General information

Care for children aged up to 3 years

Pursuant to the national legislation on the care for children aged up to 3 years, external supervision of crèches, kids’ clubs and day-care providers is the responsibility of the mayor of a commune, town or city (the executive body of the commune, which is the lowest-level local government unit). Supervision covers all activities of these three childcare institutions, which include nursing and educational care, and childcare and educational activities. It is based on a supervision plan adopted by the commune council (the legislative and supervisory body of the commune). 

So-called supervision activities, including inspections, are carried out by staff authorised by the mayor. The commune authorities assign specific responsibilities to such staff, but the national legislation authorises them to:

• visit the premisses on the days and during the hours when a crèche or kids’ club conducts or should conduct its activities;

• request oral or written clarifications, documents or information recorded on other data carriers, and any other data related to the scope of supervision;

• access records for staff employed in a crèche or kids’ club.

Within an institution, the quality of childcare is the responsibility of the head of a crèche or a kids’ club (as well as childminders; see Chapter 4) or the day-care providers as those who are in charge of an institution. See the information about management staff in the childcare system in Chapter 10.1. Specific requirements or responsibilities regarding the quality of childcare are set in the statutes of a crèche or kids’ club adopted by the entity administering a given institution, and organisational regulations adopted by the head, or by the employing entity for a day-care provider. 

Furthermore, the mayor a commune, town or city, the entity administering a crèche or a kids’ club, the entity employing a day-care provider, or a self-employed day-care provider develop a childcare-and-education plan. Such a plan may include childcare standards established in the legislation that came into force in October 2023. The standards address the work with the child (educational and childcare objectives); children’s safety; development and safety of staff, monitoring and evaluation; and collaboration between childminders and parents (see Chapter 11.1 “Quality assurance in early childhood and school education”). The plan sets out methods for the application of the standards adapted to the needs of a childcare institution. 

According to the standards for monitoring and evaluation, the head of a crèche or a kids’ club, the entity employing a day-care provider, or a self-employed day-care provider have, for example, the following responsibilities: 

• implement a procedure for the observation and monitoring of the child’s development; 

• analyse, at least once a year, parents’ satisfaction with the services provided; 

• review, at least every 2 years, the education and childcare objectives as set in the standard for the work with the child; 

• conduct, at least every 2 years, a performance appraisal of staff providing care to children or a self-assessment of performance in the case of a self-employed day-care provider. 

Based on results, the head of a crèche or a kids’ club and the entity administering the institution (the mayor of a town, city or commune or another entity) or the entity employing a day-care provider identifies areas where staff providing care to children should update their knowledge and skills. A self-employed day-care provider identifies such areas based on a self-assessment. 

For information about quality assurance, see Chapter 11.1 ‘Quality assurance in early childhood and school education’.

Preschool education and school education

Quality of education in schools (and nursery schools and other educational institutions) is monitored as part of so-called pedagogical supervision, which covers two types of measures:

• inspections conducted in schools (and nursery schools and other institutions) (for details about inspections, see Chapter 11.1, Quality Assurance in Early Childhood and School Education); and

• support for schools, which aims at performance improvement (activities such as dissemination of information; planning of development activities; organisation of training activities and staff meetings).

There are three levels of pedagogical supervision:

• national level: Minister of National Education, Minister of Science amd Higher Education, Ministers of Culture and National Heritage (for art schools), Agriculture and Rural Development (for agricultural schools), Climate and Environment (for forestry schools) and Justice (for youth detention centres, hostels for underage young people, diagnosis and consultation centres, and schools within these institutions);

• regional level: Heads of the Regional Education Authorities (REAs) (kurator oświaty);

• institutional level: the head of a school (in the case of a teaching head; otherwise related duties are taken over by a teacher holding a management position).

At the national and regional levels, the government bodies supervised by the above-mentioned ministers and the REAs establish the following positions for external pedagogical supervision that require teaching qualifications as specified in the legislation:

• in the ministries: 

  • inspectors (wizytator), senior inspectors (starszy wizytator) and chief inspectors (główny wizytator);

• in the REAs: 

  • heads (kurator oświaty) and deputy heads (wicekurator) of the REAs coordinating organisational units responsible for pedagogical supervision;

  • heads of organisational units responsible for pedagogical supervision;

  • inspectors and senior inspectors. 

• in specialised units responsible for pedagogical supervision which may be established for schools supervised by ministers other than the Minister of Education and Science: 

  • heads of units and other staff holding management positions and carrying out pedagogical supervision tasks;

  • inspectors, senior inspectors and chief inspectors.

Inspections in schools are carried out by inspectors, senior inspectors and chief inspectors (hereafter jointly referred to as inspectors). See Qualification requirements, and Conditions of Service for Inspectors below.

At the institutional level, in public schools, internal pedagogical supervision is the responsibility of the school head (or a teacher holding a management position if the head is not a teacher) who works together with other teachers holding management positions. The national regulations on internal pedagogical supervision do not apply to non-public schools which may put in place different arrangements.

