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'[[File:Miejska Szkola Podstawowa nr 13 Piekary Slaskie 090608 01.jpg|thumb|250px|''Szkoła podstawowa'' no 13 in [[Piekary Śląskie]]]] [[File:Legnica 1 lo 10100010.jpg|thumb|250px|''Liceum Ogólnokształcące'' no. 1 in [[Legnica]]]] [[File:XCVII Liceum Ogólnokształcące Warszawa (1).JPG|thumb|250px|''Liceum Ogólnokształcące'' no 97 in [[Warsaw]]]] Since the Reform of 1999,<ref name="BARIE archive">{{cite web | url=http://web.archive.org/web/20090327141545/http://buwiwm.edu.pl/educ/schemat.htm | title=The education system in Poland before and after the reform of 1999 | publisher=Bureau for Academic Recognition and International Exchange | date=June 2002 | accessdate=August 13, 2012 | format=Graphs | work=Internet Archive}}</ref> the compulsory '''[[Education]]''' in '''[[Poland]]''' starts at the age of five or six for the 0 class of kindergarten ([[Polish language|Polish]] ''przedszkole'', literally pre-school) and six to seven years in the 1st grade of [[primary school]] ([[Polish language|Polish]] ''szkoła podstawowa''). It is compulsory that children do one year of formal education before entering 1st grade at no later than 7 years of age. At the end of 6th grade 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 grades, 7, 8, and 9. They then take another compulsory exam to determine the upper secondary level school they will attend.<ref name="buwiwm-System">{{cite web | url=http://web.archive.org/web/20090129075532/http://buwiwm.edu.pl/educ/index.htm | title=Polish System of Education | publisher=Bureau for Academic Recognition and International Exchange | date=April 2005 | accessdate=December 2, 2012 | format=Internet Archive}}</ref> There are several alternatives from then on, the most common being the three years in a ''[[liceum ogólnokształcące|liceum]]'' or four years in a ''[[technikum (Poland)|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 Bachelor: ''[[licencjat]]'' or ''[[Engineer|inżynier]]'' (the Polish [[Bologna Process]] first cycle qualification), Master: ''[[Magister (degree)|magister]]'' (the Polish [[Bologna Process]] second cycle qualification) and eventually PhD: ''[[doktor]]'' (the Polish [[Bologna Process]] third cycle qualification). The system of education in Poland allows for 22 years of continuous, uninterrupted schooling.<ref name="BARIE archive" /> == History == [[File:Collegium Novum UJ 02 Krakow.jpg|thumb|250px|The [[Collegium Novum]] of the [[Jagiellonian University]] in [[Kraków]]]] [[File:Kazimierz Palace, Warsaw University 1.JPG|thumb|250px|[[University of Warsaw]]]] The education of Polish society was a goal of rulers as early as the 13th century, and Poland soon became one of the most educated countries in Europe. The library catalogue of the Cathedral Chapter of [[Kraków]] dating back to 1110 shows that in the early 12th century Polish intellectuals had ready access to most European literature. The [[Jagiellonian University]], founded in 1364 by King [[Casimir III the Great]] in [[Kraków]], was one of Europe's first universities. The [[Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth]]'s [[Commission of National Education]] (Polish: ''Komisja Edukacji Narodowej'') formed in 1773 counts as the world's first Ministry of Education. 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. Before the reformation primary school education took 8 years and it was followed by 4 years of secondary school. ==Enrollment years== Education in primary school lasts for 6 years and it is finished by writing compulsory exam. Next step is middle school ("gimnazjum") which lasts 3 years and it is also finished by writing compulsory exam. Depending on how high the score is, students apply to secondary schools. There are two types of secondary schools: [[Liceum]] and [[Technikum]]. The first one is 3-year school focused in general education and preparation for a university, the second 4-year secondary school is of a more vocational and usually more technical type.<ref name="BARIE archive" /> [[Primary school]] enrollment years include: 0th grade (5-6 years old), 1st grade (6-7 years old), 2nd grade (7-8 years old), 3rd grade (8-9 years old), 4th grade (9-10 years old), 5th grade (10-11 years old), and 6th grade (11-12 years old). [[Middle school]] enrollment include: 1st grade (12-13 years old), 2nd grade (13-14 years old), and 3rd grade (14-15 years old). [[Secondary school]] enrollment include: 1st grade (15-16 years old) 2nd grade (16-17 years old) 3rd grade (17-18 years old) 4th grade (18-19 years old) only in [[Technikum]]. In Poland [[compulsory education]] ends at the {{nobreak|age of 18}}.<ref name="BARIE archive" /> == Grading system and its history == In the lower education the old system of [[Grade (education)|grade]] measurements 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+, 4-, 4, 4+, 5-, 5, 5+. In the early 1990s the system was extended by introducing new [[Grade (education)|grade]]s, 1 and 6. They were described as: 1 (''niedostateczny'', ''insufficient''), 2 (initially ''mierny'', ''poor'', later renamed ''dopuszczający'', ''passing''), 3 (''dostateczny'', ''adequate"), 4 (''dobry'', ''good''), 5 (''bardzo dobry'', ''very good''), and 6 (''celujący'', ''excellent''). ===Present system=== In the new system, 1 (one) 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+. The full scale is as follows: 1, (1+ is rare)* (2=), 2-, 2, 2+ (3=), 3-, 3, 3+ (4=), 4-, 4, 4+ (5=), 5-, 5, 5+ 6 (6- rare), where "=" did not mean "equals" but was a common way of writing "a double minus" by those teachers that used such grades at their own discretion. 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 == [[File:O i Z UL.jpg|thumb|250px|[[University of Łódź]]]] The university-level education uses a numeric system of grades from 2 to 5, with most grades including 0.5 point increments: 2.0 is failing grade, 3.0 is the lowest passing grade, 3.5, 4.0, 4.5 follow, and 5.0 is the highest grade. There is no grade 2.5. Also, 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. Similarly "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 just 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. Generally, in 2005/06 the most popular obligatory foreign languages in Polish schools were: [[English language|English]] – 67.9%, [[German language|German]] – 33.3%, [[French language|French]] – 13.3%, [[Spanish language|Spanish]] – 10.2%, [[Russian language|Russian]] – 6.1%, [[Italian language|Italian]] – 4.3%, [[Latin]] – 0.6%, and Others – 0.1%. In 2005/06 there were 49,200 students in schools for national minorities, most of them in [[German language|German]], [[Kashubian language|Kashubian]], [[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]] and [[Belarusian language|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. == See also == * [[Grade (education)#Central and Eastern Europe|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 Poland]] == References == {{Reflist}} == External links == * [http://www.studyfun.pl Study in Poland] * [http://www.poland.pl/directory/index,Education,cid,858.htm Education in Poland on Poland.pl] * [http://web.archive.org/web/20060513152346/http://www.buwiwm.edu.pl/rec/recogn.htm Recognition of Foreign Diplomas in Poland] Source: Ordinance of the Minister of National Education on the Rules and Procedure. {{nobreak|Retrieved December 2, 2012.}} * [http://www.men.gov.pl/menis_en/news/news.php Ministry of Education (Poland)] * [http://www.euroeducation.net/prof/polaco.htm Structure of education in Poland] {{Poland topics}} {{Education in Europe}} [[Category:Education in Poland| ]] [[bg:Образователна система в Полша]] [[de:Bildungssystem in Polen]] [[ja:ポーランドの教育]] [[pl:System oświaty w Polsce]]'