Strategies of Polish Education

Abstract

The article discusses the future of education in Poland. The author first presents the conditions that determine the future of education: 1) the development of information techniques and Internet, which will make possible interaction between teacher and student without abidance by the laws of unity of time and place; 2) the ever greater saturation of various fields of life with knowledge; 3) changes in the occupational structure in the direction of increasing the proportion of occupations requiring qualifications. Education is growing ever more important for the efficient functioning of society and for the success of the individual. Probably for this reason the attitude towards education by both students and politicians is becoming more instrumental: education will matter not on account of the value of knowledge in itself, but will be treated both from the social and individual perspective as an investment. This imposes on politicians and administrators a point of view in the management of education in which the criterion of effectiveness (improving quality for the same costs or reducing unit costs) - will dominate. In the face of the rapidly increasing fund of knowledge, professional requirements and more frequent changes of occupation than in the past, the role of additional schooling is growing. With more decentralisation and diversification of various forms of education, an important part of educational policy will be control of the quality of teaching and the development of testing techniques. The co-operation of various partnera interested in educational “services” is necessary in order to set the goals of education: representatives of employers and employees and local authorities. The tasks of educational policy are changing: the role of the central educational administration will consist in attuning the expectations of various partners interested in the functioning of education so as not to lose sight of the common interest and long-range goals of education.