Settlement size and the location of primary schools in Poland

Abstract This paper draws on detailed demographic and educational data from over 42,400 localities and 13,100 schools in Poland to examine the occurrence and size of schools in different locality size classes. The findings indicate that the presence of schools in smaller localities is closely related to population size, particularly within the 400–700 inhabitant range. The study also shows that average school size is statistically associated with locality size – up to a population of 4,100, roughly. Beyond this threshold, primary school sizes and school size structures tend to be similar across localities of different sizes. The research results confirm that population and settlement conditions are important factors in the functioning of education in small localities, while also suggesting that school networks in large villages and small towns can be optimized with size parameters similar to those found in large cities.