Reform In Poland Research Articles

Exclusion from taxation of civil law transactions concerning real estate in the sphere of science and higher education

The problem addressed is important both for fiscal reasons and in the context of the implementation of the assumptions of the higher education reform in Poland. The main objective is to verify the tax regulation based on several criteria. The analysis covers issues related to the consistency of tax law provisions and the system of higher education. The assessment of tax solutions is also performed in the light of the principles of correct legislation. The research conducted allows to draw conclusions indicating significant shortcomings of this structure, which significantly blur its substantive content and possible practical overtones. In consequence, it may lead to numerous disputes with tax authorities. The authors subjected to verification the research hypothesis that the legislature was not consistent in building the entire construction of the tax exemption, which affected the quality of regulations with their interrelationships. The article uses mainly the method of dogmatic-legal analysis and systemic analysis - crowned with a synthesis, which allowed to systematise conclusions de lege lata and de lege ferenda.

How about the Attitudes towards Nature? Analysis of the Nature and Biology Primary School Education Curricula in Poland

One of the most important goals in biology education is shaping positive attitudes towards nature, social and global problems, as well as health. Environmental education is an essential element because without pro-environmental attitudes, every environment-protecting action is less successful, and the results have much less impact on society. In the following article, we tried to combine this idea with the school curriculum, which is one of the most important documents used in education. The research question addressed in this paper is to what extent does biology/nature primary school’s education curriculum highlight shaping attitudes (at sensory, functional, and rational levels), and how did it change during the educational reform in Poland? The sample is the Polish core curricula for nature and biology for primary school. National curricula have been revised by the analysis of the content methods before and after the 2017 reform of the education system. The results showed that while sensory and functional levels are represented quite equally in the curricula, the rational level is neglected and has decreasing tendency (when comparing curricula before and after educational reform in 2017). It is presented an interdisciplinary method of analyzing the core curriculum, particularly what relates to attitudes. The presented analysis method is, by definition, interdisciplinary, combining the approach of cognitive sciences, psychology, and science education. On the basis of the research, new elements that should or might be taken into consideration in school practice are proposed. The proposed approach assumes that the combination of teaching ideas and values (that are deeply rooted in our nature) will be successful in shaping pro-environmental attitudes toward nature and health.

The labour market effects of the polish educational reform of 1999

We estimate the effect of the 1999 education reform in Poland on employment and earnings. The 1999 education reform in Poland replaced the previous 8 years of general and 3/4/5 years of tracked secondary education with 9 years of general and 3/3/4 years of tracked upper-secondary education. The reform also introduced new curricula, national examinations, teacher standards, and a transparent financing scheme. Our identification strategy relies on a difference-in-differences approach using a quasi-panel of pooled year-of-survey and age-of-respondent observations from the Polish sample of the EU-SILC database. The results indicate that the reform has increased employment probability (by around 3 percentage points) and earnings (by around 4%).

A cultural perspective of higher education governance reform in Poland: divergent interpretations by rectors across distinct categories of universities

ABSTRACT In 2018, a new governance law (Ustawa 2.0) modernised the institutional governance of Polish public higher education institutions. This article investigates the governance changes from the cultural perspective of higher education governance through a survey administered to all Polish rectors. Responses were analysed by splitting higher education institutions into three categories (traditional academic [comprehensive], specialised, and applied sciences) to explore whether distinct institutional environments/subfields influence the perception of the new governance model. This article provides several research contributions: it is the first to adopt a cultural perspective to analyse higher education governance reforms in a Central and Eastern European country; it addresses specialised universities and universities of applied sciences, which are usually overlooked in higher education governance studies; and it extends the knowledge of the recent Polish higher education reform by highlighting divergent interpretations of the same governance framework across distinct institutional subfields within the same higher education system.

체제 전환 이후 폴란드 고등교육의 국제화 과정

Jagiellonian University, the oldest university in Poland, was established in 1364, there were only seven universities until the 19th century. Even 21 universities were founded in the interwar years. Ups and downs of educational functions in Polish universities were due to Partitions of Poland, twice of World Wars and the socialist government. Since the transition in 1989, Poland has experienced political and economic transformation. These transformations also took place in higher education and allowed Polish universities to ensure autonomy from political control. The internationalisation of higher education is one of the pivots of the changes that Polish universities had undergone over the past 30 years. As a result, many changes have occurred in the educational environment, research, and university administration. During the transition period of the 1990s, the internationalisation process was insignificant. Since the 20th century, Polish universities and academics have been gradually opened to the Western world. Also, Poland has experienced the process of internationalisation through the ERASMUS/SOCRATES Programme. On the other hand, Polish universities have to actively attract international students due to the decline of domestic students. The Polish government and universities continued their efforts to reform the system. In addition, the emergence of the World Academic Ranking of Universities (ARWU) and the influence and support from the European Commission, the OECD, and the World Bank have impacted on internationalisation of higher education and education reform in Poland. Through this process, higher education in Poland was able to enter the transnational education and research system, the European order.

