It was four years ago that fresh from college I was thrown into the swing of teaching responsibilities in one of Krakow’s high schools. Four years in the teaching job have obviously helped upgrade my professional skills. Yet above all, this period has made me realize the actual complexity of Polish education, where so much has changed and so much must yet be modified.

The reality of Polish education is no bed of roses.  Working in Polish schools can be a trying experience. Methodologically enlightened, however, you should find a couple of solutions that will successfully get you through the odd bad day! But if you think that, radiating with fresh pedagogical ideas, you’ll get a hug from all your new colleagues, you’re a pathological optimist. In fact, a long time may elapse before they get used to your innovative teaching style.

Your professional problems are believed to be also financial. School halls echo with grievances about the alleged undercapitalization of the state sector. Teachers are tempted away to seemingly more lucrative jobs…but it is simple math that tells me they’re all so wrong! With two-and-a-half-month vacations and a clutch of auxiliary services, the payment per practical hour soars from the alleged nine PLN up to an actual twenty. Not that I claim it's enough, but it's definitely more than the prevailing myth says!

Financially relieved, you can enter the classroom. With a handful of teaching techniques up your sleeve you’ll be able to conduct a methodologically sound lesson...?  Wishful thinking! Though some of your students will eagerly cooperate, some will ostentatiously sit back, either in disapproval of your methodological whim, or in disdain for the selection of (you-thought) interesting materials. Sometimes it seems that employing a stick-and-carrot policy is the right approach. Yet then you’re likely to grapple with the implications of what I call the incomprehensible output theory. The ungrateful students will award your painstaking efforts with nothing but discouraging mumbling.

You approach your school principal for advice? You may be one of the lucky ones who will get professional tips, but you may be one of those who learns that there’s a number of doubts about the appropriateness of your methods, as they may not match the parameters of the curriculum. You may be advised to reassess your methodology. A classic catch twenty-two, isn’t it- to stick to your guns or to conform?