Education improvement 2025: Guide to Key Changes in Polish Schools

Polish education stands at the threshold the biggest transformation in decades. As of 1 September 2025, the Ministry of Education, under the direction of Barbara Nowacka, has begun implementing a comprehensive improvement named ‘Reforma26 Compass Tomorrow’. This ambitious imagination of the modernisation of the educational strategy aims to fundamentally change the face of Polish schools, affecting the everyday life of students, parents and teachers throughout the country. Prepare for 8 key areas of modification that we will discuss in item in this guide.

Limiting spiritual Lessons: End of 2 Hours Weekly

One of the most controversial and widely commented changes is drastic limitation of spiritual lessons. From September 2025, alternatively of 2 hours a week, the teaching of religion will take place for just 1 hour. Moreover, these classes will only be conducted immediately before or after the completion of compulsory lessons of the student. This ministry's decision is to effectively retreat religion from the mainstream agenda and its marginalisation into the function of an additional subject.

The fresh organization besides introduces additional restrictions: in grades 1-3 of primary school, if little than 7 students are enrolled in spiritual classes, classes will be conducted only in interclass groups. akin rules will apply erstwhile organizing spiritual lessons and ethics outside school. These changes may have far-reaching consequences for the function of spiritual education in the Polish school and for the employment of hundreds of catechets, raising opposition to the Catholic Church and the Catholic Associations, but at the same time gaining support from many parents and secular communities.

New Mandatory Subjects: Civic and wellness Education

In parallel to reducing the function of religion, the Ministry of Education introduces 2 completely fresh compulsory subjects, which are to fundamentally change the profile of education and better prepare students to operate in modern society.

• Civic Education: It will become a compulsory subject in all advanced schools, techniques and manufacture schools. Students will learn about the principles of democracy, the importance of patriotism, Community values and make social attitudes specified as empathy, respect for diversity and inter-human solidarity.
• Health Education: It will replace the erstwhile household education and will be conducted erstwhile a week in 4-8 primary schools and in all types of secondary schools. This fresh subject will cover a wide scope of subjects, including physical and intellectual health, appropriate nutrition, physical activity, ripening processes, sexual and environmental health, comprehensive prevention of addictions, and in secondary schools besides the principles of functioning of the wellness strategy in Poland. Parents will inactive have the right to resign in writing, which is simply a compromise between the request for modern education and parental rights.

Revolution in Physical Education: Performance and Uniform Preparation

The 3rd area of deep change is the modification of the physical education program, which is to become more practical-oriented in assessing the physical fitness of students and preparing them for possible service in uniform formations.

• In grades 1-3 of primary school will be introduced compulsory physical fitness test, carried out in each of these classes, which means the systematic monitoring of the improvement of the motorized youngest pupils.
• For 7-8 grade students, primary school is planned optional module containing exercises inspired by fitness tests utilized for recruitment to uniformed services (military, police, fire brigade). This change can be interpreted as part of a broader government policy aimed at preparing young people for a possible service.
• From September 2025, schools will be able to make sports classes with a minimum of 14 students (instead of 20), which lowers the threshold and can contribute to the promotion of sport.
• WF teachers will gain fresh powers in terms of ruling on the ability of pupils to proceed intensive sports trainingwhich will considerably simplify the procedures.

Changes in the School Calendar: fresh Winter Holidays Dates

The school year calendar is besides subject to crucial modifications. School year 2025/2026 will begin on September 1, 2025, but will end June 26, 2026. However, much greater changes concern winter holidays, where the Ministry of Education introduces a simplification of reduction of time limits from 4 to 3 periods. The fresh winter break is as follows:

• 19 January to 1 February: Pomeranian, Warmian-Masurian, Podlaskie, Mazowieckie, Świętokrzyskie.
• 2 February – 15 February: Zachodniopomorskie, Kujawsko-Pomorskie, Łódź, Lower Silesian, Opole, Małopolska.
• 16 February to 1 March: lubuskie, Wielkopolska, Silesian, Lublin, Podkarpackie.

