VET graduate tracking system

The second stage of the project started in 2019. A study report on the results of the first round of tracing the professional trajectories of VET graduates was published in 2019.

In 2020, the draft Act amending the 2018 Education Law introduced the VET graduate tracking system. The system will start operating in the second quarter of 2021 and its first results will be developed in the fourth quarter of 2021.

In February 2021, following the legislative process, the Act amending the 2018 Education Law was approved to include all secondary graduates in the tracking system. It also set the monitoring of the careers of secondary school graduates as one of the tasks of the education ministry, enabling the acquisition and processing of graduates' detailed data, As of April 2021, the Education IT Centre (Centrum Informatyczne Edukacji, CIE), a specialised unit of the education ministry and operator of the education information system, began processing and linking administrative data on schooling and participation in tertiary education, examination results and the labour market performance of graduates (based on social insurance data). The Educational Research Institute (IBE) received the anonymised data at the end of April. A data cleaning process took place until the end of August, involving both CIE and IBE. Subsequently, IBE researchers began analysing the data and preparing reports of the monitoring results. At the end of November, IBE submitted its monitoring results to the education ministry - the nationwide monitoring report and over 5 500 automatically generated reports for VET schools on their 2019 and 2020 graduates. The reports provide aggregated indicators on graduates' employment, continuing education and wage conditions in specific occupations, economic sectors and regions. The education ministry makes the results available to schools and publishes the national report.

The outcomes of the first monitoring were made accessible to schools at the start of July 2022 through the Educational Information System. VET school head teachers can obtain a report (including information about: educational and professional paths, work, unemployment, place and type of continuing education, form of employment, combining education with work) on their graduates. The national report from the first edition was released on the Ministry's website in the first quarter of 2022. In the same year, preparations began for the second edition of the monitoring report, to cover graduates from 2021 and, once again, graduates from 2020, two years after their graduation. The second monitoring round expanded the scope of reported outcomes - compared to the first round, to include new types of automatic reports, i.e. on the state of industries, regional reports, and reports for general secondary schools. The reports generated from the monitoring rounds are highly useful for schools as they provide valuable insights into the labour market outcomes of their graduates. By regularly monitoring their graduates' education and labour market outcomes, schools can ensure that they are providing quality education and preparing their students for successful careers. As a result, schools can make informed decisions about their educational programmes, leading to better outcomes for their students and the school as a whole.

The third edition of career monitoring was completed in 2023, providing insights into post-graduation outcomes for secondary school students. A national report examined the class of 2021 two years after graduation, while a sub-report looked at the class of 2022 after one year. For the first time, upper secondary school directors received tailored reports on their graduates' career paths. This initiative culminated in the launch of career monitoring in October 2023, followed by a new project to expand tracking to diverse student groups, including those with special needs and international students.

To support this, there are plans to integrate additional data from state registers. Software development for automated reporting was underway, with input from school directors and career advisors. Additionally, an EU-funded project by the Educational Research Institute intends to produce interactive reports for various stakeholders by 2028, ensuring the system effectively tracks and improves graduates' career outcomes through user feedback.

The Educational Research Institute (IBE) submitted the fourth monitoring cycle results to the Ministry of National Education by late November 2024. This included nationwide reports on 2022 and 2023 graduates and five-year post-graduation analyses for the 2019 cohort. The indicators were revised, and the"Development of the career tracking system for post-primary school graduates" initiative included drafting legal recommendations, preparing a methodological report on career monitoring indicators, and conducting qualitative research to understand user needs. As a result, specific IT solutions were developed, including an interactive report on monitoring results for Ministry personnel, delivered in 2024.