Nowadays, in Poland, there is a very diversified scene of youth work providers (from state institutions to youth initiatives, mass-youth organizations, school-based youth work, non-governmental organisations). There are no national policy initiatives that would be directed strategically at the youth work sector as a whole, and youth policy is fragmented and scattered in between different ministries with little policy debate on the concept and value of different ways of doing youth work

One common definition or common understanding of youth work in the country’s official documents does not exist in Poland. Youth work is translated in Polish as ‘Praca z młodzieżą’, which is used in youth policy documents as a direct translation of the term used at the EU level, but nevertheless, it can be understood differently in different contexts. Similarly, there is no common empirical understanding of youth work other than a pull of diverse practices. One would list youth centres or youth clubs, and street work as obvious examples, then also followed by youth organisations and movements. The diversity of forms of youth work is recognized in Poland similarly to the European level and there is no movement to integrate the work towards young people under one umbrella. Nevertheless, there is quite a strong connotation on the policy level of youth work concept with the social work with disadvantaged youth. Youth-directed institutions are supposed to compensate for the family or community dysfunctions and support them in care and education. Additionally, the vast youth organisations sector through their engagement in EU-funded projects identifies more and more strongly with a more general youth work concept which links the youth work agenda with the social development of youth people who participate in non-formal learning activities on a voluntary basis.

Summing up, this twofold aim of youth work in Poland was explicated in the report for the European Commission (Duda 2012) “ Working with young people: The value of youth work in the EU. Country report: Poland”, which concluded on the basis of interviews and desk-research that stakeholders in Poland define youth work as:

• “educational and upbringing activities, both formal and non-formal, based on voluntary participation of young people, covering areas such as education, upbringing, welfare, prevention, culture, rehabilitation, sports etc.
• compensatory measures, carried out on a regular basis, which aim to level the social deficiencies of young people and address certain problems they face (e.g.  pathologies, addictions, unemployment)” (Duda 2012, p.1)

The first part of the definition would include the work of non-governmental organisations that are directed to young people and/or which are managed by young people, youth movements (e.g. scouting), next to activities run by sport clubs, cultural centres, schools or religious/church organisations. The second part of the definition would relate to public social services operating Day Care Centres (Placówki Wsparcia Dziennego), also of street work or socio-therapeutic character. There are about 1900 Centers around Poland. Day Care Centres are run on the basis of public funding, they are mostly organised by social services, or non-governmental organisations/foundations, including Church organisations. There is a tendency not to use the formal name of Day Care Centres when approaching young people, as it is strongly connected to social services, but more inviting names such as: Youth Club, Centre for development and activisation of young people, Spot, Youth Academy and many others. Nonetheless, the centres activities are directed mostly at marginalised youth/youth at risk of social exclusion.

The profession name ‘youth worker’ (pracownik młodzieżowy) is not commonly used in Poland, e.g. in Erasmus Plus programme youth worker is translated very widely as a person working with young people (osoby pracujące z młodzieżą). Nevertheless, youth worker is a profession included in the Classification of Occupations and Specializations for Labour Market Needs (code: 235916) prepared in 2014. More precisely this profession is named in Polish ‘Animator czasu wolnego młodzieży (Pracownik młodzieżowy)’, meaning “Animateur/organiser of free time of young people (Youth worker)”. It is defined as follows:

Youth worker supports, initiates and organizes free-time activities for young people who are at risk of addictions, crime, aggression, prostitution, missing parental care; she/he conducts workshops and activities in youth clubs, institutions of formal and non-formal education or on the streets; she/he collaborates with schools and local communities; she/he organizes support and help from social services and health services. 

There are no general national criteria for youth worker profession as defined above. But, there are specific criteria to be a youth worker in day care centres, regulated by the 2011 Law on supporting family and the foster care system which defines the criteria for opening up a day care centre, criteria for the staff and very basic criteria for the work programme. This law regulates qualifications for the employed persons with diverse functions in a day-care centre. For a general youth worker, there is a necessity for having a  higher education degree in pedagogy, special pedagogy, psychology, sociology, social work, family studies, or a degree from a different faculty supported with additional education on the postgraduate level within psychology, pedagogy, family studies, resocialization or qualification courses from the pedagogy of care, or upper-level education with at least three-year experience of working with young people or families. Additional criteria are set for a psychologist, pedagogue, therapist and child-carer working in such centres. All of those persons have also fulfilled three other rules:

• Not being now or in the past deprived of parental responsibility, and their parental authority is neither restricted nor suspended;
•  fulfils the obligation to pay alimonies - if such an obligation is imposed on her by virtue of an enforcement order;
• was not convicted by a final judgment of an intentional crime or intentional tax offence.

There is no specific national framework for recognition of the skills acquired through youth work. 

(From the Youth Wiki)