Aims and accessibility

ECEC for children aged up to 3 years

Home-based provision is available in addition to childcare provided by crèches and kids’ clubs. Home-based care is provided by day-care providers (opiekun dzienny) or nannies (niania). The Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy supervises both childcare provided in crèches and kids’ clubs and home-based provision. However, the mayor of a commune, town or city (the executive body of the commune, which is the lowest-level local government unit) supervises crèches, kids’ clubs and day-care provider settings in respect of the conditions and quality of childcare services.

A day-care provider is a natural person employed by the commune (the lowest-level local government unit) or a self-employed person. Where a commune is the employer, it covers the costs of the day-care provider’s civil liability insurance.

Childcare is provided in home-like conditions (often at the day-care provider’s place). Compared with centre-based settings, the length of time that care is provided for can be more effectively adjusted to the parents’ working hours.

A day-care provider is a childcare setting for a small number of children. Such services enable the provision of centre-based care, particularly in small rural communes where a crèche or kids’ club is not needed because of the small number of crèche-aged children. 

Pursuant to the Act of 4 February 2011 on the Care for Children aged up to 3 years (ustawa z dnia 4 lutego 2011 r. o opiece nad dziećmi w wieku do lat 3) day-care providers take care of children aged 20 weeks and above. They take care of up to 5 children; the maximum number of children is 3 if a group includes a child aged under 1 year, a child with a disability or a child who requires special care. With all parents’ consent, a day-care provider may look after up to 8 children. For a group which includes a child aged under 1 year, a child with a disability or a child who requires special care, the maximum number of children is 5 if at least one of the parents takes care of children jointly with a day-care provider.

As part of their main responsibilities, day-care providers:

• provide care to children in home-like conditions;

• provide children with proper care and educational support according to their individual needs;

• conduct care and educational activities suitable for the level of children’s psychological and physical development and their age.

A day-care provider cooperates and communicates with the parents of the children, and, in particular, provides them with information, guidance and advice. Day-care providers may be supported by parents in childcare activities.

Day-care providers should have suitable premises that ensure safe conditions for children. The commune can provide or furnish premises for day-care providers. The commune council determines the maximum level of, and the rules for calculating salaries for day-care providers.

A nanny is a natural person working on a written contract for home-based provision concluded with the parents of a child aged at least 20 weeks. The Social Insurance Institution pays a part of security and health insurance contributions (an amount which is not higher than 50% of the national minimum wage) for nannies, and the child’s parents pay the remaining amount.

Nannies can be hired only if both parents work (or the lone parent works) and the child is aged up to 3 years (or up to 4 years only in exceptional cases specified in the legislation).

Preschool education for children aged 3–6 years

Preschool education is provided only in centre-based settings. However, children can take the compulsory one-year preparatory preschool education classes at home.

Individualised learning programme and home education

The individualised learning option is available to 6-year-old children – that is, children required to complete the preschool preparatory year – who, due to their health problems, may follow an individualised learning programme at home, based on a certificate from a counselling and guidance centre. Home-based classes/activities are conducted for 4–6 hours or more per week in accordance with the Regulation of the Minister of National Education of 9 August 2017 on the individualised one-year compulsory preschool preparatory classes and individual tuition for children and youth (rozporządzenie Ministra Edukacji Narodowej z dnia 9 sierpnia 2017 r. w sprawie indywidualnego obowiązkowego rocznego przygotowania przedszkolnego dzieci i indywidualnego nauczania dzieci i młodzieży).

As part of an individualised preschool preparatory year, one or two teachers conduct classes/activities in direct contact with the pupil. The classes/activities take place at the child’s place of residence, in particular at home, or in an education-and-care institution, or in a nursery school if the child’s health allows them to attend.

Furthermore, at the parents’ request, the head of a public or non-public nursery school where the child is enrolled may allow the child to complete the compulsory preschool preparatory year outside a nursery school, preschool class or another preschool education setting. This is commonly referred to as ‘home education’. Home education can be provided only to a child undertaking the compulsory preschool preparatory year (a 6-year-old child).

Parents may receive permission for home education if they submit their request together with a statement that they provide conditions for the child to follow the core curriculum for preschool education.

In the school year 2024/2025, 1,614 6-year-old children participated in this form of education. 

