According to published data, there is a shortage of 23.90% of school psychologists in Poland for the 2024/25 school year (the data was collected from municipalities, cities and counties through access to public information). This means that there is still a shortage of 2306.31 psychological positions in schools nationwide, although 7344.25 positions are currently filled. Compared to last year, this is an improvement of 3 percentage points, indicating some progress in the employment of psychologists in schools.
The biggest problem with the shortage of school psychologists is in the 308 municipalities that have declared that they do not have a single staffed position. Although the number has decreased by more than a third from last year, it still poses a significant challenge.
Critical points on the map of Poland
The GrowSPACE Foundation has created a map of critical points, i.e. municipalities that have no school psychologist. The largest number of such places is in the Subcarpathian, Łódź and West Pomeranian provinces. It is worth noting, however, that the number of such municipalities has decreased from 450 to 308 compared to last year, a record low.
Dominik Kuc, a board member of the GrowSPACE Foundation, stresses the importance of these changes: "We are pleased that the data shows a decline, as it gives hope for long-term improvement. In smaller cities and towns, raises that included specialist and specialist teachers may have played a big role. This may have partially stemmed the exodus of psychologists and psychologists to the private market and to larger cities."
Still a lot to do
Despite noticeable improvements, the situation still requires a lot of action. Aleksandra Stube, a psychologist and head of the mental support team at the GrowSPACE Foundation, points out the need for systemic change: "School psychologist support is a key element in protecting the mental health of children and adolescents. Every child deserves support and assistance, and no child should be harmed by years of systemic neglect."
Stube also stresses that the school psychologist is often the only option for children whose parents refuse to see a specialist outside of school. Therefore, regulation of the psychological profession and the introduction of standards for employment in schools are crucial to further combat the tipping points on the map of Poland and provide adequate help for young people.
Although the situation regarding school psychologist vacancies in Poland is improving, there is still much to be done. Further systemic measures are needed, such as the regulation of the psychologist profession and the introduction of employment standards to ensure that all students have equal access to psychological support. The GrowSPACE Foundation is calling for continued efforts to improve the situation, so that in the future every student in Poland will be able to count on professional psychological assistance at their school.
Source: GrowSPACE
