President Andrzej Duda signed the amendment to the Act on the Education System

The amendment introduces changes regarding, among others: conducting external examinations: eighth grade, secondary school leaving and vocational examinations. It extends for another three school years – 2024/2025, 2025/2026 and 2026/2027 – no requirement to obtain 30%. points from one selected additional subject in the secondary school leaving examination.

Currently, to pass the high school final exam, a high school graduate had to obtain at least 30 percent. points from written exams at the basic level: Polish, mathematics and a modern foreign language, and two oral exams: Polish and a foreign language.

A high school graduate must also take one exam at the advanced level with the so-called elective or additional subject. Those interested can take up to five more advanced level exams.

READ ALSO: Verifiers, final exams, lighter school bags. What about changes in the education system?

In line with the education reform introduced during the government PIS high school graduates – graduates of 4-year general secondary school and 5-year technical secondary school – were to have a passing threshold of 30%. also on one exam of their choice taken at the advanced level.

However, due to the pandemic COVID-19distance learning and their effects on the education system, the introduction of this provision was then postponed for two school years (2022/2023 and 2023/2024).

The amendment also clarified the provision regarding the possibility of choosing a modern foreign language taken in the secondary school leaving examination as a compulsory subject. High school graduates will also be able to choose a foreign language as a subject that they did not learn at school.

At the same time, graduates of bilingual branches and schools were obliged to take the secondary school leaving examination in a modern foreign language as an additional subject at the bilingual level – in the language they learned at school at the bilingual level.

The amendment introduces the possibility of bringing a telecommunications device equipped with an application monitoring the examinee's health condition into the examination room.

It also introduces the function of an examiner-verifier (second-check examiner) and an IT laboratory operator as persons involved in conducting examinations.

Currently, examiner-verifiers function as “ordinary” examiners. In turn, IT lab operators are people responsible for preparing the computer lab to conduct the written part and the practical part (documentation at the computer) of the vocational exam, the exam confirming professional qualifications and the high school leaving exam in IT.

The amendment also includes changes to the regulations regarding the approval of textbooks for school use. It introduces a requirement for graphic marking in textbooks of content that goes beyond the scope established in the core curriculum of general education for given classes at a given educational stage.

Publishers will also be obliged to publish online digital copies of paper textbooks approved for school use before January 1, 2020 – at their next unchanged edition. Currently, this requirement only applies to textbooks approved after January 1, 2020.

The method of determining the amount of co-financing for the education costs of juvenile employees and the rules for granting this co-financing are also changing. So far, a craftsman who undertook the training of an apprentice received 25 percent. the amount provided for the student's preparation and 75 percent. for passing the exam. The amendment reverses these proportions.