Requirements for childminders and child/staff ratios

ECEC  for children aged up to 3 years

Crèches and kids’ clubs All staff working in crèches and kids’ clubs whose positions (responsibilities) are directly related to childcare should have qualifications required of a nurse, midwife, childminder, preschool education teacher, early school education teacher or childcare-and-education pedagogue/counsellor, social care-and-education pedagogue/counsellor, early education pedagogue/counsellor, or educational therapist. 

Such positions can also be taken by persons who have completed a degree programme or a non-degree postgraduate programme in one of the following fields or specialisation areas: early childhood development support; childhood development support as part of psychological and pedagogical support in crèches and nursery schools; development-oriented education; early childhood education; child psychology; psychology of learning and development; or educational psychology.

Staff in crèches and kids’ clubs administered by communes have the status of local government employees. 

Entities which administer non-public crèches and kids’ clubs set qualification requirements for support staff working in such settings. 

Staff, including support staff, who are employed or hired to provide services in crèches or kids’ clubs may not be listed on the Sex Offender Register nor convicted for an intentional offence by a valid court ruling. 

Day-care providers

Day-care providers (opiekun dzienny) can either have qualifications required for working in a crèche or otherwise provide guarantees for proper childcare on the condition that they have completed a training course of 160 hours.

Day-care providers can also hold other qualifications if they have previous experience of working with children aged up to 3 years and have completed the training as specified in the legislation.

Day-care providers can also be persons who worked with children aged up to 3 years for at least 12 months directly before taking up the job of day-care provider, on the condition that they have completed a 40-hour supplementary course, including training in first aid for babies and children.

Day-care providers are required to complete training in the first aid for babies and children every 2 years.

Day-care providers as well as nannies (see below) may not be listed on the Sex Offender Register nor convicted for an intentional offence by a valid court ruling.

Nannies

The Act on the Care for Children Aged up to 3 Years (ustawa o opiece nad dziećmi w wieku do lat 3) does not set any formal qualification requirements for nannies (niania). Neither does it specify the number of children for a nanny to care for. A contract agreed between parents (or a single parent) and a nanny specifies the number of children in care.

At the end of 2023, around 3,790 people employed as nannies were registered in the national social security system (nearly 900 less than in 2021). An overwhelming majority (around 97.7%) were women. 

The data shows that the demand for services offered by nannies declined again compared to the previous year. This may have been influenced by the Government Programme “Family 500+”, which has been in operation since 1 April 2016. The Programme aims to support families in raising children by providing a monthly child raising allowance of PLN 500 (around EUR 115). The Programme was renamed “Family 800+” on 1 January 2024 as the amount of the allowance was raised to PLN 800 (over EUR 184) per child. Some mothers chose to stay at home and look after their children rather than using external services. This trend may continue, considering, among other things, new family support or welfare schemes, such as the Family Care Capital, which are established by the Government. (Source: The Council of Ministers report on the implementation of the Act of 4 February 2011 on the Care for Children Aged up to 3 Years in 2023; text in Polish). 

Preschool  education for children aged 3–6 years

The qualification requirements for preschool education teachers are laid down in the Teachers’ Charter (ustawa Karta Nauczyciela) and the Regulation of the Minister of Education and Science of 114 September 2023 on the detailed qualification requirements for teachers (rozporządzenie Ministra Edukacji i Nauki z dnia  14 września 2023 r. w sprawie szczegółowych kwalifikacji wymaganych od nauczycieli).

In accordance with the law, a teacher position may be taken by a person who either has a higher education qualification and has completed teacher training or has completed a specialisation track preparing for work with children of the preschool or early school education age as part of a programme in a post-secondary non-tertiary initial teacher training institution (a type of institution existing until 2015). A person holding the position of teacher may not be listed in the Sex Offender Register or convicted of an intentional offence. 

Regrettably, interest in working as a preschool education teacher is waning. At the beginning of September 2024 (based on the Ministry of National Education data), around 13% of all job offers for teachers  were for preschool education teachers. There was a shortage of nearly 1,300 teachers in preschool education institutions. Vacancies existed, in particular, in big cities: as many as 63%, compared to 18% in rural-municipal communes and 19% in rural communes. 

On 21 April 2025, nursery schools had 977 job vacancies for preschool education teachers (413 job offers for the school year 2024/2025 and 564 for the school year 2025/2026).