Differences Between Polish and English Schools

If you think Polish and English schools are similar then you are wrong. They are still schools but have many differences. Polish schools don’t buy staff for you. You are the one who must buy everything to learn for yourself. In England every school buys staff for students. Every school in England has uniform. Most schools in Poland don’t have uniforms. In England you can choose options. Subjects you want to do next. In Poland you can’t choose options, you must to learn all subjects, but apparently this year students will be able to choose in what direction they want to learn e.g. more into maths and science or polish language and history etc. In England there are detentions but in Poland if you have bad grades then you can fail year so that means you are going to be in the same year again next year. In England there are lots of holidays but there is just one month of summer holiday. In Poland there is not many holidays in year but summer holiday last for over two months. 90% of teachers in Poland are women. Grades in England are from A* to G but in Poland they are from 6 to 1.

In England A* is the best one but G is the worst one. In Poland the best one is 6, and the worst one is 1 and if you get many 1s and the average of your grades results in 1 then you fail the year. In Poland every lesson lasts for 45 minutes and there is a break after each lesson. Ends and starts of lessons in Poland are every day in different time, it depends on what year are you in and how many lessons have you got, e.g. year one will finish at 12.25pm and year six will finish at 3.25pm. In England the end of lessons is in the same time every day, no matter what year you are in. In Poland there are obligatory books that mean you must to read books in home and you work on the book in school in polish language/literacy, also you have then few tests to get some grades and prove that you have read it. In Poland there is a lot of stress because you have many tests and sometimes at the beginning of the lesson the teacher calls your name and you have to get up and answer questions about the last lesson or the topic of the current lesson. If you know the answers then you get a good grade, but if you don’t then you get 1. In Poland you get a lot of homework and every day you sit and do it for tomorrow.

If you didn’t do it, then you can tell the teacher that you are not prepared for the lesson, but you can do it only two times a term. In Poland you have only two terms. If you have already done it two times, then you get a minus or 1. If you get five minuses then you get 1 and if you get five pluses then you get 5. It depends on the rules in different schools. Also, in Poland there is something called student committee that organises trips and parties and different charity actions in school. Students that take part in it also help others and solve problems and get good grades for the behaviour. If your average of grades is above 4.75 then you get a special certificate with red strap on it. Not many students get it though. Physical education in Poland looks completely different. Girls and boys are together in one group and often they play football, volleyball, basketball, workouts, gymnastics, hockey and they don’t go out from school as they have their lesson in the gym or sports field or the corridor or engine room in the school.

In England you are 5 years old when you go to year 1 in primary school. In Poland you are 7 and primary school lasts for 6 years. Then you go to secondary school which lasts for 3 years and then you can choose if you want to go to high school or vocational high school. The differences are that vocational high school lasts for 4 years and you learn the career and in normal high school you just generally learn and then go to university. Most people want to go to normal high school as they think vocational is for dumb which is not true. If you go to normal then you have more chance of getting onto university, but it doesn’t mean that you won’t if you used to go to vocational. Often people go to vocational because it is easier to get a job after and they think they won’t be able to go to normal one as you need to work there much harder. Also, you have to go to school until the age of 18.