Constitutional reforms in Poland after 7 April 1989

The political events of the late 1980s, as well as the results of the Round Table negotiations, needed their formal confirmation in the Constitution in order to secure their durability. During the political transformation in the years 1989–1991, there were seven amendments of the Constitution of 1952 adopted, out of which the first two were particularly important. The first amendment of April 1989 restored, among others, the office of the President as a head of state and the Senate, as well as established the National Council of the Judiciary as the body protecting independent courts and judges. The second amendment of December 1989 introduced the fundamental principles such as a democratic state ruled by law, social justice, political pluralism, freedom of economic activity and property protection. The current Constitution of 1997 has been amended only twice – in 2006 in regard to the extradition of a Polish citizen (art. 55 par. 3) and in 2009 in regard to passive electoral rights (art. 99 par. 3). As shown by the political experience after 2015, the procedure for adopting the amendment to the Constitution set out in art. 235 is extremely difficult, which has led to a situation in which it is bypassed and the content of constitutional provisions is changed by ordinary provisions.

Local cultural context as a moderator of the impact of childcare on maternal employment: Evidence from a natural experiment

In spite of increasing levels of female employment, having a child below school age often goes along with a substantial decrease in employment engagement for women. Consequently, previous family policy research suggests that increasing childcare availability might be a promising tool to facilitate maternal employment as it increases the economic incentive to take up work. Another line of reasoning highlights that cultural attitudes towards maternal employment are equally important in shaping the employment decisions of mothers. In this article, we combine insights of both approaches and argue that culture, in addition to its direct effect on maternal employment, moderates the impact of childcare policies. In particular, we argue that the positive effect of childcare may be weaker in more conservative cultural contexts. To assess this question empirically, we exploit the implementation of a centralised childcare reform in Poland as a natural experiment by means of a regression discontinuity design. Relying on individual-level data on employment and regional-level information on the influence of conservatism in a certain region, we run multilevel regressions with cross-level interaction terms to estimate the effect of the reform depending on the local cultural context. Consistent with our theoretical expectations, the impact of the reform is rather strong in less conservative areas but fades away in increasingly conservative contexts. Supplementary analyses reveal that the effect also differs with regard to household composition, with smaller families displaying larger gains in maternal employment. These findings confirm that conservative cultural attitudes appear to suppress the positive effect of increasing childcare availability.

Luddites of the Twenty-First Century? The Influence of Trade Unions in Hard Coal Mining on Sector Reforms in Poland and the Czech Republic

There are only two European Union (EU) states where hard coal is still mined: Poland and the Czech Republic. One of the key interest groups in the hard coal mining industry are trade unions. They are particularly strong in this sector, almost entirely controlled by the state, in Poland—without their approval, it is in fact impossible to implement any significant reforms. The main goal of the article is to explain the influence of trade unions operating in the hard coal mining sector in Poland and the Czech Republic on the results of the reforms of this sector carried out in 2015–2019. The framework for empirical analysis is the theoretical output on interest groups and the power resources approach. Measuring the influence of an interest group on the decision-making process is one of the greatest challenges in research on interest groups. However, the empirical analysis allows us to conclude that the purposes of mining trade unions both in Poland and in the Czech Republic were consistent, that the shape of the reforms introduced in 2015–2019 was convergent with these goals, and that the activity of trade unions had a very big impact on these reforms. However, in the long run, hard coal mining in Europe is in decline and trade unions are only trying to stop what is inevitable.

Concerns Regarding the Rule of Law as a Ground for Non-execution of the European Arrest Warrant: Suggestions for a Reform

The judicial reforms in Poland, which are harshly and continuously criticised as undermining the independence of Polish courts, have brought the principle of mutual recognition and the European arrest warrant (EAW) to its limits. These unprecedented challenges to the rule of law have made it necessary to create an extraordinary ground for non-execution of EAWs issued by Polish authorities. However, the pertinent jurisprudence of the Court of Justice in Luxemburg (case C-216/18 PPU and follow-up decisions) is not fully convincing, particularly in the light of two recent judgments by the Polish Constitutional Tribunal. For that reason, a more far-reaching legislative reform of the EAW is urgently needed.

