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Eurydice

EACEA National Policies Platform:Eurydice
Quality assurance
Poland

Poland

11.Quality assurance

Last update: 30 September 2024
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General information

Early childhood education and care (ECEC) is divided into two stages: care for children aged up to 3 years, provided in crèches and kids’ clubs and by day-care providers and nannies, and preschool education for children aged 3-6/7 years in nursery schools and other preschool education settings. Crèches, kids’ clubs, day-care providers and nannies form a separate childcare system, which is not linked to the education system. Nursery schools and other preschool education settings are part of the school education system. The school education system comprises not only preschool and school education, but also adult education in schools for adults, stage II sectoral vocational schools and post-secondary schools, and in specific types of other educational institutions. Adult education outside the education system is provided by various entities as part of economic or labour-market training activities. Different quality assurance approaches are in place for the care for children aged up to 3 years, and for the school education system, the higher education system and the adult education sector. The approaches for the care for children aged up to 3 years do not apply to nannies. 

Early childhood and school education

Care for children aged up to 3 years

The national legislation sets conditions for the establishment and administration of crèches and kids’ clubs and the provision of services by day-care providers (three of the four childcare settings, jointly referred to as childcare institutions), and requirements for premises and health and safety at childcare institutions. See also the rules for the organisation and provision of childcare (Chapter 4) and qualification requirements for heads of childcare institutions (Chapter 10) and childcare staff (Chapter 4). 

As part of external quality assurance, the competent authorities of the commune (the lowest-level local government unit) enter onto the registers crèches and kids’ clubs, self-employed day-care providers and entities employing day-care providers which/who meet the conditions set in the legislation. They also supervise childcare institutions with regard to the compliance of their activities with law and the conditions and the quality of childcare. Staff authorised by the competent authorities of the commune conduct inspections at childcare institutions. 

In September 2023, the national legislation introduced uniform childcare standards for children aged up to 3 years, which address work with the child, safety of children, organisation of work, development and safety of staff, monitoring and evaluation, and collaboration between childcare staff and children’s parents. The monitoring and evaluation standards include quality assurance mechanisms such as a procedure to be in place for the observation and monitoring of child development; periodic performance appraisal for childcare staff; and analysis of parents’ satisfaction with the quality of childcare services. However, currently, the standards are not mandatory and serve as guidelines. Thus, the competent authorities of the commune supervising childcare institutions may adopt or take them into consideration or apply its own standards as before. 

The national legislation provides for the establishment of “necessary” and “optional” standards which have yet to be adopted. As from June 2026, necessary standards will be mandatory for childcare institutions (including self-employed day-care providers), the governing body of the commune that administers crèches and kids’ clubs, employs day-care providers and supervises childcare institutions, and for other entities which administer crèches and kids’ clubs and employ day-care providers. 

Currently, the national legislation does not lay down any specific mandatory procedures or approaches for internal QA at childcare institutions, except for some powers in this respect assigned to the parents’ council in a crèche and kids’ club. The tasks of an institution regarding the quality of childcare result from the aforementioned requirements set in the legislation, childcare standards adopted by the commune and internal regulations of the institution. As from June 2026, the above-mentioned necessary standards will be a mandatory part of internal quality assurance. 

Preschool education and school education

The approaches in the school education system are identical for preschool and school education. Pedagogical supervision is the central element of both external and internal quality assurance. It includes two mechanisms: inspections and support (various forms of support aimed at performance improvement such as the publication of information, conferences, training activities). External pedagogical supervision mechanisms apply to both public and non-public nursery schools and schools (hereafter jointly referred to as schools, wherever possible), whereas non-public schools may adopt different approaches in internal pedagogical supervision.

External inspections are conducted by inspectors working at the Regional Education Authorities (REAs) (which are a government administration unit at the regional or province level).  Topics or foci of external inspections are defined for each school year by the Minister of National Education in the national school education policy agenda. Based on the national agenda and the aims of inspections set in the legislation, the Head of the REAs in each province adopts a detailed pedagogical supervision plan, which indicates the number and types of schools undergoing inspections together with topics of inspections in a given school year. 

Internal inspections or audits are conducted by the head of a public school. The head defines topics of inspections in a pedagogical supervision plan for a given school year, taking into consideration the aims of inspections set in the legislation, the national school education policy agenda, findings from pedagogical supervision in the previous year and specific needs of the school. Findings from internal inspections are considered in external inspections.

Performance appraisal of a school head is not mandatory and takes place on the initiative of the school head or at the request of the parents’ council of a given school, the body administering the school or the pedagogical supervision body (the Head of the REA for most schools) (for information about the governing bodies, see Chapter 2). Appraisal is conducted jointly by two external bodies: the school administering body and the pedagogical supervision body, against the criteria set in the legislation. The legislation applies to heads of public schools, and to teaching heads in specific types of non-public schools.

The legislation on teacher performance appraisal applies to both the public and non-public sectors. Appraisal is mandatory for a novice teacher (a teacher carrying out an induction programme), and in case an appointed teacher (holding the first of the two professional promotion grades available to teachers) intends to apply for the chartered teacher grade (the second and highest grade). In other cases, performance appraisal may take place at any time, but not earlier than a year after the previous appraisal, on the initiative of the school head or at the request of the teacher concerned, the school council, the parents’ council, the school administering body or the pedagogical supervision body. The school head conducts an appraisal against the criteria set in the legislation. 

