Poland’s suffocating Communist past gave students a thirst for knowledge. Parents of students who grew up under an old regime push their children to learn and help Poland shine in league tables.
Poland’s schools are largely the products of the Communist-era and thus make a poor impression on the outside. But the ageing and slightly shabby appearance of the buildings belie the fact the country has one world’s best-performing education systems.
In the latest OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), a yardstick comparing school learning across 65 countries around the world, Poland came in 10th for reading, an improvement of four on the last report three years ago.
Under the previous — communist — education system reading was the main method of education. Children were forced to read an enormous number of books so the skills and the habits developed, and now those children are parents and they have passed on their habits to their children. Poland also lacked technology so reading was one of the few available ways to educate. I always loved reading and used to read a lot (now it becomes a challenge to find time for it with 2 little kids and work…:) But I read a lot to my kids and they love books as well).
While the limitations of life under communism forced a reading-based education upon students, the suffocating political environment also created a thirst for knowledge outside the parameters dictated by the censor. Reading was a sign of independence. It taught people to be innovative. It was part of a rebellion against the system. This helped foster a huge appreciation for knowledge and learning in general, and when communism died Poles also realised that in the brave new world of democracy and capitalism the only way to get ahead was to get a good education.
This created a clamour for education that needed to be met, and resulted in a complete root-and-branch overhaul of the school system that few Western European countries have experienced in recent decades. Old socialist curricula were thrown out, and the school system reformed. A new compulsory year priming children for elementary education which had to be completed before the age of six was introduced, and a new level of “junior high was built into the system, lasting from the ages of 13 to 16. The introduction of this level has had an important effect on education. First of all it introduced one more year of education, but it has also had an important role in rural areas and small cities. In the past children often stayed in poor performing primary schools but now they have access to better schools. This has improved the quality and equity of education. At the same time as the shake-up was under way Poland began to experience a demographic drop that led to smaller and smaller classes. The Educational Research Institute has found that average class sizes in the country have fallen from nearly 22 in 2001 to just under 18, making them much smaller and more manageable.
While class numbers have fallen teacher salaries have travelled in the opposite direction. Research shows that since 2000 the average wage of a Polish teacher has gone up by 60 per cent, and now stands at around GBP 890 a month. Not a great deal on a European scale but better than the average Polish salary of GBP 756.This has encouraged good teachers to stay and helped recruit talented staff!
Do następnego razu… (Till next time…)
