Poland have the 3rd best Education System of Europe

Forget about all these so-called "studies" - they are always rigged and controlled by political interests. Take the PISA study for example. There was a big discussion in Germany a few years back why the country ended up so low in the ranking, and that something had to be done. Turned out that it were only those German states that were ruled by the Social Democrats and the Greens which dragged Germany down. The state of Saxony, ruled by the conservatives at that time, was even ahead of Finland and would have taken the #1 spot if it would have been a sovereign country. Guess what happened after the Spiegel magazine published it: the politicians made sure that the statistics was only available for the whole country from then on and not on a per state basis anymore. Same happens everywhere; also in Poland. The f*ckers are just covering up that they are messing with the education system.


The US are way ahead from K to 5. After that they quickly fall behind.

No, they've been optional since at least 1995, when I started to train Polish teachers. Yes, schools are supposed to provide teachers of 'ethics' instead, but in practice they just claim that for a couple of students it's not worth the expense and don't bother.


It's certainly not impossible in Poland to teach those truths, now anyway, long may it stay that way.

Amen Harry and jon wondered what I meant by Poland still being a 'pure country.'
You just nailed it.


I don't disagree but why do you think that is ?
My guess is all the extra curriculum programs available in America with helicopter mom's.
After 5th grade in America a kid has so much to choose from in fun activities.
I wouldn't think the Polish kids have access to so many fun extra curriculum options to waste time with
so they can apply themselves to academic's.

Yes. In PL the govt and the educational establishment are desperate that the 'Magister' be considered equal to a Master's Degree (which it isn't) and this skews results - the same with stats about schools.

'Poland have the 3rd best education system of Europe'

so, Levi are you Polish then?

Lots of reasons. Excellent volunteer networks, usually great staff at school, support for gifted children or those that need additional help. Depends on the school district of course. 5th grade is a mixed bag already. Teachers are oftentimes not really involved anymore. They drown the kids in homework and rely completely on the parents instead of doing their job properly. Pensions are more important, if you know what I mean.

Merged: Is this true and legit info about education ranking of Poland ?

bbc.com/news/business-27314075

The article here mentions about Poland's increasing education system. It puts Poland in top 10 best education in world and top 5 in Europe. Is this article true ? Because all i hear from this Forum is Polish education system does not match up to those of western European countries and the states.

Secondary education is pretty good, but tertiary is abysmal.

Tops - should be quoted in the press.

For me, because of the low salaries and infamous "pol-etat", mediocrity is tolerated. Take today for instance. The SKM was empty at 8 a.m. It's supposed to be a normal school day for God's sake. Any excuse to reduce any participation or life-education.

Unfortunately, the level of education in Poland is still falling down. Let's look at the "matura" - exam after the secondary school which allows to begin studies. In the past, it was really not that easy to pass. Now it's much simpler. Why? Because the country has to look well in European stats of people with higher education :)

There was once even a case, when too few people passed "matura" and the minister of education decided to allow some of the "failed" students to pass it. The threshold of passing is 30%, the student must gain at least such a number of points in each of the obligatory subjects - which were changing during the time. In that times the obligatory subjects were: a written exam in Polish, a foreign language (usually English, but a few others are also possible to choose) and any chosen subject, and an oral exam in Polish and a foreign language. The minister decided that the students who gained an average of at least 30% in all the obligatory subjects would pass.

It's also interesting that from the 80's maths wasn't an obligatory subject in "matura". From 2010, it's obligatory again, but the exam is very simple.

From this year, they changed this exam and it's a little bit more difficult. But it's still much simpler than it was in the past.

Exactly kpc - good post. I was teaching Matura students for 20 years... the rot set in with that PIS bloke who was education minister - the one with the commie father.......

A good grade Matura certificate in humanity subjects used to be earned to some extent - now it is a bad joke and not to be compared with A levels in the UK in any shape or form. Those who say Polish school standards are above the UK need to get an education themselves. The idea is laughable.


Well -it's certainly a different kind of grading......
A student requires 93 per cent to study medicine. One of my students achieved that - with no application to speak of............... I suspect that the fact that his father is one of Poland's leading lights didn't harm his chances....... nod nod wink wink.

Strangely enough though he has been top of his class in the first four years of medical school, so who knows.

It's true. Poland has been doing astonishingly well at the secondary level. For all the moaning about the Matura, the evidence suggests that the school reform into 6+3+3 plus a change in general culture has worked well. I suspect the Polish focus on obtaining a broad education also doesn't hurt, especially compared to the narrow UK focus.

It's the tertiary level where Poland is failing badly, due to the PRL-era law that granted autonomy to universities and hence the ability for them to allow all sorts of nonsense.

Moaning is right! A friend who came back from Poland several months ago, remarked on the slogan "Matura bzdura!", making the rounds at Polish lycea:-)

Are you a teacher teargas? I am not a Masters graduate and don't work at university any more, but you don't know what you are talking about, with respect. The Polish Matura does not hold a candle to the baccalaureate or the UK A Level. Dress it up how you like.


Please spell it out. What nonsense precisely?

I bow to higher authority, such as Harry for one, but still maintain that the level of teaching in many Polish lower and higher schools is shockingly inept and not fully accountable in inspection, and also ridiculously "traditional" with the desks in row classroom, with the almighty teacher, there to be respected and unnerringly deferred to, which should have died with Charles Dickens alerting us to the fact.

We're not talking about the Matura, but rather the general system of education. I'd argue that the Polish emphasis on obtaining a general education is what is driving the PISA scores up, combined with a centralised system. It's more or less what the Finns adopted, the only thing lacking is treating the profession very seriously.


At the university level? The fact that courses are essentially made up without any supervision by others (if you're familiar with the UK, then it would be called validation), that blatant cheating is often ignored, and many other things. I've heard stories of unbelievable sexism displayed by older professors, and marking is often arbitrary and clearly made up.


All I can say is that something is working. Having visited Finland to observe their schooling system, I can tell you that one notable thing is that there's very little difference between the Finnish classroom and the Polish classroom at the 12+ level, except that grades are seen as pointless in the Finnish system, which I agree with.

Please read this

elementary.meridian.edu.pl/pdf/Teachers_Handbook.pdf

It is absolutely shocking. Can You imagine working there?

PISA has countless shortcomings and can't really be trusted. Nations that can be found at or near the top of the PISA table are often gearing their school systems towards doing well in PISA tests. Finland is such a country for example.

tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=6344672

PISA is not always reliable, that's absolutely right! Sure, it's easy to single out Iceland or Finland as tops in world, at least European, literacy, math skills, history and all that. Those two countries are also about the most homogeneous populations in all of Europe, including the world. Not too difficult is it to educate systematically and thoroughly a people when they aren't beset constantly by any number of social problems as is the case in Germany, France, England, Poland along with a host of others! Iceland and Finland both have tiny populations compared with the former ones I just mentioned, making it much harder to streamline learning when a given grade school class is composed of foreign-born children, even immigrant children, who don't or rarely speak/hear the host language at home, then come to school ill prepared to learn.

wonderful the best education teachers i ever seen in poland colleges.

Which ones?