- 2018Approved/Agreed
- 2019Implementation
- 2020Implementation
- 2021Implementation
- 2022Implementation
- 2023Implementation
- 2024Implementation
Background
An act introducing important changes in VET in Poland was signed into law on 22 November 2018. The changes affected the three most important legal acts for the education system in Poland as well as a number of regulations in other legal documents. The main aim of the reform, according to the ministry, is to restore the prestige of vocational education in Poland by improving its quality and effectiveness. A significant role is also attributed to forecasting the demand for professions and skills, which will impact VET financing.
Objectives
Forecasting the demand for employees in VET occupations is a new tool aimed to help shape the vocational education and training offer and provide additional data in defining the VET offer at local and regional level.
Description
The Law of 22 November 2018 initiated an annual forecast of the demand for employees in VET occupations as a new tool to help shape the vocational education and training offer at local and regional level. Annual forecasts will start in 2019 and will be published in the form of an announcement by the education ministry. The forecast indicates which vocational education occupations are in demand in the labour market and national economy.
The forecast has an impact on VET financing. From 2020, local governments will receive increased State subsidies for schools offering programmes in higher demand occupations. Increased funding will also be available for employers involved in training VET learners (juvenile employees) in those occupations.
Conducted by the Educational Research Institute in cooperation with the education ministry, the first forecast took into account various available data sources, including data from Statistics Poland, the Education information system (SIO), social insurance data and the views of skills councils, which work in close cooperation with the education system.
The forecast has been constantly expanded with new data and research.
On 22 March 2019, the Ministry of National Education announced the first forecast of the demand for employees in vocational education occupations in the national and regional labour markets. The forecast indicates which VET occupations are a priority demand for the labour market and the national economy.
The main part of the analysis is an alphabetically ordered list of 20 VET occupations for which special demand in the national labour market is forecast (e.g. automation worker and programming technician). The analysis also contains lists of VET occupations for which both significant demand and moderate demand are forecast in each of the 16 regions of Poland. The number of occupations indicated in the regions varies and depends on local conditions.
On 24 January 2020, the education ministry announced the second forecast of the national and regional demand for employees in VET occupations. The main part of the diagnosis identified 24 VET occupations for which a special demand in the national labour market was forecast. Compared with 2019, four new occupations were listed: bricklayer-plasterer (murarz-tynkarz), operator of machinery and equipment for ground and road works (operator maszyn i urzadzen do robót ziemnych i drogowych), road construction technician (technik budowy dróg) and welding technician (technik spawalnictwa)). Similar to the 2019 diagnosis, it also contained lists of VET occupations for which a significant demand and a moderate demand were forecast in each of Poland's 16 regions. The number of occupations indicated in the regions varies and depends on local conditions.
On 27 January 2021, the education ministry announced the third forecast of the national and regional demand for employees in VET occupations.
Mechatronic (mechatronik), robotics technician (technik robotyk) and welding technician (technik spawalnictwa) were three of the 28 occupations for which a particular demand for employees was forecast due to their importance for the country's economic development. Schools providing courses in these occupations are to receive increased funding. Increased co-financing for training programmes for young employees is also envisaged.
The next forecast pls to include graduate tracking results, analyses of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the results of the Statistics Poland study on the demand for employees by occupations, which is conducted every 3 years.
On 20 January 2022, the Minister of Education and Science published the official notice of the forecast of the demand for employees in VET occupations in the national and regional labour market.
The annual forecast of the demand for employees in VET occupations in the national and regional labour market was published on 20 January.
The annual forecast of the demand for employees in VET occupations in the national and regional labour market was published on 24 January. The highest demand for workers in VET professions in the national labour market is foreseen for: automation technician, concrete worker and steel fixer, carpenter, roofer, electromechanics, electrician, driver mechanic, mechanic-assembler of machines and devices; mechatronic technician, industrial insulation installer, construction frame installer, railway surface installer, building joinery installer, plastics processing machine operator, earthworks and roadworks machine operator, waste management machine operator, metalworking machine operator, automation technician, railway traffic control technician, road construction technician, roofing technician, rail transport power engineer, electromobility technician, electrical technician, energy technician, waste management technician, industrial insulation technician, mechanical technician, mechatronics technician, building joinery assembly and automation technician, programmer technician, robotics technician, welding technician, railway transport technician.
Bodies responsible
- Ministry of National Education (until 2021)
- Ministry of Education and Science (from 2021 until 2024)
- Ministry of National Education
- Educational Research Institute (IBE)
Target groups
Learners
- Learners in upper secondary, including apprentices
- Young people (15-29 years old)
Education professionals
- Guidance practitioners
Entities providing VET
- Companies
- VET providers (all kinds)
Thematic categories
Governance of VET and lifelong learning
This thematic category looks at existing legal frameworks providing for strategic, operational – including quality assurance – and financing arrangements for VET and lifelong learning (LLL). It examines how VET and LLL-related policies are placed in broad national socioeconomic contexts and coordinate with other strategies and policies, such as economic, social and employment, growth and innovation, recovery and resilience.
This thematic category covers partnerships and collaboration networks of VET stakeholders – especially the social partners – to shape and implement VET in a country, including looking at how their roles and responsibilities for VET at national, regional and local levels are shared and distributed, ensuring an appropriate degree of autonomy for VET providers to adapt their offer.
The thematic category also includes efforts to create national, regional and sectoral skills intelligence systems (skills anticipation and graduate tracking) and using skills intelligence for making decisions about VET and LLL on quality, inclusiveness and flexibility.
High-quality and timely skills intelligence is a powerful policy tool, helping improve economic competitiveness and fostering social progress and equality through the provision of targeted skills training to all citizens (Cedefop, 2020). Skills intelligence is the outcome of an expert-driven process of identifying, analysing, synthesising and presenting quantitative and/or qualitative skills and labour market information. Skills intelligence draws on data from multiple sources, such as graduate tracking systems, skills anticipation mechanisms, including at sectoral and regional levels. Actions related to establishing and developing such systems fall under this thematic sub-category.
European priorities in VET
VET Recommendation
- VET agile in adapting to labour market challenges
Osnabrück Declaration
- Resilience and excellence through quality, inclusive and flexible VET
Subsystem
Further reading
Country
Type of development
Cedefop, & ReferNet. (2025). Annual forecast of the demand for employees in VET occupations: Poland. In Cedefop, & ReferNet. (2025). Timeline of VET policies in Europe (2024 update) [Online tool].
https://www.cedefop.europa.eu/en/tools/timeline-vet-policies-europe/search/28751