Motives for the choice of geography in Matura examinations in the context of Poland’s examination policy

Abstract

The educational reform in 1999 introduced external examinations into the Polish system of education. The examinations are carried out on the basis of educational standards for individual subjects and subject groups. External examinations, especially new Matura examination, changed diametrically previous solutions which is a challenge to teachers, students and parents. Being frequently chosen by students out of the group of optional subjects, geography has a large contribution to Matura overall results. Therefore, a question arises what makes young people decide to take Matura examination in geography. The study shows the results of a survey carried out among those Matura grade students who chose geography for Matura in 2012. The gathered results also allowed to estimate how the alterations introduced by Ministry of Education into the procedures of examination subjects’ choice influence students’ choice in relation to geography.