2022

PLN 20 million to support intergenerational integration - competition results

26 October 2022

181 projects on intergenerational education and integration will be funded by the Intergenerational Education Centres - Support for Intergenerational Integration programme. The Ministry of Education and Science has allocated almost PLN 20 million for this purpose.

The aim of the new Ministry of Education and Science programme 'Intergenerational Education Centres - supporting intergenerational integration' is to expand the range of extra-curricular activities aimed at building social ties and developing intergenerational cooperation. The programme is based on the concept of lifelong learning and intergenerational education.

The programme was aimed at non-governmental organisations, including scouting organisations, as well as entities carrying out statutory activities in the field of education, whose projects support intergenerational integration. Integration should be based on the exchange of knowledge, experience and skills and promote lifelong learning and shape competences related to personal, social, civic and professional development.

National Reading Development Programme 2.0. for 2021-2025 - call for 2023

12 October 2022

"National Programme for the Development of Reading 2.0. for 2021-2025" is a continuation of the government programme (first edition in 2016-2020), which aims to create conditions for the development of reading by providing funds for the implementation of specific projects and initiatives. Under Priority 3 of the Programme, support can be provided to:

1. pre-school settings - for the purchase of books for children and activities promoting reading,
2. schools and pedagogical libraries - for the purchase of books and equipment for children's libraries and activities to promote reading.

The Ministry of Education and Science will allocate almost PLN 30 million in 2023 for the purchase of new books, library equipment and the implementation of reading promotion activities.

Financial support may be granted:

1. for pre-schools for:
   1. purchase of books that are new publications for children aged 3-6,
   2. implementation of activities promoting reading.
2. for schools for:
   1. purchase of books that are new publications and not textbooks,
   2. purchase of new equipment for school libraries:

• purchase of computer equipment for use by the librarians,
• purchase of software for libraries,
• purchase of e-book readers,
• purchase of equipment for the interior of the library, in particular bookcases, shelves, desks, cupboards, armchairs and lighting elements,
• implementation of reading promotion activities.

Financial support will be granted to the school running body, school or pedagogical library on condition that it provides an own contribution of at least 20% of the amount of the implementation costs of the task covered by the financial support.

2021

Strategy for Persons with Disabilities 2021-30

25 February 2021

The main objective of the Strategy for Persons with Disabilities is to include persons with various types of disabilities in social and professional life, thus guaranteeing them the rights set out in the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

The document takes into account demands of the community of persons with various types of disabilities and assumes a comprehensive, horizontal, supra-sectoral approach of public policy to support people with disabilities, taking into account their needs for independent living and social inclusion.

The provisions on specific actions in the Strategy, including those of legislative and programming nature, were preceded by the diagnosis of the actual state of affairs. On this basis, 8 priority areas of the Strategy were identified.

Within the first of the priorities, which is "Independent living", measures have been planned, the primary goal of which is to guarantee the right to independent living to people with disabilities, arising from Article 19 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Another priority area is "Accessibility". Accessibility is one of the basic conditions for the participation of people with disabilities in social and working life. It determines the ability of this group of people to perform their social roles and lead an independent life. It also means that persons with disabilities have equal access to the physical environment, buildings, transport, information and communication technologies and systems, and other facilities and services. Therefore, this priority area of the Strategy provides for actions to improve the accessibility of public spaces for persons with disabilities and to improve the mobility situation of persons with disabilities (in line with Articles 9 and 20 of the Convention).

A basic condition for effective social and employment activation in the case of persons with disabilities is also access to the educational system, hence another key area is the priority "Education". Measures in this area will serve implementation of provisions of Article 24 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which indicates the obligation to implement the right of persons with disabilities to education without discrimination, on the basis of equal opportunities, with ensuring an inclusive education system.

Another priority area of the Strategy is "Work". Work has three important functions in the life of people with disabilities: rehabilitation, socialisation (social bonds, development of human personality, satisfaction and self-fulfilment) and income. In this context, measures aimed at increasing professional activity and employment opportunities of persons with disabilities, pursuant to article 27 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, are of crucial importance.

Another priority area of the Strategy is "Living conditions and social protection". The main objective of actions under this priority, as stated in Article 28 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, is to ensure adequate living conditions for persons with disabilities and their families, including the satisfaction of basic subsistence and material needs and necessary social protection. Actions under the "Living Conditions and Social Protection" priority include combating poverty of persons with disabilities and their families, as well as meeting their housing needs.

