By the term school we mean an organizational entity created - on the basis of a charter or a record in the register - by an administrative body, a local self-governing body, a legal or private person on the basis of regulations of the appropriate Education System Act. A school conducts training of a specific kind and on a particular level and has a status conferred by an entity or the headperson, specifying, among others, its name, type, the governing authority and its internal organisation.
Schools and other establishments of the system of education can be public, and non-public.
Appropriate ministers and local self-governing bodies (gminas, powiats and voivodships) can establish and run only public schools. Primary schools can be only public, or non-public with the status of a public school, if they implement the minimum programme as well as apply the principles of classifying and promoting pupils and students, as established by the minister responsible for national education, permitting students to obtain official certificates or diplomas.
Compulsory education obligation in Poland is fulfilled by attending primary schools.
Schools for adults (in this schools the organisation of education is different) are designed for candidates who are 18 years old or turn 18 in the calendar year, in which they are about to begin education.
Since 2014, students and graduates have been classified according to narrow fields of education, specified in the Classification of Fields of Education and Training ISCED – F 2013.
Since 2017/2018 school year new educational system is introduced; details.