Poland Sets New School Assessment and Behaviour Rules for September

Poland’s Ministry of Education (MEN) will introduce a package of reforms to school assessment and behaviour evaluation on 1 September 2026, linked to the "Reforma'26 – Kompas Jutra" programme. The changes standardise the organisation of classification, remedial and knowledge‑skill tests, requiring them to be held in the pupil’s school in the presence of a commission and barring the use of telecommunication devices, except for health‑monitoring tools. Minimum exam durations are set at 30 minutes for grades 1‑3, 45 minutes for grades 4‑8 and 60 minutes for secondary schools; pupils may sit up to three exams per day and receive results no later than the following day. School directors may approve off‑site exams for health or disability reasons, while remote‑exam proposals were rejected.

The reform also revises behaviour‑assessment criteria, aligning them with social and civic competencies such as responsibility, collaboration, community involvement and respect for one’s own nation and other cultures. A previously contentious reference to a "patriotic stance" was removed and replaced by a criterion of respect for national heritage and other nations’ traditions.