The School Education System Reforms in Modern Poland

Abstract

AbstractThe article studies the reforms that took place in the education system of the Republic of Poland in 1999 and proceeded in 2009. The structural changes were characterized; the types of educational institutions were given; the changes in programs, forms and methods of a teacher with a student work were analyzed; evolutionary processes in the evaluation system were traced. Special attention was paid to structural changes in school education. The problems of the education system reform in Poland were highlighted (the convergence of learning with the realities of modern life, the upbringing of a modern individual, deprived stereotypes of the past, the democratization of the education system in the light of European experience, preparation for an accession to the EU, the self-regulation possibility of a new educationsystem). The new accents of the school education contents were analyzed (safe and healthy for the pupil’s health, focusing on the construction of their own values systems, their development and improvement, the obligation to enhance children’s independence through the provision of a high level of internal self-government, the elimination of a single educational programme in the senior classes and the opportunity for students to choose their own future profession). It has been concluded that reforms implemented at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries in the Republic of Poland reflected obvious advantages in systemic educational processes. One of the major trends in systemic reform was the introduction of the three-level structure of the school system “6 + 3 + 3” (six year primary school, three-year gymnasium and a three-year profile lyceum). The result of reforms was the adaptation of education levels and upbringing to periods of children and young people development, ensuring their better understanding of themselves, other people and the world; educational chances equalization; improving the quality of education. The prospective areas of research in this area include the study of reforms in preschool education as a starting point for a holistic education system in Poland, the disclosure of organizational and content aspects of child’s preparation for schooling.