
improved, if leadership in this field is strengthened.” What the experts saw as an obstacle to the
conception and implementation of such a coherent vision of the development of vocational
education and training was inter alia the weakness of two units responsible for this sector – the
relevant department in the Ministry of Education and the section in the Institute of Educational
Research. The examiners encouraged the authorities to make a leap forward and to work out a
specifically Polish model of secondary education (covering both general and vocational
education) instead of copying arrangements from other countries.
There was also little interest in the reform of education shown by social partners:
employers and trade unions. With the surplus of jobseekers on the labour market employers did
not see any need in investing in training, particularly initial training when they could hire
employees immediately with required qualifications, if needed. Such needs were rather rare as
most of the enterprises reduced their staff. The trade unions were concentrated on the job
protection, negotiations of the social guaranties for the employees of privatised state-owned
companies, leaving aside the issues of training and qualifications.
The reform of 1998
Shortly after the parliamentary elections in 1997, new government presented a package of
four reforms covering: the pension system, administration, health and education.
The aims and preliminary concept of the reform of the education system were defined in a
policy document presented by the Minister of National Education in January 1998. The following
goals were set for the reform1:
•
raising the level of educational attainment in the society by increasing the number of
those holding secondary and higher education qualifications;
•
ensuring equal educational opportunities;
•
supporting improvement in the quality of education viewed as an integral process of
upbringing and instructing.
The necessity to carry out a comprehensive reform of the education system was justified
1
Ministry of National Education, „ Reform of the education system – proposal”, WSiP, Warsaw, 1998.
in the document by:
•
the lack of capacity within the existing education system to adapt to the pace and scope
of cultural and social change;
•
the crisis of the educational role of the school resulting from the predominance of the
transmission of information over the development of skills and the shaping of
personality;
•
the lack of equal opportunities in the access to education at all its levels and the low
percentage of young people completing secondary and higher education;
•
the necessity to adapt vocational education to the changing needs of the market economy;
•
the need to establish closer links between schoolsat all levels and the family as well as
the local community.
The reform was envisaged to cover the following areas:
•
the introduction of a new structure of the school system;
•
changes in the methods of administration and supervision;
•
a curricular reform comprising the introduction of core curricula and changes in the
organisation and methods of teaching;
•
the establishment of an assessment and examination system independent of the school;
•
the financing of schools;
•
the identification of qualification requirements for teachers that would also be linked
with their promotion paths and the system of remuneration at an adequately high level.
As shown above, the plan presented a reform covering all aspects of the education system.
Proposals for specific arrangements were centred on school education.
Structural Reform
A change in the structure of the school education system, including the introduction of the
gymnasium as a new type of schools, was the most visible to the society and became the symbol
of the whole reform.
It was decided that the previous structure of education, comprising the eight-year primary
school followed by the four-year secondary school or the three-year vocational school as an
option to be chosen, would be replaced with a system described in brief as „6+3+3” (Graph 2.).
This meant that the duration of education in the primary school would be reduced to 6 years.
Following the educational cycle in the primary school, the pupil would continue his/her education
in a three-year gymnasium, and only upon completion of education in the gymnasium would
he/she move on to a three-year secondary school (specialised lyceum) or a two-year vocational
school. The structural reform postponed the choice of the direction of education at the secondary
level (general or vocational stream) for one year.
Pre-school education
0
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"zero" class
primary school
Lower secondary
Gymnasium
General second.
(profiled)
Basic
vocat.
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Graph 2. The school education system proposed by the reform of 1998
Far-going transformations were also envisaged for the secondary school. It was assumed
that the most, i.e. 80%, of those graduating from gymnasia would continue their education in
lyceums, and 20% would opt for a two-year vocational school. Technical secondary schools
would disappear completely from the Polish school education landscape, and lyceums would
establish “specialisations”. Lyceum students would be given the choice between the so-called
academic option, preparing them to take up higher education courses, and the vocational option,
providing them with introductory vocational training to take up employment. Those completing
education in a specialised vocational lyceum would not obtain any formal vocational
qualifications. Its graduates would need to acquire them in post-secondary schools, at courses or
at a workplace.
