Andrzej Polaszek, an elder from the ERChurch in Poznan and a lawyer, was one of speakers at a meeting organized by a city council member in Krakow and concerning homeschooling (Nov 27th, 2008). He spoke about actual regulations on homeschooling in Poland and planned changes in the regulations. A new Educatin Act was prepared by the Polish secretary of education. It is now being discussed by an education commmittee in the parliament. According to present regulations a permit issued by a local school headmaster is needed to homeschool. The headmaster also specifies conditions under which a child may be homeschooled. The problem is that while some headmesters are quite open to homeschooling, many are not. The main change in the new regulation is that it will no longer be a local school headmester to give a permit but ANY school headmaster (also private school headmaster). This will make it much easier to obtain such a permit.
At the meeting in Krakow there were also some homeschoolers who talked about their experiences. A follow up meeting is planned to inform school headmasters about homeschooling and to encourage them to allow any willing people to homeschool their children. This is a local initiative aimed mostly at Krakow and vicinity. But the city council member who organized it is quite an important figure in the ruling party in Poland and we hope that her support for the new regulations will be helpful.
