The head of the Ministry of Education is staying; there will be no merger with the Ministry of Science. ZNP comments
"I think the ministry leadership should continue its work, because if revolutionary personnel changes were to occur now, it would take another year and a half to introduce new people to the entire process. And I remember previous ministers, some of whom had nothing to do with education except that they themselves had once attended school," comments Urszula Woźniak, vice president of the Polish Teachers' Union.
Government reshuffle: Barbara Nowacka, Minister of Education, remains in office. Ministry of Education separate from Ministry of ScienceThe cabinet reshuffle announced by Prime Minister Donald Tusk on Wednesday did not result in any changes to the position of Minister of Education – Barbara Nowacka, the current head, will remain in office . Experts believe that the ministry she heads must now accelerate and intensify its efforts to push through the long-awaited changes by the end of its term. They emphasize that these changes – although partially implemented – must also encompass areas that have been largely neglected by successive governments.
Marek Pleśniar, director of the National Association of Education Managers, also welcomed the decision not to merge the ministries. He believes that such an alliance has caused "a lot of misunderstandings" in the past. "However, what neither of these ministries – neither under the current nor previous governments – has managed to do is take effective action to unify knowledge about education and how children and adolescents should be taught in schools," the expert believes. "As a result, current teacher training graduates lack full educational competences and are completely unprepared for the role of educator and mediator," he assesses.
According to the director, this problem becomes more pressing in the context of the current actions of the Ministry of Education, which, he believes, "is striving to centralize schools." "And yet, this was not the basis for the reform initiated a quarter of a century ago," he says.
He considers the idea of appointing student advocates in schools ("while ostentatiously ignoring the role of their teachers") to be a prime example. "Perhaps due to the crisis within the government, the ministry is slowly beginning to back down from other misguided ideas, such as the deprofessionalization of preschool teaching. However, I believe that we need to talk to the community before we start implementing changes, especially since the community actively involved in school activities is relatively small," says Marek Pleśniar.
The principal also lacks action to improve standards – he believes that despite the demographic decline , children and young people study in large classes ("because there are constant savings on education"), young teachers, seeing how their older colleagues are treated, do not want to enter the profession. "Teachers and school principals are unfairly disregarded – because although there are half a million of us – another several million are the parents of children and teenagers who study in these schools," he concludes.
Vice-President of the Polish Teachers' Union: Actions are accelerating, but some absurdities will not be eliminatedVice President Woźniak, meanwhile, positively assesses the ongoing work on changes to the Teachers' Charter . "While there's still much to be done, it turns out—despite recent announcements—that they can be implemented starting in the next school year . This shows that action is accelerating," he comments.
"Of course, some absurdities won't be eliminated for now, such as the regulations allowing the dismissal of a teacher who, after 30 days of sick leave, is deemed temporarily unfit for work by a doctor; I recently encountered such a case," the expert explains. "But if such a person were employed at another employer, they could extend the sick leave period and later apply for rehabilitation benefits," she explains.
RP
