Art Schools (at secondary level)

Art schools in Poland enable children and youth with particular artistic abilities to undertake individualised training in specific fields of art. In parallel to general education programmes, art education forms a separate system which is supervised by the minister responsible for culture and national heritage. Tasks related to the administration of some schools and the supervision of all art schools are carried out by the Department of Art Schools and Cultural Education in the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, and by the Art Education Centre (Centrum Edukacji Artystycznej). Pursuant to the legislation in force, such schools and educational institutions may also be administered by local government units and other entities, but the State, represented by the minister responsible for culture, remains the key entity in this sector.

The art education system in Poland is composed of the following public and non-public schools and other educational institutions:

• art schools providing art education only;
• art schools providing general education and art education (with the general education component based on the core curriculum and rules applied in general education schools);
• art centres where young people can develop their artistic abilities and interests;
• boarding schools providing art education and care to pupils studying outside their place of residence.

Art education can be continued in higher education institutions (specialised in art education).

Within the art education system in Poland, the following types ofart schools provide in parallel general and art education at secondary level:

• 2^nd grade music schools providing general education (6 years): general education is divided into the lower level, corresponding to grades VII and VIII of the primary school, and the upper level, corresponding to grades I to IV of the general upper secondary school. Education leads to both a vocational diploma of Musician and a maturity certificate upon passing the maturity exam (at the end of secondary education).
• General secondary schools of visual arts (5 years): general education is based on the curriculum for a general secondary school, and leads to a vocational diploma of Visual Artist and a maturity certificate;
• ballet schools (9 years) providing general education at the level from grade IV of the primary school up to grade IV of the general secondary school; the eighth-grader exam is conducted in grade V, and education leads to a vocational diploma of Dancer and a maturity certificate.

There are also types of art schools which do not provide general education, but only train students for art occupations. These include:

• 1^st grade music schools (4- or 6-year programmes, with no vocational qualifications at this level) and 2^nd grade music schools (6 or 4 years);
• schoolsof dancearts (9 years);
• circus arts schools (3 years);
• post-secondary schools of music (3 years) and visual arts (2 years) (providing post-secondary non-tertiary education).

Art schools train students for the following occupations:

• Musician,
• Visual artist,
• Dancer,
• Music theatre actor,
• Circus actor / performer.

A legal framework for art education at the primary and secondary education levels is provided by two Acts, the Law on School Education and the Teachers’ Charter. They provide the basis for detailed arrangements laid down in regulations of the ministers responsible for culture and national heritage and for school education.

Number of art schools and pupils / students in the school year 2017/2018:

(1) 1^st grade art schools:

• providing art education only: 497 schools attended by nearly 60,000 pupils.

(2) 2^nd grade art schools:

• providing general education and art education: 122 schools attended by more than 13,000 students;
• providing art education only: 149 schools attended by more than 11,100 students.

Source: Early childhood and school education in the school year 2017/2018’ (Oświata i wychowanie w roku szkolnym 2017/2018) (data in Polish and English).