Education of
children and teenagers is an important stage of their lives. It largely depends
on who the young person would like to be in the future. In Poland the level and
the quality of education of young generations is a very important issue. Under
the Polish constitution, everyone has the right to education. What is more, all
state schools are free of charge. The law in Poland also regulates the duty of
learning at primary and secondary schools.
The
educational system in Poland has a few stages. Pupils begin their education in
kindergartens. It is the initial stage, at which the emphasis is put on
playing, but at the same time children get to know the world surrounding them.
If parents give their consent, children also start learning foreign languages then.
The next stage of learning is primary education. It lasts 6 years and it is the
time when children learn the rudiments of Polish, mathematics, history and
geography of Poland and the whole world. Pupils also learn the basic laws of
physics and chemistry. They can develop artistically, too. At the end of the
sixth form, all the pupils take a nationwide examination (competence test)
which checks their knowledge acquired within these 6 years. The next stage is
lower secondary education, where students’ knowledge is expanded. It lasts 3
years and finishes with a national written examination, which consists of 3
parts: the humanities, Mathematics and Science, and a foreign language. On the
basis of the results, students are accepted at upper secondary school of their
choice.
There is a
wide range of secondary schools students can choose from: 3-year general upper
secondary school (liceum ogólnokształcące), 4-year technical secondary school
(technikum) and 3-year basic vocational school (zasadnicza szkoła zawodowa). In
general upper secondary schools students receive general education and usually
go to college or university afterwards. In technical schools they learn to be
IT specialists, building technicians, economist technicians, etc. In basic
vocational schools students learn to be hairdressers, car mechanics, cooks,
tailors and so on. A teenager who is 19 years old graduates from school and can
go to work or continue studying for the next 3 years – to become a bachelor and
2 more years to get a Master’s degree.
This is the
educational system we have in Poland.
As for our
school, this year is special because, on the basis of our General Upper
Secondary School No 1, Complex of General Education Schools in Brzozów came
into being. It comprises Bilingual Lower Secondary School and General Upper
Secondary School No 1.
We attend
General Upper Secondary School No 1, which aims at preparing us for further
education. However, first we need to pass a nationwide examination called the
Matura exam. Every day we work hard to achieve the best possible results …. and
marks.
In our school, just like in any Polish school, the grading system ranges
from 1 to 6. 1 is the lowest grade and negative assessment, whereas 6 is the
highest one (and very hard to achieve). To get 6, for example, you cannot have
any mistakes in the test. To get a passing grade, i.e. from 2 to 6, we must
have more than 50 % (or preferably more than that) correct answers. The grading
is conducted every semester (twice a year) and the final grade is based on the
student’s performance during the whole school year. Our school has a unique
system of grading, because it uses weighted average grades. It means that pop
quizzes or some minor tests (1st weight) are of a bit less
importance than tests and exams (2nd weight). In order to be
promoted, the students needs to get at least 1,76 final average grade.
FEEL LIKE A POLISH STUDENT
You
know what the name and type of our school is, so this is the time to tell you
something about our classes.
Firstly, something
about our timetable…
We
go to school from Monday to Friday, but sometimes we go to the cinema, organize
a lot of events or have school celebrations, so we don't have lessons then.
Usually we are at school from 8.00 a.m. to 2.10 p.m. or 3.00 p.m. Our lessons
last 45 minutes and the breaks between are very short: 5 minutes, 10 minutes or
the longest one - 20 minutes.
Secondly, our
subjects…
In
the first form we have 18 subjects and 34 hours at school weekly, but in the
second and third forms there are fewer subjects.
In the first grade we have:
•
Polish,
•
English,
•
German ,
French or Russian - we can choose which language we want to learn,
•
Mathematics,
•
Physics,
•
Biology,
•
Geography,
•
Chemistry,
•
History,
•
Information Technology,
•
Safety
education - we learn (for example) about first aid and international
organizations,
•
Social
studies – we study elections, political situation and wars,
•
Business
basics - we learn about troubleshooting and the market etc.,
•
Cultural
studies - it's something like art,
•
Religious
education - we learn about our religion,
•
Classes with
our form teacher- this is a lesson when we can talk about our problems, grades
or schedule travels,
•
PE
Of course, we don't have all these subject in
one day - only a few of them. Every week we have the same lessons, because
basically our timetable doesn't change.
Thirdly, our teachers…
There
are 57 teachers in our school ...it's quite a lot, I think. They are very
cheerful and nice, so we like going to school. :) Of course, we don't have the
lessons with every teacher- only with 15 of them. We don’t have one teacher who
teaches us everything- each teacher teaches one or two subjects.
It is the end of this article… We
hope that your knowledge about Polish school is a little bit broader now. We are
very happy that we can tell you something about our ‘Polish world’ and learn
something about you too.
See
you!
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