The aim of the article is to present the evolution of vocational education policies and changes in the approaches of employers in Poland in response to labour market and migration challenges and European integration. As in other countries of the Eastern bloc, Poland’s VET regressed with the transition from a centrally planned to a market economy after 1989, and Poland’s school system entered a path of ‘de-vocationalisation’. This situation has changed only in recent years. Decreasing unemployment rates, strong economic growth and increasing demand for skilled labour alongside negative demographic trends, migration outflows and persistent skill shortages resulted in a reemphasis on vocational and adult education, which were additionally impelled by European policies such as the promotion of qualifications frameworks and the development of dual VET (Markowitsch, & Dębowski, 2022). Also, the attitudes of employers changed. Reegård and Dębowski (2020) noted increased activity by employers at central and VET school levels. The heightened focus on VET from the policy and employers coincided with the massive influx of migrants since 2014. The outbreak of war in February 2022 caused an influx of war migrants on a scale unprecedented since World War II. It is estimated that in mid-2022, about 1.5 million war refugees from Ukraine were in Poland, and considering 1.35 million Ukrainians who lived in Poland before the war, the number of migrants from Ukraine totalled 2.9 million people. As Duszczyk and Kaczmarczyk (2022) note, the scale and pace of migration is the fastest in modern European history. What is striking is the economic activity of migrants and war refuges - 95 percent of migrants before the war were professionally active and among forced migrants, a third were working while more than 55 per cent did not have a job but intended to find employment Kubiciel–Lodzińska et al. (2023). The article aims to answer the following research questions: a) to what extent VET reforms introduced in the last 10 years are sufficient to integrate migrants and war refugees into the labour market in Poland; b) what are the gaps and potential areas of improvement in the VET policy in terms of migrant integration; c) what were the employer's responses and contribution to VET and migrant integration. The article will draw on policy documents and literature analysis as well as 14 interviews conducted with policymakers, representatives of trade unions, employers’ associations and VET school principals.

Duszczyk, M., & Kaczmarczyk, P. (2022). The war in Ukraine and migration to Poland: Outlook and challenges. Intereconomics, 57(3), 164-170. Kubiciel–Lodzińska, S., Golebiowska, K., Pachocka, M., & Dąbrowska, A. (2023). Comparing pre‐war and forced Ukrainian migrants in Poland: Challenges for the labour market and prospects for integration. International Migration. Markowitsch, J., Dębowski, H. (2022). Education systems and qualifications frameworks, [in:] Tutlys, V., Markowitsch, J., Pavlin, S., Winterton, J. (eds.). Skill Formation in Central and Eastern Europe, Berlin, Germany: Peter Lang Verla. DOI: 10.3726/b19799 Reegård, K., & Debowski, H. (2020). Exit, voice or loyalty? VET stakeholders’ response to large scale skilled emigration from Poland. International journal for research in vocational education and training, 7(3), 325-343.