Since the two-year vocational school did not offer its students the possibility to take the
maturity examination, two-year supplementary lyceums would be established to enable those
graduating from such schools to continue their education.
The structural reform (introduction of the gymnasium) was launched in September 1999.
The first group of students after the completion of the 6th grade of the primary school started
their education in the first grade of the lower secondary school – gymnasium. At the same time
the new curriculum was introduced in primary schools and – of course – in the first grade of
gymnasium. It was planned that the new curriculum would “advance” grade by grade together
with the first age group of gymnasium students. Effectively by 2002 the reform should have
“entered” the upper secondary schools.
The introduction of a curricular reform based on a far-going decentralisation required a
system for the collection of information and the monitoring of the school education system being
implemented simultaneously. It was therefore decided that common compulsory tests assessing
pupil achievements should be organised at the end of education in the primary school and at the
end of education in the gymnasium. School education would culminate with the maturity
examination taken upon completion of education in the lyceum. All these examinations were to
be organised, set and corrected by the central examination board and regional examination
boards, new institutions to be set up as part of the reform.
It should have. But in 2001 there were parliamentary elections in Poland. The major party
of the new governing coalition was the Alliance of the Democratic Left (social-democrats with
the roots in the communist party). Many members of the Parliament from this party were
members of the Union of Polish Teachers - the biggest teacher trade union. Teachers, particularly
teachers of vocational subjects in secondary schools were very concerned that closing technical
schools would cause a reduction of the number of jobs. They did not believe (partly they were
right) that there would be opportunities to be employed in the developing post-secondary and
further education and training. There were not trained to work with adult trainees and with more
flexible curricula.
As a result of that informal lobbing the very first decisions of the Government taken only
few weeks after the elections concerned the delay for 3 years of the introduction of so called ‘new
matura’ and of the structure of the upper secondary education. It was decided that secondary
vocational schools (technika) would survive alongside profiled lycea and vocational schools.
(Graph 3.)
Pre-school education
0
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II
III
IV
V
VI
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II
III
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IV
"zero" class
6
7
8
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10
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12
primary school
Lower secondary Gymnasium
General Profiled Second.
second. lyceum vocat.
3
4
5
13
14
15
Basic 16
vocat. 17
18
19
Graph 3. The structure of the school education introduced in 2001
PISA results in 2000 and 2003
Although it was not planned beforehand Poland got a very strong instrument to measure
the effects of the structural reform. It was OECD international survey of students achievements
known as PISA – Programme for International Students Assessment. The programme launched in
2000 measures every 3rd year the competences of 15-year olds in reading literacy, mathematics
and science.
In Poland in 2000 most of the 15-year olds were in the first grade of post-primary schools
as the reform introduced in 1999 did not affect that age group. The distribution of students from
different types of schools in the survey sample was similar to the pattern in the whole age group:
40.7% of general secondary lycea, 36.4% of secondary vocational schools and 22.9% of basic
vocational schools. In 2003 when the second cycle of PISA take place almost all 15-year olds
attended the last grade of the lower secondary school – gymnasium.
The average result achieved by Polish 15-year old students in PISA 2000 test was 479
points what was significantly lower than the OECD average – 500 points. Polish results were
characterised by standard deviation of the reading literacy scores equalled to 100% (it means
equal to the OECD average variance of students scores) and big variation between schools – 63%
(OECD average 35%).
There was a big group of students (21.4%) who achieved very low results (below 400).