Also important from the point of view of every person with disabilities is the priority "Health", within the framework of which measures have been planned in order to fulfil Poland's obligations resulting from the Convention (Article 25), in particular with regard to ensuring health care for persons with disabilities, access to health services and programmes taking into account their specific requirements and needs with regard to preventive health care, prevention of secondary complications and deterioration of health condition, medical rehabilitation and optimisation of the quality of functioning.

The Strategy for Persons with Disabilities 2021-2030 also designs activities in the "Awareness Building" priority, which follows directly from Article 8 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which obliges the State Party to the Convention to take immediate, effective and appropriate measures to raise awareness in society, including at the family level.

The last of the eight priority areas of the Strategy is "Coordination".  Implementation of the new state policy for support of persons with disabilities requires appropriate institutional reform to remedy the diagnosed systemic problems. The aim of the actions designed within the Coordination priority is to create a framework ensuring cohesion of the system and development of cooperation between institutions dealing with problems of persons with disabilities. Those actions include, inter alia, the reform of the system of assessing disability, development and adoption of the Act on Equalisation of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities.

The implementation of the measures designed under the individual priorities of the Strategy for Persons with Disabilities 2021-2030 will allow the establishment of a framework for a comprehensive national policy for persons with disabilities, in accordance with the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

It will also translate into a planned increase in the professional activity rate and employment rate of persons with disabilities.

The system of tracing secondary school graduates – the draft law adopted by the Council of Ministers

Reform status: approved, 2 February 2021

The introduction of a system for monitoring educational and professional careers of graduates of secondary schools is the main premise of the draft law adopted on 2 February 2021 by the Council of Ministers. Thanks to the use of data from the system, the national education, in particular with regard to vocational education, will respond better to the needs of the labour market and enable educational and professional mobility of graduates. The information about the careers of graduates will also allow to respond to changing socio-economic circumstances on a regular basis.

The most important solutions in the adopted bill:

• Provisions have been introduced to enable the acquisition and processing of detailed register data needed to monitor the careers of graduates of secondary schools. The solutions refer to analogous provisions adopted in higher education, but are adapted to the specificity of school educational data.
• Monitoring will be based on administrative data contained in the databases of Educational Information System, Social Insurance Institution, Integrated Information Network on Science and Higher Education - POL-on and District Examination Boards.
• Information on careers of graduates - collected annually and presented in a unified form, comparable across the years - will be used to improve the methodology of forecasting the demand for occupations and qualifications. This solution will help adjust the structure of education and programmes to changing socio-economic conditions.
• Reliable and easily accessible knowledge on the careers of graduates will allow to build the image of vocational education based on the collected data.
• The system of tracing graduates will also provide reliable information on employment conditions and salaries of graduates in particular professions, industries and regions. The employers can use this information to update and better adjust their graduate employment policies to the realities of the labour market.
• The launch of a tracing system of graduates is one of the EU conditions for the possibility of obtaining education-related funds under the new EU financial perspective 2021-2027.

Other solutions

• The details to the following provisions have been determined:
  • reporting of students staying at boarding schools in the schools belonging to the group, who are not students of the school at which the boarding school is established;
  • derivatives of the costs of salaries of employees who are not teachers;
  • establishing entities which are competent to make entries in the Register of Schools and Educational Institutions.

The new solutions will enter into force on the day following the day of announcement in the Journal of Laws, with the exception of some provisions that will take effect on other dates.

The Integrated Skills Strategy 2030 (detailed part) – the document adopted by the Council of Ministers

Reform status: adopted, 31 December 2020

The Council of Ministers adopted  "The Integrated Skills Strategy 2030 - detailed part (ZSU 2020)" by Resolution No. 195/2020 of 28 December 2020. The document was developed as a result of broad consultations, taking into account: the requirements under the Partnership Agreement, the recommendations of the report "OECD Skills Strategy: Poland" report and the assumptions of the New European Skills Agenda.

The areas of impact within the framework of the Integrated Skills Strategy 2030 (detailed part):

• Basic, transversal and occupational skills of children, youth and adults.
• Skills development in formal education – management staff
• Skills development in formal education - teaching staff.
• Developing skills beyond formal education.
• Development and use of skills in the workplace
• Career guidance.
• Cooperation of employers with formal and non-formal education
• Planning lifelong learning and validation of skills.

