Country Report - Poland

3rd Workshop on Training of Teachers of the Visually Impaired in Europe,
Warsaw, Poland, 3 - 6 April 2002

by Jadwiga Kuczynska-Kwapisz, Grazyna Walczak, Joanna Witczak,
translation: Antonina Adamowicz-Hummel

Usually, the impulse to establish integrated educational settings in Poland has come from an active exploratory approach of parents of children with special needs, and from a positive response from those teachers in regular schools who have made an effort to meet the challenge of educating those children. The issue of integrated education is still controversial in our country but extreme opinions - both in favour of and against integration - have now become fewer in the discussions.

The development of various forms of integrated education has gained momentum after 1991 when the Act on education was passed. According to that Act and to the pertinent regulations of the Ministry of National Education, the education authorities are obliged to create most favourable conditions for the child's development and the parents are granted the right to choose an educational setting for their child.

Currently, blind and visually impaired children and youths are educated in special schools: primary schools, high schools, grammar schools, vocational schools and post-secondary schools; they are also educated in regular schools, including such forms as special classrooms, integrated classrooms, regular classrooms, and home teaching. The choice of school is largely dependent on the student and his/her parents but also on the psychological-educational counseling center which issues a formal statement on the student's special educational needs. The parents who do not want to send their child to a special residential setting away from home should be aware that a local school - unless it has a status of an integrated educational facility - may refuse to accept him/her. Since it happens quite frequently that the parents do not admit that their child has a vision problem. The first research study on teachers' opinions about teaching visually impaired students in integrated settings shows that the teachers tend to prefer working with a visually impaired student to working with a blind student.

The guiding principle in the transition period is the belief that regular schools should accept all children, irrespective of their physical, intellectual, social, emotional or any other status. However, this principle cannot be implemented immediately. Similarly, it would be impossible - and irresponsible - to close all special schools. One of the reasons is that the psychological-educational counseling centres often state the need for educating a child in a special school. Such statement is often rejected by parents who think their child is discriminated against, or even stigmatized. Issuing formal statements recommending specific educational setting for the child is necessary due to high state subsidies for schools which have accepted students with disabilities.

The role of a special school is also as a resource and consulting centre. Their staff support regular school teachers who have decided to work with a visually impaired child. Such cooperation is invaluable since the statements from the psychological-educational counseling centres are often the only source of information on the functioning of the visually impaired child. And that information tends to be rather general. A regular school teacher is usually not prepared to work with a blind or visually impaired child. Therefore it makes sense for him/her to take advantage of support provided by a specialized consultant/itinerant teacher. Supportive itinerant services are also offered by the Polish Association of the Blind. They are addressed to preschool children and their families living in the Mazowsze voievodship, i.e., one of Poland's 16 administrative districts, Warsaw being its capital. In cooperation with the students from the Academy of Special Education in Warsaw, support has been provided to 45 families. The Division of Studies in Blindness and Visual Impairment of the Academy of Special Education in Warsaw has been implementing a research project under which 25 regular school teachers are coached by an Academy faculty member. The teachers teach low vision first grade students in regular and integrated schools in various parts of Poland. Regular school teachers also exchange experiences at the local teacher training centres. However, since integrated schools and classrooms emerge as quickly as they disappear, this form of cooperation is rather elusive.

It is quite common that blind and visually impaired children start their education at a regular school, then their parents change schools or decide to put their child in a special residential school. Efforts have been made by the Methods Centre for Psychological and Educational Support at the Ministry of Education and Sports to create a body which would monitor that process, keep up with the changes, and be able to provide information on and evaluation of the current status of integration in Poland. There was also a propositon to create positions for itinerant teachers of the visually impaired at the psychological-educational counseling centers, but it failed due to shortage of funds. What the Ministry managed to do was to appoint coordinators for integrated education at the regional educational offices. The coordinators work together with school officers. Also, for a number of years now universities and continuing education centres for teachers use the Ministry's grants to conduct postgraduate programs and training courses for teachers in integrated classrooms.

Introduction of the educational reform and changes in the system of evaluating student's academic accomplishments upon graduation from primary and high school have also brought about changes for blind and visually impaired children. According to the current regulations, they take the same exam at the same time as their sighted peers, regardless of the degree of visual impairment. If they pass it they can continue education at the next level. The responsibility of adapting the exam to the level of visual functioning of the student, or administering it in Braille, rests with a specially appointed committee.

The development of integrated education of blind and visually impaired students has been furthered due to favourable changes in the system of financing education at the local (county) level. The regulation of the Ministry of Education of December 29, 2000, regarding the division of the state educational subsidy within the local community, states that the specific groups of students are entitled to additional subsidies. Besides, visually impaired students being educated in integrated settings at any level (based on the statement of the psychological-educational counseling center) are entitled to the additional subsidy, regardless of the type of educational setting.

All those initiatives contribute to the improvement of the quality of teaching blind and visually impaired students in integrated settings. Over the recent years there has been more and more interest in educating those children in integrated classrooms established in regular schools. Such classrooms have between 15 to 20 students, including 3 to 5 students with disabilities. Special educator is employed as supportive teacher.

In 2000 in Poland, 3,192 students were educated in regular schools whereas 1,088 students - in special schools.

The number of visually impaired students was 3 times higher in regular schools than in the special schools at the primary level, 2.5 times higher at the junior high school level, and 1.6 times higher at the high school level.

We believe that the integration initiatives implemented so far and the ideas awaiting implementation give us a chance to catch up - when the economy improves - with the rest of Europe.

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