report on intellectual capital of poland

The Report on Intellectual Capital of Poland

Anna Blumsztajn

Pawe³ Bochniarz

Ma³gorzata D¹browska

Szczepan Figiel

Tomasz Kardacz

Katarzyna Królak-Wyszyñska

Robert Mazelanik

Hanna Nowakowaska

Teresa Ogrodziñska

Monika Roœciszewska-WoŸniak

Ma³gorzata Rószkiewicz

Tomasz Rudolf

Krzysztof Rybiñski

Andrzej Siemaszko

Tomasz Schimanek

Adam Turowiec

Dorota Wêziak-Bia³owolska

Andrzej Wodecki

The Report on Intellectual Capital of Poland was commissioned by the Board of Strategic Advisers

to the Prime Minister and prepared in cooperation with this team.

Board of Strategic Advisers is an advisory and consultative body toththe Prime Minister of Poland. It was established on 6 March 2008, according

to the Prime Minister's regulation. The Board, headed by Micha³ Boni, Ph.D.,

Secretary of State in the Chancellery of the Prime Minister, prepares analyses

and assessments of the socio-economic situation of the country and participates

in developing strategic plans of the government.

It also provides suggestions of goals and objectives for the strategy of economic

and social development of the country.

More information on members of the Board of Strategic Advisers to the Prime

Minister and other authors of the report is available at:

Authors of the Report:

Editing:

Design:

Printing:

Let us not waste our time and opportunities

Warsaw, 10th July, 2008

Micha³ Boni, Ph.D.

Head of the Board of Strategic Advisers to the Prime Minister of Poland


19 years ago Poland embarked upon a systemic transformation and laborious process of narrowing the gap separating

it from the world's most developed countries and leaders in the global economy. Those years may be perceived through

the turbulent political history, but also through the huge effort of Polish entrepreneurs developing market economy

and competitive exports, and through the diligence of Polish employees working at least 20% above the statutory

working time norms, and constantly raising their efficiency. Those years have also been the time of young Poles'

and their families' investments in higher education, due to which Poland is currently sixth in the world as far as

the number of students per 10,000 inhabitants is concerned.

We have had our successes and achievements, but we have also suffered a number of failures.

We have our strengths and weaknesses, but we are also aware of threats and opportunities. The goal of the Board

of Strategic Advisers, appointed by Prime Minister Donald Tusk, is to create a long-term vision of Poland's development,stas well as of new competitive advantages responding to the challenges of the first half of the 21 century.

We are convinced that it is future-oriented thinking, rather than focus on the present, that determines the standards

of political responsibility in the contemporary world. We believe that this is the only way to prosperity and, let us not

be ashamed to use this word, to the social well-being, where financial aspects of life conditions improvement converge

with the social ones and with the sphere of values.

One of the first initiatives of the Team was undertaking an effort to draw up the Report on Intellectual Capital of Poland.

External experts in various fields were invited to cooperation in the preparation of the project, with the hope that their

enthusiasm and competence would contribute to the compilation of a document which would initiate a wide public

debate. A debate that would focus on how to develop Poland's potential for its future progress, based on knowledge

economy and on the values crucial to triggering the energy of entrepreneurship and creativity.

A fundamental problem to a number of countries, including Poland, in the upcoming years will be presented by demographic

challenges. For this reason, we decided to set the description of Poland's intellectual capital in a generational perspective,

recognizing the importance of harmony and solidarity between generations.

By presenting this report, we intend to initiate a debate beyond current political disputes. The aim of the diagnosis

proposed in the report is not to lay blame, but to define problems to be solved commonly by Polish people.

The challenges identified in this report must be met without delay, as time is working to our disadvantage.

The transforming world will not wait.

About the report

At the beginning of the year 2008, when the Board of Strategic Advisers to the Prime Minister was appointed, I was invited by the founder and head of the team, Minister Micha³ Boni, to coordinate work on the Report on Intellectual Capital of Poland. This initiative was intended to call the attention of politicians, the media and opinion leaders to the role and importance of the quality and level of intellectual capital in the long-term development of Poland.

it is not a government document. It is an expert report that provides inspiration for the Polish government when planning their policies.

The present report, which was drawn up in conclusion of the project, is in character of a so-called 'green paper' (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_paper), which means that it is aimed not at giving solutions, but instead, at initiating a public debate. A debate devoted to the future development of Poland as a modern knowledge-based economy.Although relevant government representatives were consulted about certain issues in the course of preparing the report,

The Report on Intellectual Capital of Poland was compiled by experts from the Board of Strategic Advisers and a group of external experts.

As the coordinator of this project, I would like to thank all those whose

knowledge, experience and commitment enabled us to draw up this report

within just four months.

I would like to give special thanks to Prof Ma³gorzata Rószkiewicz

from the Institute of Statistics and Demography of the Warsaw

School of Economics, to Mr Ludwik Sobolewski, President

of the Management Board of the Warsaw Stock Exchange,

and to Mr Janusz Witkowski, President of the Central Statistical

Office, for their assistance, which was essential to the success

of this project.

The report comprises three parts:

Summary,

Diagnosis

Recommendations

- explaining the reasons for drawing up the report, and defining basic terminology as well as the method applied to assess the intellectual capital of Poland;

- , identifying the key challenges related to the development of the intellectual capital of Poland;

- , proposing seven priority measures that must be taken in order to meet the challenges facing Poland.

Pawe³ Bochniarz,Prime Minister's Strategic Advisers Group,Coordinator of the Project on the Intellectual Capital of Poland.

Table of Contents

Diagnosis 27

Young children 28

Pupils 50

Students 71

Adults 88

Senior citizens 121

Recommendations 137

Summary 5

Table of Contents


Summary


6

THE INTELLECTUAL CAPITAL OF POLAND is the total of intangible assetsof people, enterprises, communities, regions, and institutions, which, properly utilized, may become the source of the present and future well-being of Poland.

key challenges like

Intellectual capital

Human capital:

Structural capital:

Social capital:

Relationship capital:

Both the economic theory and the experience of other countries indicate that the role of intellectual capital is fundamental to sustainable development of a country.Certain countries, comparable in respect of their natural resources, geographical position and financial condition, may differ significantly in terms of their successfulness, like Chile and Argentine, or Spain and Italy.The difference between these countries lies in the ability to develop intellectual capital, which manifests in long-term thinking, readiness to learn, trust in market mechanisms and receptiveness to global competition, but also in efficient government of the country. Whether Poland will manage to find the proper response to its demographic regression, increasing costs and worsening accessibility of traditional sources of energy, or constantly accelerating pace of technological progress, depends on its ability to utilize the intellectual capital of the Poles.

consists of the following components:

the total potential of all Polish people embodied in their education,life experience, attitudes and skills, which can be used towards increasing the present and future well-being of Polish people.

the total potential of tangible infrastructure elements of the national system of education and innovation, i.e. scientific and educational institutions, research centres, IT infrastructure, and intellectual property.

the overall potential of the Polish society in the form of its social norms of conduct, trust and involvement, which support cooperation and knowledge sharing, and thus, contribute to the improvement of the well-being of Polish people.

the potential related to the external image of Poland, to the level of its integration with the global economy, and to its attractiveness to foreign 'clients': commercial partners, investors, tourists etc.

Cooperation with the Institute of Statistics and Demography of the Warsaw School of Economics resulted in developing a measurement model that allows to benchmark the intellectual capital of Poland and other EU Member States. The adopted method involves presenting intellectual capital in a generationalperspective, which enables assessment of the future potential of Poland's development with regard to the individual age brackets. The estimation of the intellectual capital value ofeach generation in selected countries has been standardized and presented as percentage (from 0 to 100%). All indexes have been calculated as a result of statistical analysis covering from several to several dozen indicators.Altogether, the measurement model applied in the Report on Intellectual Capital of Poland comprises 117 indicators.

Index of the intellectual capital of Poland in respect of individual generations places Poland among 16 European countries surveyed:

13th as regards young children and pupils; 13th as regards students; 14th as regards adults; 16th as regards senior citizens.

This indicates that the distance separating Poland from developed European countries in terms of intellectual capital is still considerable. Until recently, the relatively low level of intellectual capital did not hinder economic development in Poland, since the country's competitiveness was based on other advantages, such as low labour costs, a relatively big market, or its location in the centre of Europe. However, maintaining the current pace of development in the upcoming decades will not be possible unless intellectual capital, which is the foundation ofany knowledge-based economy, is strengthened.

7

Increasing

the quality

of legal operations,

procedures

and infrastructure

for business

Ensuring synergy

of science, business

and culture.

Creating vacancies

with high

added value

Activating

senior citizens

Focusing the system

of education

on the needs

of the labour

market

Increasing

the quality

of education

More complex

and efficient

family policy

Regular

measurement of

intellectual

capital indicators

7

Ensuring high quality of human capital Enabling the utilization of human capital

as a source of the country's competitive advantage, growth and well-being

Building social capital of Poles: increasing trust in interpersonal relations and in citizen-state relations, activating social activity.

Initiatives related to activating and developing the potential embodied in Polish people should be joined with the use of social capital. The state can stimulate the process

of increasing social capital by improving the credibility of its institutions and by promoting appropriate norms of conduct in mutual relations.

Nonetheless, Poland must do its utmost to create the optimal conditions

for utilizing the capital of knowledge, energy, and entrepreneurship of Polish

people. It is absolutely crucial for Poland to promptly become a business-friendly

environment. Otherwise, the human capital, i.e. the best students, workers, scientists and

entrepreneurs, will move abroad to countries offering better conditions to run operations.

A simplified legal system, competitive and open markets, a transparent tax system,

and mechanisms stimulating creative cooperation of science, business and culture, may

turn Poland into an ideal location for innovative enterprises generating considerable added

value.

What is of top priority among the numerous challenges facing

Poland is further investment in its human capital, which is key

to the development of the country.

It is essential that pro-family policies encourage people to have children

and ensure equal access to various forms of pre-school education, that

the quality of teaching in

schools be increased, and that Polish institutions of higher education

produce graduates whose qualifications are more relevant to the needs

of the labour market. Finally, the ageing society brings new challenges,

but also new opportunities related to the intellectual capital embodied

in the senior generation.


Nevertheless, such a negative scenario does not have to come true. There is yet another possible scenario, in which Poland becomesone of the most dynamic economies in the EU. This scenariopredicts that thanks to an extensive network of modern nurseries and kindergartens Polish children receive quality education fromthe very beginning of their educational path, and Polish families are able to afford having more children and perfectly manageto reconcile their family life and professional careers. Professionalactivity of women and senior citizens is the highest in Europe, which results in growing tax revenues to the treasury and,consequently, in increased public investments in infrastructure andintellectual capital. There is no room for boredom, localcommunities are vibrant with life, nobody is leftstranded. Several Polish universities make their way to the top100 universities in the world, and they become the first choiceuniversities for students from all over the world. Many of them take up their permanent residence in Poland, attracted by well-paid jobs for highly qualified and well educated professionals.Polish economy stimulates numerous innovations which are afterwards implemented in other countries on all continents.The choice of the scenario belongs to Polish people. The optimistic one will become realistic provided that challenging reforms in such areas as social transfers, taxes, economic regulations, or public sector operations, including health service, education and science, are introduced successively without delay. One should be prepared for resistance on the part of strong groups of interest, and should be aware that the results of the reforms will be visible not sooner than in 5-15 years.

Nevertheless, such reforms are indispensable if Poland's success is to become more than just wishful thinking.

8

greater use of teamwork performed beyond government departments and coordinated bythe Prime Minister;

wider scope of consultations, with the participation of representatives of the media,NGOs, and parliamentary opposition;

engaging highly qualified and well prepared project managers to be operationallyresponsible for the implementation of reform projects

The success of developing the intellectual capital of Poland will require a great deal of effort aimed at changing the traditional attitude to the implementation of key reforms.

The above-mentioned changes should manifest in:

What is also essential is a shift from short-term to long term government policies, which should be accompanied by due regard to improving the quality of political debate and focusing it on issues of genuine importance to the country

The experience of other countries teaches us that even twenty years of relatively dynamic economic growth is insufficient to bridge the gap separating a country from the developed world. Unless the right decisions are taken at this moment, the pace of Poland's development will decelerate, and the distance to more developed countries will stop shortening.

Given the intention to initiate a debate on the intellectual capital of Poland, this report has been made available online, with the possibility to add remarks and comments related to its individual parts.You are welcome to take this opportunity atIf the Polish lack courage, determination and readiness to work in the interest of Poland

stregardless of political divisions, history books of the third decade of the 21 century will cite the example of Poland as a warning of possible consequences of failure to invest in the intellectual capital of a country. Poland may become one of the poorest countries of the European Union, which allows the most talented individuals to emigrate and the most prosperous businesses to move to countries with lower taxes.

http://www.innowacyjnosc.gpw.pl/kip

Poland failed to develop as dynamically as it should have in the past decade

A proverb says that failure is an inherent part of each success.

Undoubtedly, a lot has changed for better in Poland for the last

20 years: the society is more prosperous, people are better

educated and more open-minded. What the Poles cannot afford

at the moment is to rest on laurels. Even a draft comparison of

the pace of economic development in Poland and other countries

from the former communist block demonstrates that Poland is

failing to make the best use of its potential, and is not developing

as quickly as other countries in the region, e.g. Slovakia, Estonia,

or Lithuania.

Poland has advanced towards Europe less

significantly than other countries in the region

Estonia

Lithuania Hungary

Slovakia

Czech Republic

Latvia

PolandRomania

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

The rate of the long-term economic growth in Poland

does not exceed 4.3%, which is by far less than in other

countries in the region. Moreover, it is not certain

whether this pace will be maintained in the nearest

years.

GD

P per

capita

com

pare

d to the

EU

25 a

vera

ge

in 2

007

The length of the arrow illustrates by how much the distance separating

each of the countries from the EU average has been shortened.

GDP per capita as compared to the EU25 average for the year 2007.

9

Slovenia


Poland is not doomed to success

The experience of other countries teaches us that even twenty years of relatively dynamic

economic growth is insufficient to bridge the gap separating a country from the developed

world. Unless the right decisions are taken at this moment, the pace of Poland's development

will decelerate, and the distance to more developed countries will stop shortening.

Greece, Portugal and Italy are examples of countries which, after two decades of rapid growth,

experienced a decrease in the pace of development, and, as a result, have not yet reached

complete convergence with richer EU countries in terms of well-being.

The countries that have achieved a spectacular economic success, such as Ireland, South Korea,

or Taiwan, have also managed to maintain their growth rate for 30 to 40 years at the minimum.

A distinctive feature of this group of countries in the overall profile is the exceptional ability

of their governments to employ long-term thinking and to give priority to measures aimed

at achieving strategic objectives over short-term operations.

Poland is currently facing similar dilemmas. It is compelled

to launch subsequent challenging reforms in such areas as

social transfers, taxes, business regulations, and the overall

performance of the public sector including health service,

education, and science.

One should be prepared for resistance on the part of strong

groups of interest, and should be aware that the results of

the reforms will be visible not sooner than in 5-15 years.

Nevertheless, such reforms are indispensable if Poland's

success is to become more than just wishful thinking.

What is also essential is a shift from short-term to long

term government policies, which should be accompanied

by due regard to improving the quality of political debate

and focusing it on issues of genuine importance to

the country.

10

Source:

Key importance of intellectual capital to economic developmentBoth the economic theory and the experience of other countries indicate that the role

of intellectual capital is fundamental to sustainable development of a country.

Certain countries, comparable in respect of their natural resources, geographical

position and financial condition, may differ significantly in terms of their successfulness,

like Chile and Argentine, or Spain and Italy.

The difference between these countries lies in the ability to develop intellectual capital,

which manifests in long-term thinking, readiness to learn, trust in market mechanisms and

receptiveness to global competition, but also in efficient government of the country.

THE INTELLECTUAL CAPITAL OF POLAND is the total of intangible assets of people, enterprises, communities, regions, and institutions, which, properly utilized, may become the source of the present and future well-being

1of Poland.

Interestingly, the first recorded use of the term 'intellectual

capital' comes from the correspondence between two

outstanding economists of the 20th century, John Kenneth

Galbraith and Micha³ Kalecki from 1969. Galbraith wrote

in a letter to Prof Kalecki the following words:

“I wonder if you realizm how much those of us in the world

around hale owed to the intellectual capital you have provided 2over these past decades” .

The definition of intellectual capital was formulated by

Prof Leif Edvinsson, who often refers to it as 'the ability

to generate future income'.

Listen to the statement by Prof Edvinsson recorded

specially for the purposes of this report, in which he

defines intellectual capital and explains its significance, at:

http://www.innowacyjnosc.gpw.pl/kip/index.php?m=9

¹ Literature on the subject does not offer one generally accepted definition of intellectual capital. The one accepted by the authors of this report is close to the definitions formulated by Malhotra and Bontis: Intellectual capital is the 'hidden assets' of a state/a nation which are the basis of its economic potential growth, its well-being, and its position in the world (Malhotra, 2000). Intellectual capital comprises the 'hidden properties' of people, enterprises, communities, regions, and institutions which are the source of the present and future well-being (Bontis, 2004).² A. Serenko, N.Bontis (eds.), “Meta-Review of Knowledge Management and Intellectual Capital Literature …” (MacMaster University, 2004).

11

What does the term 'the intellectual capital of Poland' refer to?


Poland does not exist in a vacuum

Poland is not a country that functions in a vacuum. A complex network of economic, political,

social and cultural relations makes us a part of the world's social and economic ecosystem.

Important events and global trends have and will have an impact on the pace of the country's

development, and for this reason Poland must observe them and consider their implications

for Poland.

The 1998 crisis in Russia, the attacks of 11th September 2001, the epidemic of SARS,

or the most recent crisis in the US mortgage market are examples of events that

influenced Poland, although they took place in distant countries.

Therefore, it is important to have a closer look

at the key challenges in a worldwide perspective

and their implications for the development strategy

of Poland as the economy based on intellectual

capital.

The most important of them are as follows:

ageing population of European countries and

the increasing flow of immigrants from Africa

and Asia;

demographic regression in Poland;

rising costs and deteriorating accessibility

of traditional sources of energy;

increasing role of China and India in

the global economy;

knowledge becoming outdated, and the increasing

pace of technological progress.

12

Ageing Europe, and the flow of immigrants from Asia and Africa

Over the next 20-30 years every city in Europe, i.e. in Poland as well, may expect an increase

in the number of immigrants.

Year 1950 2005 2050

Worldwide 5,2 8,1 16,2

Africa 3,3 3,4 6,9

East Asia 4,4 8,8 24,8

South and Central Asia 3,7 4,7 13,5

South East Asia 3,8 5,4 17,6

Eastern Europe 6,5 14,3 26,6

Poland 5,2 13,3 31,2

Western Europe 10,2 17,2 27,7

Latin America 3,5 6,3 18,5

South America 3,4 6,4 18,5

8,2 12,3 21,5

Percentage of Population Aged 65+

North America

1950 2005 2050

Average Age of the Population

23,9

19,1

23,5

21,2

20,6

26,4

25,8

34,6

20,0

20,4

29,8

28,0

19,0

33,4

23,2

26,0

37,5

36,8

40,5

26,0

26,5

36,3

38,1

28,0

45,9

37,2

40,2

48,1

52,4

46,7

40,1

40,0

41,5

Source: The cover of the World Bank's report on migrations

This is how a pedestrian crossing in a Polish city in the year 2030 may look like.

Poland needs immigrants due to a dramatic decrease in population, quickly ageing society and workforce shortages in certain professions.If immigrants work, pay taxes, and become part of the Polish society, the Polish economy will only profit from that. However, if a proper immigration and integration policy is not implemented, Poland will face the risk of emergence of ghettos for immigrants from poorer countries, as well as of an increase in unemployment rate and social welfare expenditures.

Source: UN, “World Population Prospects: The 2008 Revision” [http://esa.un.org/unpp/index.asp?panel=2]

13

Year WorldwideAfricaEast AsiaSouth and Central Asia South East AsiaEastern EuropePolandWestern EuropeLatin AmericaSouth AmericaNorth America


Poland is in danger of secondary demographic regression

Secondary demographic regression entails exposure to the collapse

of economic growth and of the public financing system in Poland

in a long-term perspective.

Source: Population forecast for the years 2003-2030 based on the results of the 2002 Polish Census, Central Statistical Office (GUS).

If the current retirement age is maintained, the Polish population of productive

age will have decreased by over 800 thousand by the year 2015.

Change in the population of Poland in the years 2007-2030

-1.500.000 -1.000.000 -500.000 0 500.000 1.000.000

Total

0-17

18-44

45-59/64

65+

2030

2015

If the unfavourable demographic processes continue, Poland

will face the risk of public financing system collapse and inability

to provide welfare benefits for the senior generation. The 'social

welfare states' are threatened with bankruptcy.

The secondary demographic regression crisis may be avoided

by way of stimulating the activity of senior citizens in the labour

market and by extending the period of professional activity.

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

2007 2015 2030

65+

45-59/64

18-44

0-17

2007 As early as today the population of children is by half smaller than that of their parents.

2015 The population of children keeps decreasing. The percentage of retired population is rising.

2030 The demographic depression generations reach their adulthood. The senior population doubles in number.

The challenge to be faced by the Polish state is a shift from

the passive policy of social transfers on behalf of senior citizens,

through an active policy taking advantage of the increasing

demand of the senior generation, to introducing new products

and services and utilizing the intellectual capital of senior

citizens.

14

Change in the demographic structure of the population of Poland

as broken down into age group categories, in the years 2007-2030

Source:

Lack of a strategic attitude towards investing in the Polish power industry, combined with the reductions of CO emissions, 2

has caused a significant barrier to our growth

"Najwa¿niejsze zagadnienia dotycz¹ce funkcjonowania sektora elektroenergetycznego w Polsce”, a report by presidents of the power industry companies (February 2008).

15

Due to low prices of energy, investments in the Polish power industry has been marginal.

This may result in temporary problems with ensuring the continuity of energy supplies

over the nearest 2 to 3 years, while the energy reserve in 2008 was de facto lower

throughout the year than what is required under the relevant energy security regulations.

Within 3 to 6 years' time Poland will be facing a permanent energy deficiency, which

will be impossible to compensate with the country's limited import capacity.

Over 90% of the energy in Poland is generated from coal, which means that the country's

CO emission per capita is higher than the EU average, although it uses as little as half 2

of the EU energy consumption average.

A low level of intellectual capital manifests itself also in

inability to develop strategic plans, which is likely to cause

inevitable energy deficiencies in Poland within a few years'

time. Poland must overcome this weakness, otherwise it will

be constantly 'surprised' by events which might be foreseen

if the strategic planning mechanisms were in place.

It pays to learn from the experience of others. For example,

in the Parliament of Finland a new committee was established

a few years ago. Its name is the Committee for a Constructive

Tomorrow, and its aim is to facilitate reflection and to conduct

debates on the strategic challenges facing Finland, such as

the growing importance of Russia, the development

of nanotechnology, or the ageing of the society.

Listen to Paula Tiihonen, a Finnish MP, discussing the tasks

of the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow here, at:


Poland may have to face dramatic dilemmas, as, in the short run, it has

no alternative to coal-based energy, whose resources in Poland are

substantial, and as 'clean coal' technologies are not yet accessible in

Poland on a commercial basis.


Source:

Growing Importance of China and India in the Global Economy

1 European Commission, “Globalization: Trends, Issues, and Macro Implications for the EU”, Economic Papers, (EC, 2006).

Over the nearest few decades Chindia will significantly increase its share in the global GDP.

It may once more account for half of the global production of goods and services, as at

the beginning of the 19th century. China is becoming a global competitor not only in

the production of footwear, garments, computers, household appliances, and radio

and television equipment. It is also strengthening its position in sectors requiring advanced

knowledge and innovative approach.

The student population in China has exceeded 30 million, which is more than in the European

Union and the United States put together.

China is the world's biggest exporter of computers and telecommunication equipment, while

India is the world's capital of software outsourcing, earning over USD 12 billion yearly from 1software production .

100

2001

1973

1950

1870

1820

Share of world GDP

20 40 50 6030

Share of world population

70

100 20 40 50 6030 70

2001

1973

1950

1870

1820

% shares of China/India, OECD and

the rest of the world in global population and GDP

China and India are quickly developing their intellectual capital, viewing

it as their chance for an evolutionary leap. Being aware of these trends,

does Poland develop its relational capital with these two countries properly?

16

China + India

Rest of World

OECD

Knowledge becomes outdated instantly, and technological progress has reached a staggering pace

A sharp increase in the number of patent applications indicates an accelerated pace stof technological progress in the 21 century.

Asian countries are fast in developing their knowledge-based economies; during four years

the number of patent applications tripled in China, and increased by 140% in South Korea.

There is a huge gap separating Eastern and Central Europe from the top

ten leaders in the world's innovativeness, and Poland has been regressing

in recent years.

Does the Polish system of education teach the right skills, such as creativity,

analytical thinking or teamwork, which are indispensable in the innovation

process?

The number of patent applications submitted to the World Intellectual

Property Organization increases significantly each year

0

20000

40000

60000

80000

100000

120000

140000

160000

180000

1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006

Number of patent

applications

Growth dynamics of

number of patents

(2003-2007, %)

USA 52280Japan 27731

Germany 18134

South Korea 7061

France 6370

Great Britain 5553

China 5456

Netherlands 4186

Switzerland 3674

Sweden 3533

Hungary 160

Czech Republic 123

Poland 102

27,459,2

23,7

139,4

23,2

10,5

321,3

-6,5

28,4

35,3

40,4

48,2

-33,8

Number of patent

applications submitted

to the WIPO in 2007

17 The Report on Intellectual Capital of Poland

Poland abounds in statistics presentingthe past, or, what has been left behind.

