Successes and failures in Polish education Autonomy and assessment within the Education reform. Madrid, 22 February 2014 1/22
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Success in PISA - Why in Poland? Country of political and economic transformation educational boom high aspirations of young people longer together at school 3/22
Main findings of PISA 2000-2012 in Poland Improvement in students performance and reduction in variance in students performance between schools results from comprehensive reforms of the educational system PISA 2000 examined the previous system of education PISA 2003-2012 examined the new one 4/22
Change of the structure of school system Changes introduced since 1999: introduction of the new school type - ISCED 2 and extension of comprehensive compulsory education by one year (related to 15 year - olds) Previous structure of school system (PISA 2000): ISCED 0 ISCED 1-2 ISCED 3 ISCED 4-6 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 PRE-PRIMARY EDUCATION ISCED 0 ISCED 1 ISCED 2 ISCED 3 ISCED 4-6 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 PRE-PRIMARY EDUCATION PRIMARY SCHOOL New structure (PISA 2003, 2006,2009,2012): PRIMARY SCHOOL LOWER SECONDARY general education extended by one year UPPER SECONDARY GENERAL UPPER SECONDARY VOCATIONAL SCHOOL BASIC VOCATIONAL SCHOOL UPPER SECONDARY GENERAL UPPER SECONDARY VOCATIONAL SCHOOL BASIC VOCATIONAL SCHOOL 5/22
Reforms in Poland Structural reforms of educational system included the following actions (taking place at the same time): transfer of schools to local government together with financial resources for their management (based on the number of students) change of the structure of school system reform of core curricula reform of the system of students assessment, including introduction of external examinations system rationalization of school network, especially in rural areas modernization of school equipment, particularly regarding ICT implementation of the system of teachers career promotion and the new remuneration system incentives for broad participation in teachers in-service training 6/22
Polish experience of decentralization Poland has nearly 20 years of experience of education decentralization: 1996 obligatory transfer of primary schools 1999 transfer of secondary schools and many non-school education institutions 1999- lower-secondary schools were established 2002 first external exams 7/22
Decisions taken centrally regarding lower secondary schools 8/22
Overall allocation of competencies in education Decisions level % of total Type of decisions taken Central level 25% national core curriculum, national external exams and assessments, approval of textbooks for use at school, salaries scale, instruction time Local governments 25% school network, opening and closing of schools, hiring and dismissal of principal, setting school budgets, setting school employment levels School level 50% hiring and dismissal of teachers, choice or development of school curriculum, choice of textbooks and software, assessment of students 9/22
Years of successes and failures Decentralization of education has brought Poland both successes and difficulties: Local governments became good owners of school facilities, invested in buildings and equipment, pushed forward consolidation of school networks Poland faces increased differentiation of schools and of local school systems 10/22
Local governments as school owners Today Polish local governments: Are responsible for school facilities and school networks Set school employment levels for teachers and non-teachers Finance salaries of school staff Decide and finance investments in schools But have little influence on education quality 11/22
Limitations of local competencies Polish local governments are quite limited as school owners: Strict national rules regarding teacher salaries, working time, teacher redundancies Strong autonomy of school directors regarding hiring and assessing teachers Limited insight into specific school reasons for high or low student test results 12/22
Key challenges for education governancenational level Poland faces serious challenges for effective governance of education at the local level: How to balance national concerns over education quality with local concerns over education costs? How to balance requirement for universal access to good education with local decision making? How to implement national education reforms? 13/22
Few hints from local point of view The highest quality of education is a factor contributing to the improvement of the human capital in Warsaw Warsaw runs 1000 public schools (333 kindergartens, 672 schools from primary to upper-secondry, 93 other educational institutions) 20% of city budget goes to education we built education policy for years (2013-2020) Free teacher training in local centre for teachers Special projects for schools The highest salaries for teachers 14/22
Warsaw Educational Policy - Selected development priorities in relation to school and preschool Priority Support for the development of a small child was the impetus to undertake such innovative tasks: - Early construction of the child support system (from birth) and his parents (advice, information portal Help your child and co-operation of the departments of the City of Warsaw). - in effect, Warsaw reached the highest rate in the country - 97.3% children aged 3-6 years attending kindergartens, nursery and primary classes (in Poland ca. 70%). - This was possible thanks to the construction of new facilities and modernisation of existing facilities and the need to take action to disseminate education (an increase of 13 000 places for children aged 3-6 years). 15/22
City of Warsaw Educational Policy in 2013-2020 selected priorities in relation to the demographic challenge Development potentials 1. Favorable demographic trends and net migration in Warsaw 2. High educational aspirations of young people in Warsaw 3. The highest rate of education development indicators in the country 4. An extensive network of educational institutions - concerning higher education, science, culture, business and nongovernmental sector 5. A wide range of informal education 6. Well-trained teaching staff 7. Taking advantage of European cooperation in the field of education 8. The dynamic development of social and the private educational sector 9. The most developed creative sector in the whole country 10. The expanding range of continuing education and lifelong learning Key issues 1. Difficulties in adapting education system to demographic changes 2. Inequalities in access to education 3. Inadequate utilization of education in the development of Warsaw metropolitan area 4. Negative impact of the crisis on education 5. Limited correspondence of education system and labor market 6. Insufficient social and civic activity of Warsaw residents 7. Inadequate utilization of social potential in education 8. Unsatisfactory quality of the educational offer 9. Barriers in the professional development of education staff 10. The difficulties of management in the field of education 16/22
Financing of education in Warsaw The structure of expenditure in the school year 2011/12, presented by type of expenditure grants 11% payroll expenses 13% repairs 2% investments 4% salaries and derivatives 70% r. 17/22
Warsaw flagship projects to promote innovations in education Wars i Sawa (Wars & Sawa) - Warsaw system of comprehensive support for gifted pupils Szkoła z pomysłem (School with an Idea for culture, learning) Warszawskie Inicjatywy Edukacyjne (Warsaw Educational Initiatives) - grant programmes for innovative and creative projects in schools Warszawska Nagroda Wychowawcza im. Janusza Korczaka Janusz Korczak s Warsaw Pedagogical Award - award for schools in Warsaw for their innovative and effective solutions in the key areas of education 18/22
We need cooperation Parents Warsaw Parents Forum (conferences, seminars, workshops) Non-govermental organisations grants (1,5 mln euro/year for educational projects) Universities lessons, workshops, summer schools for students Employers common projects, practices for vocational schools Culture institutions Youth Councils 19/22
Poland - strengths of the educational system small share of early school leavers - 5,3 % (EU average 14,4%) high rate of upper secondary education completion - 91% (EU average 78,6%) Poland has 2 million of students; 5 times more than in 1989) high tertiary education attainment 32,8 % (EU average 32,3 %) small share of people with the lowest education - 14% (the average share for OECD countries is 30%) small share of low achievers - 15 % (EU average 20.0%) highly qualified teachers - 97% with the ISCED 5 diploma 20/22
Main challenges Early childhood education and care only 70 % of children is participating in early childhood education (EU average is 92.3%); in Warsaw 97%. still large variance in student performance between schools at the level of ISCED 3 high unemployment rate of the graduates apox. 26% life long learning - only 4,7 of adults participate in life long learning in Poland (EU average is 9,3%) 21/22
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