That group was unequally distributed among different types of schools:
80
600
70
500
percent
60
400
50
40
300
30
200
20
100
10
0
0
General secondary
Secondary
vocational
Basic vocational
points (500 - OECD average)
PISA 2000
POLAND
Percentage of the students with the score below 400
Percentage of the students the score beyond 600
Average student score (points)
Type of school
General secondary
Secondary vocational
Basic vocational
POLAND
Percentage of the
Average student score
students with the
(points)
score below 400
544
2.2
476
13.8
362
69.5
479
21.4
Percentage of the
students the score
beyond 600
22.0
3.6
0.0
10.6
As it can be seen the general secondary schools students performed as good as their
colleagues in Finland the country that achieved the best results (546 points). On the other hand
70% of the basic vocational schools students demonstrated the competences at the lowest literacy
level or even below (or more precisely, they did not demonstrate any competences in functional
literacy). The results clearly indicated that the Polish post-primary schools were very
differentiated and that there was a strong selection at the threshold between the primary and
secondary levels of education.
Strange enough, neither low overall scores of Polish students in PISA 2000 nor the
alarming signals on selection at the secondary level have provoked debate in Poland. The results
of the survey were published in 2001 when, after the parliamentary elections and the change of
the government, ‘corrections’ to the educational reform were decided upon and introduced.
Among them there was the decision on maintaining the structure of the secondary education with
4 types of schools: general lycea, profiled lycea, secondary vocational and basic vocational. The
government did not pay attention to the simple rule repeated by some experts: the more different
options the more selection and the bigger inequalities. No programmes were proposed to equal
the difference and particularly to focus on the students in basic vocational schools.
The evidence how the selection may affect students’ achievements has been brought by
the next cycle of PISA conducted in 2003.
The average score of Poland increased from 479 in 2000 to 497points what was at the
level of the OECD average. There were only 15% of students who scored 400 point or less
(21.4% in 2000) and 13.7 with 600 or more points (10.6% in 2000). At the same time the total
variance of the students performance (as a percentage of the average OECD variance) was 94.7%
(100% in 2000), the variance between schools 12.0 and variance within schools 83.1 (63 in
2000). The latter results are not surprising if we remember that in 2003 the 15-year olds were in
uniform comprehensive lower secondary schools.
But how to explain the noticeable improvement of the results of so called ‘lower quarter’
of the students? The researchers have tried different hypothesis looking for correlations between
the improvement of students performance and the school resources, the quality of school
equipment, teachers’ qualifications, selection and class groups composition, the student teacher
ratio and the school size. No correlation has been identified.
There are two possible explanations. One is that basic vocational schools students
‘labelled’ as low achievers did not make much effort to solve the problems at PISA test. While in
the mixed classes in lower secondary schools the attitude was different and even weaker students
tried to perform as good as they could.
The other convincing explanation refers to the introduction of the national tests in Polish
schools in 2002. The “PISA students” of 2003 had gained experience in solving test sitting the
final test of the primary school and being trained for the final exam (also in a form of a test) of
gymnasium. The 15-year old student of 2000 did not have such experience. Only those who
attended secondary school had passed the entrance exams which were rather similar to traditional
class exercise than to the questionnaire used for PISA.
Matura 2005, 2006, 2007
External examinations were the backbone of the school education system reform
introduced in 1999. They were planned as an objective tool for the evaluation of student's and
school achievements helping local authorities to assure good quality of the educational services.
The new exams were intended to facilitate the introduction of the curriculum reform as well. The
national core curriculum defined the goals, the objectives and the outcomes of teaching and
learning. All decisions on measures and methods to achieve them were left to schools and
teachers. The examination standards served as principle guidelines for planning the educational
process.
In the new school system the exams (tests) are organised at the end of each level of
schooling: in the sixth grade of the primary school, the third grade of the lower secondary school
and in the last grade of the upper secondary school. The final test of the primary school gives
feedback information to individual pupils and to schools on their achievements. This test is not
meant for any selection as all primary school graduates have to continue their education in the
compulsory gimnazjum (lower secondary school). The results of the exam taken in the third
grade of gimnazjum are used together with the final marks for the selection of candidates to
upper secondary schools. New Matura, the secondary school leaving examination, replaced
entrance examinations to the higher schools (universities).