18

How to show what is still ahead of us? How to present our potential for growth?


The Report on Intellectual Capital of Poland is intended to show growth potential in Poland as compared to other EU countries

With this report Poland has joined a group of pioneer countries

in measuring and describing national intellectual capital.

Before Poland, intellectual capital reports were issued

among others in such countries as:

Sweden (1999);

Israel (2000);

Taiwan (2003);

Arabian Peninsula countries (on the UN initiative, 2004).

The team responsible for compiling this report comprised

over 21 members including Andrzej Wodecki, Tomasz Rudolf,

Katarzyna Królak-Wyszyñska, Szczepan Figiel,

Ma³gorzata D¹browska, Tomasz Kardacz, Tomasz Schimanek,

Hanna Nowakowska, Anna Blumsztajn, Teresa Ogrodziñska,

Miko³aj Herbst, Alek Tarkowski, Krzysztof Rybiñski,

Eliza Durka, Pawe³ Kaczmarczyk, Mateusz Walewski,

Maciej Duszczyk, Maciej Bukowski, Dorota Poznañska,

Jakub Wojnarowski.

Additionally, the report was enhanced by observations

and suggestions of several dozen other people, representing

institutions of public administration, science, education,

health service, NGOs, and business.

20

In the course of creating the present report, a series of interactive workshops with over a

hundred participants were conducted. The workshops were intended to engage representatives

of government administration and NGOs in the debate on the key challenges related to

the intellectual capital of Poland.

A prototype of the report was presented at the fourth annual conference of the New Club

of Paris devoted to intellectual capital, held in Paris in May 2008.

That offered a chance to gather opinions on the Polish concept of the report from

the world's leading authorities on intellectual capital.

Listen to Prof Edvinsson comments at:



What are the components of intellectual capital?

What is intellectual capital? Can it be measured on the level of a country, region, city, or

company? Why is the growth of intellectual capital so essential for the future of Poland?

Every one of us knows the right answers to these questions. Moreover, when making life

decisions, we are usually driven by the necessity of generating and developing intellectual

capital or by the opportunities of using the already existing one. For example, when planning

professional careers for our children, we often try to foresee what occupation will be best

for them, and what skills they will have to develop to succeed in the labour market. Our

decision is influenced by tradition, e.g. a child born in a family of lawyers, physicians, or

scientists is more likely to follow the career path of his/her parents since they already know

the environment and may assist the child in his/her future career. In other words, the parents

possess a firm relational capital (commonly and not quite adequately referred to as 'contacts'

or 'friends in high places'), which the child may benefit from. When we found a business, we

often ask ourselves whether we will manage, whether we are competent enough to remain

in the market and to succeed afterwards. In other words, we analyze our human capital. If it

is too low, we sometimes enrol in extra courses to raise that capital. If, on the other hand,

we establish a joint venture, we usually trust our partners, which means that we have high

social capital in our environment.

The four IC components:

INTELLECTUAL

CAPITAL

education, life experience, attitudes and skills, which can be used towards increasing the present and future well-being of Polish people.

the total potential of all Polish people embodied in their HUMAN CAPITAL:

the national system of education and innovation, i.e. scientific and educational institutions, research centres, IT infrastructure, and intellectual property.

the total potential of tangible infrastructure elements of STRUCTURAL CAPITAL:

norms of conduct, trust and involvement, which support cooperation and knowledge sharing, and thus, contribute to the improvement of the well-being of Polish people.

the overall potential of the Polish society in the form of its social SOCIAL CAPITAL:

of its integration with the global economy, and to its attractiveness to foreign 'clients': commercial partners,investors, tourists etc.

the potential related to the external image of Poland, to the level RELATIONAL CAPITAL:

Listen to Prof Salim Al.-Hastani, University of Manchester, commenting

on the crucial role of intellectual capital, and, in particular, on moral

standards as a component of intellectual capital, at:


22

People with well developed human and relational capital tend to hold

higher positions and earn more money than those who have low level

of these kinds of capital. The following four components: human capital,

relational capital, organizational capital (also termed 'structural'), and

social capital constitute intellectual capital.

It can be easily noticed that intellectual capital is not tantamount to

intelligence as it is a much broader notion.

Cooperation with the Institute of Statistics and Demography of the Warsaw School of Economics resulted in developing a measurement model which enables comparing levels of the intellectual capital of Poland and other EU Member States

In the literature neither the notion nor the concept of

intellectual capital of a region have been formulated

in an explicit and comprehensive manner. Consequently,

no common measurement method has been established.

Nonetheless, two procedures of informing about regional

national intellectual capital have been developed until now.

The first one, chronologically earlier, is based on assessing

the position of a given country or city in comparison

with others by applying various indicators related to

the components of intellectual capital. The other one,

gaining increasingly more popularity, involves methods

for creating synthetic indicators of intellectual capital

or of its components or elements.

Only the latter approach may be referred to as intellectual

capital measurement procedure. In the case of the first one,

such terms as 'reporting' or 'describing' should rather be

used. Currently, professional literature in the field reflects

a debate focused on selecting a set of most adequate

indicators for assessing intellectual capital of a region.

The controversies regard both the concept itself and the

accessibility of required statistical data. Additionally, the

discussion covers the issue of establishing a measurement

model which would enable quantification of intellectual

capital being in fact a conventional notion.


The search for the best formula of the measurement model of intellectual capital was based

on the following assumptions:

It is possible to express intellectual capital of a region in numerical terms

as one number;

Individual indicators suggested in the professional literature as describing

intellectual capital do not have equal role in diagnosing intellectual

capital, as some of them, at a given time and in a certain region,

tend to reveal the level of the region's capital in greater extent than others;

Consequently, it is possible to rank intellectual capital indicators, and to select

those which are of key importance to measuring the value of intellectual

capital of a region at a given time;

The intellectual capital model applied in this report was estimated for the region

of 16 EU countries, while the individual member countries were considered as

observation units, and their intellectual capital was assessed in respect of its

elements and components.

-0,015 0,904 0,919 0,83

Intellectual capital:

senior population


adults


students

0,086 0,607 0,583

0,124

0,2010,507

Diagram 1: Path diagram of the intellectual capital model:

components of intellectual capital, and

their interrelationships

24

INTELLECTUAL

CAPITAL


preschool and school

children

The conceptual model of intellectual capital of individual

generational groups was designed in compliance with

the general framework of the intellectual capital concept

established in the professional literature [Edvinsson, Malone,

2001; Andriessen, Stam, 2004; Bontis, 2004; Lerro, Carlucci,

Schiuma, 2005; Rószkiwicz, Wêziak, Wodecki, 2007].

Therefore, certain subcategories of intellectual capital were

distinguished, and afterwards separate measurement models

were developed for each of them, which were then used as

variables enabling construction of the measurement model

of intellectual capital of a given generation.

Measuring and describing national intellectual capital

in a generational perspective is an innovative approach.

In other countries' reports which have been produced

so far the age groups not participating in the labour

market have been omitted. The Polish approach, recognizing

the importance of inter-generational harmony and

solidarity, was acknowledged by international experts:


The underlying assumption was that this report

would present the measurement of intellectual capital

in a generational perspective, which

would enable assessment of the developmental

potential of Poland related to each individual

generation.

klpe1

klpe10

klpe12

klpe13

klpe2

klpe3

klpe4

klpe5

klpe8

klpe9

0,474

0,876

-0,735

0,803

0,886

0,935

0,868

0,751

-0,477

-0,742

ksn1

ksn2

klste 3a

kklste 5a

0,926

EDUCATION

QUALITY

OF LIFE

ATTITUDES

klpj1

klpj10

klpe2

klpj3

klpj4

0,808

-0,194

-0,214

-0,81

0,737

klpp1

klpp2

klpp3

klpp4

klpp5

klpp5a

klpp6

0,276

0,908

-0,737

-0,563

-0,411

HUMAN CAPITAL

(ADULTS)

0,526

0,29

0,939 0,549

SOCIAL CAPITAL

(ADULTS)

0,047

kspn2

-0,241 -0,012

ENGAGEMENT

-0,961

kspn8

kspn8 kspn8 kspn8 kspn8

-0,04 -0,109 0,949 0,502

INTELLECTUAL

CAPITAL

(ADULTS)

ksed4

ksed1

ksrdi1

0,116

0,357

0,746

klste_7aklste_6akrtu2

0,055 0,970 0,938

0,876

SOCIAL CAPITAL

(ADULTS)

INTELLECTUAL

PROPERTY

BUSINESS

COOPERATION

SCIENCE0,844

-0,487

-0,287

-0,238

ksfims8 ksfims9 ksfims6 ksfims1

0,512 0,897 -0,036 -0,898

COMPANIES

STRUCTURAL CAPITAL

(ADULTS)

0,681

-0,943ICT

-0,005

ksictb3

ksictg2

ksictg3

ksictg4

ksicti1

ksictinf1

ksictinf2

ksicts1

ksicts2

0,755

0,923

0,038

0,913

0,782

0,947

0,943

0,949

0,021

0,745

krge1

krge3

krge4

krgi1

krgmi1

krgmi2

0,743

-0,220

-0,210

0,574

0,585

kswp1

kswp2

kswp3

0,878

0,851

0,473

ENVIRONMENT0,191

kssef1

kssem1

kssodn1

ksspo3

-0,461

0,06

0,926

0,796

0,161

Path diagram of the intellectual capital model of adults


The estimated values of intellectual capital (IC) of individual generational groups in selected countries have been standardized in the range of <0; 1>, and shown as percentages

Applying this approach enabled creating generation-based indexes

or ratings of intellectual capital and of its individual components, including:

human capital;

relational capital;

social capital;

structural capital.

Each such index is generated on the basis of statistical

analysis of several to several dozen indicators.

The measurement model used in the Report on Intellectual

Capital of Poland includes 117 indicators.

A full list of indicators, together with the relevant data

for the 16 Member States included in this comparison,

can be viewed on the website:

Additional information on the applied methodology is

also available on the above website.

The report was originally intended to present comparative

data for all EU Member States. However, this occurred

unfeasible due to data inaccessibility. For countries not

present in the IC ratings in the report several

indicators included in the model were unavailable.

http://www.innowacyjnosc.gpw.pl/kip/index.php?a=

wskazniki

26

Diagnosis


Children

What are the living standardsof Polish children?

Are they provided withproper conditions fordevelopment?

What can Poland learn from others?

29

Children


This means that Poland lags behind most of the European countries in respect of

the intellectual capital of the part of society which determines the country's future

capacity for development and competitiveness.

What considerably accounts for this disadvantageous position are, among others,

the following statistical factors:

low participation of 4-year-olds in education;

relatively high under-5 mortality rate;

low percentage of pupils declaring their interest in future jobs connected with science.

IC Index for preschool and school children

The intellectual capital index for preschool and school children places thPoland 13 among the 16 EU countries included in the comparison.

By contrast, the following indicators have a positive impact

on the above-mentioned position of Poland:

*PISA is the abbreviation for the Programme for International Student Assessment, which is an OECD-coordinated international research.

Germany

Hungary

Austria

Ireland

France

Belgium

Czech Republic

Spain

Sweden

Italy

Netherlands

Great Britain

Poland

Finland

Portugal

Greece

0 20 40 60 80 100

30

Intellectual capital indexes have been based on the analysis of the key

IC indicators attributed to a given generation. The full list of all 117

indicators used for the purposes of Poland's IC model is available at:

www.innowacyjnosc.gpw.pl/kip/

Children

relatively low percentage of children aged 11, 13, and 15 who live in one-parent families;

comparatively large average number of days per week in which school children declare

to spend an hour or more on physical activity;

very high average proportion of time spent on learning to read, or doing mathematics,

as compared with the EU average;

good results of Polish pupils in respect of reading literacy (PISA).*

Poland's generation of children was affected by the income stratification in the days

of the economic transformation, and by the resulting division of the country into

Poland A and Poland B*.

Relative poverty of numerous rural families, systemic weakness of the health service,

as well as early childhood education standards which are inadequate for the needs

of contemporary society, all make Polish children disadvantaged at the beginning

of their life with comparison to their peers from other European countries.

Children's attainment in primary school, presented in the PISA reports, place Poland

at the level of the European average in respect of pupils' mathematical and scientific

literacy, and in second position in Europe with regard to their reading literacy.

31

Children

Source: **Poland A – western, central and southern parts of the country, which are more prosperous, Poland B – eastern parts of the country, which are economically belated and underdeveloped.

Children have alwaysbeen considered as particularly important in Poland


Are children luxury goods?

During recent years, the conditions for upbringing children provided by

the Polish state have improved in certain respects:

the length of maternal leave has been extended, income tax relieves for

families with children have been introduced.

The above-mentioned solutions, however, are only fragmentary. The current system of legal

solutions contributes to a low birth rate and an increasing proportion of children born into

and brought up in one-parent families. Instead of providing solutions to social problems, such

a system reinforces social pathologies and is costly to the state.

The tax system in Poland, despite the changes introduced at the beginning of 2008, still

treats children as luxury goods which can be afforded by few. This leads to weakening

the economic position of families, particularly those with many children.

Consequently, decisions to have and bring up children appear to be highly risky and costly.

Meanwhile, families with children, which incur significant expenses related to providing for

their offspring, also pay higher indirect taxes. Upbringing children entails parents'

bearing higher alternative costs during their professional activity period (lower remuneration,

slower pace of career development, less leisure time), and also later, when their children

grow up and start contributing relatively more to pensions of those who have chosen to

focus on their professional development and resign from family life.

The fact that upbringing children constitutes

investment in human capital, generating so-called

positive external effects for society, is underestimated.

This arouses a justified concern about who is going

to provide for the elderly generation in the nearest

future.

32

Children

Source: Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, Polish Press Agency, Reuters.

Petitions for legal separation (in thousands)

Petitions for divorce (in thousands)35

30

25

20

15

10

5

0

23,0

7.6

2003 2004 20042003

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

86

106

increase by

o 203%

increase by

o 23,2%

The introduction of the Family Benefits Act in May 2004 may serve as an example of an

adverse effect of legal solutions on children's well-being. This regulation provided an

economic incentive for the increase in the number of petitions for divorce or legal separation.

Despite the very short time for which the above-mentioned law was in force, its results can

be observed in a wide spectrum of malpractices aimed at gaining financial advantages.

Surge in divorce rates in Poland (in thousands)

Source: Central Statistical Office, GUS

75

70

65

60

55

50

45

40

35

30

25

1990 1995 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006

42,5

38,0

43,0

45,5

45,5

48,556,5

68,0

73,0

33

*Figures will be observable as statistical data over a longer period, when the defective legal solutions become permanent.

Children

sharp rise in the number of petitions for divorce or legal separation

in the year 2004, with this upward trend continued in the following

years;

increase in the percentage of children born into extramarital relations

or/and into one-parent families*;

increased risk of social pathologies;

increase in self-destructive behaviours (addictions, suicides) among

the youth.

Consequences of the regulation:


Poland has the highest level of exposure of children and teens to poverty

in the EU: 26% of Polish children aged under 15 years are in danger of 1living in poverty .

How to protect children from poverty?

The exposure to poverty is the biggest in numerous families and in households

where a child is brought up by a single parent. This results, among others, from the fact

that

This diagram shows the percentage of children aged 0-15 who live below the poverty

threshold. The poverty threshold is defined as 60% of national median income in a given

country, and is indicative of the differences in levels of economic development between

countries.

for a relatively long time after 1989 the state did not support families

in the process of upbringing children, especially during the early childhood

years. In consequence, one of the parents often resigned from their career,

which resulted in lowering the income of the household.

Sweden

Denmark

Finland

Germany

France

Austria

Nertherlands

Czech Republic

Great Britain

Hungary

Belgium

Greece

Ireland

Italy

Spain

Portugal

Poland

0 10 20 30 40

children under 15

all age groups

The percentage of children exposed to poverty in Poland

is the highest compared with other EU countries

Source: Eurostat (2006)1

34

Children

Source: W. Warzywoda-Kruszyñska, “Zjawisko biedy dzieci a zagro¿enie wykluczeniem spo³êcznym w przysz³oœci” (2008), 2 W. Warzywoda-Kruszyñska, Interview for the Voivedeship Office in £ódŸ (2008), [ ].

¹ [ ]. http://www.brpd.gov.pl/badaniabiedy.htmlhttp://www.uw.lodz.pl/index.php3?str=913&datar=2004-11&id=27

Child poverty, especially when it afflicts in the early childhood, leads to certain deficiencies,

which adversely affect the physical, intellectual and emotional development of a child in

the future.

“This is mostly because during childhood and early youth [ … ] changes occur in

the biological (pubescence), psychical (cognitive reorganization) and social (starting

and leaving school) spheres of human life, which entails changes in behavioural

patterns and in the social context in which a child lives.”

So far, the state and local governments have been unable to curb this phenomenon

or to cope with its consequences, which is reflected, among others, in the still unsolved

problem of child undernutrition, affecting approximately 1/3 of the population of children,

particularly in rural areas. The problem is even more difficult to solve

with regard to children under 6 years of age, who are not covered by the institutional

protection provided by schools. Meanwhile, American researchers prove that

1

The negative results of poverty may translate into failure to fulfil children's basic

needs such as proper nutrition or access to education and health care.

poverty

experienced by children aged below 5 years results in lowering 2their level of intelligence by 9 IQ points within three years' time .

35

Children


A limited access to early and systematic health diagnostics

and prophylaxis

How to ensure health of the youngest?

As far as young children are concerned, a long waiting

time for an examination by a specialist doctor in a public

health care institution often results in the necessity for

more complex and costly treatments in the future.

This particularly concerns rural areas, where not all POZ

centres employ paediatricians.

The percentage of households assessing the accessibility

of diagnostic examinations as 'good' has decreased in Poland

from 36.4% in 2003 to 28.9% in 2006. At the same time,

there has been an increase in the proportion of households

assessing it as 'bad' (from 15.5% in 2003 to 20.9%) or

'extremely bad' (from 4.8% to 5.5%). Nearly ¼ of infants

and 40% of children aged 1-2 have never received counselling

from doctors employed by POZ.

Although the health care system for the youngest children in Poland is considered as relatively

efficient, when compared with several more developed EU member countries, one may and

should identify those of its aspects which are still problematic.

Poland has abandoned selecting groups of children with special health care needs, comprising

children with a decreased health capacity, who should receive regular medical care. Those

groups ensured systematic diagnostics and control of all medical procedures applied in terms

of the most vital aspects of health. Clinics are obliged to conduct regular diagnoses of

children's health condition. While most of them succeed in fulfilling this responsibility,

a part of them fail to perform the task systematically.

Yet another problem is sometimes dubious quality of screening examinations carried out

by nurses in POZ* institutions, school nurses and doctors.

Thus, it would be advisable to increase the responsibility for provided health services, and

to control their quality, simultaneously extending their accessibility, e.g. by enabling performing

vaccinations outside treatment rooms belonging to the POZ network.

Source: * POZ (Podstawowa Opieka Zdrowotna) stands for basic health care in Poland.

36

Children

Awareness of the advantages of breastfeeding is still not common in Poland.

Even the best baby food does not contain the antibodies present in mother's milk. Statistics

show that only as little as 25% of breast-fed babies contract infections on a frequent basis,

while among artificially fed babies this proportion amounts to 97%. When a baby becomes

infected, it may occur necessary to apply an antibiotic therapy, which, in turn, has a weakening

effect on the immunological system.

Bottle-fed infants have smaller chances to fight pathogenic microorganisms before their own 1organisms start producing antibodies, which does not happen until the third month of their life .

The World Health Organization (WHO) recognized

It is also vital to start breastfeeding within the first hour of the child's birth. Research proves

that

Meanwhile, although no full statistical data are available in this respect, it may be estimated

that in Poland only slightly above half of the number of babies are breast-fed within the first

hour of life³.

full breastfeeding for the first six

months of a child's life to be the Golden Standard in infant nourishment².

breastfeeding a baby directly after its birth has a salutary effect on its health

and reduces infant mortality rate by even 31%.

Source: 1 D. My³ek, “Dlaczego warto karmiæ piersi¹” [ ]. ² World Health Organization, “Global strategy for infant and young child feeding” (Geneva, 2003) [ ]. ³ A. Gupta, “Breastfeeding: The 1st Hour – Save One Million Babies” (2007) [ ].

www.polki.pl http://www.polki.pl/rodzina_niemowle_artykul,10006481.htmlhttp://www.who.int/nutrition/topics/global_strategy/en/index.html

http://worldbreastfeedingweek.net/wbw2007/downloads.html

37

Children


Healthy family environment

Children, especially babies, are not able to signal that they are victims of violence. Cases of

violence against children are not evident until a child suffers injuries or abuses, or dies as

a result of physical harm. In Poland, according to the research conducted by the Nobody's

Children Foundation, the public consent for corporal punishment of children is higher than

in other new EU Member States. Moreover, as it appears from the UN statistical data,

the percentage of child deaths resulting from injuries and accidents is relatively high in 1Poland when compared with the relevant data for other EU member countries .

Young children have no influence on the way they spend their time. They are totally

dependent on the lifestyle of their parents and/or siblings. If they spend their free time

in front of TV sets, with little physical activity, or exercise done in the open air, their

muscular systems will be underdeveloped, which may result in faulty postures and/or

eye defects.

Lack of proper diagnostics and prophylaxis during early childhood poses

a significant challenge, as the later a health problem is identified the more

costly its consequences are. What is of key importance in this matter is

the care provided during foetal life.

Source: Central Statistical Office (GUS), “Ochrona zdrowia w gospodarstwach domowych w 2006 r. Health Care in Households in 2006” (Warszawa, 2008) [ ].1 http://www.stat.gov.pl/cps/rde/xbcr/gus/PUBL_ochrona_zdro_w_gosp_dom_2006r(1).pdf

38

Children

Only 41% of children aged 3 to 5 have access to preschool education

in Poland.

The results of scientific research clearly show that it is during our earliest years when most

of our intellectual and social skills are developed. By failing to provide children with quality

early childhood education, we squander their opportunities and waste potential human capital.

Access to quality preschool education is particularly important for children whose family

environment cannot ensure proper conditions and incentives for development. This is mostly

true for children from poor or pathological families, or coming from poor regions of Poland.

Improving accessibility and quality of early childhood education is key to curbing

the existing social inequalities.

Why is early childhood education so important?

How to increase the participation of children in early childhood education?

The share of Polish children in pre-school education 1is the lowest in Europe (% of 2-5-year-olds in educational institutions)

France

Spain

Italy

Belgium

Denmark

United Kingdom

Hungary

Czech Republic

Sweden

Germany

Estonia

Austria

Portugal

Slovenia

Netherlands

Bulgaria

Latvia

Greece

Lithuania

Ireland

Finland

Poland 41%

0 20 40 60 80 100

1Source: Eurostat, (2006) [ ].http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page?_pageid=1073,46870091&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL&p_product_code=CCA11024

39

Children


Source: Komeñski Foundation, based on the GUS (Central Statistical Office) data.2 Central Statistical Office, GUS.

1

Average expenditure on education in Poland (made by local governments and parents),

expressed as a percentage of GDP, are close to the EU average. However, these funds suffice

to ensure access to early childhood education in Poland for a much smaller number of

children than in other EU countries, which can be explained by lack of flexibility in allocating

funds for preschool education and care programmes.

Until recently there was only one form of preschool education in Poland: kindergartens,

with very high costs of education per child. Currently, alternative forms of preschool

education are available, offering fewer hours of class work, multi-age groups, and only

one teacher looking after children. While

, they do not solve all

existing problems, e.g. access to preschool education in gminas with extremely low population

density. This is the case in Podlaskie Voivodeship, where 3/4 of all rural gminas have no 1kindergartens .

Accessibility and popularity of preschool education in Poland is not only low, but also highly

differentiated between urban and rural areas. According to the statistical data for 2006, 62%

of children from urban areas aged 3 to 5 attended kindergartens, while in rural areas this

proportion was merely 19%. While the accessibility of kindergartens in towns and cities is 2improving relatively quickly (with an increase from 40% to 60% during the recent ten years) ,

the situation in villages has been improving much more slowly, with almost no changes in this

respect recorded for the last few years.

such forms are better suited to the needs

of rural communes (gminas*) and more affordable to them

What causes this disproportion?

Rural gminas are less densely populated, which increases the costs

and makes arranging preschool education more difficult. Additionally,

rural gminas are poorer, and their preschool education is not funded

from the central budget. Poland is one of the few EU Member States

in which early childhood education is not state-financed.

The problem of low accessibility of early

childhood education concerns mostly rural areas.

% of 3 to 5-year-olds in educational institutions

10%

Total Urban gminas Gminas of rural-urban

rural and municipal

nature

Rural-urban

gminas

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

0%

40

Children

* Gmina is a basic administrative unit in Poland (there are three types of gminas: rural gminas, urban gminas, mixed (rural-urban) gminas). Voivodeship is a high-level administrative unit in Poland (there are 16 voivodeships in Poland).

Wrong stereotypes related to early childhood education hinder its dissemination.

How to improve the quality of early childhood education?

abilities to think in abstract terms and assimilate complex notions .