Representatives of two external bodies, the school administering body and the pedagogical supervision body, as well as external experts, are involved in the professional promotion procedure for teachers, which takes into consideration the outcome of the performance appraisal and includes an assessment of the teacher’s knowledge and skills during an exam or a qualifying interview. For information about promotion, see Chapter 9.2.9.

Higher education

The legislation provides for 6 evaluation processes as part of external quality assurance, and most of them are mandatory for higher education institutions (HEIs). The mandatory processes can also be defined as accreditation processes (although the legislation uses the term only as referring to programme evaluations in the fields of Nursing and Midwifery) as they end with a formal decision granting or refusing permission for a non-public HEI to be established or operate, for a public or non-public HEI to establish or continue to deliver a programme, or to continue to run a doctoral school.

The following four mandatory processes are currently in place: initial institutional evaluation and institutional re-evaluation (referred to in the legislation as the process of assessing applications and entering HEIs into the Register of Non-Public Higher Education Institutions or renewing their registration), and initial and periodic programme evaluations (with initial evaluation referred to in the legislation as the process of assessing applications and granting permits to establish programmes, and period programme evaluation referred to as programme evaluation).

Initial institutional evaluation and institutional re-evaluation are conducted to grant permission to non-public HEIs to operate. The Polish Accreditation Committee (PAC) assesses applications, and the Minister of Science and Higher Education takes a decision to enter a non-public HEI into the Register and renew its registration.

As part of initial programme evaluation, mandatory permits are granted for the establishment of first-, second- and long-cycle programmes in all fields of study to newly established non-public HEIs, and to existing public and non-public HEIs which do not meet the requirements set in the legislation to establish autonomously a programme in a given field of study (see Chapter 7). Except for the cases laid down by law, the Minister of Science and Higher Education issues such permits based on applications from HEIs assessed by PAC.

For programmes in the fields of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmacy, the Minister of Science and Higher Education also consults the Minister of Health. Accreditation awarded by the Minister of Health is additionally required to establish programmes in Nursing and Midwifery; it is based on an evaluation conducted by the National Accreditation Council for Schools of Nursing and Midwifery (NACSN&M).

Periodic programme evaluations in all fields where HEIs provide first-, second- and long-cycle programmes is conducted by PAC, which also takes decisions in this process, with no involvement of the Minister of Science and Higher Education. Additionally, the NACSN&M conducts periodic evaluations of programmes in the fields of Nursing and Midwifery, with accreditation granted by the Minister of Health.

Furthermore, the legislation provides for the establishment two new processes, complex evaluation and evaluation of the quality of education at doctoral schools.  

Complex evaluation, a non-mandatory process, will focus on the effectiveness of internal quality assurance in all areas where a given HEI provides education. It will be conducted by PAC. If an evaluation ends with a positive outcome, PAC will not conduct periodic programme evaluations in the fields of study assigned to the disciplines within areas where PAC has assessed the quality of education as particularly high, unless it is instructed to do so by the Minister of Science and Higher Education.

Evaluation of the quality of education at doctoral schools will focus on the quality of doctoral education (which has replaced third-cycle programmes in 2019) and will be conducted by the Research Evaluation Committee (a body which is also responsible for evaluation of research quality).

The national legislation does not prescribe the scope or elements of internal quality assurance in HEIs. It lays down only general arrangements for the quality of programmes, including student course evaluation, and periodic appraisal of academic staff. HEIs adopt detailed arrangements for quality assurance in their internal regulations. PAC and the NACSN&M consider internal quality assurance in their external evaluations.

Adult education

Quality assurance arrangements for schools for adults, stage II sectoral vocational schools and post-secondary schools (which take adults but are not classified as schools for adults), and institutions providing continuing education in non-school settings within the school education system are the same as for school education for children and young people (see above).

The legislation does not lay down any mandatory or recommended quality assurance arrangements for entities providing continuing education in non-school settings outside the school education system, as part of economic activity or labour-market training activity. Each institution can put in place its own approaches.

Both institutions within the school education system and entities outside the system which provide continuing education in non-school settings may apply on a voluntary basis for accreditation to the Head of the REA (see Preschool and school education above). Accreditation covers specific types of continuing education courses and confirms compliance with certain requirements and high quality of education. Evaluation is conducted by a panel appointed by the Head of the REA who also takes an accreditation decision.

Legislation

NB.: In January 2021, the Ministry of National Education and the Ministry of Science and Higher Education were merged into the Ministry of Education and Science (MES), and in January 2024 the MES was divided into the Ministry of National Education and the Ministry of Science and Higher Education. Thus, regulations on school education and higher education were issued by different ministers. 

Early Childhood and Care and School Education

Higher Education

Adult education

Schools for adults, stage II sectoral vocational schools, post-secondary schools and other adult or continuing education institutions within the school education system are governed by the legislation for the school education (early childhood and school education) system; see above.