Terms of reforming the Polish educational system in political transformation period

The turn of the 80. and 90. of the XX century was a period of great political, economic and social changes in Poland. Introduction of democratic principles and Poland joining in the processes of European integration required a quick adaptation of the educational model to the changing social and economic conditions. In the new reality of the state's functioning the educational model based on central management became inadequate because it was applying uniform patterns of education characteristic for the communist era. The range of student's competence in the course of education was considered insufficient. In the era of market economy and general access to information the educational model based on encyclopedic knowledge also became inadequate. The required features which needed to be developed in a future citizen were: openness, creativity, initiative, the ability to function in conditions of competitiveness (Rodzoś, Charzyński 2005). It was particularly significant to prepare the young generation essentially for the proper reception and interpretation of the social and economic processes and changes occurring in the surrounding world. All of the above mentioned reasons lead to passing a bill on a new educational system by the Seym of Poland in 1990 and beginning the process of reforms. However, carrying out the reforms in conditions of the state's difficult financial situation as well as in the context of social habits formed during the 45 years of functioning in the totalitarian system causes numerous problems and inconsistency. The basic ones are: lack of cohesion of educational policy and frequent changes of the concept of reform resulting not from aspiration to increase the effectiveness of education, but from political and economic rationale; discrepancy between the theory of reform and its practical realization; appearance of activities and too hasty introduction of some changes, and lack of mental preparation of the society. These problems defer the process of reform and aggravate gaining positive results in the form of society's education which is better and well adapted to the needs of the contemporary world; they led as well to a decrease in prestige of the profession of a teacher. Despite the difficulties, many positive changes have also been obtained in the polish educational system, i.e. making education non-political, increase of the society's general level of education, implementation of the concept of life-long learning as well as introduction of many educational patterns copied from countries with well developed democratic systems, especially in the European Union