The Polish Linguistic Map. An Overview of Minority Languages in the Education System

The present chapter discusses the multiethnic and multilingual character of Poland - a country that has been regarded as monolingual due to the existence of only one official language. A myriad of factors resulting from the presence of 13 minorities in Poland shape and affect the present-day education system. In this chapter, I outline the changes in the legislature both at national and the EU levels regarding national, ethnic, and regional minorities. I then present results from the 2011 national census, which shed light on the numerous nationalities to which the inhabitants of Poland claim to belong. Finally, yet importantly, I present the scope of teaching in minority languages, as both a subject of study and medium of instruction, by drawing on the results of the 2018/2019 Education Report prepared by the Polish Statistics Office.