Each of the impact areas contains themes and lines of action, as well as a catalogue of entities to be engaged in the implementation of the Strategy. The Integrated Skills Strategy 2030 (ZSU 2030) provides a strategic policy framework for the development of skills necessary to strengthen social capital, social inclusion, economic growth and reaching a high standard of living.

The provisions of the ZSU 2030 provide both a basis for defining plans for the management of national and European funds for skills development, as well as a common frame of reference enabling the most beneficial planning of projects and programmes by administrators of individual parts of the state budget, local government units and other public and private entities. Thus, the provisions of the ZSU 2030 detailed part should be treated as a substantive guideline for the optimal allocation of national and European funds for the development of skills at national and regional levels.

Development and implementation of models for effective coordination of activities under ZSU 2030 as well as monitoring and evaluation of this public policy is supported by the non-competitive project entitled "Support and development of mechanisms of cooperation and cooperation for the development of skills at the national and regional level". "Support and development of cooperation and coordination mechanisms at the national and regional level in the field of lifelong learning" (implemented in 2020-2022 under the Operational Programme Knowledge Education Development). In the project approved for implementation it is envisaged that the models will be created in 2021 and implemented in 2022. The representatives of all groups of stakeholders of ZSU 2030 will be invited to work within the project.

https://www.gov.pl/web/edukacja-i-nauka/zintegrowana-strategia-umiejetnosci-2030-czesc-szczegolowa--dokument-przyjety-przez-rade-ministrow

2020

Development of career counsellor competencies

15/10/2020

The career counsellor competencies development programme is operated by the Ministry of National Education in cooperation with the Centre for Education Development. The programme is funded by EU funds coming from the European Social Fund as part of the Technical Assistance component of the Knowledge Education Development Operational Programme.

As part of the programme, the Centre for Education Development has conceived a project entitled Training of education and career guidance training providers and a competition entitled Education and career guidance training. The project aims at providing training to over 13,000 professionals to carry out career guidance framework programmes in individual schools and education institutions. Digital materials indispensable for career counsellors have also been developed and posted on the www.podreczniki.pl platform. 

Employer involvement in vocational qualifying exams

15/10/2020

This project of the Ministry of National Education is funded by the European Social Fund and implemented in cooperation with partners representing employers. It seeks to develop examination tasks in cooperation with employers. The project consists in the preparation of tasks to be used during vocational qualifying examinations organised by the Central Examination Board and those organised by examination boards operated by chambers of crafts and trades.

The creation of 51,500 tasks is the result of the project carried out by the Central Examination Board entitled Development of vocational qualifying examination task banks. This base is to be expanded in the second phase of the project by adding another 84,200 tasks. 

Each examination task developed as part of the project is reviewed by a team of experts, including representatives of employers, higher education institutions, vocational school teachers and the staff of the Central Examination Board. The project uses innovations, such as the SIOEPKZ IT system, thanks to which all candidates can sit the written part of their examination online. As a result, it is possible to develop multimedia tasks (films, animations) as well as those involving language, interpersonal and social competencies. Owing to that, vocational qualifying examinations will verify candidates’ skills in a broader scope and will become more reliable. The project also involves methodology training for authors and reviewers, as well as training for employers wishing to become involved in vocational qualifying examinations in cooperation with the Central Examination Board and regional examination boards.

The project New quality of vocational qualifying examinations in skilled trades implemented in cooperation with the Polish Crafts Association promises the creation of a database involving a total of 17,360 examination tasks covering 40 trades by the end of 2020. Methodology training for members of Design Teams and the publication of a guidebook for examination boards are also planned. Moreover, the project involves the creation of an online platform containing 40 methodological training sessions to be shared by 1,000 members of examination boards operated by chambers of crafts and trades. The project also involves six training sessions aimed at women - candidates to sit on examination boards.

For more information, go to: https://cke.gov.pl/ and https://ewr.zrp.pl/#/home

Integrated Skills Strategy 2030 – a draft proposal for consultation

23 July 2020

The Minister of National Education has announced the interministerial and public consultations of a draft proposal of the detailed part of the Strategy on the development of children, youth and adult skills. The detailed part of this strategy was drafted in cooperation with the OECD as part of the Skills Strategy project. This cooperation has resulted in drafting of a report „Skills Strategy OECD: Poland” which contributed to the work on the governmental document „Integrated Skills Strategy 2030 (detailed part)” (Zintegrowana Strategia Umiejętności 2030 (część szczegółowa), ZSU 2030).

