Education Reforms and youth transitions in Central Europe: the case of Poland

Since the collapse of communism, Central Europe has undergone complex economic, political and social reforms, including deep, structural reforms of its education systems. This chapter provides an overview of the three major reform phases undertaken in Central Europe since the late 1980s. This is done in order to support analysis of how Central European countries have tackled the task of implementing supranational and national education reforms and the effects of these on youth transitions. Poland has been selected as a core case study by which to illustrate the successes and weak points of the ongoing system transformation. Post-communist phases of transition within Central Europe – herein referred to as ‘deconstruction’, ‘reconstruction’ and ‘Europeanisation’ – have transpired over various timeframes, sometimes overlapping and on many occasions uneven and incomplete. This is due to the acute complexity of the social, economic and political processes and constraints faced by reformers working within this region