All three exams are designed, organised and run by the regional examination boards
(Okręgowe Komisje Egazminacyjne) and the Central Examination Board (Centralna Komisja
Egzaminacyjna). So the examiners and assessors are not anymore the teachers of the given
school.
The first exams organised according to the new rules were planned to take place in 2002 –
three years after the introduction of the reform and at the time of the completion of the full three
year cycle of the primary (beyond elementary – grades 1–3) education, the lower secondary as
well as upper secondary education. Both final tests in primary schools and lower secondary were
organised according to the plans. New matura suffered from the political changes – the
government formed after the 2001 parliamentary elections decided to postpone the introduction
of this exam till 2005.
In that year, only students of general and profiled upper secondary schools sit the new
Matura exams. The education in upper secondary vocational schools lasts for 4 years so the first
graduates of gymnasia who continued their education in secondary vocational schools in
2005still had one year of education in front of them.
The first new Matura was passed by 87% of those who applied. One has to remember that
Matura is not obligatory so not all graduates (or potential graduates) decide to apply.
Unfortunately, the data on the number of graduates provided by the Central Statistics Office and
the data from the Central Examination Board are not consistent so its difficult to calculate the
matura success rate in the relation to the number of graduates or – what would be even more
interesting – to the number of the students who started their education in the given school three
years earlier.
Almost ninety percent of passed exams is a good result. It was not so good in the case of
profiled lycea – only 67% of successfully passed exams, while 92% of their colleagues from
general secondary achieved positive results. Such differences should not surprise if we take into
account that only the best graduates of the lower secondary schools applied for general secondary
schools. Profiled lycea were the second or even the third (after secondary vocational schools)
option. Also the number of lessons of general subjects (assessed at Matura) in profiled lycea was
smaller than the corresponding number in general secondary schools. So the lower results in
profiled secondary schools could have been foreseen. However, one third of those who did not
passed prove that profiled lycea did not manage to compensate for and reduce the deficits of their
first grade students during three years of schooling (in comparison to the students attending
general secondary schools). Yet the Ministry was (rightly) proud of the success of the
complicated logistic operation “New Matura” (240 thousands students) and there was not enough
attention paid to the poor results of profiled schools graduates. It is worth mentioning that 2005
was also the year of the parliamentary elections, so the government tended rather to concentrate
on success than problems.
In the following year Matura was organised in general secondary schools, profiled general
secondary schools and in secondary vocational schools. The overall success rate was lower than
in the previous year – 79%. In general secondary schools it was 90%, in profiled lycea 62% and
in secondary vocational 66%. Poor achievements rose the concern of the new minister of
education who decided that the best way to improve the results was to reinterpret the regulations.
The rule that the student to pass the exam had to gain at least 30% of points in each of the taken
subjects was replaced by regulation that 30% of all points (from all partial exams) was enough to
pass.
Consequently, the results in the following year 2007 were better: general secondary
schools - 90%, profiled lycea - 70%, vocational secondary schools – 82%. At least the statistics
looks better. Higher education institutions evidently have serious doubts on the competences of
their perspective students and from this year on some universities have initiated special courses
for the first year students to compensate for their deficits in knowledge particularly in
mathematics. That all has been caused by the lack of systematic approach. Instead of addressing
the problem at the secondary education level (where it emerged) the efforts are made to “repair”
the situation at the tertiary level.