Until recently it was generally assumed that infants and preschool children have limited 1

Therefore, both parents and institutions such as nurseries or kindergartens

focused mostly on providing care to children.

The results of recent research on the human brain's functioning verify the existing knowledge

on young children's development.

, although it obviously cannot equal the brain

of an adult in terms of its functionality.

During the first three years of life the brain reaches

the size of 60% of the adult human's brain2

Years between a child's birth until the age of 3 or 4 are

of key importance to:

quality of child's entrance to outside

the home environment;

development of child's ,

conditioning his/her success in acquiring knowledge

about the world and his/her own place in both natural

and institutional environment like kindergarten or school;

developing , such as

curiosity about the world, sense of self-esteem,

independence and perseverance, ability to concentrate,

listening and remembering, language skills, and cooperativeness;

developing

which determine the quality

of his/her adult performance both in private life and in

respect of social roles in family life, career, and spending 3 leisure time .

social life

cognitive competence

key attitudes and behaviours

the foundations of a child's personality,

individuality, and identity,

Source: ¹ A. Brzeziñska, "Spo³eczna psychologia rozwoju” (Warszawa: WN, 2000).2 B.J. de Urries, "Twoje dziecko miêdzy 1. a 3. rokiem ¿ycia” (Z¹bki: Apostolicum, 2005).3 J.D. Bransford, Brown, R.R. Cocking, "How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience and School” (Washington: National Academy Press, 2000).

41

Children


Source: J. Brooks-Gunn, et al.., "The Contribution of Parenting to the Ethnic and Racial Gaps in School Readiness” (Columbia University, 2005),[ ]. * School readiness is a child's developmental level required for assuming the obligations related to his start of school education.

1 http://www.futureofchildren.org/usr_doc/pg_139_markman_&_brooks-gunn.pdf

Parents are not properly involved in the education process of children during

the preschool period.

In Poland, unlike in other EU member countries,

which tend not to offer

In institutions providing early childhood care and education, parents are not treated like the basic

source of information about their children. Nor do they have any influence on the

learning content or the form of class work. Failure to enable provision of

will lead to depriving young children

of proper conditions for their development.

care and education programmes for

young children are limited to nurseries and kindergartens,

solutions supporting parents in fulfilling their educational functions.

diversified

educational forms for children and their parents

develop their own educational skills;

participate, together with their children, in educational and developmental

activities;

influence management and curriculum of institutions providing early

childhood care and education.

The level of professional qualifications of preschool

teachers is not satisfying.

It is impossible to improve the quality of early education

institutions without increasing the competence of teaching

personnel. Poland currently lacks suitable curricula tailored

to develop preschool teachers' skills in such areas as:

working with multi-age groups, working with difficult children,

partnership-based cooperation with children's parents, child

observation, designing individualized child development

programmes, and recording children's progress.

Parents are often unaware of the fact that their conduct

towards their child has a decisive impact on the behavioural

patterns developed by the child in his/her adult life. Meanwhile,

during the first 2 or 3 years of a child's life parents are

practically the only people he/she has contact with . Therefore,

it is parents' educational skills, love and engagement

that constitute the largest potential to improve

the quality of early childhood education.

The results of American research prove that

differences in the level of parental skills condition

from 25 to even 50 % of differentiation in the so-1called school readiness of children* .

42

Children

Currently, parents have very limited opportunities to:

Young child in the United Kingdom - legislation and practice

In December 2004 the British government published its Ten Year Childcare

Strategy: Choice for Parents, the Best Start for Children.

Key assumptions of the Strategy were:

enabling parents to balance their work commitments and family life;

– flexible childcare services for all families with children aged up to

14 who need it, and 15 hours a week (ultimately aiming at 20 hours) of free early

education classes for all 3 and 4 year olds for 38 weeks a year;

– high quality of services delivered by qualified personnel, consistently

increasing their professional competence;

- substantial increases in tax credit for education and care classes.

availability

quality

affordability

choice and flexibility – greater choice of early childhood care and education services

The example of the UK is important for Poland

insofar as it proves that children related problems

may only be solved effectively by applying systemic

and complex measures. Additionally, it occurs that

flexibility of the childcare system is more essential

for its clients, i.e. for parents and their children,

than the amount of state budget funds.

43

After issuing the Strategy, the government of the United

Kingdom published a guideline for local governments,

preparing them to the new tasks. In July 2006

the Parliament passed the Childcare Act,

establishing the key role of local governments

in the implementation of the Strategy.

Children


The programme is a practical implementation of the Strategy. It operates

through childcare centres functioning as 'department stores' combining various

services for young children and their families, including childcare integrated

with early education forms. The programme originated from the experience of

local programmes targeted at children threatened with social exclusion. Sure

Start Children's Centres offer support for families ranging from those expecting

a child to those with a 14-year-old child, including children with special educational

needs and disabled children.

Sure Start

The principles of Sure Start centres are:

working with parents and children;

services available to everyone;

diversity of services;

support provided 'since conception';

openness to the client – respect and transparency;

services adjusted to the needs of local communities – regular consultations with parents;

efficiency-orientated approach – reducing bureaucracy and simplifying funding procedures.

The Strategy stipulates that each British community will have its own Sure

Start Children's Centre by 2010.

An exemplary offer by ORANA Sure Start from Newry,

Northern Ireland:

meetings for parents and young children;

multi-sensory room;

health and midwifery visiting;

course for parents in speech and language development;

toy hire;

parenting skills programmes;

parent support groups;

minibus service;

family therapy;

trainings and courses for parents (e.g. in computer skills);

counsellor for families with disabled children.

Source: [ ].www.surestart.gov.uk

44

Children

Evaluation of the quality of early childhood education programmes

Example of an extract from the Child Behaviours Survey0-never; 1-very rarely; 2-rarely; 3-it's difficult to say; 4-quite often; 5-often; 6-always

1. Willing to help other children 0 1 2 3 4 5 6

2. Confident, not shy,

Able to agree with other children without arguing

0 1 2 3 4 5 6

0 1 2 3 4 5 6

0 1 2 3 4 5 6

0 1 2 3 4 5 6

3.

Happens to get embarrassed by compliments4.

Has his/her own5.

In the first stage of the evaluation (2006-2007), 480 children

were surveyed in different groups (in reception classes,

preschool centres, and traditional rural or urban kindergartens).

Currently, the survey tool is being "standardized”, i.e. tested

for its usefulness in a bigger statistical group.

Upon completion of this process, the Child

Behaviour Survey will become a universal tool for

evaluating educational programmes for young

children in Poland.

45

Source: The Komeñski Foundation1

Children

Evaluation survey within the programme “When there is no Kindergarten”

(in Polish: “Gdy nie ma przedszkola”) (2006-2008) consisted in comparing various

groups of children:

those participating in the programme, and those who did not take part in any form of early

childhood education1. What was evaluated was not the so-called school maturity, but

advancement in the key areas to psychosocial development

of a child: self-confidence, perseverance, curiosity, and social skills.

A team of experts (including scientists and practitioners in pedagogy and psychology, as

well as the research team members) designed a 20-question survey (in two versions: for

parents and for pedagogues), which enabled to operationalize the above notions.

In other words, it identified the everyday behaviours and attitudes in which the above-

named psychosocial qualities express themselves. The researchers evaluated behaviours

of children in respect of the four areas of development indicated above.


1 Source: High/Scope Educational Research Foundation [ ].http://www.peelearlyyears.com/pdf/Research/INTERNATIONAL%20Early%20Years/Perry%20Project.pdf

Measuring the quality and the effectiveness of early

childhood education programmes is vital to ensure

that the youngest generation is prepared to meet future

challenges, and to plan expenditure on early childhood

education reasonably.

Good evaluation research:

is based on clear assumptions from which it follows

explicitly what has already been surveyed and what has

not; it must be clear what areas the research outcomes

can be applied to;

studies areas evidently related to objectives of

the educational programme.

This refers to the basic requirement concerning

the quality of early childhood educational

programmes: deliberate and well defined educational

aims and methods of achieving them (in the curriculum),

and teachers prepared to their implementation.

No reliable evaluation is possible without reflection

on the educational programme, as well as on its

aims and tools.

46

Children

Similar research projects have been conducted in the United States and in Eastern Europe

for many years.

The High/Scope Perry Preschool Study, carried out in the US, is one of the better known

examples of evaluating the effects of early childhood education programmes. The Study,

launched in 1962, examines the lives of 123 African Americans born in poverty and at high

risk of failing in school.

From 1962 to 1967, at ages 3 and 4, the subjects were randomly divided into a programme

group that received a high-quality preschool programme based on High/Scope's participatory

learning approach and a comparison group who received no preschool programme.

In the study's most recent phase, 97% of the study participants still living were interviewed

at age 40. Additional data were gathered from the subjects' school, social services, and

arrest records.

The study found that adults at age 40 who had the preschool program had higher earnings,

were more likely to hold a job, had committed fewer crimes, and were more likely to have 1graduated from high school than adults who did not have preschool .

Success story: Tato.netMr Dariusz Cupia³ is one of the founders of the Tato.net Foundation.

The aim of the Foundation is to draw the attention of both fathers and the entire

society to the importance of the relations between fathers and their children for

the development of the latter.

The Foundation teaches fathers how to improve their children's upbringing,

but not exclusively. It also sets itself a task to change the social climate

around the role of the father in the process of upbringing children. The Tato.net

Foundation publishes books on parenting and paternity.

Moreover, the Foundation holds conferences and workshops all over Poland to

help fathers to re-establish and improve their relations with their children.

47

http://www.innowacyjnosc.gpw.pl/kip/index.php?m=2FILM

Children


SUMMARYGovernments are responding to unfavourable demographic trends by developing

pro-family policies. They are aimed at preventing a drastic decrease in the number

of children per family, reducing poverty, and supporting child development.

The best pro-family policies are characterized by comprehensiveness and use a variety

of tools such as:

Source: ¹ OECD, "Babies and Bosses, Reconciling Work with Family Life”.

At the same time, providing parents with financial benefits on condition that one of them

chooses not to work professionally and look after children seems reasonable, but often

proves ineffective. Such solutions destroy incentives to work. As a result, employers assume

that women will choose to stay at home, which in turn drives them to reduce the number

of women employed and investments in women's professional development1.

financial incentives

personal tax allowances per each family member

maternal leaves

flexible workplaces

, such as systems of family tax benefits designed to ensure financial

advantages for both working parents;

, which is anti-discriminatory

regarding different groups of tax payers;

, which are more effective if they are short but well paid;

, which are more family-friendly due to offering part-time jobs,

flexible working hours, and possibility to take leave in case of child's illness, i.e. extremely

important and convenient solutions for parents trying to reconcile their work and family life.

48

Children

In the long run, this translates into greater prosperity, better health, and lower crime rates².

As James Heckman, winner of Nobel Prize in Economics, argues,

investments in human capital of the youngest children yield the highest

returns, and are profitable not only for the children themselves, but also

for the entire society¹.

high

profits

low

profitspoor

abilities

great

abilities

rate of return

on education

Age

Achieving the above-mentioned profits requires combined

effort of all Poles, including parents, educators and doctors,

supported by rational state policies that will help Poland

to face key challenges discussed in this chapter:

low number of children per family, and the necessity

to provide better support for families;

reducing child poverty;

improving children's access to education by providing

more diversified and flexible forms of early childhood

education and a greater number of institutions offering

childcare services;

increasing parent's educational skills and involvement

in respect of the upbringing and early childhood

education of their children.

¹ J. Heckman J, “Invest in the Very Young” (University of Chicago Press, 2006).² K. Lucas, "Investing in Infants and Toddlers: The Economics of Early Childhood” [ ]. http://www.zerotothree.org/policy/pdf/The%20Economics%20of%20Early%20Childhood%20FINAL.pdf

Source:

49

Children


Pupils

Why is it worth to educate children in Poland?

What is the quality of Polish education?


51

Pupils


Do Polish schools develop skills whichchildren will need in their life?

Compared to other EU Member States, Poland achieves results exceeding the average only in reading literacy¹.

0 5 10 15 20 25

Portugal

Greece

Italy

Spain

Poland

Hungary

Sweden

France

Ireland

Austria

Belgium

Czech Rep

Germany

Netherlands

Finland

Source: OECD, PISA 2006: Science Competences for Tomorrow's Word, Vol. 1 (2007)

Finland

Ireland

Belgium

Netherlands

Poland

Sweden

Germany

Austria

United Kingdom

France

Czech Rep.

Hungary

Italy

Portugal

Greece

Spain

0 10 40 6020 30 50

% of school children with good

and very good results in the PISA

tests in reading literacy

0 10 40 6020 30 50

Finland

Belgium

Sweden

Germany

Austria

Ireland

France

Poland

Hungary

Czech Rep

Spain

Portugal

Italy

Greece

Netherlands



tests in mathematics



tests in natural sciences

52

Pupils

United Kingdom

United Kingdom

1 Source: UNDP, “Edukacja dla pracy. Raport o Rozwoju Spo³ecznym – Polska 2007” (Warszawa, 2007).

demand in Poland towards jobs requiring high qualifications, including mainly perfect

knowledge of mathematics and/or natural sciences.

It is estimated that by the year 2030 the level of employment in the sectors of science

and information society services will have increased

more than three times, and in the high technology industry – by 175%.

The shift will be caused, among other, by the following factors:

development and globalization of the market of the most advanced services (offshoring);

increased demand for new technologies, particularly those related to biotechnology;

increase in ecological investments, connected with the implementation of EU requirements,

and to the utilization of EU structural funds; 1 development of IT infrastructure .

It is expected that within the nearest decades there will be a significant shift in the workforce

Polish educational institutions – primary, lower secondary, and upper secondary

schools – are responsible not only for preparing their pupils for further education,

but also for laying foundations for their future careers in adult lives.

This leads to a justified concern about the ability of Polish

schools to prepare their pupils properly to the requirements

of higher education institutions, and about the capability

of the latter to produce highly qualified professionals.

The above-mentioned results are merely average, and they

have not been improving for the recent years (2003 and

2006 PISA tests).

Unfortunately, out of the three areas evaluated by

the international PISA testing, Poland has the worst

results in scientific and mathematical literacy.

53

Pupils


1 Source: OECD, “PISA 2006: Science Competencies for Tomorrow's Word”, Vol. 1, (2007).

Ineffectiveness of Polish schools with regard to developing cognitive competencies is also

reflected in the fact that Polish children achieve their merely average results in mathematics

with a disproportionately large effort.

1According to the OECD data , Polish pupils spend more time on learning mathematics

than children in any other EU member country: 69% of Polish pupils declare it takes them

over 4 hours a week, while in Holland and Spain this is true for 31% and 19% school

respectively. By contrast, as regards the amount of class work devoted to learning science

in Poland, it is one of the least in the EU.

In order to provide Polish children with qualifications necessary for succeeding in

the contemporary world, schools in Poland must become more effective in

developing their pupils' cognitive competencies, especially those related

to mathematical and scientific literacy.

Moreover, they must improve developing children's social skills.

54

Pupils

How to improve the quality of the teaching personnel's performance?

The influence of a good teacher upon a child cannot be overestimated.

has proved that pupils with similar abilities, but working with different teachers – one of them a high performer, the other a low performer – achieved drastically divergent

1results within three years .According to the overwhelming majority of experts in the field of education, teachers' influence on the level of school attainments of their pupils is of key significance, outweighing the importance of such factors as the class size, school facilities and equipment, or expenditure on education.

Singapore, which repeatedly achieves best results in the PISA tests, spends on education less than 27 out of 30 OECD member countries.

Research conducted in the USA (see diagram on the left)

Source: ¹McKinsey&Company, "How the world's best-performing school systems come out on top” (2007) [ ].http://www.mckinsey.com/App_Media/Reports/SSO/Worlds_School_Systems_Final.pdf

55

Pupil's level of attainment against the results

in his/her age group

Pupil's age

100%

50%

0%

8 years 11 years

undan ffecti

ea

er e

ve t cher

d a iniv e ch

un er n effect e t a er

90%

37%

53% difference

Pupils


Source: ¹ J. Zawadowska, "Nauczyciel jako wychowawca - czego nie chc¹ uczelnie” (Warszawa, 2008).

Effective teachers constitute one of the essential factors of the education system success. Good

schools, also in Poland, employ and train teachers who possess the ability to pass knowledge,

are well acquainted with educational techniques and methods, and are familiar with the anthro-

pological foundations of pedagogy. Good teachers continue their own education because they

are willing to continuously improve their performance. Their motivation is internal, and does

not depend on the external system of promotions or remuneration.

The world's best educational systems, e.g. in Finland or Singapore, as well as good schools in

Poland, apply practical training systems for future teachers, where special emphasis is put first

on attending colleague teachers' classes, and then on conducting classes independently.

Unfortunately, the overwhelming majority of teachers trained to work in Polish schools of st ththe 21 century are still educated according to the 19 century model, in which the emphasis

is laid on equipping future teachers with encyclopaedic knowledge of the history of pedagogical

and psychological doctrines. Issues concerning the neurobiological aspects of the learning process

are covered only marginally and in an outdated way, without providing any practical training in

this respect. Developing the interpersonal skills of future teachers, which are so important not

only in the teaching process, but also for a better cooperation with other teachers and parents, 1is completely neglected . It should be noted that the educational offer of Teacher Improvement

Centres is a valuable method of complementing and updating the knowledge of teachers and

education management personnel. Nevertheless, a model of education where fresh graduates

are compelled to immediately take intense improvement courses enabling them to fill basic gaps

in their education, is irrational and costly.

The status of the teacher must be, on the one hand, defined

by a "knowledge worker” model, i.e. a tutor preparing young

people to follow the principle of life-long education. On

the other hand, the teacher's status should be that of an

intellectual, participating in cultural and artistic life and in

the authentic education of society. Strengthening the

bureaucratic status of the teacher, defined in the Teachers'

Charter and in the relevant regulations on teachers'

promotions and qualifications, is not a step in the right

direction.

Teachers in Polish schools are quite frequently excessive

individualists, who often say: "What matters are my class,

my course, and me”.

While it is advisable that teachers enjoy properly understood

autonomy, their isolation from colleague teachers lowers the

overall performance of their school. From the pupil's point

of view it is important to deal with a team of pedagogues

able to work cooperatively on the school's curriculum,

assessment system, and rules of conduct.

What must be changed is the attitude towards

the role and the status of the teacher.

The Polish system of training and promoting teachers is faulty.

56

Pupils

1The Polish system of training and promoting teachers is faulty .How to ensure the inflow of talented teachers?

Can the majority belong to the elite?

This rhetorical question illustrates the condition of the Polish teacher promotion system eight

years after its introduction. Originally, the group of certified teachers was to comprise only 'the

very best of the best' pedagogues. Currently, it constitutes the largest group of teachers,

and, given its present growth dynamics, it will soon account for more than half of the teaching

profession in Poland. Due to the fact that teachers' salaries are closely dependent on their

promotion levels, the existing system offers certified teachers no motivation for further

development.

It is necessary to reform the teacher promotion system so that it acquires more

motivating and selective character. Teachers' remuneration should be closely

connected with their performance.

Teachers' promotions are a formal procedure,

and not a way to award the best teachers.

Source: System Informacji Oœwiatowej MEN / Educational Information System of the Polish Ministry of National Education 1

57

trainee teachers

contract teachers

appointed teachers

certified teachers

Pupils


The Polish system of training and promoting teachers is faulty.

Poles are used to thinking that a low quality teaching results from low remuneration

in the education sector.

An average teacher in Poland earns about PLN 3,000, which is approximately the median

national pay. However, there is a

A certified teacher earns, on average, 2.5 times as much as a trainee teacher. Such a spread is 1not present in any other OECD country .

At the same time, a teacher's salary shows little dependence

on the character of his/her work, e.g. on the level of the education institution he/she is

employed by. Little selectivity of the Polish teacher promotion system is yet another problem.

Today, however, the problem lies not so much in the level

of teacher's salaries as in the whole remuneration system, which is not

sufficiently motivating and entails negative selection of candidates for this job.

huge gap between the average salary of beginning

teachers and that of certified teachers.

This hinders the inflow of young, talented

teachers to the profession.

Source: ¹ OECD

58

Pupils

1 Source: System Informacji Oœwiatowej MEN (Educational Information System of the Polish Ministry of National Education).

Improving the quality of Polish education requires increasing the attractiveness

of remuneration received by beginning teachers. Currently, its level in Poland 1is lower than in any highly developed country .

Nonetheless, the unattractiveness of salaries of experienced

teachers is a myth. Compared to other countries, the situation

in Poland in this respect is at least good.

Yearly remuneration of a beginning teacher

in a primary school against GDP per capita

Germany

Spain

Denmark

Portugal

Scotland

Netherlands

Czech Republic

Finland

Belgium- Flemish

Greece

Italy

Belgium -French

Austria

France

Ireland

Norway

Poland

Hungary

0,62

0,66

0,68

0,73

0,77

0,79

0,84

0,86

0,87

0,89

0,90

0,91

0,92

0,92

0,99

1,01

1,16

1,30

0 0,5 1 1,5 2 2,5

Poland

Norway

Hungary

SwedenFranceAustria

ItalyFinland

GreeceDenmark

Belgium -French

Czech Republic

Netherlands

SpainScotland

PortugalGermany

Switzerland

0,74

0,89

0,96

1,03

1,04

1,04

1,05

1,06

1,14

1,18

1,19

1,19

1,20

1,24

1,29

1,33

1,35

1,47

1,48

1,62

1,62

0 0,5 1 1,5 2 2,5 3

Irlandia

Belgium- Flemish

United Kingdom

Yearly remuneration of a teacher with a 15-year experience

in teaching in a primary school against GDP per capita

59

Pupils


How to develop pupils' talents?

The myth of a small class?

Talents will not thrive in a system based on equalization and levelling.

Poland abounds in talented youth. Polish pupils often take top positions in international contests.

Source: ¹ K. Konarzewski, “PIRLS 2006. Jak czytaj¹ dzieci w Polsce i na œwiecie“ (Warszawa: CKE, 2007). ² McKinsey&Company, “How the world's best-performing school systems come out on top” (2007) [ ].http://www.mckinsey.com/App_Media/Reports/SSO/Worlds_School_Systems_Final.pdf

60

In the years 2001-2006 the number of pupils per class continued

decreasing all over the world. That, however, did not result

in the improvement in pupils' attainment. There was no

betterment in countries where the number of pupils per class

was lowered most significantly (e.g. in Lithuania), and in some

of them (e.g. in Romania) a worsening trend was observed.

The international comparison of school attainments showed

that the countries with up to 20-pupil class size had meaningfully

lower average results (489) than those with 21-30 pupils 1per class (504) . The same tendency occurs in Poland.

Paradoxically, the findings of neither Polish nor international

research show any evidence that smaller class size results in

better pupils' attainment . Out of 112 research projects run

all over the world, 103 did not reveal any substantial positive

correlation between reducing class size and pupils' performance, 2or even showed a negative correlation in this respect . Moreover,

it cannot be forgotten that reducing class size entails higher

demand for teachers, which increases the costs of education.

An individualized approach to teaching does not require lowering

class size. It is possible to introduce it in large classes, provided

that adequate educational tools are applied, such as: individual

feedback, team learning, consideration for individual learning styles etc.

develop his/her potential.

Little diversification of the educational offer on the level of the system, school and

class reduces the possibility of adjusting the teaching procedures and the curriculum

to the individual needs and abilities of pupils.

Good systems of education are introducing increasingly more visible

diversification of curricula and educational paths for children within the same class, which

enables schools to individualize the learning process. Unfortunately, the majority of Polish

schools are still far from putting into practice the idea of personalized education, whose core

aspect is that schools should make an effort to adapt to diversified needs and individual abilities

of pupils instead of focusing on adjusting each individual pupil to the offered model of teaching.

Therefore, a question arises how not to waste those talents and enable each child to

One school model and one curriculum

for all pupils make school suitable for nobody.

The days of 'mass education' based on one curriculum for all are coming to an

end. Children are too precious resource to fail to give each of them sufficient

individual attention.

An individualized approach and equal access to education for

all children have helped Finland to persistently come top in

the international PISA tests.

Link: http://www.innowacyjnosc.gpw.pl/kip/index.php?m=16/

Pupils

1 Source: M. Gurian, K. Stevens, "The Minds of Boys. Saving Our Sons from Falling behind in School and Life” (Wiley, 2007).

Each pupil should have his/her own personal improvement project, which plans his/her

educational goals with consideration for the pupil's individual learning rhythm.

Such pre-assessments should work on

the assumption that each pupil possesses a talent.

Moreover, it should be taken for granted that high abilities in one area are usually

accompanied by lack of interest and abilities in others. Meanwhile, it is the poor results

of a pupil, not the good ones, that are paid a disproportionately great attention by schools.

Teachers, in turn, tend to avoid conducting extra-curricular classes focused on developing

pupils' talents, as such activity is poorly-paid. Another disadvantage of Polish schools consists

in failure to provide educational and career counselling for pupils, which makes it more

difficult for them to enter the labour market after graduating school.

Pupils'

evaluation should be based on individualized pre-assessments that would involve

forecasting individual pupil's achievements.

Talent development in Polish schools will be impossible without systemic

solutions that will enable schools to monitor each pupil's achievements

regularly and against standardized criteria.

