Definition of the target group(s)

• people with diverse educational needs, including people with disabilities;

• young people at risk of social maladjustment;

• unemployed people who are seeking a job or wish to change their occupation or job;

• people who are in a difficult financial situation, including unemployed people and job seekers, in particular those aged up to 25;

• non-Polish nationals. 

Specific support measures

Counselling and guidance

Schools for adults, continuing education centres, practical training centres and retraining and in-service training centres provide counselling and guidance, referred to as psychological and educational support.

Public schools for adults provide psychological and educational support in ongoing work with learners and in the following forms:

• courses related to the choice of a training area and career and education and career planning;

• guidance and counselling sessions;

• workshops and training sessions.

Some central and local government bodies and non-governmental organisations also organise one-off, periodic or occasional counselling meetings on issues related to the national legislation or social problem prevention.

Voluntary Labour Corps

The Voluntary Labour Corps (VLC) (Ochotnicze Hufce Pracy, OHP) is a state-run institution which specialises in activities benefiting young people aged between 14 and 30 years. Its activities are targeted, in particular, at young people who experience difficulties in social functioning, require support in development, are at risk of marginalisation or social exclusion, experience educational delays or do not participate in full-time compulsory school education or full-time compulsory education in school or non-school settings. 

The VLC has the following responsibilities: 

• Education:

  • recruit young people to VLC education centres, VLC training and education centres and VLC labour corps; 

  • refer young people to schools and other educational institutions; 

  • provide conditions for young people to continue general and vocational education;

  • organise workshops conducted by VLC units or provide support to young people in finding employers for practical vocational training; 

  • provide conditions for young people to develop their vocational knowledge and skills and retrain for new qualifications, and motivate them to participate in continuing education; 

     

• Upbringing:

  • assess needs regarding care-and-upbringing activities for young people who experience difficulties in social functioning, require support in development, are at risk of marginalisation or social exclusion, experience educational delays or do not participate in full-time compulsory school education or full-time compulsory education in school or non-school settings; 

  • initiate, develop and implement education-and-upbringing programmes for the prevention of social problems and socialisation, resocialisation and readaptation of young people who are at risk of demoralisation and commit forbidden acts; 

  • carry out comprehensive care-and-upbringing activities for young people, and cooperate with parents or legal guardians and families in this area; 

  • take measures to ensure safety of, and protect young people, especially minors, against violence and neglect; 

  • provide specialist psychological, therapeutic and intervention-type support to young people in emergency situations caused by sudden and unexpected life circumstances;

  • promote the VLC’s care-and-upbringing activities in local communities; 

  • assess and monitor the effectiveness of care-and-upbringing activities for young people. 

• Employment and prevention of exclusion:
  • provide job placement services; 
  • provide career guidance and information; 
  • prepare for activity on the labour market; 
  • organise workshops on the development of skills and key competences on the labour market;
  • carry out empowerment projects; 
  • cooperate with national and international institutions and organisations, and organise international youth exchange as part of such cooperation; 
  • organise vocational training courses; 
  • monitor graduate careers; 
  • reimburse employers for the wages and social security contributions for juvenile workers, with funding coming from the Labour Fund. 

The VLC’s activities aim, in particular, to enable young people:

• to acquire vocational qualifications and complete primary education if they have not finished the primary school or do not continue education upon finishing the primary school;

• complete a general and vocational education programme at the post-primary level.

Young people below the age of 18 may continue general education and acquire vocational qualifications at the VLC. The VLC organises learning, while providing opportunities to acquire vocational skills and qualifications through on-the-job training. Employment and vocational training are based on individual employment contracts concluded in accordance with the rules applicable to juvenile workers. Thus, young people are entitled to social security benefits, and the period of vocational training is counted towards the total employment period.

The VLC provides continuous educational support to participants and encourages them to develop their artistic and athletic abilities. It also organises tourist activities. Its interventions aim to prepare young people for an independent life when they leave the VLC. Around 30,000 young people benefit from this kind of support each year. People in a difficult financial situation are provided with free accommodation, meals and 24-hour educational care during their stay in residential VLC units. 

The VLC organises the education and vocational training process for young people aged 15 to 18 years as part of their participation in full-time compulsory school education and full-time compulsory education in school or non-school settings. Participants combine general education with vocational training (a dual system), gaining practical skills and employment. Education is provided in public schools supervised by the local authorities. In exceptional cases, where there is no suitable school administered by a local government unit, the VLC can arrange for education to be provided in schools administered by other entities. 

