Presentation in Study Visit Grup.No. 192 (Barcelona), March 2012

1. Children with special educational
needs, foreign children, children from
national and ethnic minorities in the
Polish system of education
Barcelona Study Visit March 2012

2. Education for everybody
„Everyone has the right to education.”
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Art. 26
 the right to education – one of the basic
human rights, regardless of race, sex, religion,
national or social origin, etc.
 to integrate – unify, join, combine; open to
people of all races or ethnic groups without
restrictions

3. Integration in Polish school – facts and figures (I)
 First integrative classes in Poland were created in 1990, their number
continues to rise (all levels of education from nursery school to senior
high)
 distinction: mainstream /general/ schools with integrative classes,
integrative schools, mainstream schools with special classes and special
schools
 Population of children with disabilities in 2010 was app. 160 000 /3,4% of
a total number of pupils and students which is 4,8 ml/
 Total number of nursery schools and schools in Poland – around 58 000 /
more than a half in towns and cities with over 5000 inhabitants/; children
with disabilities only in one third of them
 Out of this number – 13% special nursery schools and schools
 55% of all disabled children attend special schools or special classes

4. Integration in Polish school – facts and figures (II)
 Compulsory education /primary school & junior high/ - higher
percentage of disabled students (2,8% and 4,1% of all pupils
& students respectively); non-compulsory education /nursery
& senior high/ - lower percentage (1% and 1,7% of all
students respectively)
 97% of disabled students in state schools (90% of the whole
population of students)
 private schools - more than a half of disabled students attend
special schools
 Individual tutoring at home – 0,35% of all students

5. Special needs
 Statement of SEN
 Spectrum of special needs: visual or hearing disability, emotional,
behavioural, developmental disorder, ADHD, poliomyelitis,
epilepsy, autism, Down syndrome & others
 Integrative class: 15 – 20 students, inc . 3 – 5 students with
disabilities
 Two teachers – subject teacher and assisting teacher
 All pupils/students follow the same general curriculum with
requirements adapted to individual abilities of children with special
needs
 Tests and exams adapted to special needs, e.g. longer time to sit an
exam for dyslexic children, enlarged print, test in Braille’s language,

6. Special needs
Disabled children are entitled to:
 Being exempt from learning second foreign language if they
suffer from hearing loss
 Prolong time of attending each type of school - at least one
year /primary school no longer than 18 years of age, junior
high school no longer than 21 years of age, senior high no
longer than 24 years of age/
 Postpone school obligation until 10 years of age
 Transport and care to and back from school free of charge

7. Problems
 majority of integration and special educational institutions in
towns and cities
 two thirds of schools – no children with disabilities
 wrong system of financing education for special needs:
subvention is not allocated to specific students
 compliance with the schooling obligation – monitored only
until the end of junior high school
 pressure on parents to send disabled children to special
schools
 low social awareness, lack of support for parents
 insufficient number of specialists, not enough training for
teachers

8. Foreigners in Polish school (I)
 foreigner – person without Polish citizenship
 foreigners can attend Polish state schools depending:
- on what legal grounds they are staying in Poland
- what school they want to attend
- whether they are subject to schooling obligation
 Schooling obligation – obligation to attend school, includes
primary and junior high school, from 6 years of age to 18
years of age
 Foreigner subject to schooling obligation who do not know
Polish language are entitled to at least 2 lessons of Polish a
week throughout a school year

9. Foreigners in Polish school (II)
 In state schools foreign children are granted the same
rights and obligations as Polish children (free education,
exams, scholarship)
 Foreigner must present attestation of hitherto education
and medical certificate /decision up to headmaster/
 If there are no documents – test or exam
 Foreign students – mainly from the Chechen republic,
Vietnam, Ukraine
 Integrative system in Poland – foreigner children are
obliged to participate in classes with Polish students
regardless of their knowledge of Polish language

10. Problems
 Insufficient solutions concerning policy of integration and
inclusion of refugees into the system of education -
regulations concerning accepting foreign children into state
schools not clear enough, not widely known, not enough
training courses for teachers
 Multicultural school still a novelty in Poland:
- Language barrier, cultural differences
- Dilemma – remain faithful to own culture and tradition – risk
of rejection by peer group or adaptation to new culture –
rejection by own community
- difficult cooperation with parents

11. National minorities
National minorities in Poland:
 Byelorussians (app. 48 000)
 Czechs (386 people)
 Lithuanians (app. 5500)
 Germans (app. 148 000)
 Armenians (262 people)
 Russians (app. 3300)
 Slovak (app. 1700)
 Ukrainians (app. 27 000)
 Jews (1055 people)

12. Ethnic minorities
Ethnic minority – does not identify themselves with any
contemporarily existing nation which inhabits their own
country
The following ethnic minorities live in Poland :
 Karaim (43 people)
 Lemkos /or: Rusyns, traditionally inhabiting the Carpatian
Mountains/ (app. 5800)
 Romani (Gypsies) (app. 12 700)
 Tatars (447 people)
Moreover, in the northern-central Poland /Pomeranian district/
there is a regional minority „Kashubians” who speak a
regional dialect

13. Languages of minorities – forms of teaching
 Three possibilities: mother tongue as language of instruction,
bilingual school and Polish as language of instruction +
additional lessons of mother tongue – most widely spread
solution
 Lithuanians the only to choose their native language as
language of instruction – all levels of education
 Other minorities – additional lessons (Byelorussian, Lemkos,
German, Armenian, Slovak, Ukrainian, Romani, Hebrew)
 Schools with German lessons - the highest number, schools
with Kashubian language – dynamic increase
 Possibility to choose native language as a subject at Matura
exam

14. THANK YOU 