The existing teaching model applied by Polish schools can be traced

back to the days of the industrial revolution, when school was expected

to prepare large groups of people to work for the developing industrial

sector1. This schooling model does not, however, satisfy the needs

of the knowledge economy, in which school must be oriented at

searching for and developing talents, and thus, at producing the future

creative class.

Introducing a more individualized approach to teaching is a long-lasting

process and demands numerous changes. For this reason its implementation

must not be delayed.

61

Pupils


Source: ¹ P. Mateju, M.L. Smith, P. Soukup, J. Basl, “Determination of College Expectations in OECD Countries” in: “Czech Sociological Review”, Vol. 46, No. 6 (2007).

Norway

Spain

Hungary

CzechRepublic

Greece

ItalyPoland

Finland

Germany

Sweden

France

BelgiumIrelandAustria

Portugal

United Kingdom

0,400 0,600 0,800 1,000 1,200 1,400 1,600 1,800 2,000

0,700

0,600

0,500

0,400

0,300

0,200

0,100

Slovakia

Interdependencies between educational careers and students' abilities

Inte

rdep

enden

cies

bet

wee

n e

duca

tional ca

reer

s and the

soci

al and e

conom

ic s

tatu

s of th

e pare

nts

Can education help to equalize life chances?

The educational process in Poland favours deepening

social divisions to a much greater extent than in other

countries.

Diagram interpretation

PISA surveys show that Poland belongs to the group

of countries in which social background has the strongest

impact on the educational choices. In Poland, more often

than in other countries, choosing the educational path is

determined by the family's social and economic status,

rather than by the pupil's abilities. A number of factors

contribute to this, including poor accessibility of kindergartens,

insufficient efforts to combat social segregation in schools,

and inefficient higher education funding system.

Additionally, the Polish state fails to make sufficient use

of education as a tool in the regional development policy.

1The authors of this critical analysis , based on the 2003 PISA

data, estimated (applying the logistic regression method)

the impact of social background and abilities of pupils in the final

year of lower secondary school ('gimnazjum') on his/her choice

of the educational path. As shown in the diagram, Poland is placed

in the group of countries with an average influence of pupils'

abilities on their educational careers. However, there are only

two OECD countries, namely Italy and Hungary, where the family's

social and economic background has a stronger impact on pupils'

educational choices than in Poland.

62

Pupils

How to improve the cooperation between parents, teachers, and pupils?

Parents rarely establish regular cooperation with teachers. Teachers are often confronted by

parents, and vice versa.

The education system fails to recognize the educational impact of home, and it is school

that is generally perceived as the main educational centre. School and home do not rely

on each other, are often in conflict, or discredit each other. Pupils, especially those attending

lower secondary or upper secondary general school ('liceum'), are 'isolated' from their family

environment. Lack of support from parents results in pupils' poorer attainment and in their

increasing reluctance to learn. The pupils who suffer the most in this respect are those from

one-parent families. In their case, lack of parents' support leads to more frequent self-1destructive attitudes and poorer results at school .

Best results are achieved when parents and teachers

cooperate on planning their children's and pupils'

development, and share their tasks responsibly.

The system of education should recognize the educational

role of the family environment, and support its development.

Thus, it is necessary to shift the responsibility for children's

upbringing to their parents, and to equip them with effective

tools for their cooperation with school.

When pupils develop in a consistent environment, both at

home and school, they are provided with all the prerequisites

for succeeding in school and in life.

Pupils from one-parent families are more likely2to develop self-destructive behavioural patterns

I have taken drugs this month I have drunk alcohol this month

lower secondary school pupils from one-parent families

lower secondary school pupils from two-parent families

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

3%7%

27%33%

Source: Raport roczny programu spo³ecznego “Szko³a bez Przemocy” (Annual Report on the Social Programme “Szko³a bez przemocy” [School without Violence]) (Warszawa, 2008) [ ]. Social Programme “Szko³a bez przemocy” (Warszawa, 2008) [ ].

1 ² Diagram from the Annual Report on the

http://www.szkolabezprzemocy.plhttp://www.szkolabezprzemocy.pl

63

Pupils

Poor cooperation between school and home

Cooperation


1, 2 Source: P. Œleszyñski, "Ekonomiczne uwarunkowania wyników sprawdzianu szóstoklasistów i egzaminu gimnazjalnego przeprowadzonych w latach 2002-2004 “ (Warszawa: PAN, 2004). 3 Raport roczny programu spo³ecznego "Szko³a bez Przemocy”(Annual Report on the Social Programme "Szko³a bez przemocy” [School without Violence]) (Warszawa, 2008) [ ]. http://www.szkolabezprzemocy.pl

The level of parents' education

An effective system of education should reconcile the principles of egalitarianism and elitism in its functions.

conditions pupils' achievements to a large extent. Utilizing this phenomenon in school environment, by encouraging well-educated parents to become more involved, would result in strengthening the educational role of school. It may seem controversial to support the good ones in becoming even better, especially when the weaker ones are left unassisted. However, developing pupils' talents properly includes helping children of well-educated parents as well.

Children's school attainment is closely connected with their parents' level of education1.

Average standardized results of a test

for sixth-formers conducted in the years

2002-2004 in gminas

Share of population aged 15 and more

with university education in gminas in 2002

The family impact is ESSENTIAL.

The best educational achievements are determined

by parents' sense of responsibility for their children's

educational process and good schooling conditions,

co-existing in the local community. If there is no bilateral

interest in children's educational success, good patterns

and solid knowledge acquired at school may be squandered

by the negative influence of the family environment. By

analogy, good patterns adopted at home may be eroded

by the harmful impact of a badly organized school which 2is not prepared for fulfilling its educational role . Meanwhile,

the results of Polish research indicate that only slightly more

than half of Polish parents attend parents' evenings, and

92% of those who participate in them do not maintain 3any other contact with the school !

64

Pupils

Can everybody be taught in the same way?

It is not a whim to differentiate school curricula and to adapt them

to pupils' needs and preferences. Differentiation in learning styles is

a fact, preconditioned by many factors including the pupil's gender.

Results of the international PISA tests, as well as of those taken by

the sixth-formers in Poland, confirm that there are

. In most of highly

developed countries the method of teaching appears to be tailored rather

to girls' needs, which leads to an 8% difference in school attainments between 1genders in the OECD countries . Meanwhile, according to the findings of British

research,

Failure to satisfy children's needs, in particular at the beginning of their

educational career, results in genuine discrimination.

significant differences

between boys' and girls' educational achievements

70% of boys have special educational needs, while the same 2proportion among girls is significantly smaller .

Naturally, gender is not the only factor determining differentiation

of the needs in terms of the learning environment. Another

important factor here is each pupil's preferred learning style, which

is conditioned to a significant degree on the neurobiological level.

Source: ¹ Centralna Komisja Egzaminacyjna (Central Examination Board) [ ] ² OECD, “PISA 2006: Science Competencies for Tomorrow's World”, Vol.1 (2007). ³ HM Government DES, “Gender and Education” (London, 2007) [ ].

www.cke.edu.pl

http://www.dfes.gov.uk/research/data/uploadfiles/RTP01-07.pdf

65

Differences in the sixth-formers' tests results in the years 2002-20083

According to British research, the percentage

of children with special educational needs is higher among boys.

Ave

rage

val

ues

of st

andar

diz

ed

test

res

ults

Specific learning

difficulty

Behaviour, emotional

and social difficulty

Speech, language,

and communication

needs

Other

difficulty/disability

scoresboys girls

Finland

Ireland

Poland

Sweden

Belgium

Netherlands

Germany

United Kingdom

Czech Republic

Denmark

France

Hungary

Italy

Greece

Portugal

Slovakia

Spain

boys girls

PISA 2006 reading skills –

differences in results

between genders

Pupils

boys girls


We are all born with innate preferences for using one of our hands, one of our eyes, and even

one of our eyes. We also possess a distinct preference for one brain hemisphere over the other. 1According to Carla Hannaford, Ph.D. , a pioneer of contemporary educational kinesiology,

schools are organized in a way that favours only certain learning styles, and methods of

assessing educational progress give advantage to pupils with a well developed left (logical)

brain hemisphere. Such pupils find it easy to do calculations and to categorize.

Intuition, imagination, sense of humour and the ability to create pictures are underestimated,

although they are of unquestioned importance in the life outside of school as well as in adult

life.

Teachers and managers in schools have insufficient awareness of different needs

of their pupils. A poor knowledge of educational tools, such as Dennison's method for

describing individual learning styles, and of techniques for working with pupils with different

types of intelligence or special educational needs, results in failing to meet the needs of

individual pupils, and thus, in hindering their full development.

Source: C. Hannaford, "Zmyœlne ruchy, które doskonal¹ umys³. Podstawy kinezjologii edukacyjnej” (Warszawa: Medyk, 1998) (English edition: "Smart Moves, Why Learning Is Not All in Your Head”).1

66

Pupils

According to the 2007 McKinsey report on systems of education in 31 OECD member

countries,

As other experts in educational issues point out, the quality of teachers depends to

a significant extent on methods of assessing their performance and on close relation between

their results and financial awards.

Particularly valuable as a method to assess teachers' performance is the so called

Educational Added Value Assessment System (EVAAS), which is gaining increasing popularity

in highly developed countries. In general, the method consists in comparing a pupil's actual

progress at school with the one that could be forecast on the basis of the initial level of his/her

knowledge.

it is crucial to attract proper candidates to the teaching profession,

and then to apply suitable selection and promotion mechanisms.

The restrictive selection criteria for educational studies candidates

in Singapore certainly contribute to achieving the

best educational results by this country1.

18

0 20 40 60 80 100 120

18

18

20

100

1 Source: McKinsey&Company, “How the world's best-performing school systems come out on top” (2007) [ ].http://www.mckinsey.com/App_Media/Reports/SSO/Worlds_School_Systems_Final.pdf

67

Candidates for education studies

Candidates admitted to education studies

Education studies students

Graduates in education studies

Teachers

Only one in five candidatesgoes through

the selection process

Pupils

The strategy of providing quality teachers – Singapore, Korea, Finland.

Key principle: Educational studies are for the best, and are perceived as one of the three

most prestigious fields of study. The main characteristics are: strict selection procedures

applied by universities to assess candidates' capacity to teach and learn; places for a limited

number of students; high standards of teaching; numerous job offers for graduates.

Effects:

high academic preparation of candidates for teachers;

high prestige of the teaching profession in the eyes of students and graduates;

high salaries for beginning teachers;

outstanding educational achievements.


Success Story: „U Siemachy” AssociationThe story of Association shows that thanks to social engagement,

the surrounding reality can be effectively transformed. The civic association "U Siemachy”',

led by Reverend Andrzej Augustyñski, gathers people willing to help children and youth

from families that are unable to provide them with sufficient care.

Over 1,000 people benefit from various forms of assistance offered by the Association

every day.

The biggest success of 'U Siemachy' is undoubtedly the fact that many present members

of the Association were recipients of its help in the past, and owe the Association their

success in life. 'Siemacha' taught them not only to be self-reliant, but also to value and use

the opportunity of sharing what they have with others.

"U Siemachy”

68

FILM http://www.innowacyjnosc.gpw.pl/kip/index.php?m=4

Pupils

Success Story: Emil Korbus

Emil Korbus, a 14-year-old pupil from a small village school near Lublin, not only has

an exceptional for his age love for figures. Above all, he was unusually lucky to meet

a teacher who guided him in following his passion and developing his science talent

since the first years at school. At the age of 12, Emil was 6th in Provincial Mathematical

Olympiad.

Today, as a 14-year-old, he can easily solve mathematical problems included

in examinations for the secondary school certificate. His maths teacher devotes a few

extra hours a week on the accelerated learning classes conducted specially for him.

Emil also receives wise support from his parents. They encourage him to participate

in contests and Olympiads but do not force him to anything. They help him

as much as they can: his father drives him 4 km by tractor to the nearest bus station

every day.

69


Pupils


The winner of the last International Olympiad in Informatics held in Croatia in 2007 was

Tomasz Kulczyñski from 4th Upper Secondary School (VI Liceum Ogólnokszta³c¹ce)

in Bydgoszcz. The previous edition of this contest (held in Mexico in 2006) was won

by Filip Wolski from 3rd Upper Secondary School (III Liceum Ogólnokszta³c¹ce) in Gdynia.

These are only the most spectacular instances of successes of Polish pupils in international

IT competitions.

Polish youth is talented. If this potential is to be fully utilized, more effort must be put into

fulfilling basic assumptions of an effective system of education:

SUMMARY

Albert Einstein: „ my students anything. The only thing I do is create proper learning conditions for them”.

I have never taught

70

The quality of the education system will be as good as

the performance of its teachers.

A good system of education ensures every child maximum

possible development

School is better when it cooperates with parents.

A modern school working for the needs of the knowledge

society must find balance between the principles of

egalitarianism

Existing teacher training and

remuneration system in Poland does not ensure proper recruitment

and selection procedures for the teaching profession. Moreover,

it does not provide teachers with proper conditions for learning.

Meanwhile, increase in pupils' school attainment results mostly

from improvement of the quality of teachers' performance.

. Developing each child's talents through

personalized education projects, differentiated on the level of

the system, school, and class, and respecting individual differences

between children with respect to their abilities and needs,

does not necessarily require decreasing the number of children

per class. Instead, is involves changing teaching methods and applying

proper teacher motivation tools.

Full development of every child requires involvement of his/her

parents and establishing their close co-operation with teachers.

(ensuring easy access to education for all children

and equalizing life opportunities for children from pathological families)

and elitism (searching for and developing talents).

2,

Pupils

Students


Why is it worth to study in Poland?

How do Polish higher education institutions prepare students for their professional life?


72

Students

IC Index for students

United Kingdom

Sweden

Ireland

Finland

Germany

France

Netherlands

Austria

Belgium

Czech Republic

Greece

Italy

Poland

Portugal

Hungary

Spain

0 20 40 60 80 100

This means that young Poles receive worse preparation for adult life, including entering

the labour market, compared with most of the other EU countries.

This disadvantageous position results to a significant extent from the following

statistics:

small number of Polish higher education institutions included in the so-called

Shanghai Ranking;

insignificant number of scientific articles per one million inhabitants;

very low level of educational subsidies for private-owned entities, expressed

as a percentage of GDP.

The following factors have a beneficial impact on Poland's ranking:

high percentage of population aged 20-24 having completed secondary or higher education;

lowest in Europe percentage of people leaving school early, i.e. people aged 18-24

having completed no more than lower secondary education, without enrolling in

any training courses afterwards;

still comparatively high percentage of graduates of higher education institutions in the fields

of science and technology per 1,000 people aged 20-29.

thThe Intellectual Capital Index for students places Poland 13 in the group

of 16 EU member countries included in this comparison.

73

Intellectual capital indexes have been based on the analysis

of the key IC indicators attributed to a given generation.

The full list of all 117 indicators used for the purposes

of Poland's IC model is available at:

www.innowacyjnosc.gpw.pl/kip/

Students


How to improve the quality of Polish higher education institutions?

Poland is experiencing an educational boom.

It is necessary to change the character of the educational boom from

quantitative to qualitative.

The number of higher education students has increased from 394 thousand in the academic 1year 1990/1991 to over 2 million at present . The scholarization rate for the age

group 19-24 has reached 48%, being one of the highest levels in Europe. 500 students

per 10,000 inhabitants is a result that places Poland sixth in the global ranking.

However, the Polish educational boom is mainly of a quantitative nature. There has been

an increase in the number of students, fields of study, and, last but not least, institutions

of higher education.

The quality of academic teaching is far from perfect. In state-owned higher education

institutions the teaching staff are awarded mainly for their scholarly achievements,

and not for their educational performance. A certain number of students, although

obviously not all, attending non-state institutions of higher education focus on getting

a diploma rather than on acquiring knowledge. Even the best Polish universities: ththe University of Warsaw and the Jagiellonian University, are both placed below 400 position

2in the so-called Shanghai Ranking – a prestigious ranking of best universities in the world.

Meanwhile, not even one Polish university appears in the alternative ranking of École 3des Mines de Paris , including the world's best 400 Universities.

Due to the poorly performing system of maintenance grants

and scholarships for students, the access to higher education,

especially to the most renowned institutions, is considerably

more difficult for candidates from outside big urban

agglomerations (according to the Central Statistical Office

(GUS), the advantage in the percentage of higher education

students in the age group 20-24 of big urban agglomerations

over rural areas amounted to 13.5% in 2005). On the other

hand, the eligibility criteria for scholarships should be revised

in order to provide greater support for genuinely best students.

Unequal access

Source: ¹ Central Statistical Office (GUS), „Studenci szkó³ wy¿szych w Polsce w roku akadamickim 2007/2008” [ ]. ² Institute of Higher Education, Shanghai Jiao Tong University (2007) [ ]. ³ École des Mines de Paris (2007) [ ].

http://www.stat.gov.pl/gus/45_4291_PLK_HTML.htmhttp://ed.sjtu.edu.cn/rank/2005/ARWU2005Main.htm

http://www.ensmp.fr/Actualites/PR/EMP-ranking.html#chapter3

74

Students

Only two Polish universities

(University of Warsaw and Jagiellonian Univeristy)

are ranked among the world's 500 best universities.

Number of universities per country

in the Shanghai Ranking

Germany

United Kingdom

Italy

France

Netherlands

Sweden

Spain

Belgium

Austria

Denmark

Finland

Hungary

Ireland

Greece

Poland

Czech Rep.

Portugal

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50

The Polish educational system is

poorly adapted to meet the needs of

a globally competitive economy.

1,00 2,00 3,00 4,00 5,00 6,00 7,00

Poland

Finland

Denmark

Belgium

Ireland

Netherlands

Austria

Sweden

Germany

Cyprus

Malta

France

United Kingdom

Czech Republic

Estonia

Luxemb.

Latvia

Slovenia

Spain

Romania

Slovakia

Hungary

Portugal

Bulgaria

Italy

Greece

Managers and entrepreneurs assess Polish system of education as poorly suited

to the needs of economy.

The results of both international and domestic research prove that higher education in Poland

still requires significant improvement to produce graduates equipped with qualifications suitable

to the needs of their future employers. According to the survey carried out by the World 1 thEconomic Forum , Poland takes 19 position in the extended EU in this respect, with grade

4 on a scale of 1-7. On the other hand, the survey conducted on a sample group of Polish

entrepreneurs has indicated, among others, that only 6% of them highly assess the decision

making skills of newly employed fresh graduates. Their project management skills are found

even less satisfying – as many as 81% of entrepreneurs consider them to be low, and 2the remaining 19% assess them as average .

The five-fold increase in the number of students in Poland over the last two decades may

be the reason for joy, but if the current quality of higher education teaching is not

increased, this success will be partial and short -lasting.

1 Source: World Economic Forum (2007) [ ]2 The Polish State Accreditation Committee (2007) [ ]

http://www.insead.edu/v1/gitr/wef/main/analysis/http://www.pka.edu.pl/index.php?page=matinf

Do universities meet the needs of

a globally competitive economy systems?

75

Students

1- fails to meet the needs of a competitive economy

7- meets the needs of a competitive economy


The educational profile of Polish higher education

institutions is not suited to the needs of the Polish economy.

(percentage of students of different fields of study)

0 10 20 30 40 50

Education studies

Humanities, art studies

Social sciences, managerial studies, law

Natural sciences, mathematics,computer studies

Engineering and construction sciences

Agriculture, veterinary medicine

Medicine and welfare

Fields of study related to the service sectors

Poland

EU27

According to the assumptions underlying the Bologna Process,

a country's higher education system should prepare its students for

meeting the challenges posed by the contemporary society and

knowledge-based economy.

If higher education institutions offer fields of study that are incompatible with labour market

needs, the unemployment rate among graduates will increase, and the level of motivation

for undertaking higher education studies will decrease. One of the problems of the Polish

education system is falling interest in studying science and technology, which are of significant

importance from the perspective of knowledge-based economy. On average, 11.1 out of 1,000

inhabitants of Poland hold academic diplomas in natural and technological sciences. By

comparison, the corresponding average proportion for the EU countries is 12.9.

What is additionally disquieting here is a noticeable downward trend: in 2007 the interest

in studying engineering, technological and computer sciences among candidates

for higher education institutions dropped by nearly 6%. It is evident that there are

no proper incentives – either for students to choose the fields which are strategic

for the country's development (scholarships), or for higher education institutions

to increase the accessibility of studies in these fields by making proper allocations

of resources (funding mechanisms).

How to improve the usefulness of higher education?

76

Students

Favourable conditions for enhancing the usefulness of higher education can

be created by developing new methods of managing the quality of teaching

at academic institutions. It is one of the most significant trends observed in

higher education institutions worldwide, and a key element of the Bologna

Process.

In the past, the quality of university education was ensured by its elitist character and by

the restrictive regulations on both curricula and teaching methods. While higher education

is being increasingly popularized (which entails rising financial outlays) and differentiated

(various types of higher education institutions, different curricula and teaching methods),

it is impossible to maintain high quality of teaching with the use of traditional measures.

The accreditation system, still in the phase of development in Poland, appears to well

respond to its assumptions.

As it is emphasized in the ENQA (European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher

Education) report, it is still necessary to exert greater pressure upon institutions of higher

education so that they 1 effectively implement their quality management systems .

Source: 2 OECD, „Tertiary Education for the Knowledge Society. OECD Thematic Review of Tertiary Education” (2008).

1 [ ]http://www.enqa.eu/files/ESG_v03.pdf

The existing solutions regarding quality management fail

to sufficiently fulfil the following criteria:

Public funding for higher education institutions should be

allocated based on the evaluation of their academic

achievements and teaching process quality.

Evaluation of the results of a given institution should take

into account measurable results of the education process,

including the degree of graduates' preparation to enter the

labour market (based, among others, on the so-called Dublin

descriptors).

The decision-making bodies of higher education institutions

should include representatives of all groups involved, such as

students, businessmen, or the local / regional authorities.

Evaluation results achieved by a given institution in the above2-mentioned areas should be publicly available .

The quality of education is ultimately verified in the labour market.

What must be done within the next few years is changing

the focus of higher education onto the needs of the knowledge

-based economy, and introducing the best standards of managing

the teaching quality. Failure to do so will result in the loss of graduate's

credibility in the eyes of employers, and decrease in the prestige of

higher education.

77

Students


How to modernize the teaching methods applied by Polish higher education institutions?

The necessity of improving teaching methods

changed only insignificantly during recent years. Meanwhile, the progress in information

technologies has made it possible for students and academic teachers to have much easier

access to knowledge and information than it used to be a decade ago. Nevertheless, not many

higher education institutions in Poland take full advantage of this potential.

Under the existing circumstances

The role of the teacher is not so much about passing knowledge as about creating favourable

conditions for students to learn. What is also indispensable is increasing the flexibility of

the studying process, and, in particular, broader popularization of such options as courses

within the so-called macro-fields, inter-field studies, or individualized curricula, including not only

the courses available at a given institution, but also those offered by other domestic or foreign

higher education institutions (ECTS – the European Credit Transfer System).

At many Polish higher education institutions the way of running classes for students has been

it becomes natural that the teaching models in

the higher education sector are evolving towards self-education, i.e. towards

learning processes focused on individual work, and cooperation in a group, with

the teacher performing as a mentor.

1 Source: „Perspektywy” (a Polish weekly magazine for secondary school pupils), No. 05/2008. ² European Commission „Erasmus. Success Stories” (2007) [ ]http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/education_culture/publ/pdf/erasmus/success-stories_en.pdf

This will undoubtedly require certain changes in the legal system, but also

acquiring new skills by the academic teachers, and their readiness to

introduce new interactive forms of teaching (e-learning, mentoring,

e-collaboration, individual and team projects).

Inspiration for positive change often comes from the outside. The world's

leading universities take pride in strong networks of relationships with their

environment; their authorities include representatives of the business world,

NGOs, and foreigners. Polish institutions of higher education have had little

contact with the business sector so far. It is not easy to encourage very

well paid practitioners (not employed by the educational institution) to

share their knowledge and experience with students. Nonetheless, the 1institutions which manage to do so achieve extraordinary results .

, including several dozen thousand

of scientists belonging to the Polish Diaspora in the United States. It is also

necessary to increase the participation of Polish academic teachers in

the European exchange programmes (e.g. Erasmus). Currently, not a single

Polish institution appears in the top twenty institutions of higher education

on the list of the most active participants in this programme, and there are 2only two Polish universities among the first fifty of them . Meanwhile,

the Charles University in Prague (Univerzita Karlova v Praze) is ranked first

on the list, and institutions from such countries as Slovenia, Romania, and

Hungary are included among the top twenty.

A great,

although hardly exploited today, opportunity for Poland lies in

the scientists who work abroad

Polish higher education institutions must develop wide networks

of external relations

78

Students

Development and motivation of teachers

academics. Both the algorithm of distributing public funds to higher education institutions

and the remuneration systems used by higher education institutions should motivate not

only to conduct scholarly research, but also to join projects implemented in cooperation

with the business environment, to continuously increase qualifications of the academics,

and to improve teaching methods. A problem at numerous Polish higher education institutions,

both state-owned and private, is insignificant transparency of the actual qualifications of their

teachers and inconsistent approach to assessing the quality of their teaching performance

and the level of their students' satisfaction with such tools as surveys or class inspections.

No improvement in the quality of teaching methods is possible without competent

79

Students

It is essential to increase the transparency, e.g. by making

the information on the teachers' academic c achievements

publicly available, and to introduce a system of awards

and promotions for teachers based on the results of their

performance evaluation.