The VLC has its own units which support young people in acquiring education and qualifications. These include, for example: 

• Training and Educational Care Centres, which provide 24-hour care and educational support and enable young people to obtain general and vocational education; 

• Training and Educational Care Centres, which carry out upbringing/educational care and vocational-type activities in response to the needs of participants. 

Career guidance is provided as part of the following 5 types of service:

• individual career counselling sessions,

• group career counselling sessions,

• individualised career information,

• career information for groups.

• remote career counselling (by phone, online).

These services are offered via:

• Mobile Career Information Centres (on-site and off-site sessions);

• Youth Careers Centres (on-site sessions).

To facilitate job placement for its participants and alumni, and young people at risk of social exclusion, the VLC:

• helps in job search: it initiates collaboration on youth employment or finds places for young people to undertake vocational training; participates in or (co-)organises job fairs or exchange platforms; runs the Youth Job Placement website (in Polish) with permanent and temporary jobs in Poland and abroad; participates in European job placement via EURES (website in Polish) (services provided in 16 regional VLC stations); 

• monitors employment contracts for vocational training concluded by young people;

• monitors practical vocational training undertaken by VLC participants.

VLC youth education and employment centres offer job placement services through:

• Youth Labour Offices;

• Youth Careers Services.

The VLC carries out projects for young people at risk of social marginalisation. In projects co-funded by the European Social Fund, young people can, for example, acquire vocational qualifications necessary to find employment.

Within its structure, the VLC has an information-and-consultancy centre, the Electronic Centre for Youth Mobilisation, ECYM, (Elektroniczne Centrum Aktywizacji Młodzieży, ECYM). The ECYM offers services to:

• young people;

• carers/guardians;

• employers;

• people interested in the activities of the VLC units.

The ECYM has:

• an info-line;

• the ‘Towards Careers’ online portal for young people (portal ‘Do Kariery.pl’);

• social media sites.

The Centre has been established under the project ‘The VLC as a labour-market service provider’ supported by the European Social Fund.

The VLC also operates:

• a national telephone info-line (telephone number: 19524), which provides information on support offered by labour offices and the VLC;

(Act of 20 March 2025 on the Labour Market and Employment Services / ustawa z dnia 20 marca 2025 r. o rynku pracy i służbach zatrudnienia)

(Regulation of the Minister of Family, Labour and Social Policy of 20 November 2025 on the detailed tasks and the structure of the Voluntary Labour Corps / Rozporządzenie Ministra Rodziny, Pracy i Polityki Społecznej z dnia 20 listopada 2025 r. w sprawie szczegółowych zadań i struktury Ochotniczych Hufców Pracy)

(Voluntary Labour Corps website)

Support to persons with disabilities

Entities which offer continuing education in non-school settings are required to provide organisational and technical conditions for the participation of people with disabilities in education.

Aims of education and methods for accomplishing them, as set out in curricula for adult education in non-school settings, should consider the possibility of individualised work of learners who take qualification courses or other programmes in non-school settings, depending on their needs and abilities.

(Regulation of the Minister of Education and Science of 6 October 2023 on continuing education in non-school settings, as subsequently amended /  Rozporządzenie Ministra Edukacji i Nauki z dnia 6 października 2023 r. w sprawie kształcenia ustawicznego w formach pozaszkolnych, z późn. zm.)

Conditions for the conduct and forms of vocational exams are adapted to the type of disability for people who hold a disability certificate from a medical doctor and take such an exam after completion of a vocational qualification course or as external candidates. These support measures are available to blind people and those with vision impairment; deaf and with hearing impairment; with a physical/motor disability, including aphasia; with a mild intellectual disability or autism, including Asperger’s syndrome. 

Financial support

Learners in schools for adults are entitled to financial support until they complete education, but not longer than until they reach the age of 24.

People in a difficult financial situation, unemployed people, people seeking or changing their jobs and people with disabilities may also receive support from the welfare services under programmes targeted at these groups.

Where public institutions and centres providing continuing education in non-school settings charge fees for such services, people in a difficult financial situation may apply to the head of the institution/centre for:

• an extension of the fee payment deadline;

• permission to pay the fee in instalments;

• full or partial exemption from the fee.

The head of a public institution/centre may grant full or partial fee exemption to a person with low income.  

(Welfare Act of 12 March 2004, as subsequently amended / Ustawa z dnia 12 marca 2004 r. o pomocy społecznej, z późn. zm.).