Institutional determinants of inequalities of educational opportunities in Poland

Abstract

The aim of the article was to diagnose institutional solutions in the Polish education system in terms of their importance for inequalities of educational opportunities. Considerations began with an indication of the level of educational inequalities in Poland in relation to the OECD countries. These comparisons show that the greatest inattention for equal opportunities in the Polish educational system can be found in higher education, while the inequalities in secondary and lower secondary schools are relatively low. The next part of the paper is based on a review of the literature on the institutional determinants of inequalities of educational opportunities. Hence, the following factors have been identified and discussed: pre-school education, tracking systems, and the system of compulsory and academic education funding. It was pointed out that the relationship between socioeconomic status and chances of obtaining a high-quality education in Poland is deepened by low pre-school enrollment, the process of strong differentiation of lower secondary schools in big cities, as well as the way of financing academic education. At the same time, it was pointed out that the relatively late tracking and the system of financing education at primary and secondary levels were factors conducive to equal educational opportunities.