Further challenges in the area of academic teachers'

professional development and motivation are as follows:


The present legal regulations in the form of the Law on

Higher Education and the Act on Academic Title and

Academic Degrees do not comply with, or even

contravene the existing standards in highly developed

countries, leading in respect of academic and scientific

achievements (such as the Anglo-Saxon countries);

a particularly striking example here is the legally

sanctioned simultaneous employment of state-owned

higher education institutions' teachers with two, or even

more, institutions, which should be eliminated as soon

as possible;

Non-transparent procedures for recruiting and promoting

academic teachers limits the outside candidates' access

to vacancies at higher education institutions; at the renowned

universities in the Western Europe it is a rule to conduct

an open recruitment, which ensures access for foreign

candidates as well.

What attitudes among students should be developed?

Focus on lifelong education

Higher education studies are a ticket to adult life. More and more Poles are convinced

that higher education is a prerequisite for obtaining a good job. According to the authors

of „2007 Social Diagnosis”, 59% of households reported their willingness to see their

children holding a master's degree. Only 5.6% of Polish people aged 18-24 do not continue

their education after graduating from lower secondary school (compared to the 15.2% average

for the EU in this respect). Thus, it is evident that at a young age the Polish are willing to

develop. Unfortunately, the proportion of population aged 20-29 participating in Ph.D. studies 1was in 2005 on the level of 0.19% only, which is one of the lowest ratios in Europe .

For comparison, in Finland and Sweden this ratio is on the level of 1.33%, and 0.87%

respectively.

In comparison with more developed countries of Western Europe, Poland also lacks proper

educational offer and incentives for candidates for postdoctoral studies.

1Source: Central Statistical Office (GUS), „Studenci szkó³ wy¿szych w Polsce w roku akademickim 2007/2008” (2008).

80

Students

The participation of Polish students in the international 1exchange programmes is minimal

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Belgium

Germany

United Kingdom

Sweden

Denmark

Czech Republic

Netherlands

Bulgaria

France

Greece

Hungary

Estonia

Finland

Portugal

Latvia

Italy

Slovenia

Spain

Lithuania

Poland

percentage of students from other EU countries doing their studies in a given country

percentage of students from a given country doing their studies in another EU country

in Poland increased by nearly 15%, their percentage is still

insignificant. It is an important challenge to promote mobility

among students and young academics, as well as greater

openness of higher education institutions to external

environment.

Meanwhile, Poland lags far

behind other countries in respect of student exchange,

including the flow of both outgoing and the incoming

students.

Additionally, more extensive international exchange of

academic staff is hindered by the existing Polish academic

career path, which is incompatible with those in other

countries. This results, among others, in depreciating

academic degrees and experience earned in other European

countries.

The immigration procedures for foreign students and academics

are still too complicated. Lack of regulations simplifying

the procedures for obtaining residence or work permits by foreign

students and teachers from outside the EU is most certainly yet

another major challenge facing the Polish educational system.

Although in the year 2007 the number of foreigners studying

Rotation of people results in a flow of

ideas and concepts; it is also a source of skills

developed thanks to the meeting of different

personalities and cultures.

Mobility

Source: ¹ Central Statistical Office (GUS) (2008) [ ].2 OECD (2007).

http://www.stat.gov.pl/gus/45_4291_PLK_HTML.htm

81

Students


How to increase the efficiency of higher education institutions in creating new knowledge?Given the possessed potential, Poland is one of the least innovative countries

in the world.

The gap between science and economy is tremendous.

As regards most of the ratios indicating technological development and innovation level,

Poland ranks at the bottom of the scale compared to 27 other EU member countries.

In the global ranking of the World Economic Forum based on the „Executive Opinion Survey” thPoland is placed 56 worldwid¹.

The currently prevailing attitude that „science should be in its pure form, not degraded by

its practical usefulness” should be considered as the greatest sin. Applicability of knowledge

and science should be emphasised more strongly. The above-mentioned approach has unhappily

resulted in mutual distrust between the business sector and the academic environment, which

is being additionally increased by lack of effective regulations protecting intellectual property

rights within joint ventures of the business sector and higher education institutions.

Therefore, it is not surprising that the level of funds allocated to research and development

by business sector in Poland (expressed as % of GDP) is the lowest among EU or OECD

member countries².

Source: ¹World Economic Forum, „Executive Opinion Survey”, 2006 and 2007. ² OECD, „Main Science and Technology Indicators” (2006).

The contribution of Polish business in funding research

and development projects is insufficient

60,7

35,7

30,2

30,3

53,4

62,2

9

10,9

7,6

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Poland

European

Union

OECD

budgetary funds business contribution other sources

82

Students

Source: ¹ World Economic Forum, „Executive Opinion Survey”, 2006 and 2007.

The cooperation between higher education institutions and business in

Poland is far from perfect.

Assessment of the degree of cooperation between the business 1sector and higher education institutions in research and development .

WEF

Ranking

Country Result

(% of the highest

score possible)

3 Sweden

4 Finland

6 Germany

10 Belgium

11 Denmark

12 United Kingdom

13 Netherlands

18 Ireland

19 Austria

27 Czech Republic

30 France

39 Portugal

44 Spain

56 Poland

70 Italy

80 Greece

79 %

78 %

76 %

73 %

72 %

72 %

71 %

69 %

68 %

58 %

55 %

51 %

49 %

46 %

43 %

41 %

Scientists should appreciate the role of technological implementations and running own

Businesses. Higher education institutions should carry out courses focused on 'the academic

entrepreneurship'. Students should start their own microbusinesses already during their

studies, using academic technology incubators.

Unsupported by strong relationships with the science sector, the Polish industry does not,

in fact, develop its own technologies or conduct its own research and development centres.

This poses a threat of civilizational collapse to Poland.

83

Students


Examples of good cooperation between higher education institutions and business

Cooperation between higher education institutions

with business companies in the Netherlands

The Virtual Environmental Consultancy, operating

at the Open University of Netherlands in Heerlen¹,

was established in order to enable students to learn in a

practical context, in the process of properly organized

student trainings.

Source: ¹ Ivens W. et al., „Collaborative Learning in an Authentic Context: a Virtual Consultancy” (Open University of Holland, 2007).

1. The University notifies businesses and public institutions which

it cooperates with about the possibility to submit their research

questions to then be examined by students within their diploma theses.

2. Companies submit subjects they are interested in. After

preliminary feasibility study a decision to launch a given project is taken.

3. A plan of the project is made, including, in particular, establishing working

teams. The consulting service is performed mainly by students,

however, they work under the supervision of their teachers,

and in close cooperation with the project teams at a given companies.

4. Research realization often involves utilizing IT tools supporting group

work during the research projects. As a result, students not only obtain

expert knowledge in their field of study in a practical context,

but also develop their managerial and computer skills.

5. Finally, the project is evaluated. The main subject of assessment

is the curriculum of the university; students are asked

which courses have occurred the most useful in practice, which were

too theoretical, and what kind of knowledge they lacked.

84

The process comprises the following stages:

Students

Preparation for professional activity in Poland

1 Source: „Perspektywy” (a Polish weekly magazine for secondary school students), No 4/20082 OECD, „Tertiary Education for the Knowledge Society. OECD Thematic Review of Tertiary Education” (2008).

The Legal Clinic operating since 2005 at the Kozminski University functions on the basis

of the American model that has been employed at renowned American universities for 1many years .

The clinic deals with cases of different complexity in the field of civil and criminal law, as well

as labour and social insurance law. It provides fully professional services to those who cannot

afford a paid lawyer.

Such a solution enables students to learn how to put knowledge acquired during his/her

studies into practice, to shape attitudes which are essential to their professional career,

such as responsibility and conscientiousness, and to develop their abilities to work in a

team and to cooperate with a client.

Participation of the business sector in developing higher

education curricula in Australia

Enhancing the credibility of higher education institutions in the eyes

of employers is of key importance, as it is demand for graduates of a given

institution that increases the so-called 'graduate premium' for students.

In Australia, business sector representatives have been involved not

only as observers and reviewers of the performance of Australian

universities, but also directly in the phase of developing and delivering

university curricula.

The Council for Cooperation of Education and Business, established

in 2004, is expected to increase the practical value of higher education.

Such practices prove to be particularly effective in the fields of study

where graduation entails a professional certification process, e.g. in 2medicine .

The practices described above constitute excellent examples of solutions

ensuring stronger participation of the utilitarian component in

the educational process. Thanks to dealing with actual problems

and direct cooperation with external clients, students acquire new

practical skills and become more motivated to learn, while

the educational institution receives a reliable feedback on

the effectiveness of their own curricula.

85

Students


Success story: Dominika Maj

Dominika Maj is employed by the Institute of Microbiology and Biotechnology of Maria

Curie-Sk³odowska University in Lublin. Her master's thesis on mutanase, an enzyme that

effectively fights dental caries, brought her the award for the best master's thesis in

biotechnology in Poland. Her invention is likely to contribute to launching an effective

anti-caries product into the market. Scientists from Lublin have received a grant enabling

them to continue their research on mutanase. If they are not forestalled by their competitors

from an American university, who are working on a similar project, their invention will

have a global dimension.

And Dominika Maj will have a significant share in it.

86


Students

SUMMARYOutlays on higher education are rising worldwide, which reflects its growing importance for

ensuring economic development. On average, OECD member countries already allocate

about 1% of their GDP on education. The participation of the private sector in funding

activities of higher education institutions is also growing.

Therefore, it is essential to meet the key components of the higher education mission,

which are:

developing human capital (mainly by providing young population with higher education);

building new knowledge (mainly by research and development pursued in cooperation with

the business sector);

sharing knowledge with its potential users (mainly by broad cooperation with

the external environment);

1intergeneration transfer of knowledge .

An increasing amount of funding

entails growing pressure on these institutions to prove the quality of their services.

1 Source: OECD, “Education at a Glance” (2008).

18510630,469,6United Kingdom

25413411,688,4Sweden

15316524,175,9Spain

52211614,086,0Portugal

b.d.20227,172,9Poland

13311122,477,6Netherlands

25411930,669,4Italy

10120817,482,6Ireland

16915721,079,0Hungary

13310913,686,4Germany

2081263,796,3Finland

7331293,396,7Denmark

7717015,384,7Czech Republic

2051236,393,7Austria

Source: OECD, Education at a glance” (2008).”

CountryPrivate

funding

Public

funding

Change in % share of

funding sources in

expenditure on higher

education institutions

between 1995 and 2004

% share of funding

sources in expenditure

on higher education

institutions in 2004

Private

funding

Public

funding

87

Students


Adults

Why is it worth to work, invest, and establish businesses in Poland?


89

Adults


Poland's low ranking is caused to a considerable extent by the following statistics:

low rate of employment in the high-tech and medium-tech production sectors;

low computer literacy among the adult population of Poland;

insignificant number of patent applications filed with the European Patent Office

per one million inhabitants.

At the same time, the following factors have an advantageous influence

on Poland's status:

declared ethos of hard work;

large amount of time spent working.

thThe Intellectual Capital Index for adults places Poland 14 in the group

of the 16 EU member countries included in this comparison.

Intellectual capital: adults

United Kingdom

Sweden

Ireland

Finland

Germany

France

Netherlands

Austria

Belgium

Czech Republic

Greece

Italy

Poland

Portugal

Hungary

Spain

0 20 40 60 80 100

IC Index for adults

90

Adults

Intellectual capital indexes have been based on the analysis of the key IC indicators attributed

to a given generation. The full list of all 117 indicators used for the purposes of Poland's

IC model is available at: www.innowacyjnosc.gpw.pl/kip/

How can we create optimal conditions

for setting up and running businesses

in Poland?

How can we ensure continuous

improvement of competencies

of adult Poles, and an increase in their

occupational mobility and flexibility?

How to ensure sustainable

development for Polish companies and

attract foreign investments, resulting

in the creation of quality workplaces

of the future?

HUMAN CAPITAL

How to retain and attract talented

employees, scientists and businessmen

by improving the standard of living

in Poland and the country's

attractiveness?

ATTRACTIVE WORKING PLACES

BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT

QUALITY OF LIFE

Adult life in Poland

91

Adults


How to ensure continuous improvement of the competencies of adult Poles?

William E. Deming once ironically said: “Learning is not compulsory…

neither is survival.”

succeeding in the contemporary labour market requires competing

not only against one's compatriots, but also against inhabitants of other countries.

Faced by such challenges as knowledge getting outdated at an increasing pace, or globalization

processes making it easier for entrepreneurs to move their businesses to places with more

competent and better trained employees, lifelong education becomes everyone's obligation

towards oneself and towards one's family and children. Naturally, it is a lifelong process.stThe labour market of the 21 century has become global, which is reflected in the fact that

approximately two million Poles have taken up jobs in the European Union countries so far.

Before 1990 there had been one and a half billion people in the global labour market. After

its enlargement to include China, India, and former Warsaw Pact member countries, the global 1workforce supply doubled up to 3 billion . Moreover, globalization has considerably facilitated

the process of transferring businesses and services between countries and continents.

In consequence,

HUMAN CAPITALPoland has so far been a beneficiary of the process of moving

business production abroad to the countries with cheaper labour

force. However, given the accelerated increase in remuneration,

workplaces requiring low qualifications may soon begin to be

moved abroad, to countries cheaper than Poland.

In order to remain competitive Polish people must continuously

improve their knowledge and skills.

The above-named gaps may refer to foreign language skills, ability

to use information technologies, as well as to numerous general

skills which are indispensable for remaining in the labour market

and managing to 'survive' in the information society.

The labour market status of young people who left school early, and

of those who used to work in the 'old' branches of the economy

is similar. They are often unemployed. The only chance for those

groups to avoid long-term labour deactivation, whish is costly to 2the society, is lifelong learning .

Given the differentiation of the group of beneficiaries of the lifelong

learning system in Poland, the problem consists in both lack of proper

educational offer, and the funding mechanisms which are inadequate

to the needs.

In countries from the former communist block programmes

of lifelong learning should fulfil yet another, critical function:

they should complete the gaps in competencies among

people aged 45+, who finished their formal education still

under the former political system.

Source: R. Freeman, “The Greatest Doubling: Labour in the New Global Economy” (Georgia State University, 2005). ² ” Edukacja dla Pracy – Raport o Rozwoju Spo³ecznym” (Warsaw, 2007).

1 UNDP:

92

Adults

Adult Poles are less active in acquiring

knowledge than their peers from other 2EU member countries .

Participation in any form of education

0 25 50 75 100

EU 25

Age

Cate

gori

es

% of population:

25-34

35-44

45-54

55-64

Sweden

Finland

Slovakia

Romania

Poland

Italy

France

Spain

Ireland

Germany

Denmark

Czech Republic

Depreciation of knowledge is inseparably connected with fast development of technology,

which, on the other hand, creates opportunities, as it results in the appearance of new

products, new services and even new industries. Experts from the Polish Academy

of Sciences (PAN) estimate that by the year 2025 the Polish labour market will have

provided from 250 to 300 thousand new workplaces in the knowledge-based professions, 1which will account for approximately 45% of all the newly created workplaces .

Access to the above-mentioned jobs will be reserved for those who will focus on

the continuous development of their qualifications. That is why the low percentage

of Polish people participating in the lifelong learning programmes is disquieting and constitutes

a significant barrier.

Source: 1 UNDP, “Edukacja dla pracy Raport o rozwoju spo³ecznym” (Warszawa, 2007).2 Eurostat (2006).

93

Adults

HUMAN CAPITAL


How to encourage Polish people to greater occupational mobility?

thIn the middle of the 20 century in numerous countries, including Poland, a great number

of people had one job and one workplace for the most part of their lives. The occupational

traditions were often handed down from generation to generation: the grandfather worked

at the mine, the father worked at the mine, and the son also worked at the mine, and

the whole family spent their holidays in a seaside resort for miners.

stThe challenges of the new 21 century have resulted in the abrupt transformation of

the way we work. The world has accelerated its progress, and the resulting changes both

offer new opportunities and pose new threats.

stAn employee of the 21 century should be prepared for multiple occupational changes

during his/her life, concerning the employer, the place of his/her work (including the town/city

or the country) and the character of his/her job.

, rendering services which

have not been invented yet, and solving problems of whose existence we are unaware at

the moment.

Within the upcoming 10-20 years many

of us will work in sectors that are currently non-existent

Poles tend not to see any benefits in changing jobs, and they rarely decide to do so.

Source: 1 European Commission, “Eurobarometr 64,1” (2006).

Rapid changes also concern the form of employment.

Part-time jobs, task-oriented jobs, working at home,

and other flexible forms of employment will be gaining

increasing popularity. This will not only allow to lower

the costs and raise the efficiency, but also enable to

enhance balance between family life and career.

This is much below

the European average (40%) and the relevant proportion

in the leading countries, such as Sweden or Denmark,

where 70% of citizens view changing jobs as advantageous.

Only 29% of Poles consider changing jobs once

in a few years to be beneficial.

100%

90

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

SE EU-25 PTES LUIT HU PLDK NL FI DELV ELFR UKCZ LTBE

94

MTSK IE SI CY AT EE

Adults

HUMAN CAPITAL

Percentage of total population considering changing jobs1

Once in a few years is good, by country, 2005

Poles tend not to see any benefits in changing jobs, and they rarely decide to do so.

Even among the highly qualified employees in the sectors of science and technology

only 4.7% decided to change their jobs in the years 2004-2005. It is one of the lowest

ratios in Europe.

Planning to spend the whole professional life in one workplace

is unreasonable, for the given company may not withstand global

competition. Similarly, one should not plan to spend the whole

professional life focusing on one speciality, for the technological

progress may lead to its vanishing. For example, it is highly

probable that RFID cards will replace the cashiers in supermarkets, thas computerized diagnostics has already replaced 'the 20 century

mechanic' in car service stations. This means that there will be new

workplaces which will require completely different competencies.

95

Adults

HUMAN CAPITAL


How to increase employee performance by ensuring the work-life balance?

1Poles work 2.5 hours longer per week than an average European . They do not avoid necessary

effort and are not afraid to face challenges. Nevertheless, they must learn to make better use

of their willingness to work and to improve their performance. Although for the last ten years

the productivity of labour in Poland has increased from 46% to 66% of the EU average,

the country still lags behind in all productivity rankings. Poland needs effective and satisfied

employees, who are able to realize their career ambitions, and, at the same time, have enough

time to spend with their families, to pursue their interests, to do sports, to keep fit, and to

consume cultural goods.

They belong to the most hard working nations in the world,

considering the average number of hours worked per week. At the same time, the percentage

of the adult Polish population not participating in the labour market is the highest in Europe.

The burden of developing the national economy rests on only slightly more than half of

the total adult population.

Poles work a lot, but not all.

QUALITY OF LIFE

Source: Eurofound (2006) 1 [ ].http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/areas/qualityoflife/eurlife/index.php?template=3&radioindic=175&idDomain=2

People in employment as a percentage

of the total population in the age group 15-64

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

Denmark

Netherlands

Sweden

United Kingdom

Austria

Finland

Ireland

Portugal

Spain

Czech Republic

Germany

France

Belgium

Greece

Italy

Slovakia

Hungary

Poland

The level of population's participation

in the labour market

in Poland is the lowest in Europe.

96

Adults

1 Source: 2

European Social Survey, 2002Work – life balance attitudes and practices in British workplaces, 2007, European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions

Professionally stale? Polish people work a lot, and they are the least satisfied with their

work-life balance, as compared to other Europeans1.Denmark

Finland

Belgium

Slovenia

United Kingdom

France

Hungary

Sweden

Germany

Spain

Bulgaria

Portugal

Slovakia

Poland

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 %

Percentage of respondents who are satisfied with their

work-life balance

(answers: 8-10 on a scale of 0-10)

The research carried out in the UK in 2007 indicates that as many as 63% of employers have

a positive attitude towards the idea of work-life balance, which is understood as flexible

working conditions and working hours. Only as little as 13% of British employers have not

implemented any mechanisms or practices related to work-life balance so far. What makes

employers well-disposed towards ensuring their employees the work-life balance is that they

have noticed its beneficial effects, such as improvement of their relationships with employees,

or stronger motivation and involvement of the latter (as declared by over 57% of

the employers surveyed within the research). The aforementioned balance has also resulted

in a significant improvement of employees' performance, and the decrease in their rotation 2and absenteeism (as reported by over 40% of employers) .

97

Adults

QUALITY OF LIFE


How to increase the concern of the adult population about keeping fit and healthy?

In the economy based on human capital, health is an essential factor contributing to work

performance. Healthy people are more active and more willing to face new challenges. Healthy

people enjoy their life, and are focused on their development, career and family instead of

spending time on long-lasting and costly therapies or treatments.

This is much more than the European average, and it places

Poland among countries in which chronic diseases are the most widespread, and, as a result,

the activity of their population is reduced. More attention should be paid to prevention

in Poland. Focus on being fit and healthy should be a standard, especially considering

the fact that the average lifespan keeps increasing and people will need good physical

condition for a longer time.

Physical activity is an indispensable component of a healthy life style. It not only improves

our health, but also the way we feel, our metabolism and immunity. Moreover, physical activity

prevents and lowers stress, as it triggers the production of endorphins, otherwise known

as hormones of happiness.

A healthy life style cannot be just 'ordered' - it requires the state's efforts to promote it and

to provide a relevant infrastructure.

As many as 36% of Poles

declare that the level of their occupational activity is lowered due to a chronic 1disease or indisposition .

1Source: [ ].Eurofound (2006) http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/areas/qualityoflife/eurlife/index.php?template=3&radioindic=175&idDomain=2

Percentage of respondents who report suffering

from chronic diseases or dysfunctions

which affect their life activity

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

Italy

Ireland

France

Greece

Belgium

Austria

Portugal

Germany

Slovakia

Czech Republic

Denmark

United Kingdom

Hungary

Netherlands

Sweden

Poland

Finland

98

Adults

QUALITY OF LIFE

How to increase the participation of Poles in cultural life?

Source: Y. Masuda, “The Information Society as Post-Industrial Society” (Washington, 1981).2 J. Rifkin, “Wiek dostêpu. Nowa kultura hiperkapitalizmu, w której p³aci siê za ka¿d¹ chwilê ¿ycia” (Wroc³aw: Wydawnictwo Dolnoœl¹skie, 2003). 3 A. Stepniewska, “Przemys³ kultury w Polsce – aktualne wyzwania” (Warszawa: Fundacja Pro Cultura, 2007).

1

stApart from its traditional social and artistic aspects, the cultural life of the 21 century

is assuming yet another dimension, as it is becoming economically significant – as a source

for innovativeness, generating GDP and creating new workplaces. Culture impacts both

the quality of life and the national well-being.

1The IT revolution will result in more free time. ” We are slowly approaching the era

“[in which culture becomes the most important commercial resource, time and attention

become the most valuable goods, and people's lives become their final market. (…) We are

currently in the phase of a long-term transition from industrial production to the production 2of cultural goods. ” Indeed, the cultural and the entertainment industries belong to the most

dynamically developing economic sectors, they generate, on average, 2,6% of the EU GDP.

In Poland, according to the data of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage from 2000, 3this proportion accounted for as much as c4.5% of GDP .

This relatively high contribution of cultural industries

to GDP is also reflected in the increasing demand for

cultural goods and in the comparatively high share

of expenses on cultural events in household budgets.

The share of expenses on culture in relation to the total

household expenses in Poland is at the level approximate

to to the European average.

It should be added, however, that satisfying the demand

for cultural goods, in particular among young people,

requires a long-term and consistent cooperation between

the government and territorial self-government units,

aiming at providing wise public patronage of cultural

institutions, including museums, galleries, theatres

and studio cinemas, and at continuous improvement

of the quality of such institutions. A fine and spectacular,

although isolated, example of a successful cooperation

in this area is the Warsaw Uprising Museum.

99

Adults

QUALITY OF LIFE


Source: Eurostat, “Household Budget Survey”.1

Share of cultural expenses

in the total household expenses, 1999 (%)

4,3

4,5

4,7

2,4

2,7

3,0

3,3

3,3

4,0

4,2

4,4

4,5

4,9

5,1

5,2

5,4

5,6

5,8

0% 2% 4% 6%

2,6

2,7

4,0

4,1

4,3

Cyprus

Lithuania

Latvia

Poland

Czech Republic

Slovakia

Hungary

Italy

Greece

Spain

Luxembourg

Ireland

France

Austria

Belgium

United Kingdom

Finland

Norway

Germany

Sweden

Denmark

EU-15: 4,5

Estonia

Portugal

100

Adults

QUALITY OF LIFE

1Culture is an important element in every person's life, as it shapes one's humanity , sensitivity

to the external environment, and develops one's imagination. Imagination helps to generate

innovative solutions in the process of creative thinking, since it enables new combinations

of the already existing elements or facts. Therefore, the use of cultural goods fuels our

innovativeness and develops our ability to seek inspiration and utilize elements belonging to

one area in a completely different one. For example, a Polish pianist and composer, Józef

Hofman, used the clockwork mechanism of the metronome to construct windscreen wipers,

and thus contributed to the development of global motorization.

How to increase the innovativeness of enterprises?

STRONG COMPANIES - ATTRACTIVE WORKPLACES

1Source: Eurostat (2006).

Today's entrepreneurs should be innovative in any aspect of their activities. More and more

instances of Polish companies succeeding in global markets prove that there are entrepreneurs

in Poland who can effectively recognize global consumers' needs, build strong brands, and

conquer global markets. One of the main sources of their success is their innovativeness.