The task-based approach in the theory and practice of teaching foreign languages in Poland

Foreign language teaching reforms in Poland involved chiefly a change in the way classes are conducted. The communicative approach present in programme materials and in practice was supplemented with elements of task-oriented approach. Instructionism, dominant in the didactic discourse, has been replaced with pedagogic constructivist concepts. This text is an analysis of the task-oriented programme premises and means of their implementation in teaching foreign languages (also in teaching Polish as a foreign language) in contemporary Polish education practice.

Combating the constitutional crisis in Poland – Can the European Union provide an effective remedy?

AbstractRecent constitutional reforms in Poland have demonstrated a lack of respect for the rule of law and for the fundamental values which form the foundations of the EU legal order. The Polish authorities have substantially deviated from principles that the country has accepted as a part of the Copenhagen criteria. The aim of the article is to analyse the mechanisms and procedures applied by the EU institutions to address the systemic threats to the rule of law in Poland. The main focus of the assessment is on the effectiveness of the measure and its potential for a proper solution to the problem. The response provided by the EU demonstrate that there has been a shift from a political to judicial enforcement of values. The article argues that the remedies that were deemed to be the least suitable to address the systemic deficiencies in the rule of law – an infringement action and a preliminary ruling procedure – proved to be the most effective remedy to defend independence of the Polish judiciary. Unexpectedly, the most efficient institution to ensure the respect for values enshrined in Article 2 TEU in Poland proved to be the CJEU, providing extensive interpretation of Article 19 (1) TEU and Article 47 of the Charter. Nevertheless the values are still much more difficult to enforce than the law. While the most serious infringements have been reversed, this has not prevented the Polish authorities from further violating the rule of law.

Postal or electronic voting? The analysis of the preferred voting methods in the context of failed electoral reform in Poland

PurposeThis paper aims to discuss reasons for the failure of the 2020 postal-vote election reform in Poland and examine opinions of Poles on voting methods. The main goal is to answer the following research question: Which of the alternative voting methods – postal or electronic – would Poles prefer?Design/methodology/approachThe approach is quantitative and based on the statistical analysis of voters’ attitudes toward alternative voting methods, in particular postal voting.FindingsThe main finding is that out of all voting methods available, most Poles favor electronic voting as a potential alternative to voting in person. On a general level, the conclusions from the Polish case highlight the need to establish special requirements and standards for democratic elections during emergency situations. The unsuccessful implementation of all-postal voting in Poland is an example of how changes to the law should not be made, especially when public health and democratic standards are at stake.Practical implicationsThe paper presents practical implications and recommendations for state authorities and electoral administration while implementing electoral reforms, extending the list of available voting channels, and running elections – especially in extraordinary situations.Originality/valueThis paper adds to the knowledge on alternative voting channels, including their implementation during a pandemic. The Polish case is also relevant for other countries as regards safe and democratic elections during emergency situations. Policymakers are expected to benefit from the insight, as the results originate in public opinion polls and identify voting channels favored by citizens

When policy entrepreneurs fail: Explaining the failure of long‐term care reforms in Poland

AbstractThis article explains the failure of two long‐term care (LTC) reforms attempted between 2005 and 2019 in Poland, and driven by policy entrepreneurs—individuals with a personal understanding of the challenges faced by LTC and determined to initiate policy change in the domain. The article inductively identifies the ‘outsider policy entrepreneur’ mechanism of policy reform. LTC in Poland is a negative case (or breakdown) of this mechanism, which occurs when a policy entrepreneur has enough political influence to initiate a formal reform proposal, but not enough to convince decision‐makers to adopt it. The article combines an examination of the role of policy entrepreneurs in social policy change with an analysis of their interactions with domestic and foreign epistemic communities. Through showing how ‘foreign’ policy models are used by policy entrepreneurs to pursue domestic reform, the study contributes to the literature on transnational policy diffusion/transfer. The analysis is based on document analysis and 16 semi‐directed expert interviews, which were used to process trace the explained outcome (failed reforms). The article concludes that the mechanism failures were due to the fact that involved policy entrepreneurs did not convince decision‐makers of the need to reform LTC. Specifically, the contribution identifies two features of the political context in illiberal post‐transition polities that interrupt the persuasion efforts of outsider policy entrepreneurs—the impossibility of inter‐partisan cooperation and continuity, and the declining role of Western policy models as catalysts for change.

The Distributional Effects of the Pension System Reform in Poland

The Distributional Effects of the Pension System Reform in Poland

Comparative analysis of the latest large-scale education reforms in Poland and Hungary

The aim of this study is to present the main features of the reform process in the Hungarian education system after 2010 and comparing it to the Polish education reform started in 2015. The analyzed education systems had common characteristics but since the fall of Communism they have developed differently. Nevertheless, we can observe several significant similarities in comparing the two recent reforms, the most prominent among them are the ways in which the reforms were prepared and implemented. In both cases, a dominant group with sufficient political powers decided to form the national education system in order to correspond to their worldview and political needs.