This reorganisation aims at better distribution of tourist traffic and more even usage of tourist infrastructure during the winter.

New Assessment strategy for Disability Students: Functional Assessment

Especially crucial changes concern pupils with disabilities for whom a completely fresh evaluation strategy called functional assessment. It is designed specifically for children and adolescents with autism, various sensory disorders and intellectual disabilities. This innovative strategy will focus not only on conventional learning outcomes, but mainly on the regular functioning of the student, its level of autonomy, social skills and overall quality of life in the school environment. Functional evaluation will frequently be descriptive and will be developed on the basis of the alleged contextal diagnosis, requiring close cooperation between the teacher, school scientist and parents.

Support for Non-Public Schools: Greater Flexibility in Employing Specialists

The sector of non-public schools will besides benefit from the changes introduced by expanding flexibility in recruiting intellectual and pedagogical support professionals. Since the school year 2025/2026, private educational institutions will be given the chance to conclude civil law agreements with specialists (psychologists, educators, speech therapists) in a much extended time frame – expanding the limit from 4 to even 9 hours a week. This modification aims to importantly facilitate access to specialised support for students, especially in smaller towns.

End of Hours of teacher Access (‘Black Hours’)

The last but equally crucial change since September 2025 is complete abolition of controversial hours of availability of teachers, commonly referred to as "black hours". They were introduced in 2022 on the initiative of then Minister of Education Przemysław Czarnka. These additional hours, intended theoretically for consultation with students and parents, in practice were seldom utilized as intended and put an additional burden on teachers. Their abolition was received very positively by the teaching community, including the Association of Polish Teachership, which consistently advocated their liquidation.

Reform26 Compass Tomorrow: Further Stages and Long-term Consequences

All the changes described represent only the first phase of a much wider educational improvement "Reforma26 Kompas Tomorrow", the full implementation of which will be extended for respective years. This will include the gradual introduction of fresh programming bases and modified external examinations:

• September 1, 2026: fresh programming basis in kindergartens and in grades 1 and 4 of primary schools.
• September 1, 2027: fresh programming bases in classes 1 of all types of secondary schools.
• 2031: The first eighth-grader exam and the first matura conducted according to the fresh formula. This means that students starting in the first class of SP in September 2025 will be the first to take these reformed exams.
• 2032: The first final exam in a fresh expression for method school graduates.

The improvement aims primarily to modernise Polish education through greater emphasis on applicable activities at the expense of theory, better preparation of students for functioning in modern society and adaptation of the educational strategy to the challenges of the modern world.

Challenges and Controversies: What Next?

The authors of the improvement guarantee that all the changes introduced are designed to facilitate the teaching process and better prepare students for work and social life. However, the scale and pace of the modifications introduced rise questions about the readiness of Polish schools to specified a extremist transformation. Many educational institutions may have problems adapting to fresh requirements, especially in terms of providing adequate staff to conduct fresh subjects and organising a revised lesson plan. The introduction of specified a comprehensive improvement can besides make additional costs for local governments and private schools that will gotta invest in teacher training, adjusting classrooms and purchasing fresh teaching materials.

The reactions to the changes are very different. Restrictions on spiritual lessons are met with strong opposition from the Church, while many parents and secular organizations view these changes as a step towards school secularization. The introduction of wellness education besides creates controversy among conservative environments, while gaining support from women's rights organisations and sex educators. Modifications in the WF program are interpreted as an component of militarization of education, although supporters argue about improving physical fitness and shaping patriotic attitudes.

Summary

Regardless of the diversity of opinions, there is no uncertainty that Polish education has been on the verge of major changes for decades. Reform26 The Compass of next day will importantly influence the training and preparation of future generations of Poles for operation in the 21st century. The effectiveness and long-term consequences of these reforms will only be assessed in a fewer years erstwhile the first student yearbooks pass through the modernised education strategy and enter the labour marketplace or into higher education. It is crucial to follow further stages of changes and actively participate in discussions about the future of the Polish school.