Thousands of vacancies in schools. This problem does not concern health education

Polish schools are grappling with a significant number of job vacancies, with over 1,900 openings reported in preschool education alone. Other areas facing shortages include support for students with disabilities, psychology, mathematics, Polish language, English language, and vocational subjects.

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Health education does not have to be conducted by a teacher exclusively hired to teach this subject. Qualifications to conduct it are held by almost 113,000 teachers, including teachers of biology, nature, physical education, WDŻ, or psychologists.

However, the Ministry of National Education (MEN) reports that there are no vacant positions specifically for health education teachers. According to MEN spokesperson Ewelina Gorczyca, the qualifications for teaching health education are broad, encompassing biology, nature studies, physical education, and psychology teachers. This means that existing staff can cover these classes without the need for dedicated health education specialists.

Gorczyca explained that the absence of listed vacancies for health education teachers indicates that schools have not reported a need to hire additional staff for this subject. She also noted that the ministry does not track schools considering hiring such teachers but has not yet posted openings. MEN acknowledges that the number of advertised vacancies can fluctuate, especially during the summer break when teacher movements increase, and may not fully represent the actual staffing needs.

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The number of advertised vacancies does not reflect the actual staff shortages in schools.

Despite the overall high number of vacancies, MEN expressed confidence that there will be no issues ensuring sufficient staff for health education classes starting in September. Currently, nearly 23,000 teachers are involved in delivering health education, while almost 113,000 teachers possess the necessary qualifications for the subject. The ministry is also supporting the development of these qualifications through subsidized postgraduate studies for teachers.

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Based on the currently available data, there is no reason to anticipate problems with ensuring staff to conduct health education from September.