Vocational Training Establishments – what is hidden under this name

In some places in Poland, few people have heard of Vocational Training Establishments, in others they have become a permanent fixture in the landscape of institutions educating students and specialists in many fields and professions. What are these “zetdezets”?

ZDZ function successfully in 24 cities in Poland, including Warsaw, Poznań, Kraków, Bydgoszcz, Szczecin and Lublin. It should be noted, however, that each of the central centers has several or a dozen or so field education departments. This, on the other hand, means that the network of training centers actually covers most of the country.

ZDZ almost as old as the world

ZDZ, operating in the form of associations, are associated in the Association of Vocational Training Establishments. – The Association of Vocational Training Establishments has been conducting educational activities for over 60 years, but the tradition of its 24 establishments dates back to the 1920s – says Andrzej Piłat, president of the board of the main ZDZ association on the ZZDZ website. – The educational experience of those years, expressed in the training of over 18 million people, made our association a leading institution in Poland for vocational training for young people and adults. The range covers 500 schools and nearly 300 education, training and professional development institutions, so it covers the entire country. The Warsaw ZDZ is actually the oldest educational association in Poland. Its traditions date back to the second half of the 19th century.

You don’t always have to pay for learning

Depending on the institution, some classes in public schools may be free, sometimes they are combined with elements of tuition fees, and in some cases full tuition fees are paid by the learner. As a standard, vocational and specialist courses at Vocational Training Establishments are payable.

This is true: Only every tenth Pole improves his professional qualifications

It’s just that many forms of education are organized in ZDZ at the request of various institutions and companies. Some of the vocational courses are organized through ZDZ by poviat labor offices, some are organized from EU funds and the Labor Fund. Sometimes the orders for the training of own and future employees come from the employers themselves.

What you can learn in ZDZ

Post-secondary schools educate, among others, in the fields of technicians: IT, occupational health and safety, administration, economics and hairdressing. The courses significantly expand the ZDZ training offer. You can deepen your knowledge and support it with certificates, for example during energy and welding courses, backhoe loader operator, transport of hazardous materials, technical tests of vehicles, computer accounting or human resource management.

ZDZ also offer courses for teachers, including education management. The ZDZ offer also includes courses for independent accountants, beauticians, hairdressers, warehousemen, community carers and traders.

Over 100 majors and specialties to choose from

Throughout Poland, the ZDZ offer includes well over 100 majors and specialties that allow not only to acquire education, profession, certificates and skills, but also to retrain and train. The Vocational Training Establishments boast that they have over 1,200 offers in their database of courses, and new ones are added – if there is a market demand, each of these 1,200 courses can actually be launched at any time. Because ZDZ educate for the needs of the labor market.

Read also: Money goes to unnecessary training

This means, however, that the courses are most often started when there is a high probability that their graduates will find employment after their completion. It looks like training for employment. If it is the employers themselves that order such training, the guarantee is almost 100%. It is the high efficiency, calculated as the percentage of people employed after completing training and courses, that is the hallmark of Vocational Training Establishments.