Integrated approach to the planning and implementation of the country’s development policy, including the development of the whole area of lifelong learning is to reinforce positive tendencies concerning the achievement of the Europe 2020 headline targets for education and training. As regards the reduction of the share of persons aged 18-24 having completed max. lower secondary education (ISCED2) and at the same time not participating in education and training i.e. the so-called early school leaving (ESL) rate target, Poland has for many years been one of the leaders in the EU (in 2002 the rate was 7.2% as compared to 16.9% in the EU and in 2018 the rate for Poland amounted to 4.8% and to 10.6% for the EU-28). When it comes to increasing of the share of population aged 30-34 having completed higher education, Poland has achieved one of the most dynamic growing rates in Europe: in 2002 the indicator amounted to 14.4% for Poland in comparison to the EU-28 average of 35.7%, and in 2018 the indicator for Poland amounted to 45.7% while the EU-28 average – to 40.7%, which for Poland means exceeding the benchmark for 2020 set at 40%.

Therefore it seems that the attainment of the majority of Europe 2020 headline targets is already not the major challenge for Poland. Adult learning seems to be the only exception as Poland's score in this area is still below the EU average (in 2018 the average was as follows: Poland - 5.7%, the EU average - 11.1% while the EU benchmark has been set at 15% of population 25-64 being involved in some form of formal or non-formal learning). 

Targets, based on a diagnosis of challenges incorporated into the abovementioned  Responsible Development Strategy , the Lifelong Learning Perspective and the monitoring of Europe 2020 strategy implementation in Poland include the most important ones defined as:

• increasing the participation in early childhood education and care (ECEC) of children aged 0-5,
• improving the links between education and labour market needs in particular in order to reduce effectively the unemployment rates among young people and increase the professional activity of the older population,
• increasing the participation of adults in education, in particular low-skilled and disadvantaged groups,
• improving the coherence and clarity of the National Qualifications Framework,
• increasing creativity and innovation.

In the framework of the Responsible Development Strategy, the Government has formulated two performance indicators related to the education system. It is assumed that in 2020, the share of adults participating in education or training will amount to 4.2% (9% in 2030), and the unemployment rate of graduates of vocational schools will be at the level of 36% (21% in 2030). 

In order to enhance their effectiveness, all the reforms in education and training are coordinated with the implementation of projects financed from EU funds.

Education in the Europe 2020 Strategy

Europe 2020 is a 10-year strategy for a smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. The strategy identifies a number of key areas which concern the field of education and training: one of the five main headline targets concerns the improvement of education levels of European citizens (on the one hand by with twin targets on reducing early school leaving rates and on the other hand increasing higher education participation); country specific recommendations concerning, among others, education; the leading initiative - the Annual Growth Survey under the European semester of economic governance (Europa 2020 monitoring mechanism); the question of investment in education; and the agenda for New skills for New Jobs. The measures in the framework of educational policy identified in Europe 2020 strategy have been addressed in Poland in the Responsible Development Strategy which human and social capital as key factors for the country’s development. (see Introduction).

Headline targets for education and training

The strategy identifies a Europe 2020 headline target with two underlying targets for education and training to be reached by the EU by 2020:

• to reduce the percentage of early school leavers to under 10% from 14% in 2010;
• to increase the share of the population aged 30–34 having completed tertiary or equivalent education from 33.5% in 2010 to at least 40%.

EU member states have translated these two EU wide-targets into specific national targets.

The Europe 2020 national targets have been defined more ambitiously for Poland than for the other EU member states. The target concerning the reduction of the share of early school leavers has been defined as 4.5 % (with 4.8 % recorded in 2018). The target concerning the increase of the share of the population aged 30-34 having completed tertiary education has been defined in Poland as 45% (with the target reaching 45.7% in 2018).

Such an identification of targets is based on a considerable growth of educational aspirations of Polish citizens and the capacity of the whole education system (from ISCED 1 onwards) to satisfy these aspirations.

In the area of early school leavers since the beginning of the last decade Poland has been achieving better results than the EU benchmark. What influences the decreasing tendency of the share of early school leavers in Poland is a substantial part of population that completes upper secondary level.

When it comes to the second target – increasing of the share of population aged 30-34 having completed tertiary education - Poland has attained in  2018 the level of 45.7% which is above the European average. In addition, the pace of the increase of this indicator was one of the most dynamic in the EU over the last decade.

Country specific recommendations

In 2020 the following country specific recommendation has been formulated for Poland in the area of education (directly related to the Covid-19 pandemic)):

“The sudden suspension of classes at all educational levels has posed challenges for the education system in providing distance learning. To prevent growing inequalities, it is crucial to ensure that all learners, in particular from disadvantaged backgrounds, can access distance learning. However, households of almost 330,000 pupils were not equipped with a computer with internet access in 2018. Significant proportion of teachers lack skills to provide digital learning. At the same time, many parents struggle in supporting digital learning and home-based schooling. Continuation of measures to equip schools and teachers with digital infrastructure and on line teaching materials would address some of these issues and ensure quality. The COVID-19 crisis brings out the overall structural challenge with digital skills attainment, as nearly half of the adult population lacks basic digital skills, and overall adults’ participation in learning is significantly lower than the Union average. The recent reforms in vocational education have not incentivised enough employers’ to participate in it and work-based training remains underutilised. Emerging teacher shortages indicate the need to increase the attractiveness of the teaching profession.”

Information concerning the most recent recommendations.