Organisation and diversification of the educational market in Poland: The case of the Poznań agglomeration
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Date
2016
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Wydział Nauk Geograficznych i Geologicznych Uniwersytetu im. Adama Mickiewicza
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Abstract
The political changes in Poland after 1989 affected the formation of a self-reliant society. One of the results
was the decentralisation of public tasks in the field of education, with the relevant competences transmitted to local
governments. Since then, communes have been responsible for ensuring equal access to public education, but at the
same time a non-public education market has been developing. Important for changes in the Polish educational system
was also a reform started in 1999 which led to the transformation of the two-level system of education existing since
1968 into a three-level structure.
The first non-public schools began to form as an alternative to public ones. Currently, non-public schools are mainly
run by non-governmental organisations, religious institutions or social associations. In the general opinion, the quality
of education in non-public schools is higher than in public ones (smaller classes, better contact between student
and teacher, an individual approach to each student). In the face of education-model changes it is important to create
a wide range of learning opportunities for everyone. It is also not about competition, but cooperation among all institutions
involved in education provision. In this article, the progressive diversification of the educational market is
presented on the example of the Poznań agglomeration.
A diversified educational system, its commercialisation, and the creation of new educational opportunities for children
and young people beyond the basic programme of education are undoubtedly benefits for the Polish society. The
growing competition among the wide range of educational institutions (also taking into account institutions organising
extra-curricular classes), from a theoretical point of view, should help to improve the quality of education in the entire
market of educational services. As a consequence, these trends, together with demographic changes, may invite the
question about the prospects of public schools in their present form in the future.
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Keywords
educational system, compulsory education, decentralisation of education, market for educational services, Poznań agglomeration
Citation
Quaestiones Geographicae vol. 35 (2), 2016, pp. 105-114