Student assessment

The student assessment system for all types of secondary schools is based on the amended School Education Act of 7 September 1991 (ustawa z dnia 7 września 1991 r. o systemie oświaty).

Internal assessment

Internal assessment of students' learning achievements involves assessing the level of knowledge and skills and the progress made in relation to thelearning requirementsbased on the curricula. It is mainly formative assessment. Internal assessment covers learning achievements and behaviour.

Internal assessment aims to:

1. inform students about their learning achievements and behaviour, and their progress in this respect;
2. support students in learning by providing feedback to them on where they have performed well and how they should continue to learn;
3. support students in the individual planning of their development;
4. motivate students to make further progress in learning and behaviour;
5. provide parents (legal guardians) and teachers with the information on students' progress or learning difficulties, behaviour and special talents;
6. enable teachers to improve organisational approaches and methods used in their educational activities.

Internal evaluation includes:

1. defining educational requirements to obtain individual end-of-semester (mid-year) and end-of-year marks for compulsory and additional classes;
2. setting criteria for the assessment of behaviour;
3. conducting assessment on an on-going basis, and giving end-of-semester and end-of-year marks for compulsory and additional classes, and end-of-semester and end-of-year marks for behaviour according to the scale and in the forms approved in a given school;
4. conducting so-called qualifying exams (for example, for students who did not attend classes in a given semester);
5. defining conditions and procedures for students wishing to improve their expected end-of-semester and end-of-year marks for compulsory and additional classes, and their end-of-semester and end-of-year marks for behaviour;
6. defining conditions and procedures for students wishing to improve their expected end-of-year and (in post-secondary schools) end-of-semester marks for classes and end-of-semester and end-of-year marks for behaviour;
7. defining conditions and procedures for providing parents (legal guardians) with information on students' progress or learning difficulties.

Students are assessed separately in each subject. Marks for subjects are given by teachers of individual subjects. The results of the assessment carried out during the year are taken into account in the end-of-year assessment. Assessment is based on single, end-of-semester (mid-year) and end-of-year marks.

The teacher uses the following marking scale to assess students’ learning achievements: 6 – excellent (celujący), 5 - very good (bardzo dobry), 4 – good (dobry), 3 – satisfactory (dostateczny), 2 – acceptable (dopuszczający), 1 – unsatisfactory (niedostateczny). When giving marks in physical education, teachers should take into account, in particular, the efforts made by the student to fulfil the specific requirements of the subject. School marks and marking criteria should be made available to students and their parents.

Where this is provided for in the school statutes, teachers inpost-primary schools can use descriptive assessment as single, end-of-semester / mid-year and end-of-year marks in all or selected compulsory or optional subjects.

Students receive marks for their behaviour (conduct) according to the following scale: excellent (wzorowe), very good (bardzo dobre), good (dobre), acceptable (poprawne), unacceptable (nieodpowiednie), and inadmissible (naganne). In principle, the mark for behaviour has no influence on subject marks, the promotion to a higher grade or graduation. However, in specific cases, the school's teaching council may decide that the student cannot be promoted to the next grade or finish the school if he/she has received an inadmissible mark for behaviour at the end of two consecutive school years.

Students may take a so-called qualifying examination if they or their parents consider that the end-of-semester or end-of-year mark given by the teacher is too low.

External assessment / Summative assessment

The maturity exam is conducted for students who finish general and technical secondary schools (and general and technical upper secondary schools of the pre-reform system) and stage II sectoral vocational schools.

The arrangements for the maturity exam are laid down in the School Education Act (ustawa z dnia 7 września 1991 r. o systemie oświaty) (Articles 44zzb to 44zzp) and the Regulation of the Minister of National Education of 21 December 2016 on the detailed conditions and procedure for conducting the lower secondary school examination and the maturity examination (rozporządzenie Ministra Edukacji Narodowej z dnia 21 grudnia 2016 r. w sprawie szczegółowych warunków i sposobu przeprowadzania egzaminu gimnazjalnego i egzaminu maturalnego) (based on Article 44zzza of the School Education Act). The exam is based on the requirements set out in the core curriculum.

Currently, the maturity exam consists of two parts: the oral part, which is internal and assessed at the school, and the written part, which is external, set by the Central Examination Board (Centralna Komisja Egzaminacyjna) and assessed by examiners listed on the registers of the Regional Examination Boards (Okręgowa Komisja Egzaminacyjna).

