Primary and secondary education

Education is compulsory in Poland for children and young people between 6 and 18 years of age. The rule also applies to foreign children, independently of their own or their parents’ status (e.g. foreigners holding permanent or temporary residence permit). The school year usually starts on 1 September and ends in the last week of June. In addition to a two-month summer holiday break, pupils in primary and secondary schools have short breaks of several days during Christmas and Easter and a two-week winter break. Classes usually start at 8 a.m. Each class lasts 45 minutes. Breaks last at least 5 minutes and no longer than 25 minutes. Pupils attend primary and secondary schools five days a week (from Monday to Friday).

All children aged 6 during a given calendar year are obliged to attend a one-year preparatory class at a nursery school or a primary school.

Children aged between 7 and 13 attend primary schools for a period of 6 years. Primary schools are divided into two stages: the first stage (grades 1 to 3) offering elementary integrated schooling and the second stage (grades 4 to 6) at which subject teaching is provided. At the end of the 6-year primary school pupils are required to take an external competence test (set by external examination commissions and assessed by examiners selected by these commissions) with no selection function. It serves an information on the level of achievements of the pupils.

All the primary school graduates obligatorily continue their education in a 3-year gymnasium (gimnazjum), a lower secondary compulsory school. At the end they are required to pass an external examination set by external commissions. The number of points indicated on the gymnasium graduation certificate (based on results achieved in chosen areas of study and other achievements) including the points received at the gymnasium examination decides on pupils' admission to an upper secondary school. The detailed admission rules are defined by each post-gymnasium school which opens admissions to new pupils.

Upon completion of gymnasium compulsory education is implemented through one of the following types of upper secondary education school:

• 3-year general secondary school (liceum)
• 3-year specialised secondary school
• 4-year technical secondary school (technikum)
• 2-year basic vocational school

Programmes in the first three types of schools lead to a compulsory state examination, called “maturity examination” (matura), which gives access to higher education. Higher education institutions may specify the results of the maturity examination which will provide the basis for admission to their degree programmes.