European standards of testing language proficiency and the Polish "Nowa Matura" examinations in English

Evaluation and assessment of competences in language education is an area of special interest in Europe of today. Both the Counsil of Europe and the European Union ascribe great significance to projects leading towards increased transparency, comparability and compatibility of educational efforts across our continent. The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: learning, Teaching, Assessment (CEFR), a Counsil of Europe document published in 2001, has already become the standard mostly referred to by a rapidly growing number of stakeholders involved in language education both in Europe and elsewhere in the world.