Crisis of democracy and education reforms in Poland after 30 years of political transformation

In this article I explain the reasons for betrayal of elites in the context of fundamental assumptions of the “Solidarity” movement in the years of 1980-1989. As a result, Polish society abandoned the deliberative and participatory democracy. I look at how education as a science and practice of education fits into democratization of the Polish state and society. The key meaning for me has the perception of education as a common good, as environments and entities, institutions or management practices which participate in the democratic society. In the transition period in Poland from 1989 till 2019 education did not become a source of ongoing changes in the country. I make a critical analysis of educational policy in Poland during the 30 years of the political transformation.

Continuity and Change: The Academic Teacher-Student Relationships in the Discourse on the Higher Education Reform in Poland

The article presents the results of research on the discursive models of academic relationships that come to the fore in the academic discourse on the reform of higher education in Poland. The aim of the research was to capture the ways of formulating knowledge about the reform of science and higher education and its subjects (i.e., academic teachers and students). The research material comprised 17 Polish academic monographs published in the years 2011-2014 (immediately after the introduction of the higher education reform in Poland). The direction of the analyses was emergent and inductive and was in line with the assumptions of post-Foucauldian discourse analysis. The theoretical basis was determined by the set of categories that constitute the phenomenon of the “formation of knowledge.” The main research problem was expressed by the question about what "truths" about the reform of science and higher education, its main subjects (academic teachers and students), and the relationships between them emerge from the analysed discourse. The research has led to the reconstruction of discursive models of academic teachers (traditional professor, docile workhorse, and hopeless practitioner) and students (student sensu stricto, client, disobedient citizen).

Powiatowe Archiwum Państwowe w Krakowie 1959–1975

The Polish State District Archives functioned in the years 1950–1975, with their tasks including primarily the accession and appraisal of new records. The State District Archives of Kraków existed between 1959 and 1975 as an independent institution, albeit under the supervision of the State Archives of the City and Voivodeship of Kraków. The directors of this institution were, consecutively: Stanisława Kloc, Bogdan Krauze and Aleksander Litewka. One of its most important tasks was to control the repositories of records in several dozens of institutions in Kraków and the surrounding municipal region. By 1970, the State District Archives of Kraków had collected twenty-fi ve archival fonds. Five years later, the institution was liquidated alongside districts themselves, as a result of administrative reforms in Poland, with its fonds being transferred to the State Archives of the City and Voivodeship of Kraków.

Polish energy strategy – in the quest for economy. Reflections on the Polish energy policy in the perspective of endogenous growth theory and global trends within the context of Visegrad cooperation

Strategies are usually long-term plans. However, many problems appear if they are considered essential issues of social life and economic security, especially considering the need to make choices concerning conditions of limited resources. Another issue is the dilemma of achieving individual goals in the conditions of global interdependencies. One of the key requirements of nation-states is to ensure energy security; therefore, governments are strongly focused on establishing a stable, enduring, and useful energy strategy. Therefore, the point of importance is factors that will be able to ensure energy efficiency, economic stability, security, and in parallel, sustainable developmentboth on the national and global levels. Drawing from the above, this study investigates the reasons for the indispensability to carry out an energy market systemic reform in Poland with consideration of economic argumentation. The theories of economic growth, especially of endogenous kind, is taken into consideration. It is also argued that to achieve sustainable economic growth and social development in the long run, it would be reasonable to simultaneously concentrate on human capital and technologies. More advantages will be gained through intergovernmental cooperation, within regional groups such as the Visegrad Group and at the supranational EU level. This conviction is motivated by the principles of public choice theory.

The Impact of Compulsory Schooling on Hourly Wage: Evidence From the 1999 Education Reform in Poland.

Background:In 1999, an education reform was implemented in Poland, which added 1 year to the shortest available educational path—that of basic vocational education. Under the new system, students choosing this path receive one additional year of general education. According to the authors of the reform, this should improve the students’ position in the labor market, as a shortage of general skills was identified as the main deficit of basic vocational school leavers prior to the reform.Purpose:The study assesses the impact of the 1999 reform on the hourly wage of individuals who completed formal education after obtaining a basic vocational school certificate.Methods:The analysis is based on individual data from the Polish Labor Force Survey for the years 2001–2016. As the education reform was implemented simultaneously across the country, a regression discontinuity design is used to assess its impact.Results and Conclusions:The study finds that one additional year of general education has led to a 13% increase in the hourly wages of individuals who completed basic vocational schools. This effect is higher than those reported in studies for other countries where the wage premium is typically found to be under 10%. This may be because the extension of compulsory schooling in Poland affected individuals with relatively low general skills and abilities.