General information about the responsibilities of the head (or a teacher who holds a management position and is in charge of pedagogical supervision) in the public sector is provided in the section ‘Responsibilities and powers of school head’ above. For details about internal supervision, including internal inspections and teacher performance appraisal conducted by the school head (or a teacher holding a management position), see Chapter 11.1 ‘Quality Assurance in Early Childhood and  School Education’.

Requirements for appointment

Care for children aged up to 3 years

The national legislation does not specify qualification requirements for staff directly involved in the supervision of, or external quality monitoring of childcare in, crèches and kids’ clubs. Such staff are appointed by the mayor of a town, city or commune who also sets qualification requirements for them.

The responsibility for the quality of childcare lies with the head of a crèche or a kids’ club, or the day-care provider. See Requirements for appointment in Chapter 10.1. “Management staff in early childhood and school education”. 

Preschool education and school education

Requirements for the appointment of school head, who is responsible for internal monitoring of the quality of education, are discussed in Chapter 10.1 ‘Management staff for early childhood and school education: Requirements for appointment’.

Qualification requirements for inspectors

Pursuant to the legislation, inspector positions in ministries, other government agencies and the Regional Education Authorities, which are responsible for external monitoring of the quality of education, may be taken by:

• appointed or chartered teachers (holding either of the two professional promotion grades for schoolteachers) who have a Master's (magister or equivalent) degree (awarded upon completion of a second-cycle or long-cycle programme) and: 

  • have completed in-service training courses in administration or management; or

  • have at least 2 years of work experience in a management position in a school (or a nursery school or another educational institution) or an initial teacher training institution (the type of ins

  • have at least 2 years of work experience in a position related to the organisation of work in educational institutions either in a body exercising pedagogical supervision over schools (or nursery schools or other educational institutions) or in a body administering schools (or nursery schools or other educational institutions);

• academic teachers who have at least 5 years of work experience in a higher education institution and have completed in-service training courses in administration or management.

The requirements discussed above are applicable to all inspectors, regardless of the level of the school education system where they conduct inspections.

Conditions of service

Care for children aged up to 3 years

Staff directly involved in external monitoring of the quality of childcare in crèches and kids’ clubs are employed by the mayor of the commune, city or town. Conditions of service for such staff are determined in accordance with the generally applicable labour and state pension laws, legislation on local government and detailed regulations adopted by the commune authorities.

For information on the conditions of service of the head of a crèche or a kids’ club and a day-care provider, who are responsible for the quality of childcare, see Chapter 10.1.1 ‘Management staff in early childhood and school education: Conditions of service’. The national legislation does not address continuous professional development of such staff regarding the monitoring of the quality of childcare. However, since the legislation set childcare standards in October 2023, various entities currently provide training courses in this area for responsible staff.

Preschool education and school education

For the conditions of service of a school head, who is responsible for internal monitoring of the quality of childcare, see Chapter 10.1.2 ‘Management staff in early childhood and school education: Conditions of service’.

Conditions of service for inspectors

The conditions of service for inspectors, who are responsible for external monitoring of the quality of education, are governed by both the legislation on civil service and the legislation on the teaching profession. This is because inspectors – like other staff in government administration bodies, including the Regional Education Authorities, which are a government administration unit at the regional level – have the status of civil servants as well as the status of teachers (see Chapter 9.2 “Conditions of service for teachers working in early childhood and school education”). 

Job vacancies for inspectors are published internally for staff in government administration bodies or the REAs in the case of internal recruitment or in the Public Information Bulletin for external recruitment. The recruitment process is conducted by a team which analyses documents submitted by candidates and holds interviews or a test. The team selects one best candidate and several reserve candidates according to the extent to which they fulfil the criteria set. The final decision to employ an inspector is taken by an authorised official in the case of recruitment in a government administration body or the Head of the REA (kurator oświaty) in the case of the regional education authorities.

Inspectors work on the basis of a fixed-term or indefinite employment contract. The working time of inspectors is 8 hours per day and, on average, 40 hours per week. Where necessary, they may have to work overtime, at night, on Sundays and public holidays. 

Pursuant to the legislation on civil service, the employment relationship with an inspector (as any other civil servant) may be terminated or may cease in case he / she has received two successive negative assessments of performance, acted in breach of the law, lost good repute or lost the rights to hold the position, or is no longer able to hold the position for health-related reasons.

Inspectors are entitled to a salary and other benefits for civil servants working in state-budget units. The salary comprises the basic pay, determined according to the position held, an allowance for the length of service and, depending on the mode of employment, an allowance for the professional grade held. Inspectors are also eligible to receive a number of benefits available to teachers. These include, for example, opportunities for the promotion to a higher grade in the professional promotion system for teachers, special retirement benefits (see Chapter 9.2, Conditions of Service for Teachers Working in Early Childhood and School Education) and the right to tied accommodation.

Participation in continuing professional development (CPD) activities is considered in the performance appraisal of inspectors. Inspectors can take part in various types of CPD activities for school education staff which are organised by in-service teacher training institutions, continuing education institutions, higher education institutions and other educational and training institutions.