The following areas have been taken into consideration in the ZSU 2030 Strategy (detailed part):

1. Basic, transversal and occupational skills of children, youth and adults (respectively).
2. Management staff in formal education.
3. Teaching staff in formal education.
4. Management and teaching staff in non-formal education and staff supporting informal education.
5. Development and use of skills at work.
6. Vocational guidance.
7. Employers’ engagement in formal and non-formal education.
8. Planning lifelong learning and validation of skills.

Every area includes proposals of topics and measures, as well as lists of entities to be engaged in the implementation of the Strategy.  The Integrated Skills Strategy 2030 (ZSU 2030) constitutes the strategic framework for the development of skills necessary for strengthening of social capital and inclusion, economic growth and reaching a high standard of living.

https://www.gov.pl/web/edukacja/zintegrowana-strategia-umiejetnosci-2030

Digital Competencies Development Programme

Reform status: programme, January 2020

The Ministry of Digital Affairs has created the Digital Competencies Development Programme until 2030 (PRKC), the aim of which is to continuously increase the level of digital competencies by ensuring that everyone in Poland has the opportunity to develop them according to their individual needs. The development of digital competencies contributes to the creation of an inclusive, open and modern society, which will translate into better quality of life on an individual level.

Within the framework of its comprehensive objectives, the Programme envisages the development of widespread digital competencies among citizens, spanning from pre-school and early childhood education through to senior citizens. Support under the Programme will be addressed to all those who want to improve their digital competencies, including entrepreneurs, employees of all sectors of the economy and civil servants, as well as digitally talented people who will supply the future stock of ICT specialists with the highest competencies. In tandem with this, we are planning digital inclusion measures aimed at eliminating digital exclusion through the promotion and increased accessibility of digital websites and mobile applications for people with disabilities. The Programme will also include initiatives designed to raise awareness of the use of digital technologies and promote digital hygiene.

Effective implementation of the Digital Competencies Development Programme until 2030 will require the involvement and cooperation of various stakeholder groups, starting from the government and local government, through to the non-governmental sector, the education and science system, then to entrepreneurs and employers. Therefore, taking the above into account, a relatively important or even key issue in the Digital Competencies Development Programme is a set of activities dedicated to public administration labs cooperating within the framework of the Administrative Competencies Centre (Polish: Centrum Kompetencji Administracji - CKA).

Status of work on the Digital Competencies Development Programme

The preparation of the Programme was preceded by numerous meetings and workshops with many stakeholders in the development of digital competencies. We consulted and discussed the scope of activities with experts from the Working Group for Digital Competencies, which included representatives of various backgrounds wanting to cooperate. Thanks to this, the Programme has a comprehensive character and is oriented towards introducing systemic changes in the area of digital competencies development.

https://www.gov.pl/web/cyfryzacja/kompetencje-cyfrowe

More EU funds for education

Reform status: approved, 30 December 2019

In December 2019 the Ministry of National Education signed new agreements in the framework of the Operational Programme Knowledge Education Development. Newly funded projects support development of model programmes for qualification vocational courses and preparation of new programmes for additional skills in some occupations in the car and mechanic industry.  

Development of model programmes for qualification vocational courses

EU funds will support projects preparing new programmes leading to the increase of an offer of short flexible forms of training for adults which will give them an opportunity to gain new qualifications and will lead to increased chances of finding a new job.
For more information please go to: https://efs.men.gov.pl/informacja-o-podpisaniu-umowy-o-dofinansowanie-z-beneficjentem-eduexpert-sp-z-o-o/ oraz https://efs.men.gov.pl/informacja-o-podpisaniu-dwoch-umow-o-dofinansowanie-z-beneficjentem-dga-s-a/.

Preparation of new programmes for additional skills in some occupations in the car and mechanic industry

Newly signed agreements lead to supporting  a flexible response of vocational education to actual labour market needs. Projects make it possible to create additional teaching content for a given occupation training programme. Additional content will help schools to adjust their teaching to both local and regional labour markets’ needs.
For more information please go to: https://efs.men.gov.pl/informacja-o-podpisaniu-umowy-o-dofinansowanie-z-polska-izba-motoryzacji/ oraz https://efs.men.gov.pl/informacja-o-podpisaniu-umowy-o-dofinansowanie-z-beneficjentem-wad-inzynieria-sp-o-o/.
https://www.gov.pl/web/edukacja/fundusze-unijne-dla-oswiaty--kolejne-umowy-podpisane