The written part covers the following compulsory subjects: Polish language, Mathematics, Modern foreign language and a National minority language; an exam in the National minority language as a compulsory subject is taken only by students who have finished a school or class with a national minority language as the language of tuition. Written exams in all these compulsory subjects are taken at the basic level. Additionally, for the written part, students should choose 1 to 5 subjects from the list which includes: Biology; Chemistry; Philosophy; Physics; Geography; History; History of music; History of art; Computer science / Information technology; Latin and ancient culture; Minority language (ethnic or national); Modern foreign language; Polish language; Regional language; Mathematics; Civic education. All additional subjects in the written part are taken at the advanced level.

The oral part, assessed by the schoolteachers, covers compulsory and additional subjects. Compulsory subjects include the Polish language; a Modern foreign language; a National minority language (only for students who have finished a school or class with this language as the language of tuition). Additionally, one subject should be chosen from the list including: a Modern foreign language; Ethnic minority language; National minority language; Regional language. The level (basic or advanced) is not defined for oral examinations.

The list of Modern foreign languages from which students choose those to be taken at the maturity exam includes English, French, Spanish, German, Russian and Italian.

To pass the maturity exam, students should: (a) score at least 30% of points available for each compulsory subject, in both the written and oral parts; and (b) take at least one additional subject in the written part.

Results of the maturity exam are, in principle, final and may not be challenged in a court of justice. However, students may file an appeal with the Examination Arbitration Committee (Kolegium Arbitrażu Egzaminacyjnego) in case they have checked out their marked examination paper and their request to the Director of the relevant Regional Examination Board to verify the scores given has been refused. They may also improve their results by re-taking the relevant part of the exam; detailed arrangements are laid down in the School Education Act.

It should be noted, however, that the Regulation of the Minister of Education and Science of 26 February 2021 (rozporządzenie Ministra Edukacji i Nauki z dnia 26 lutego 2021 r. w sprawie egzaminu maturalnego) lays down new arrangements for the maturity exam, which are related to the aforementioned changes in the core curriculum for general education. These will apply to:

• 4-year general secondary school graduates – as from the school year 2022/2023;
• 5-year technical secondary school graduates – as from the school year 2023/2024;
• stage II sectoral vocational school graduates who have completed the education cycle in a stage I sectoral vocational school after finishing the (post-reform) 8-year primary school – as from the school year 2023/2024; and
• (pre-reform) 3-year general secondary school graduates – as from the school year 2027/2028;
• (pre-reform) 4-year technical secondary school graduates – as from the school year 2028/2029;
• stage II sectoral vocational school graduates who completed the education cycle in a stage I sectoral vocational school after finishing the pre-reform lower secondary school – as from the school year 2029/2030.

The changes are not fundamental as compared to the arrangements currently in place. They concern, in particular: 1) the oral part of the maturity exam in the Polish language, the language of a national and ethnic minority and the regional language; 2) the method for conducting the maturity exam in Computer Science; and 3) the duration of the maturity exam in some subjects.

Progression of students

Student are promoted to a higher grade if they have received ‘acceptable’ (2) or higher marks for all compulsory subjects at the end of the school year. Students who have received one ‘unsatisfactory’ (1) mark can take a ‘resit’ exam in the subject concerned. A student who has not passed the exam is required to repeat a year.

The school's teaching council may promote conditionallya student who has received mark 1 (unsatisfactory) in only one subject. A student can be conditionally promoted to the next grade only once during the entire education cycle in a given type of school.

If students did not attend more than 50% of compulsory classes and, thus, there is no basis for assessment, they can take a so-called qualifying exam on an agreed date.

Certification

All public secondary schools, and non-public secondary schools that comply with the requirements set for public schools, award standardised certificates (the layout of these documents and rules for filling them in are laid down in the legislation).

Upon finishing a general secondary school, students receive a school leaving certificate (świadectwo ukończenia liceum ogólnokształcącego), based on end-of-year marks for all subjects in the final grade, without results of the final examination. The certificate provides access to a post-secondary (non-tertiary) school or the maturity exam.

General secondary school graduates who have passed the maturity exam receive a maturitycertificate (świadectwo dojrzałości). The certificate includes the results of the written and oral parts of the exam. Those who have re-taken the exam and improved their results in one or more subjects (or have taken the exam in additional subjects) receive an annex to the certificate. The certificate and its annexes are issued by the Regional Examination Boards. The maturity certificate provides access to higher education.

A graduate who has not passed the maturity exam receives information on the exam results provided by the competent Regional Examination Board.