However, Poland still lacks global successes comparable to that of Nokia company, while

most of Polish entrepreneurs settle for the status of regional market players, copying

proven business models and products in local markets.

It is of key importance to think globally, and to discover the unsatisfied needs of customers

all over the world. This, in turn, cannot be achieved without efficient cooperation of business,

science, and artistic design, as in the contemporary world the added value of a product relies

to a significant degree on a creative combination of the above sectors.

If Poland aspires to compete globally, offering more than just cheap imitations

of foreign products, and intends to conquer global markets with its own products

and services, Polish entrepreneurs should pay more attention to seeking and

implementing new solutions, new methods of work, and new ways to communicate

with customers and business environment etc.

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 %

Sweden

Denmark

United Kingdom

Netherlands

Finland

Belgium

France

Ireland

Germany

Austria

Italy

Estonia

Hungary

Spain

Slovenia

Lithuania

Latvia

Czech Republic

Greece

Slovakia

Poland

Portugal

Bulgaria

Rumania

the knowledge-intensive services sectorPercentage of population employed in

Polish economy still lacks companies offering

innovative knowledge-based services, ¹whose development is a real chance for Poland .

101

Adults


1 Source: World Economic Forum [ ].2 KPMG, “Czy warto inwestowaæ w innowacje? Analiza sektora badawczo-rozwojowego w Polsce” (2008).

http://www.insead.edu/v1/gitr/wef/main/analysis/

It is also essential to allocate public money wisely, including that from the EU structural

funds. However, the most recent research conducted by KPMG shows that

hat makes it even worse is that, despite the increasing accessibility

of those funds (especially within the EU operational and framework programmes), half

of the surveyed companies were not interested in using them to co-finance their R&D

activities or innovations. The main obstacle preventing businesses from using more public

funding for R&D is the complicated grant application procedures. This is probably the reason

why a certain number of big companies have not decided to use external assistance

programmes so far.

They prefer to spend their time and funds on the research work itself, rather than on 1filling in endless questionnaires, not guaranteeing obtaining any funds whatsoever .

nearly 80% of companies carrying out R&D activities have never used any form

of financial assistance coming from the public funds allocated to such

purposes. W

(1- under licences bought, or by imitating foreign companies

(7- by conducting official research projects and introducing

pioneering products and processes)

Acquiring technologies by organizations:

Country Result

1 Germany 6.08

2 Sweden 5.88

5 Finland 5.78

6 Denmark 5.54

8 France 5.50

11 Austria 5.38

12 Netherlands 5.31

13 Belgium 5.12

14 United Kingdom 5.10

20 Italy 4.66

24 Ireland 4.3925 Czech Republic 4.27

33 Portugal 3.87

35 Spain 3.82

43 POLAND 3.65

The ability to implement innovations is still insignificant;2

companies tend to imitate solutions applied by others .

102


How to strengthen the entrepreneurs' focus on strategic thinking?

1Source: Polish Confederation of Private Employers Lewiatan (PKPP Lewiatan), business research.

103

Adults


Polish companies still make insufficient investments, and the main reason cited 1by them is lack of strategy . This is understandable as all spending on research and

development must be adjusted to the business strategy and to the customers' needs.

Given the insignificant financial involvement of Polish companies in innovative projects,

as compared to that of their EU counterparts, it is even more important to use these

modest funds in a prudent way, i.e. in close relationship with the strategy realization.

Strategy seems to be an obligatory component of a successful business in the globalization

era. Scanning the business environment and adapting to the observed changes are standard

business practices, which are still unfamiliar to many Polish entrepreneurs. Meanwhile,

strategic thinking is what enables us to protect ourselves against potential threats and to take

opportunities arising from the changing environment. Entrepreneurs should plan their

business activities in a longer perspective than a month or two ahead in order to effectively

allocate their resources and ensure long-term success for their businesses.

Experts claim that the success of Polish companies in the nearest future

will rely on managers who view the company's activities in a

Nonetheless, the profitability occurs only after several years, needed

to accumulate a kind of shock related to entering the globalization

process. Still, taking risks is the inherent element of entrepreneurship

and that is why the above-mentioned profit deferral should not discourage

Polish companies; future long-term gains will pay for today's short-term

outlays and efforts.

At present, Polish entrepreneurs participate mainly on the demand side

of the global market; the commercial goal of many of them is to purchase

financially attractive products in the global market. Strategically thinking,

however, Polish entrepreneurs should try to participate more actively

in the global market as suppliers of goods and services.

In these circumstances, the only solution is to take risky decisions,

utilizing mechanisms of thinking and planning in strategic terms, in order

to grasp the diverse and changing environment.

global

perspective. In their opinion, globally operating companies

are considerably more profitable than the domestic ones.

Globalization

cannot be escaped, as it must be accepted that the market,

which more and more considerably affects the functioning of

the state, is global and increasingly unpredictable.


1Source: Eurostat (2006).

104

Among the 1,000 companies allocating the greatest amounts of money

to R&D, there is not a single company from Poland. In the EU,

the average share of corporate R&D funding amounts to 1.22% 1of GDP, while in Poland it is on the insignificant level of 0.17% .

Poles fail to exploit the opportunities that come their way!

only two Polish companies took part in about a dozen editions of this programme

in the years 2005-2006.

For example, the bilateral

Japanese and EU programme “Japan EU Gateway” provides small and medium enterprises

with valuable and cheap tools for developing business relationships with Japanese companies.

According to the information published on the website of the Japanese Embassy in Poland,

Meanwhile, as far as other 'newly acceded' EU countries (Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia,

Estonia and Lithuania) are concerned, a few companies from each of them participated

in every edition of the programme.

Adults


Source: A.T. Kearney, “FDI Confidence Index” (2007).

2007 Foreign Direct Investment Confidence Index

Ratings of country attractiveness to the managerial staff responsible for decisions on direct foreign investment

How to attract good investments?

In a long perspective, Poland will be unable to attract and retain

foreign investors if it continues relying exclusively on its access

to cheap labour force, especially considering the competition

of other newly acceded EU Member States, and the trend

of transferring the production processes to China and India.

For this reason Poland should search for new areas of competitive

advantages and attract experts and investors who will help to explore

and develop Poland's potential in those areas.

What strategy for success?

Poland has numerous comparative advantages. In the future, its economy could

specialize in knowledge-based services (IT, medicine, architecture,

engineering, design, etc.). It could even create global products and

services that are presently non-existent. Poles are a talented

nation, which, given favourable circumstances, can become a breeding ground

for creative talents and future brands (e.g. for artists, sportsmen,

intellectuals, and computer games designers). It could become the

'Silicon Valley' for global Internet businesses (e-education, e-medicine).

However, in order to achieve this Poland must remove the barriers

that are on its way to success, and to find answers to the following

questions:

How to overcome the present lack of goals,

vision, and consistence in actions?

How to improve the unfavourable image of the country,

and develop the ability to build a positive image?

How to strengthen attitudes, increase global aspirations, make Poles

conscious of their strengths, and overcome complexes?

Others (Persian Gulf)

Malaysia

Japan

Canada

France

Vietnam

Australia

Germany

Russia

United Arab Emirates

Singapore

Brazil

Hong Kong

United Kingdom

USA

India

China

Republic of South Africa

Mexico

Turkey

Indonesia

Poland

Central Asiatic countries

South Korea

Czech Republic

2,21

2,09

1,86

1,81

1,781,78

1,75

1,72

1,70

1,70

1,68

1,67

1,67

1,65

1,63

1,63

1,62

1,61

1,59

1,59

1,58

1,58

1,57

1,57

1,56

Low certainty High certaintyEstimated value (grading scale 0-3)

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(10)

(7)

(16)

(22)

(6)

(9)

(8)

(H)

(14)

(21)

(15)

(H)

(H)

(H)

(16)

(13)

(H)

(5)

(24)

(22)

(12)

Top 25

retained status

promotion (growth)

decrease

position in 2005

does not appear on the

2005 Top 25 List

(#)

(H)

105

Adults


Poland has a lot of comparative advantages. In the future, we could specialize in knowledge-based services (IT, medicine, architecture, engineering, design,…). We could even create global products and services that are non-existent at the moment. We are a talented nation and, given favourable circumstances, we can become a hotbed for creative talents and future brands (aided by our artists, sportsmen, intellectuals, and computer games designers). We could become another “Silicon Valley” for global Internet businesses (e-education, e-medicine).


ENVIRONMENT FOR DOING BUSINESS

Source: ¹ World Bank, “Doing Business in 2008” (2008).

178Democratic Republic of Congo

177. Central African Republic

176Guinea-Bissau

175Republic of Congo

174Burundi

173Chad

172Venezuela

171Eritrea

170Liberia

…

80Jordan

79Solomon Islands

78Brunei

77Dominican Republic

76Pakistan

75Macedonia

74Poland

73Kiribati

72Kenya

71Kazakhstan

70Grenada

…

10Iceland

9Australia

8Ireland

7Canada

6United Kingdom

5Denmark

4Hong Kong

3USA

2New Zealand

1Singapore

PlaceCountry

Ranking on the ease of doing business in 2008

thAccording to the latest report of the World Bank, Poland is placed 74 among the 178

countries included in the report concerning the ease of doing business in 2008. This means

that in this respect Poland is comparable to such countries as Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kiribati

or Pakistan. Among the EU member countries Poland takes the next to last position, and is 1worse than all newly acceded countries .

The low quality of the legal and institutional environment for doing business in Poland results,

among others, from the fact that new laws and regulations in Poland are often based on

the principle of protection against fraudulent practices, which is typical for a country

with very low level of social trust. That is why it is vital that the philosophy behind

the legislative and regulatory system be changed. The relationship between the state and its

citizens, expressed in the form of regulations, should be based on trust towards citizens and

entrepreneurs, and should develop competitive advantages (e.g. by ensuring low costs

of establishing a business).

The legal and regulatory system in Poland does not facilitate conducting

business activities.

106

Adults

How to ensure a simple, stable legal system supporting economic development?

Italy

Slovenia

Czech Republic

Poland

Greece

0 20 40 60 80 100 120

Denmark

United Kingdom

Ireland

Finland

Sweden

Estonia

Belgium

Germany

Netherlands

Latvia

Austria

Lithuania

France

Slovakia

Portugal

Spain

Hungary

Bulgaria

Romania

The institutional environment of the economic system determines the conditions

in which enterprises operate. A high-quality institutional environment

provides favourable conditions for development, while its poor quality,

as in today's Poland, can hinder this development.

Economic freedom, 2008

The lower value, the better.

107

Adults



The research conducted by the World Bank shows, among others, the extent

to which economic systems are overregulated. For instance, it has turned out

that in order to have a warehouse built in Poland one must undergo 30 formal

procedures.

Polish entrepreneurs spend on average 308 days a year, i.e. approximately

10 months, on the above-mentioned procedures.

Out of all the EU member countries, only Hungary and the Czech Republic

are more overregulated than Poland in this respect. By comparison, in Denmark and Sweden

it is sufficient to complete successfully less than ten formal procedures in such a case.

By comparison, in Finland

and Denmark it is possible to complete all the required formal procedures within

about two months¹.

Number of procedures related to obtaining

a permission to build a warehouse, 2008

108

Hungary

6

8

11

11

12

13

13

13

13

13

14

14

15

15

17

17

18

18

19

20

22

26

30

31

36

Austria

Estonia

Slovenia

Lithuania

Netherlands

Czech Republic

Poland

Latvia

Bulgaria

Portugal

United Kingdom

Finland

Rumania

Greece

Italy

Belgium

Slovakia

Luxembourg

France

Germany

Spain

Ireland

Sweden

Denmark

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

Adults


Source: ¹ World Bank, “Doing Business in 2008” (2008).

Duration of procedures (in days) related

to obtaining a permission to build a warehouse, 2008

109

38

69

100

116

117

131

137

144

156

169

169

180

185

188

194

208

211

217

230

233

243

257

287

308

327

Finland

Denmark

Germany

Sweden

Estonia

Bulgaria

France

United Kingdom

Lithuania

Belgium

Greece

Czech Republic

Ireland

Latvia

Austria

Slovenia

Hungary

Luxembourg

NetherlandsSpain

Rumania

Italy

Slovakia

Poland

Portugal

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350

Adults


The international comparison indicates that Polish economy suffers due to excessive economic

regulations, which lead businesses to spend their time and money unnecessarily, and, moreover,

require complex and expensive public administration system.

What is the goal of such extensive procedures? Is it possible to simplify them

immediately so that Poland would become a European leader?


Source: Fraser Institute, “Economic Freedom of the World 2007 Annual Report” (2007). World Bank, “Doing Business in 2008” (2008).

¹ 2

1Assessment of judicial independence in 2005 (Fraser Institute)

0

2

4

6

8

10

mGe

any

rNor

way

Denmar

k

w

ad

Sitz

erln

I

d

relan

Aust

ari

Swed

ne

Portu

gal

Mal

at

Cyps

ru

Belgium

R

Czech

ep

ublic a

Lithu

aniSp

ani

Italy

Pola

nd

man

a

Ro

i

krie

Uan

EU MEMBER COUNTRIES

POLAND

Length of contract enforcement in court: 2EU member countries, in days (the World Bank)

210

235

279

321

331

335

380

394

397

404

425

505

508

514

515

515

537

564

565

577

819

820

830

1210

1350

Lithuania

Finland

Austria

Estonia

Slovenia

Italy

Poland

Czech Republic

Greece

Portugal

Slovakia

Bulgaria

Romania

Spain

Ireland

Netherlands

Sweden

Belgium

United Kingdom

Germany

Hungary

France

Luxembourg

Latvia

Denmark

0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600

110

Adults

ENVIRONMENT FOR DOING BUSINESS The assessment of judicial independence conducted by the Fraser

Institute determines to what extent courts are immune to the

external influence of public authorities, citizens and enterprises.

In 2005 Poland was placed 67th in the group of 120 countries.

There were only three EU member countries which had worse

results: Lithuania, Bulgaria and Romania.A well-functioning judiciary is an important component of an efficient legal system.

Any malfunctions make the protection of property rights limited, and the enforcement

of contracts difficult. As a result, the level of uncertainty and costs of doing business increase.

In accordance with the World Bank Report, the average time in Poland for

enforcing a contract in courts is 830 days i.e. over 2 years. This is one of the worst thresults in the European Union, placing Poland 148 in the group of 178 countries covered

by the research.

Currently, the investment attractiveness of Poland is high

However, unless Polish legal and regulatory system is reformed, this may be

a short-lived success.

. As indicated by the Ernst

& Young's research on “2008 Europe's Investment Attractiveness”, Poland is currently assessed

high by investors despite its legal and regulatory barriers, and for the first time it has topped

the ranking of foreign investors' preferred destinations in Europe, overtaking Germany.

In a longer perspective the advantages that have given Poland

the competitive edge so far, such as low production costs, including relatively cheap

workforce, low property prices, low costs of energy, etc., will start disappearing. Therefore,

in order to keep lead in Europe, it is essential that the barriers hampering business activity

in Poland be eliminated. Otherwise, losing the country's cost competitiveness may be followed

by slackening of the pace of foreign investment inflow, or leaving the Polish market by the

existing foreign investors, choosing countries where the legal and regulatory environment

is more business-friendly.

At the same time, the research conducted by Ernst & Young shows that Europe's investment

attractiveness is decreasing, and that for the first time Europe as a continent is not a preferred

destination for transnational corporations. Therefore, the legal and regulatory system in Poland

should enable increasing the competitive advantages of Polish businesses not only in Europe,

but also globally.

Poland's position – investors' plans

The most attractive destinations

for future investments

Poland

Germany

Russia

France

Rumania

Hungary

United Kingdom

Spain

Bulgaria

Italy

Czech Republic

18%

16%

12%

11%

10%

9%

9%

8%

8%

7%

7%

Europe's investment attractiveness - 2008

Source: Ernst & Young, “2008 Europe's Investment Attractiveness” (June, 2008).

111

Adults



How to use the Internet for the development of Poland?In 2007 only 40% of Poles used the Internet regularly, and 30% of the households had

a broad-band Internet access¹. A year earlier half of the population not using the Internet

stated that they did not need to have access to the Internet². Additionally, between 2005 3and 2007 13% of Internet users discontinued using it . Therefore, Poland is facing the problem

of 'digital exclusion', i.e. inequalities in access to digital Information between different social

groups. More Internet users are among people who are younger, better educated, and live

in urban centres. Computers and the Internet are twice more likely to be installed in

households where there are students among family members than in those where nobody

attends school or university. It is evident then that parents invest in the future success of 4the youngest generation by providing their children with access to digital technologies .

Places with free wireless Internet access are still rare in Poland.

The city of Rzeszów is an example of a local government's awareness of the importance

of modern technologies; it has applied the EU assistance funds to build its Municipal

Broadband Network, with wireless access to the Internet within the area covering 60%

of the city. The authorities of Rzeszów treat public access to the Internet as the basis stof strengthening the foundations of the civic society of the 21 century.

One of the reasons why the Internet is so much

underused in Poland are the highest in Europe access costs.

Monthly charge for broadband Internet access as % 5of monthly GDP per capita .

10.49Poland 50

6.15Czech Republic 40

4.99Portugal 36

4.73Greece 34

2.59Finland 26

2.15Spain 24

2.11Austria23

1.62Sweden 17

1.61Belgium 16

1.58Ireland 15

1.58Denmark 14

1.56United Kingdom13

1.42Italy 12

1.23France 9

1.06Germany 6

0.83Netherlands 3

ResultCountryWorld Economic

Forum Ranking

Source: Eurostat. ² Central Statistical Office (GUS).

3 4 , “Diagnoza spo³eczna 2007” (2007) (English version: “Social Diagnosis 2007” (2007). 5 World Economic Forum [ ]

¹

http://www.insead.edu/v1/gitr/wef/main/analysis

112

Adults


Only approximately 40% of Poles use the Internet on a regular basis. This is two times

less than in the countries which are the most developed in this respect, like

the Netherlands or the Scandinavian countries.

Computers and the Internet in households1

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

All households *

Households with family members participating in education

programs

Households with no family members participating in any form of education programs

Households with primary school / lower secondary school pupils

Households withsecondary school pupils

Households with university students

Only computer

Computer and the Internet

Percentage of population aged 16-74 2who use the Internet at least once a week

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

Netherlands

Denmark

Sweden

Finland

United Kingdom

Germany

Belgium

Austria

Estonia

France

Slovakia

Ireland

Hungary

Slovenia

Spain

Czech Republic

Poland

Portugal

Italy

Greece

Bulgary

Romania

* households

1Source: “Diagnoza spo³eczna 2007” (2007) (English version: “Social Diagnosis 2007” (2007). 2 Eurostat (2007).

113

Adults



'where there are' s³owem '’

How to increase civic engagement?

The more scope for activity we have and the more wider the external world and foreign

markets open for us, the more valuable and local our homeland becomes. Our attachment

to the homeland more and more often reflects the ties connecting us to the area and to

the environment in which we were brought up, where we live, and which we can influence.

Given that one's 'small fatherland' is a platform for developing local ties and for making 1one's life rooted in the local tradition and history , it becomes a source of strength for

every citizen.stA citizen of the 21 century actively participates in shaping the community which he/she

belongs to, by

In fact, many things depend on us and on our activities every day.

Complaining and waiting for others to do something for us is not enough. A proven principle

says that 'Givers Gain', which means that the more you give the more you receive in return.

This is the source of both corporate and social success. Participation in the collective decision

-making process is the fundamental manifestation of social engagement and giving attitude.

Unfortunately, only a small percentage of voters in Poland, compared to Western European

countries, exercise their right to vote in the local and national elections.

taking responsibility for his/her own life and for the fate of his/her

local environment.

Poles tend to avoid taking responsibility for who is elected to govern them,

and, at the same time, to complain about how bad things are.

Even the relatively high poll in the parliamentary election

in October 2007 (53.9%) has not reversed this general

trend yet. Moreover, experts wonder whether the 2007

frequency was not an instance of a social uprising typical

of the Poles whenever the country's stability is threatened.

Paradoxically, this great national virtue is at the same time

a tremendous weakness inherent in the Polish mentality

and unchanged for centuries.

A great Polish poet, C. K. Norwid, wrote about it almost

150 years ago:

“[Poland is the last society in the world, and the first nation

on the Earth. / … / We are no society. We are all a huge Polish

national flag. / … / A Pole is a giant, but the man in a Pole is 2a dwarf.] ” No one has ever become great by alternately

rising and falling.

The source of long-lasting success and greatness

lies in consistent and continuous action.

Source: ¹ S. Starczewski, “Ma³e ojczyzny. Tradycja dla przysz³oœci” , p.23. ² C.K. Norwid, “List do Michaliny Dziekoñskiej z 1862”.

114

Adults


1Source: TNS OBOP (Polish research agency within TNS Group), “Penuria spo³eczeñstwa obywatelskiego” (January, 2007).2 “Indeks spo³eczeñstwa obywatelskiego 2007” (January, 2008).

115

Adults


Voting frequency in parliamentary elections in Poland is the lowest in Europe. In 2005

the country was much below the European average in this respect, while the poll in the 2007

parliamentary election was the highest in Polish history (c54%), but still much below

the European standards.

In the research on civic society, Poland was bottom-ranked in respect of the NGOs

Membership Indicator, being awarded grade 0 on a scale of 0-3. Poland's result concerning

the time devoted by volunteers to social work is only slightly better – it was 4 hours 2monthly in the year 2007 and 6 hours monthly in 2006 .

In order to overcome their weaknesses Polish people should be genuine citizens

every day rather than on special occasions, and take responsibility (by participating

in elections) for how their country, as well as their local communities, are governed. 1 They should also participate in shaping their social environment by becoming engaged in social

initiatives. Recent research shows that only 10% of Poles belong to social (non-governmental)

organizations.


How to develop and strengthen openness and trust?

In the past, powerful and rich communities of e.g. Venice, Ragusa (present-day Dubrovnik),

or the British Commonwealth were able to grow and strengthen their position over

the centuries thanks to, among others, their curiosity about the world, openness to new

ideas and discoveries, or ability to make good use of the knowledge they acquired. stIn the 21 century economy and science also need to open to diversity and ability

to cooperate and share knowledge. It is openness, desire to explore new fields and

cultures, and ability to utilize other people's knowledge and experience that determine

innovativeness, which is the main driving force behind prosperity and economic growth

in the knowledge era.

Nowadays, being innovative is an obligation of every mature citizen. Trust is a fundamental

element in developing openness, quality relationships with others, and cooperation. Poles

have much room for improvement in this respect. In the recent European survey of social

attitudes Poland's result was the worst in the group of European countries included in1the research: only 23% of Poles think that “most people can be trusted” .

Poles tend to be excessively distrustful and lacking in openness to new ideas.

They prefer to adopt self-protective attitudes rather than to be cooperative.

They are passive rather than active in building relationships with others and

benefiting from the diversity of the environment.

1 Source: “European Social Survey” (2006/2007).

Austria

Belgium

Czech Republic

Denmark

Estonia

Finland

France

Greece

Hungary

Ireland

Italy

Latvia

Lithuania

Netherlands

Poland

Portugal

Slovenia

Spain

Sweden

United Kingdom

West Germany

East Germany

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

Most people can be trusted

There is never too much caution in relations with others

As many as 80% of the Polish population claim that there

is never too much caution in relations with other people.

116

Adults


Source: ¹ E. von Hippel, “Democratizing Innovation” (The MIT Press, 2005).

Wikipedia, number of articles per country, March 2008

Num

ber

of ar

ticl

es

2,500,000

2,000,000

1,500,000

1,000,000

500,000

0

PortugueseItalianPolishGermanEnglish French Japanese Dutch Spanish

Swedish

Openness to diversity and to what is generally understood as trust relate to

nearly all spheres of our lives. They help us both in our everyday routines

(they facilitate cooperation and establishing relationships with others)

and in achieving measurable business benefits.

In the year 2006 the Lego company invited its customers to cooperation in designing new toy

robots. Four engineers, and Lego fans at the same time, enriched the project with ideas and

practical experience which were new to the Lego team. Moreover, Lego gave the customers

the right to modify the software for controlling toy robots.

As a result, the company launched several dozen pages with modified source code made

available to the customers as free software.

In another experiment carried out by 3M, the company enjoyed the net profit on sales

of products based on customers' ideas eight times as high as the one made on sales 1of traditionally designed products .

Yet another example in this context is the popular Firefox browser, created by an international

community. Members of this community are employees of the Mozilla Corporation and its

business partners (IBM, Novell, Red Hat or Google), as well as volunteers.

The open character of the project derives from the fact that users are legally permitted

to copy, use and modify the program's source code.

An example of a project overcoming the existing barriers

to openness and cooperation in Poland is the Polish Wikipedia.

Nearly half a million articles were written by over ten

thousand people for seven years since launching this free

online encyclopaedia. Two thousand of them regularly work

on the encyclopaedia. Wikipedia, managed by a volunteer

community and publicly accessible, is a model example

of civic engagement in a knowledge society.

117

Adults


Lessons from good practices


Success Story: Optopol

The cooperation of engineers from the Optopol Technology company with the scientists

from the Department of Physics of the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruñ resulted

in designing a globally unique Spectral Optical Coherence Tomography System, SOCT

Copernicus. It provides rapid high-resolution images of retinal structure, with fine

details regarding the condition of the corneal surface, the lens, and the iris. Currently,

the tomography system created by Polish physicists from Toruñ and produced by

Optopol satisfy 20 per cent of the global demand for this type of medical equipment.

