The subject of this research is the determinant factors of the transformation of the education system as a social institution. The focus of this study is the education system. The aim of the work is to identify the factors of transformation of the education system as a social institution in different countries. The problem of reformation in education system is characterized by the search for ways to improve its quality and it has almost identical resolution strategies in different countries. The results of the comparative study presented in the report of Barber Michael, the Adviser to the Prime Minister on Education, Health and Social Affairs, and Murshed Mona, Doctor of Philosophy in the field of economic development, as well as the statistical data on the education in Russia and Poland show the commonalities in the search for ways to develop the education system as a social institution. The comparison of class size rates and the number of teachers in educational institutions did not give a clear answer to the question whether a definite relationship between the number of students and teachers and the quality of education exists. During this analysis diverse traditions in the countries were taken into account e.g. attitudes towards a teacher by management, the state as well as parents and pupils. The comparison of financing of education systems showed the harmful effect of the introduction of per capita funding, which latently entails discharging the exemption of the state from its responsibility to preserve human potential in peripheral areas. As a result, among the socio-cultural determinants that transform the system of education and improve the quality of education, the authors identified the following: the level of teachers training, decent financial support for education that takes into account all its goals, including the preservation of human potential in rural areas as well as the increase in the level of mutual trust in the society.