Chapter 6: Rural Schools in Poland in the Period of Post-Socialist Decentralization and Demographic Decline

In 1989, Poland’s Soviet dominated socialist regime changed to a democratic one with an ensuing progressive decentralization of the state. This, in addition to the implementation of a market economy, led to substantial changes in almost every area of life in the country. Education was one of the spheres that experienced the most profound changes. The consequences of these changes were most visible in rural Poland (Bajerski & Błaszczyk, 2015; Herbst, 2012). This was, on the one hand, owing to the specific nature of rural areas and rural education, which are more affected by alterations to organization and funding of educational activities. On the other hand, upheavals also resulted from the various social, demographic, and economic transformations taking place in a changing Poland, the negative consequences of which were felt most strongly in rural areas. It was all connected to the “shock therapy” program implemented for the Polish economy that forced the laws of market economics upon the country in a very short time period. Consequentially, the first years of post socialist state transformations led to the closure of many large operations that provided employment (including state-owned farms). This caused a rapid and considerable rise in unemployment, and a social and economic crisis in Poland’s rural areas ensued (Bański, 2003, 2005; Bański, Pantylej, Janicki, & Wesołowska, 2014).