The Chairman of Optopol Technology, Adam Bogdani, invested all savings accumulated

during the 15 years of the company's presence in the market to commercialize the invention

made by the scientists from Toruñ. Following the international commercial success of SOCT

Copernicus produced by his company, the owner of Optopol decided to found an R&D

centre at the Department of Physics of the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruñ,

and provide funding for its operations.

118


Adults

Success Story: Read-Gene

The example of Read-Gene, a company based in Szczecin, shows that cooperation

between representatives of business and science may result in building a prosperous

business. Most of the founders and shareholders of Read-Gene are scientists.

They pursue their scientific careers with the International Hereditary Cancer Centre

at the Pomeranian Medical University in Szczecin, where they work under the guidance

of Prof Jan Lubiñski.

As businessmen, they work for Read Gene company and focus on adding a commercial

dimension to the scientific results of their work, including methods of detection, prevention,

and treatment of the most common types of malignant tumours. Prof Jan Lubiñski is

the Chairman of the Management Board of the company.

Read-Gene has managed, among others, to build a countrywide network of over 20 genetics

clinics throughout Poland, capable of doing genetic tests for over 1,000 patients per day.

In July 2008 Read-Gene made its debut at the Warsaw Stock Exchange.

119


Adults


How can the energy and the potential of adult Poles be utilized so as to ensure

Poland its competitiveness and sustainable development for numerous years?

120

SUMMARY

Adults

The quality of Polish human capital, i.e. the innovativeness,

competencies and knowledge of adult Poles, will most

certainly be of a key importance in the knowledge-based

global competition. The quality of life in Poland must be

improved in order to prevent emigration of highly qualified

personnel and to attract foreign investors and experts.

This will be impossible without developing strong and

innovative businesses in Poland, offering attractive, high

value-added workplaces.

Moreover, it is essential to create a business-friendly

environment, including effective administrative sector

and infrastructure.

And, last but not least, Polish people must be consistent

in building their civic society.

How can we create optimal conditions

for setting up and running businesses

in Poland?

How can we ensure continuous

improvement of competencies

of adult Poles, and an increase in their

occupational mobility and flexibility?

How to ensure sustainable

development for Polish companies and

attract foreign investments, resulting

in the creation of quality workplaces

of the future?

HUMAN CAPITAL

How to retain and attract talented

employees, scientists and businessmen

by improving the standard of living

in Poland and the country's

attractiveness?

ATTRACTIVE WORKING PLACES

BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT

QUALITY OF LIFE

Senior Citizens


How to avoid exclusion of the elderly?

Why is it worth to spend the autumn of life in Poland?

How to put their rich life experience to social use?


122

Seniors

IC Index for senior citizensth The Intellectual Capital Index for senior citizens places Poland 16 in the group

of 16 EU member countries included in this comparison.

Poland's disadvantageous ranking results to a significant extent from

the following statistics:

low level of participation of Polish senior citizens in the labour market;

strong sense of alienation among the elderly population;

poor access to health services, measured as the number of doctors per

1,000 inhabitants.

Intellectual capital: senior citizens

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

Poland

Hungary

Czech Republic

Greece

United Kingdom

Italy

Spain

Portugal

Belgium

Ireland

Finland

France

Austria

Netherlands

Denmark

Sweden

123

Intellectual capital indexes have been based on the analysis of the key IC indicators

attributed to a given generation. The full list of all 117 indicators used for the purposes

of Poland's IC model is available at: www.innowacyjnosc.gpw.pl/kip/

Seniors


How to increase employmentrate among senior citizens?In respect of the activity of senior citizens in the labour market Poland

comes last among EU member countries. The employment rate for

the age group 55-64 is in Poland nearly 1.5 times lower than the EU

average. This is caused, among others, by the lowest in the EU statutory

retirement age of 58.

Employment rates for the age groups: 150-54, 55-59, and 60-64 in 2006 .

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

Sweden

Denmark

Estonia

United Kingdom

Finland

Latvia

Czech Republic

Lithuania

Netherlands

Germany

Cyprus

EU 15

France

Ireland

Austria

Portugal

EU 27

Bulgaria

Slovakia

Luxembourg

Slovenia

Hungary

Spain

Greece

Romania

Belgium

NMS 10

Italy

Malta

Poland

50-5455-5960-64

Poland is increasingly affected by the population ageing processes, which will contribute

to gradual changes in the age structure of its society: in the year 2030 every third Pole will

be over 50 (currently it is every sixth one). This poses new challenges, but also offers great

opportunities. If the potential of Polish senior citizens, embodied in their knowledge and

experience, is wisely utilized, younger generations may become better prepared for life

and work. Involving the elderly in business activity may e.g. lead to a reduction in the costs

of professional training programmes. The cooperation of schools and kindergartens with

elderly people may increase the effectiveness of programmes aimed at developing young

Poles' emotional intelligence, system of values, social relationships and traditions.

Source: ¹Calculations done by the Department of Economic Analyses and Forecasts of the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, based on the LFS Eurostat data.

124

Seniors

The level of employment in the over 50 age group needs

to be consistently increased in order to utilize the potential

of people aged 50+, to prevent drastic reductions in pensions

paid to the retired, and, finally, to avoid the increase in social

contributions and taxes.

Source: ¹ Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, the programme “Solidarnoœæ pokoleñ” (Solidarity between Generations) (Warszawa, 2008).

A more numerous group of senior citizens imposes a larger burden for the economy as well.

The working minority of Polish population already provides for the majority who are

occupationally deactivated. This constitutes another reason for the importance of making

efforts in order to encourage senior citizens to remain active in the labour market for as

long as possible, and thus, to contribute to GDP growth.

Too early occupational deactivation of senior citizens, coupled with the rising average lifespan,

is disadvantageous for both economic and social reasons. If this trend continues,

as a result of a growing number of citizens not generating GDP, but receiving

social benefits.

Retiring at a comparatively young age (58, on average) means that the

Thus, it is worth

to take a closer look at the reasons for which senior citizens' activity in the labour

market is so low.

The most often declared reasons for leaving the labour market are related to poor health

and/or willingness to help one's children, by e.g. looking after grandchildren. There are also

cases of employers applying discriminatory practices against older candidates for job

vacancies or for training courses.

If Poland fails to increase the employment rate of elderly people, in 35-40 years

there will be a drastic increase in taxes or an equally drastic decrease in the value

of pensions paid to the retired.

the problems

with funding social welfare benefits and guaranteed minimum pensions will keep

increasing

resources

of knowledge, including the desirable pragmatic knowledge, possessed

by four million Poles, are not fully utilized by the society.

125

On the other hand, it is true that elderly people often

become slaves of their own age and of the myths according

to which age is allegedly accompanied by certain limitations.

Moreover, an important factor responsible for low occupational

activity of senior citizens in Poland is the structure of the social

insurance system, which offers financial incentives for 1premature retirement .

Seniors


How to increase the social participation of senior citizens?Passive attitudes of people aged 50+ assumed in the professional life

are accompanied by their social passiveness. Their potential of pragmatic

knowledge about life, as well as of social values and skills, is insignificantly

utilized by their families, by the local communities and by the society

as such.

Polish people aged above 50 years tend to be hardly engaged in voluntary work, and they

are reluctant to join in any activities on behalf of their local communities, take up sports

or attend cultural events.

. This is also related to the low level of trust to others, typical of the whole

Polish society, which strengthens the passiveness of the elderly. Only slightly more than 20%

of them are of an opinion that one can trust others¹.

Their social involvement is two or three times lower than

that of their peers in Western European countries, and usually focused on their

own families

It must be admitted, however, that, compared to their contemporaries

from other countries, Polish senior citizens relatively often declare

that they devote much of their time to their families, although this 2concerns only 30% of the respondents .

At the same time, senior citizens play an important economic role in

their families by performing caretaking functions or helping in running

the households.

Thus, they participate in the natural intergenerational transfer,

which includes handing down to children and youth traditions

as well as social, national and cultural standards and values.

Source: ¹ World Values Survey (1999). ² AXA Retirement Scope (Poland, 2008).

126

Seniors

Polish senior citizens, by not participating in the social life, are pushed into

the background of the society and are treated like an unneeded burden.

The distrustful attitude towards others in this age group results

from their low self-esteem and opinion of themselves.

Finally, the lack of trust leads people aged 50+ to withdraw from social

life, and make them irresponsive to new social or cultural trends or new

technologies.

Percentage of people aged 50+

who are passive (in sports, cultural life, 2local community activities) .

Austria

Bulgaria

Estonia

Romania

Netherlands

0 20 40 60 80 100

Ukraine

Poland

Spain

Portugal

Malta

Lithuania

Latvia

USA

Japan

Slovakia

Finland

Germany

Denmark

Czech Republic

Percentage of pensioners 1taking care of their families .

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35

Poland

Portugal

Belgium

Czech Republic

Italy

Slovakia

Switzerland

France

Spain

United Kingdom

USA

Germany

Canada

127

Seniors

Source: ¹ AXA Retirement Scope (Poland, 2008). ² World Values Survey (1999).


How to increase the participation of senior citizens in education?Compared to several other European societies (e.g. of Austria, Scandinavian

countries, or Germany), only a small percentage of Poles aged 55-64 1(16.2% ) choose to pursue education in some form. In consequence, citizens

aged 50+, who are often both physically and psychically fit, withdraw from

the labour market and from the social life only because they fail to update

their knowledge and skills.

The research “Rynek pracy a osoby bezdomne 50+. Bariery i szanse” [Labour Market,

and the 50+ Unemployed. Barriers and Opportunities], conducted by the Academy for

the Development of Philanthropy in Poland, showed that there is practically no educational

offer in Poland suitable for the needs and abilities of people aged over 50.

State and private-owned, as well as non-governmental educational institutions in Poland

all lack it. Yet another reason for the passiveness in learning of Polish people aged 50+

is their negative attitude towards education, resulting from their passiveness in the labour

market and in the social life.

Percentage of people aged 50+ 2participating in some form of education .

Hungary

Slovakia

Portugal

United Kingdom

Lithuania

0 20 40 60 80 100

Norway

Switzerland

Slovenia

Romunia

Sweden

Finland

Italy

Netherlands

Malta

Latvia

Cyprus

Poland

10 30 50 70 90

France

Spain

Greece

Ireland

Estonia

Germany

Denmark

Czech Republic

Bulgaria

Belgium

EU25-average

Luksembourg

Austria

Source: ¹ Academy for the Development of Philanthropy, “Rynek pracy a osoby bezrobotne 50+. Bariery i szanse” (Warszawa, 2007).2 Eurostat, (2005).

128

Seniors

It should be remembered that education not only increases senior citizens' chances to obtain

a job, but also prevents their social exclusion.

The exclusion from the labour market, which has been described above, is often caused by

unfamiliarity with modern technologies, particularly with the Internet.

Computer illiteracy also makes it difficult for the elderly to have close relationships with

the young generation, limits their access to information and prevents them from using

advanced technologies such as e.g. digital photography. There are numerous reasons for

this situation, including financial, psychical and technical barriers.

Consequently, they expect difficulties

in learning to operate a computer (Will I manage it?), and are afraid of damaging the

equipment (Won't I damage something?). Last but not least, there are also financial and

technical barriers related to using a computer: no access to computer hardware and

software, a limited offer of computer literacy courses for elderly people, and too high fees

for Internet access. Currently, only 20% of people from the age group 55-64 use 1the Internet (as compared to 40% in the EU) .

Many elderly people believe that the world of new technologies is dominated

by young people and that “it is not for them”.

1Source: Eurostat (2006) [ ].2 ”Diagnoza Spo³eczna 2007”.

http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page?_pageid=1996,45323734&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL&screen=welcomeref&open=/icts/isoc/isoc_ci/isoc_ci_in&language=en&product=EU_MAIN_TREE&root=EU_MAIN_TREE&scrollto=46

129

Seniors

2According to the Social Diagnosis 2007 (“Diagnoza Spo³eczna 2007”) ,

the human capital of elderly people is considerably lower than

that of the age groups participating in the labour market or of

the youth.

This results to a significant degree from a limited involvement of this social

group in lifelong education programmes. Considering the fact that

the participation of 30-year-olds in education is over three times

as high as that of 40- or 50-year-olds, and the participation of 20-year

-olds is over 30 times higher, the relative value of the human capital of

people currently belonging to the age group 50+ will keep decreasing.


0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

CH BE SE FI DK NO CY UK FR DE EE SI BG PL SK PT ES

Although the average lifespan has extended by approximately 4 years in Poland since

the beginning of the political transformations (the current average lifespan for women is

78, and for men – 73 years),1 than in other EU member countries . This is true both for women (by c2 years)

and for men (by c3 years). This indicates a worse health status of senior citizens in Poland

in comparison with that in the corresponding age groups in most of other EU countries.

Undoubtedly, the reason can be found in a number of deficiencies in the Polish health

care system, including: insufficient funding of procedures related to treatment of elderly

patients; lack of outpatient geriatric wards, insufficient number of geriatricians, faulty training

system for doctors and nurses in the field of geriatrics.

The fact that there are no local clubs for elderly people or day care centres presents an

additional problem.

the life expectancy of people aged 60 is still lower

in Poland

Senior citizens often complain about the long waiting period for a vacancy in

a nursing home, and about the lack of proper attitude of the medical personnel

suitable for their specific needs.

How to ensure senior citizens' health?

Source: The World Bank, “From Red to Gray” (2007). 2 ESS (European Social Security), calculations done by the Department of Economic Analyses and Forecasts of the Ministry (2006).

¹

Proportion of elderly people (aged 50+) assessing 2.their health status as bad or very bad

130

Seniors

The interdependencies between senior citizens' health status and their

activity level in the labour market are particularly noticeable in the case

of disabled people. The participation of the disabled senior citizens in

the labour market in Poland is very low: in 2006 only 15.2% of them were 2in employment . What makes things even worse is that this ratio has been continually

decreasing since 2000.

What poses a burdensome problem is the highly insufficient system of supporting people

taking care of the elderly.

According to the report by Eurofamcare, a complete support system should include:

training and providing information;

mentoring and counselling;

needs assessment;

financial benefits, entitlements and employment;

support in reconciling professional work with care duties;

ensuring respite and regular care breaks; 1 psychological support .

1 Source: Eurofamcare, “Trans-European Survey Report” (2006).2 Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, the programme “Solidarnoœæ pokoleñ” (Solidarity between Generations) (Warszawa, 2008).3 Profile Public Relations, “Dezaktywacja zawodowa osób w wieku oko³oemerytalnym” (Warszawa, 2007).

The unsatisfactory health status of senior citizens is linked with their

passiveness in the spheres of professional life, social life and education.

On the one hand, inactive lifestyle, spending a lot of time at home,

often alone and motionless, and wrong diet lead to an increase in

the vulnerability to diseases of the circulatory system and to psycho-

somatic disorders.

Findings of the research on people leaving the labour market at around

retirement age (“Dezaktywizacja zawodowa osób w wieku 3oko³oemerytalnym”) show that a relatively worse health status favours

making the retirement decision. In the group eligible for retirement it is

those with the best overall feeling who decide to remain in employment.

Meanwhile, the health status is one of the crucial

determinants of ability to work.

131

Seniors


The British government's effectively promotes the code of best

practices in terms of age diversity in employment by pointing out the benefits resulting from

engaging and retaining employees of different age groups.

Companies in Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom or Finland have started

implementing their policies. Also in Poland a number of experimental

solutions concerning lifelong education and age management in enterprises have been

developed, thanks to the support from

th implemented in Finland at the turn of the 20 stand 21 centuries was a perfect example of success in raising the level of participation

in the labour market of people aged 50+, and of the success resulting from the agreement

reached between the Finnish state and all important social and economic institutions.

Age Positive Campaign

age management

EQUAL CIP.

The Programme for Ageing Workers

What can Poland learn from others? Projects implemented by non-governmental organizations

and territorial self-government units within the programme

“£¹czymy pokolenia” (Integrating Generations) of the Academy

for the Development of Philanthropy in Poland and the PZU

Foundation exemplify the fact that it is possible

and to restore natural

on a local scale.

The Project of the Polish-American Freedom Foundation

supporting Third Generation Universities is an excellent

example of

, which attracts a great deal of interest

and demand among the concerned age group.

to make

the elderly socially active

intergenerational bonds

broadening the educational offer for

people aged 50+

132

Seniors

Tourism is a sector of a significant economic importance. The European tourism industry

generates about 5% (or, depending on the definition, even over 11%) of GDP in the European

Union, and creates workplaces for 8 to 24 million people (again, depending on the scope 1of the industry definition) . Moreover, it should be taken into account that tourism is

inseparably connected with other industries, and, in particular, that senior citizens

tourism affects numerous areas of our lives, including the Internet as a source of information,

transport, and, obviously, restaurant services and the cultural and entertainment establishments.

The idea of generally available tourism does not consist in creating

separate services for elderly or disabled people, but in ensuring full integration, or rather

in involving special needs tourists in the tourism sector. The long-term objective of generally

available tourism is creating an environment in which all tourists, irrespective of their

individual needs (age, disability, obesity, etc.), will be able to participate actively.

The implementation of the project “TraVEL AGEnts - over 55 without frontiers”

in Poland enabled project participants, i.e. people aged 55+, to retrain, start their

own business activities (as excursion leaders, tourist guides, tour operators etc.)

or find a new job.

Source: ¹ [ ]. ² [ ].

www.natko.dewww.travelagentsproject.org

133

2The project “TraVEL AGEnts - over 55 without frontiers”

encourages travelling, voluntary and free participation in acquiring

knowledge, as well as creating intercultural and profitable opportunities

for people aged 55+ in 10 EU countries (the Czech Republic, Cyprus,

Estonia, Finland, Greece, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Germany and Italy).

The project aims at promoting active ageing and facilitating the mobility

of the elderly in the EU. The project, funded within the “ ENEA

preparatory action on active ageing and mobility of elderly people”, has

been recognized by the European Commission as a good practice.

The project is a pioneer initiative in the EU promoting 'responsible

tourism' for people aged 50+. It provides the elderly with the opportunity

of being employed in the favourable sector of tourism in all EU Member

States. The initiative has been implemented in 10 EU countries, setting

a new trend towards popularizing the tourism which respects cultural

heritage, is environmental-friendly, provides economical support for

local communities, and encourages intercultural dialogue and transfer.

The term 'responsible tourism' refers to the tourism which 'participates'

in generating local community profits.

Seniors


Success stories: the World's Smallest MuseumFor over twenty years has been a living proof

of success, social involvement, self-attainment and lifelong education being within

the reach of a retired person. Retirement does not have to bring an end to active

life and involvement. Just on the contrary, it can be the beginning of a great life adventure.

In April, 1988, Halina founded the World's Smallest Museum. She turned a tiny room

in her small flat in the Warsaw district of S³u¿ewiec into an exhibition space where

she presents works of her students from the University of the Third Age, in which

she conducts a creativity training seminar. She helps her elderly students to develop

their dormant gifts and talents which they had no time to awaken earlier. She also

runs the DSM project, aimed at promoting dialogue between the older and the younger

generations, within which her students from the University of the Third Age cooperate

and exchange opinions with lower secondary school pupils from Kuklówka. Since

she retired, Halina has learned Esperanto and Swedish, and is currently learning

Spanish as well.

Ms Halina Duczmal-Pacowska

134


Seniors

The proportion of the senior citizens population in Poland will keep increasing

over the next few years.

4 000

9 000

14 000

19 000

24 000

29 000

34 000

39 000

1909

1939

1969

1999

2020

2050

2080

2011

2041

2071

2002

2032

2062

2092

2023

2053

2083

2014

2044

2074

2005

0-24 25-44 45-59/64 60/65+

Source: ¹ Calculations done by the Department of Economic Analyses and Forecasts of the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, based on the Eurostat data.

Without taking complex measures aimed at increasing the degree

of senior citizens' activity and without establishing a special social

pact aimed at increasing that level of activity, Poland will not

be able to keep its current pace of economic growth, which will lead

to its systematic marginalization in Europe.

The needs of senior citizens must become the focal

point, and their intellectual capital (their knowledge,

skills, and life experience) should be utilized to its

fullest extent, in the interest of the whole society.

their huge

potential underutilized in the process of the economic

and social development of the country,

The above will be possible if the elderly become fully

integrated with the rest of the society in terms of career,

social life, and education. The currently high degree of

passiveness, rather poor health status, and the social

marginalization of senior citizens make

while they

themselves become a burden to the public financial

system and to the working population. This seriously hinders

the social and economic development of the country.

Population structure in Poland in the years 1990-2050, in thousands

Explanation: the values for the years 1990-2007 are statistical data, 1while the remaining values have been forecasted by Eurostat

135

Seniors

SUMMARY


A comprehensive approach and cooperation of all concerned 1are necessary for improving senior citizens' well-being in Poland .

Career-

focused approach

Healthy

lifestyles

Skills

development

Saving

Individual

responsibility

of citizens

Business

processes

and planning

Professional

trainings

Staff retaining

initiatives

HR

development

Employer

support

Government programmes

and leadership

Employment

and social programs

Training

programs

Business

programs

Health

programs

Positive

results

for

everybody

radically change the state policy concerning the 50+ age group

and stimulate senior citizens' involvement in professional and social life,

create incentives for both people aged 50+ and employers to ensure

longer activity in the labour market;

negotiate a social pact on behalf of senior citizens activity and

of promotion of healthy ageing, including representatives

of the state and its institutions, employers, trade unions, NGOs,

and the sector of science and education;

take measures aimed at changing the social attitude towards people

aged 50+, both through all-Poland educational and information

campaigns, and through supporting local grass-root local initiatives

in this respect, particularly those restoring and strengthening

intergenerational bonds;

broaden the educational offer and tailor it to meet the capacity,

needs, and expectations of people aged over 50;

include retirement preparation courses in education institutions

curricula and in corporate training programmes;

promote age management;

reform the pension system in order to create financial mechanisms

encouraging the longest possible participation in the labour market

(like e.g. in Finland).

136

Source: IBM & the Lisbon Council, Living Longer, Living Better.1

Seniors

For this reason it is necessary to:

Recommendations


From diagnosisto recommendationsThe main objective of the Report on Intellectual Capital of Poland was to conduct

a comprehensive assessment of Poland's potential for development as a knowledge

-based economy and society.

That assessment was presented in the chapter Diagnosis, and it may produce a disheartening

effect:

. At the same time, the success

stories described in this report prove that wherever the statistical data reveal systemic

dysfunctions or weak points of the Polish science, education or economy, there are individuals

who give the lie to these statistics by their involvement and creativity. They are laudable

exceptions. Their stories are important not as instances of dubious self-comforting

(“It's not that bad”), but because they inspire to ask questions:

Poland's rankings in terms of the key IC indicators, compared to those of

other European countries, are highly unsatisfying

Since they have succeeded, what can be done to have more successes

like theirs? What measures should be taken to increase Poland's potential

for development? How to know whether the introduced changes are successful?

How to measure the country's success? Who should be involved in the process

of change implementation?

Thus, two series of workshops were held in the course

of works on this report, including discussion on the above

(and similar) questions among nearly one hundred

participants.

The workshops were intended to make representatives

of the central administration and NGOs involved in

the debate on the key challenges related to intellectual

capital. The workshops resulted in defining a vision, steps

leading to its realization, and indicators of its success.

Participants also discussed what measures and investments

should be curbed, and which of them deserve strengthening

to ensure a more effective use of the limited resources

for the development of the intellectual capital of Poland.

A record of the outcomes of the workshops are

available at: http://www.innowacyjnosc.gpw.pl/kip/

138

A fragment of the summary notes made upon the completion of the 1st workshop series for representatives of the central administration, during which a vision of Poland in the year 2030 was defined, procedures for measuring success identified, and present challenges and steps which can lead to achieving the vision in the year 2030 were brainstormed.

A fragment of the summary notes made upon the completion of the 2nd workshop series for representatives of the central administration and NGOs, during which recommendations were worked out and the basis of the strategy for Poland was created.


What will happen next?

The authors of the present report are well aware that Poland abounds in minds, brains

and ideas necessary to continue reforms in the sectors of education, including higher

education, and science. There are experts' opinions, strategies, and other materials

presenting conclusions similar to these included in the Report on Intellectual Capital

of Poland.

Foreign experience gained through similar initiatives taken all

over the world shows that the following measures are of key importance to success:

involving representatives of relevant ministries, state institutions

and NGOs; creating strong project teams to fine-tune the recommendations

collected so far, and to transpose them into actions;

Consequently, what seems to be the biggest obstacle is not that Poles do not

know their weak points, but that they are unable to carry out successful reforms

aimed at combating these weaknesses. Their performance is ineffective.

How can recommendations be translated into action?

engaging all the concerned parties in developing detailed action plans –

making use of domestic and foreign know-how

and experience

conducting public debate and influencing social

opinion

– Polish problems are not unique,

and many other countries have confronted them before;

Poland too rarely learns from others' mistakes and successes;

– fundamental changes may be effected only

with proper attitudes among the society; as long as a

statistical Pole is unaware of the extent of the country's

exposure to risks or of possible consequences of its

failure to implement necessary reforms, neither politicians

nor groups of interest will feel enough pressure to

introduce reforms.

140

Prioritization of challenges

How to select top priorities?