Percentage of passed Matura
(types of schools)
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
2005
General
2006
Profiled
2007
Vocational
ANNEX – Statistical Data
Distribution of first grade students among different types of secondary schools before 1989
Year
Type of school
Secondary general education lycea
Secondary vocational
Basic vocational
1972
15.0
21.5
63.5
1986
18.0
30.5
51.5
Number of students
3 500
3 000
2 500
2 000
1 500
1 000
500
0
1990/1991
199 5/1996
1998/1999
2002/2003
2003/2004
school year
General secondary
post-secondary
basic vocational
Schools for adults
secondary vocational
Students in (upper) secondary education
1995/1996
2000/2001
1990/1991
Total
femal
male
Secondary schools (old system 8+3/4/5) 2 233 037
Basic vocational schools
Total
femal
male
2 585 905
Total
femal
2003/2004
male
2 968 631
Total
femal
2006/2007
male
1 286 743
Total
femal
male
32 448
835 969 305 812 530 157
729 886 263 024 466 862
555 426 188 749 366 677
27 372
8 526
18 846
457
59
398
for youth
for adults
832 026 304 360 527 666
3 943
1 452
2 491
721 860 261 643 460 217
8 026
1 381
6 645
541 951 185 585 356 366
13 475
3 164 10 311
18 252
9 120
6 230
2 296
12 022
6 824
457
59
398
General secondary (lyceum)
493 625 357 105 136 520
756 023 504 014 252 009 1 053 635 642 697 410 938
401 906 220 727 181 179
18 914
8 631
10 283
for youth
for adults
445 018 323 405 121 613
48 607 33 700 14 907
682 997 464 503 218 494
73 026 39 511 33 515
924 178 579 410 344 768
129 457 63 287 66 170
250 030 152 239
151 876 68 488
97 791
83 388
18 914
8 631
10 283
618 211 337 535 280 676
768 920 378 942 389 978
928 658 436 138 492 520
354 203 168 996 185 207
1 910
918
992
578 334 313 674 264 660
39 877 23 861 16 016
757 135 372 738 384 397
11 785
6 204
5 581
904 455 422 142 482 313
24 203 13 996 10 207
336 720 159 607 177 113
17 483
9 389
8 094
158
1 752
47
871
111
881
176 801
55 870 120 931
169 211
39 600 129 611
228 885
64 990 163 895
235 896
68 779 167 117
11 167
3 109
8 058
58 261
118 540
15 062
40 808
43 199
77 732
18 290
21 310
52 149
77 462
59 827
169 058
15 816 44 011
49 174 119 884
68 904
166 992
19 633 49 271
49 146 117 846
11 167
3 109
8 058
108 285
83 206
25 079
161 010 113 965
47 045
200 114 130 132
69 982
265 744 156 072 109 672
75 134
33 151
55 568
27 638
19 566
5 513
96 159
64 851
70 719
43 246
25 440
21 605
78 792
121 322
56 722
73 410
22 070
47 912
90 511
175 233
59 969
96 103
30 542
79 130
146
81
65
855
na
na
1 913
693
1 220
1 622
755
867
Secondary vocational schools
(technikum) for graduates of 8-year
primary schools
for youth
for adults
Secondary vocational schools
(technikum) for graduates of basic
vocational schools
for youth
for adults
Postsecondary schools (szkoła
policealna)
for youth
for adults
Special vocational schools
Upper secondry schools (new system
6+3+3)
Basic vocational schools
for youth
for adults
70 439
98 772
1 401 414
2 220 502
185 743
59 578 126 165
235 975
67 013 168 962
185 743
-
59 578 126 165
-
229 170
6 805
65 352 163 818
1 661
5 144
General secondary (lyceum)
520 785 309 885 210 900
885 651 506 754 378 897
for youth
for adults
501 804 302 044 199 760
18 981
7 841 11 140
732 908 442 207 290 701
152 743 64 547 88 196
173 195
170 462
Profiled general secondary schools
na
na
95 642
74 820
for youth
for adults
Secondary vocational schools
(technika)
for youth
for adults
Postsecondary schools (Szkoła
policealna)
170 176
3 019
91 635
na
78 541
na
255 947
na
na
593 520 223 126 370 394
97 903 156 250
na
na
534 831 205 833 328 998
58 689 17 293 41 396
254 153
1 794
90 874
4 768
69 089
5 731
327 876 167 867 160 009
for youth
for adults
58 819 35 649 23 170
269 057 132 218 136 839
Special vocational schools
Total
159 963
10 499
7 018
2 233 037
Central Statistics Office (GUS), on the 30 September of the given year
2 585 905
2 968 631
2 688 157
2 252 950
3 047
3 971