The complexity, importance and interdependence of all of the problems discussed in this

report, make it difficult to attempt their prioritization. However, past experience teaches

that limited resources should better be focused on the most crucial issues.

In order to select priorities for future action plans several dozen experts were invited to give

their assessment of the identified challenges.

The following criteria were taken into consideration, in accordance with the SMUG method

used in decision analysis:

seriousness (how significant the problem is for the development of the country);

manageability (to what extent it can be influenced by the state);

urgency (how important it is to take action immediately);

growth (to what extent the weight of the problem may increase).

Each of the experts assessed the individual challenges using the following grading scale:

(5) high; (3) medium, and (1) low. The total sum of grades allowed to create the

index which is presented in the table.

It constituted the basis for indicating seven main groups of activities which should be

undertaken first. They will be discussed in this part of the report.

141

Ineffective pro-family policyLow innovative potential of Polish higher education institutionsPoor accessibility and high costs of the InternetLittle usability of higher educationLow participation of children in early childhood education Necessity for attracting foreign high value-added investmentsExposure of children to povertyLow quality of the teaching personnel performanceLow innovativeness of Polish companiesLimited pool of quality candidates for teachers Low quality and low diversity of early childhood education formsLow level of senior citizens' participation in the labour marketPrevalence of traditional teaching methods in higher education institutionsLow occupational mobility of PolesLimited access to prevention and early detection medical servicesUnderdeveloped quality management systems in higher education institutionsLow participation of academic teachers and students in foreign exchange programmesPrevalence of short-term strategies in management Poor health status, high incidence of chronic diseases Very low level of participation in educational programmes among adults Low level of trust in the society Poor status of senior citizens' health Lack of support from schools in equalizing students' chances for educational successLow level of civic involvement Low participation in educational programmes among senior citizensInsufficiently personalized system of schools' curricula and teaching methodsProblems with maintaining the work/life balancePoor cooperation between school and parentsLow level of senior citizens' involvement in social life

Legal environment disadvantageous for doing business

Challenge17.7616.7015.7515.3315.1815.0714.9414.1614.0313.9913.5812.9212.8412.8212.7512.7312.7112.69

12.5712.5212.3512.0912.0911.9611.4910.9610.8110.029.158.25

TOTAL100%94%89%86%85%85%84%80%79%79%76%73%72%72%72%72%72%71%

71%70%70%68%68%67%65%62%61%56%52%46%


142

Increasing

the quality

of legal operations,

procedures

and infrastructure

for business

Ensuring synergy

of science, business

and culture.

Creating vacancies

with high

added value

Activating

senior citizens

Focusing the system

of education

on the needs

of the labour

market

Increasing

the quality

of education

More complex

and efficient

family policy

Regular

measurement of

intellectual

capital indicators

7

Ensuring high quality of human capital Enabling the utilization of human capital

as a source of the country's competitive advantage, growth and well-being

Building social capital of Poles: increasing trust in interpersonal relations and in citizen-state relations, activating social activity.

Initiatives related to activating and developing the potential embodied in Polish people should be joined with the use of social capital. The state can stimulate the process

of increasing social capital by improving the credibility of its institutions and by promoting appropriate norms of conduct in mutual relations.

Nonetheless, Poland must do its utmost to create the optimal conditions

for utilizing the capital of knowledge, energy, and entrepreneurship of Polish

people. It is absolutely crucial for Poland to promptly become a business-friendly

environment. Otherwise, the human capital, i.e. the best students, workers, scientists and

entrepreneurs, will move abroad to countries offering better conditions to run operations.

A simplified legal system, competitive and open markets, a transparent tax system,

and mechanisms stimulating creative cooperation of science, business and culture, may

turn Poland into an ideal location for innovative enterprises generating considerable added

value.

What is of top priority among the numerous challenges facing

Poland is further investment in its human capital, which is key

to the development of the country.

It is essential that pro-family policies encourage people to have children

and ensure equal access to various forms of pre-school education, that

the quality of teaching in

schools be increased, and that Polish institutions of higher education

produce graduates whose qualifications are more relevant to the needs

of the labour market. Finally, the ageing society brings new challenges,

but also new opportunities related to the intellectual capital embodied

in the senior generation.

SUCCESS INDICATORS

higher number of children per family;

higher percentage of children born and brought up in two-parent

families;

higher percentage of 4-year-olds participating in education;

higher outlays on child care and pre-school education institutions

(for children aged 0-6) measured as % of GDP;

lower percentage of children exposed to poverty;

more time dedicated by parents to their children (% of families having

at least one meal a day together; average time per week spent on reading

books to children and/or talking with children);

higher percentage of companies offering employment on flexible terms

to parents.

In order to secure the quality of human capital the optimal development

conditions should be provided for all children in Poland to make them happy,

well-groomed and able to use their full potential.

The above entails undertaking not only those forms of activity which are focused on children,

but also measures aiming at strengthening the environment in which a child is brought up:

family and institutions of early childhood education and care.

. The state must provide – by means of various legal and fiscal

solutions – conditions which will favour having children and setting up stable families.

A family will not prosper unless proper conditions for its development are ensured by taking,

among others,

Therefore, Poland needs complex family policies allowing for different

life choices related to the presence of parents having little children in the labour market

and for a variety of resulting needs.

What does “quality” stand for in this context?

First of all, it refers to the skills and competencies of the teaching personnel, their efficient

cooperation with parents and ability to perceive children as subjects rather than objects,

as well as to the teaching curricula and methods which enable children to develop

fundamental competencies. Polish institutions of early childhood education need to be

adapted on a case by case basis to the needs of parents and local communities so that they

could properly discharge their functions. For this reason, forms of early childhood education

should be highly diversified, but uniform in terms of high quality performance.

Parents should be able to feel that their decision to have a child will not be

excessively costly or risky

necessary measures to support it in its educational and economic

responsibilities.

What is of key importance for proper development of little children and for

their further achievements is their access to cheap, high quality institutions

providing early childhood education.

Parents are the most important source of safety and happiness

for their children. That is why the state should support them in

developing their educational skills,

It is important that the envisaged changes should be aimed

at integrating all initiatives concerning children

which refers to all parents since

all of them should be able to guide their children on a path to success in

life.

: all educational,

social, and health care institutions should cooperate within an integrated

system focused on satisfying basic needs of children.

STRATEGY VISION

More children livingin happy families,

not exposed to poverty

MORE COMPLEX AND EFFICIENTFAMILY POLICIES

1


SUCCESS INDICATORS

Polish schools can be only as good as good Polish teachers are.

A good school is able to

balance its elitist and egalitarian functions.

Polish schools should cooperate closer with

parents in planning children's development and in sharing

Teachers should constitute one of the most prestigious professions in Poland.

Improvement in the quality of education requires changing the system of selection

and recruitment, as well as training, and promotion of teachers. Teaching at school

should be an attractive career for able graduates of higher education institutions.

Teacher education and training programmes should include practical training to a

bigger extent, while teachers' salary levels and career path must be based on the evaluation

of their teaching results and should motivate them to continuous development throughout

the whole period of their teaching careers.

What makes a good school is not only the results achieved by its best students,

but also the quality of work with pupils performing poorly.

Thus, educational activity must be

characterized by the individualized approach to every pupil who should be set

challenges that are suitable for his/her individual abilities and interests. Apart from

providing knowledge, school should develop, to a greater extent than it does at present,

such attitudes and social skills as creativity, openness and responsibility. This is the only way

in which education can be effective in performing its equalizing functions.

The impact of school education upon pupils' attainments is insignificant compared to that

of the family relationship capital. Thus,

educational tasks.

It requires raising both the authority of school and teachers as well as parents' skills.

What may ensure an inflow of quality teaching staff to Polish schools are: effective selection

procedures for higher education candidates, enhancement of the practical component in

teacher training programmes, and remuneration above the average pay already at

the beginning of the teaching career.

What offers a chance for unleashing the initiative of millions of parents

is equipping the involved parents with tools enabling them to shape

the educational environment of their children, and developing a public

system based on the principle of subsidiarity.

Allocating funds from the public budget according to the preferences

of parents most interested in their children's education will contribute

to increasing their involvement.

Polish schools recognizedworldwide for their quality

education, competent teachingstaff, and effective cooperation

with parents

INCREASINGQUALITY

OF EDUCATION

Improved average attainment level of the bottom 20% of pupils;

improved average attainment level of the top 20% of pupils;

decrease in the percentage of pupils repeating forms or leaving

the school system early;

more attractive remuneration for beginning teachers compared

with the average national pay;

increased percentage of the bonus component, related to teacher's

performance evaluation, in his/her total remuneration;

less correlation between pupils' results achieved in external

examinations and in PISA tests, and the social and economic

background of their parents;

higher percentage of the best students choosing pedagogical studies;

higher level of academic attainment of students choosing teaching as a career;

higher ranking of teaching in terms of the profession's prestige;

higher percentage of parents attending educational courses.

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STRATEGY VISION

2

The system of higher education in Poland urgently needs a reform which

will make it more responsive to the needs of the Polish society and economy.

The usability of higher education can be increased by selecting and promoting

strategic fields of study in the context of changes occurring in human civilization.

A reform of

teaching methods should emphasize not only the quality of knowledge, but also

general competencies enabling students to perform well in a fast changing

environment of the labour market.

There has been a rapid increase in the scholarization ratio in recent years, but the quality

of the Polish education system still poses a problem. Higher education institutions are

expected to set up new horizons and to shape the future of the society. They are burdened

with a huge responsibility for the quality of Polish intellectuals, including doctors, engineers,

scientists, and politicians.

It is also necessary to disseminate among potential students information about the forecasted

demand for graduates of specific degree programmes, and to develop a new system of grants

and scholarships ensuring better access to the most important fields of study.

Changes in the higher education sector should also involve the management level of higher

education institutions, and the academic teacher evaluation system. This requires, among

others, ensuring quality HR management in Polish higher education institutions, beginning

with the staff recruitment and selection procedures, through competence and performance

assessment, ending with career planning programmes.

What seems to be a significant factor influencing the performance of

academic employees is the individualization of their career paths. Some

academics will do better as teachers, others as researchers. Managing to tie the system of allocating funds to the quality of performance

will result in a chance for creating strong academic centres

attracting the best scientists and producing graduates recognized

all over the world. Polish higher education institutions may

become a breeding ground for worldwide talents.

Polish institutionsof higher education

as a breeding ground for worldwide talents

FOCUSING THE SYSTEM OF EDUCATION ON

THE NEEDS OF THE LABOUR MARKET

increase in the number of participants in Ph.D. studies;

increased percentage of adult Poles involved in education programmes;

increase in the percentage of young holders of Ph.D. and professorial degrees

(aged 30-40);

increase in the number of publications in scientific journals from

the ISI Master Journal List;

increased percentage of students choosing science and technology fields

of study;

increase in the number of Polish higher education institutions included in

the Shanghai Ranking;

increased share of business sector in science funding;

increased number of holders of academic degrees employed in the business

sector;

increased occupational mobility rates;

more favourable assessment of key competencies of higher education institutions'

graduates by employers;

increase in the number of academic teachers and students participating in foreign

exchange programmes, and a greater number of foreign students and academic

teachers in Polish higher education institutions.

3

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SUCCESS INDICATORS

STRATEGY VISION


An increase in the level of economic activity of senior citizens can be achieved

only as a result of introducing a proper set of policies, which, on the one hand,

will discourage elderly people from early retirement, and, at the same time,

will enable them to be competitive in the labour market, and protect them

against discrimination.

Higher participation of senior citizens in education and their increased readiness

to undertake jobs are determined by their health status.

Changes in the social benefits system should be followed by an intensive campaign promoting

demand for elderly employees in the labour market. This seems to be even more

important since the existing stereotypes, according to which the elderly are perceived

as useless in the labour market, have a consciousness shaping effect both on the working

population and on senior citizens themselves, who often have low self-esteem.

This makes it necessary

not only to increase the accessibility and the quality of treatment, but also to improve

health prevention and diagnostics, which should be coupled with promotion of healthy lifestyle.

Fitness is one of the elements of protection against illness. Therefore, senior citizens should

be supported in their attempts to keep fit for as long as reasonably possible. The postulate

of keeping fit is one of the leading requirements in contemporary geriatrics and one of

the objectives included in broadly understood care programmes for elderly people.

A significant increase in the level of senior citizens' self-esteem and their opinion on their

abilities, which is necessary for their active participation in the economic life, can also be

achieved by promoting participation of elderly people in cultural and social life: in NGOs,

in Universities of the Third Age, in local community clubs for elderly people etc.

Sunny, warm and active time of the autumn

of life in Poland

ACTIVATING THE POTENTIAL

OF SENIOR CITIZENS

higher rate of participation in the labour market for

people aged 50+;

higher average age of retirement;

higher rate of participation in lifelong education programmes

among the population aged over 40 years;

higher life expectancy for people aged 50/60;

higher healthy life expectancy for people aged 50/60;

higher percentage of elderly people (50+) assessing their

health status as good or very good;

higher percentage of people aged over 50 involved

in voluntary work;

higher percentage of people aged 50+ involved in cultural

and social life.

4

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SUCCESS INDICATORS

STRATEGY VISION

Investing in education and human capital development must be coupled

with creating new workplaces in Poland where this huge human potential

will be properly utilized and developed.

more funds should be allocated to finance those areas in

which the country can become competitive in the future.

it is necessary to introduce fully integrated solutions that

will support not only Polish exports, but also the global expansion and

the development of business relationships networks of Polish companies.

of corporate

intangible assets, it seems advisable to popularize high standards of intellectual

capital management among Polish entrepreneurs as well.

Otherwise, well educated and highly

qualified professionals will start leaving the country taking advantage of the openness

of the globalizing world.

Instead of directing vast allocations to dying industries and thus helping to keep

their privileges, or acquiring short-term investments based on the competitive advantage

of cheap labour force,

Nowadays, the leading providers' products and services are developed with regard to

the needs of a global customer, in cooperation with partners from all over the world.

Thus, on the one hand,

What is

also important is extensive promotion of Poland and popularization of the success stories

of Polish companies and Polish talents in such fields as innovative services, engineering and

design, or high technologies. On the other hand, it is essential to find ways to effectively

attract foreign high value-added investments, which will increase the intellectual capital

and innovativeness of the country.

Public administration has a huge role to play in raising the innovation awareness of Polish

entrepreneurs and enterprises, and in increasing their risk acceptance. For example,

the public procurement system in Poland may be used for the purposes of promoting new

solutions and technologies in Polish business. Considering the increasing role

Innovative businesses using and developingtheir human capital

SYNERGY OF SCIENCE, BUSINESS AND CULTURE.

CREATING VALUE-ADDED WORKPLACES

Nowadays, successful new products or services are rarely

developed single-handedly

At present, the worlds of science, business and culture in Poland

are not mutually supportive. It would be advisable to find scope

for incorporating into higher education programmes such

components as interdisciplinarity and incentives for students

and scientists specializing in different disciplines to cooperate

with each other.

. Success stories of the most innovative

global businesses are based on creative cooperation of engineers,

developing state-of-the-art technologies, artists and designers, imparting

an attractive and exceptional form to them, and managers,

able to turn an invention into a commercial success. More and more

often a new quality appears at points where different areas of knowledge

meet. A perfect platform supporting such cooperation, enabling

direct access to the most recent developments, and facilitating

communication, is the Internet. Therefore, efforts should be taken

to make Poland a huge area with a free-of-charge access to the Internet.

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STRATEGY VISION

5


Poland may become the most business-friendly environment in Europe

provided that the state concentrates on supporting companies and

enterprises in increasing their competitiveness, instead of controlling

them and hindering their development needlessly.

It is a challenging task for the public administration and civil service to make

good law and support Polish entrepreneurs, as it involves the imperative to

start by changing their own environment.

An efficiently running

business requires a reliable, well developed Infrastructure, a small fraction of which

is the Internet. It needs an extensive network of roads, airports and railways with

station buildings, as well as telecommunications and delivery networks, and social

networks. Circulation of people, goods, and information should not pose a problem.

Legal regulations will be conducive to business competitiveness if they are based

on trust in relations between the state and its citizens and entrepreneurs, and,

moreover, if they are simple, easy to understand, apply and enforce, and, in particular,

if there are as few of them as possible. Entrepreneurs would rather be busy increasing

their personal income gains and their corporate capital than looking for loopholes

in complicated tax systems or evading unfriendly legal provisions.

Civil service should be managed in

accordance with the best market practices. Public administration institutions should use

HR policies, including setting personal goals and key success indicators. It pays to put

human potential to good use, e.g. by introducing an interdepartmental staff rotation policy

connected with career promotion, and it also pays to stimulate officials to innovativeness

and to taking responsibility for the development of their institutions.

INCREASING THE QUALITY OF BUSINESS LEGAL

ENVIRONMENT, PROCEDURES AND INFRASTRUCTURE

6

An important tool in improving business performance and efficiency

is making the Internet publicly available and adapting the administrative

services to the needs of the business sector. Well developed e-administration,

and e-signature and e-documents in common use will guarantee shorter

procedures, a comfortable form of contact with administrative authorities,

and savings in terms of both time and money for all the concerned parties

i.e. entrepreneurs and the administrative sector, which will be able to

employ fewer staff, but with higher qualifications. Popularization of

the Internet also offers a chance of developing new industries, entering into

new global business relationships, and providing new, attractive workplaces.

higher rating in Doing Business;

smaller number of export and import procedures;

shorter time and fewer procedures related to setting up and

winding up a business;

lower proportion of time spent by corporate management on

dealing with administrative matters;

lower participation of costs other than pay costs in the total labour

costs;

shorter time of contract enforcement procedures in court;

broader range of e-administration services available.

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SUCCESS INDICATORS

STRATEGY VISION

Poland as the most business-friendly

environment

What is of the utmost importance at present is increasing the innovative capacity and

competitiveness of Polish scientific and academic research institutions. This requires first

of all increasing outlays on education, coupled with implementing mechanisms ensuring

high quality of research, such as awarding funds by way of grant competitions. It would

also be advisable to broaden the scope of cooperation between higher education

institutions and business, to increase expenditure on research and development activities,

and to raise corporate participation in financing science.

Moreover, it is essential to increase the mobility of scientists (both within

and outside the country) and to make the results of their work more

transparent and accessible, while they themselves should be encouraged

to take attitudes of greater openness for changes and new developments.

higher percentage of innovative companies;

better assessment of cooperation between businesses and higher education institutions;

increase in the number of patents per 1 million inhabitants;

higher share of allocations to research and development projects

in the total budgetary allocations for scientific and academic research;

increased corporate participation in the science financing structure.

149

SUCCESS INDICATORS


As Peter Drucker said, if something cannot be measured, then it cannot be

managed.

regular measuring of all important indicators is of key importance.

It is also important to simplify the existing procedures for access to statistical

data collected by various institutions including the Central Statistical Office

(GUS), the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, the Ministry of National

Education, or the National Bank of Poland.

One cannot possibly improve the quality of education without monitoring

educational results since otherwise it is impossible to determine whether the changes

in the system of funding and organizing schools' activities have any positive effect.

For this reason,

Such countries as Sweden, Israel, or Korea have their reports on the national intellectual

capital published regularly, monitoring for changes of the most important indicators

which define the national potential for development. Other countries, such as Austria

or Japan, have made it obligatory for higher education institutions and large-size companies

to report on their intellectual capital. The significance of IC indicators measurement

is stressed by world famous experts, including Prof Thomas Housel

[ ], or Prof Lev Baruch

[ ]. As the assessment of

the intellectual capital of Poland has shown lack of regular measurement in many areas

which are important for the future of Poland, such as: the extent to which graduates

of higher education institutions are prepared to perform well in the labour market;

the quality of early childhood education; or the efficiency of the public administration.

Numerous important indicators monitored by other countries are missing in the Polish

system, and databases enabling to do a comparative analysis for an individual region or

municipality in Poland are often not available.



Poland consistent in building its international

competitiveness based on its intellectual capital

MEASURING INTELLECTUAL

CAPITAL INDICATORS REGULARLY

promotion of reporting on intellectual capital as a good

practice done by businesses, public administration units, higher

education institutions, and municipalities;

using data presented in the intellectual capital assessment to

re-allocate funds received from the EU structural funds;

higher rate of return on the public expenditure on education,

health and science;

higher public awareness of the fact that intellectual capital

is the main source of Poland's potential for development;

greater readiness of the interest groups to accept

reforms aimed at developing the intellectual capital of Poland.

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SUCCESS INDICATORS

STRATEGY VISION

7

Effective development of the intellectual capital of Poland will require effort to change the traditional approach to the implementation of key reforms

Is:

Is:

Is:

Is:

Is:

Important reform projects are often conducted by one government department.

Ineffective system of interdepartmental consultation, offering no real possibility to exchange ideas or opinions.

Ineffective system of social consultations. NGOs have little genuine impact on the final shape of the accepted solutions.

Key reforms are often blocked by the opposition.

Lack of project-oriented approach results in wrongly identified scopes of functions and responsibilities; the concerned parties are not involved in the project development processes; there is no risk management in projects.

Should be:

Should be:

Should be:

Should be:

Should be:

Projects are conducted on the interdepartmental level and coordinated by the Prime Minister.

From the very beginning, projects are run with the use of team work methods, and of the knowledge of all parties involved in the process to improve the original ideas and projects.

From the very beginning, NGOs and media representatives are involved in the process as project team members.

Representatives of the parliamentary opposition are invited to participate in the project development. Key reforms are given priority over political divisions.

Projects are conducted by competent project managers: their managerial skills are more important than their factual knowledge of the subject.

Given the intention to initiate a debate on the intellectual capital of Poland, this report has been made available online, with the possibility to add remarks and comments related to its individual parts. You are welcome to take this opportunity at: .http://www.innowacyjnosc.gpw.pl/kip/


Two scenarios for the development of Poland:

Poland as one of the poorest EU member countries(A scenario based on the assumption that Poland's economic policy in the next decade

resembles that implemented in the past decade.)

Poland as one of the most dynamically developing EU

member countries (A scenario based on the assumption that the recommendations provided in this report

are implemented.)

152

Poland as one of the poorest EU member countries –the pessimistic scenario, year 2030

Poland is the fastest ageing European country, which, coupled with the low

participation in the labour market of the female and elderly populations, results

in a rapid increase in social welfare expenditure with no rise on the income side.

Young people are glad to undertake jobs abroad where they are much better paid.

In order to reduce the huge budgetary deficit and public debt it is necessary to raise taxes,

which causes numerous businesses to move their seats to countries were taxes are lower.

Labour shortages are remedied by allowing migration inflows from poor African and Asian

countries, but, since no funds are allocated to the implementation of proper migration policies,

ghettos for the minorities start emerging in the suburban areas of Polish cities. People living

there are unemployed and receive social security benefits, which is an extra burden to

the public budget. Robberies and assaults plague all Polish towns and cities. Given the lack

of allocations to infrastructure investments, life in urban areas turns into a nightmare: it often

takes 2-3 hours to get to work because of huge traffic jams and roads full of holes.

Stress, low standard of living, poor access to health service, and no

health prevention policy resulting from budgetary reductions, make

which is a real tragedy in a situation when there is not even one child

per family due to high living costs and poor infrastructure.

Poland has been one of the poorest EU member countries for over

10 years already, and its income per capita is only slightly higher than

that in Albania.

Poland has not been able to cope with its energy deficiency problem

for over 20 years.stAt the beginning of the 21 century there used to be discussions about

taking the Irish or the Greek path. In the third decade of the 21st century

history books cite Poland as an example of the consequences of failure

to invest in the intellectual capital of a country.

Poland the only country in Europe in which life expectancy

rates are lowering, and infant mortality rates are increasing,


Poland as one of the most dynamically developing EU member countries –the optimistic scenario,year 2030

Poland is a global e-service centre (e-education, e-medicine).

where it is possible to set up or to wind up a business

in 15 minutes on a free of charge basis, and where it does not take much longer to obtain an

administrative approval or a license.

which is one of the reasons why the budgetary tax revenues are high and the state can afford

to finance infrastructure investments and human capital development programmes.

It is a well organized country,

with unusually efficient e-offices,

Poland is a clean country, with lots of green areas. It is one of the favourite holiday

destinations for Europeans and Asian people.

Polish children receive quality education from the very beginning of their

school path thanks to an extensive network of modern nurseries and kindergartens.

Families can afford having more than two children and are able to maintain

perfect balance between work and family life.

The participation of senior citizens in the labour market is the highest in Europe,

There is an excellent functioning bullet train network

in Poland, and there are well developed underground

railway systems, connected with suburban train and fast

tram lines, in many urban centres, which makes it possible

to get to work quickly. There is no room for boredom

in Poland: local communities are vibrant with life, estate

and district events held by local people are perfect occasions

to socialize with neighbours and acquaintances, and nobody

is left alone.

Numerous international corporations have their head offices

in Poland;

A number of Polish universities have made their way

to the world's top 100 list, and they are chosen by

students from all over the world wishing to study in

Poland. Many of them stay in Poland after studies,

as the country offers very well paid jobs to well

educated and highly qualified candidates.

Polish engineers, IT specialists, doctors, and many

other professionals are globally recognized as top

experts, and their remuneration is much higher

than that offered to similar level professionals in

other EU member countries.

a number of Polish companies are counted

among the 100 biggest corporations in the world.

Poland is a breeding ground for innovation, which

are afterwards implemented in many countries on

all the continents.

154