Donald Tusk’s pre-election promise to lower standards for elementary school pupils (making homework voluntary) quickly brought negative consequences. A year after the changes were introduced, practically everyone—teachers, parents, and even the pro-government teachers’ union ZNP—wants them revoked. Polish education and schoolchildren are footing the bill for the incumbent prime minister’s demagogic stunts.
In March 2024, Donald Tusk posted a video on X declaring: “Maciek made it happen! No more mandatory homework.” A few months earlier, he had asked his supporters: “Do you remember Maciek from Włocławek?” Back in August 2023, the teenager had complained at an election rally with the PO leader: “This is a general problem in Polish schools, that children’s rights are being violated. For example, the right to rest—assigning homework over the weekend, tests on Monday, and so much homework that we have no time to rest.” Tusk seized the moment. Like a “benevolent uncle,” he exploited a child’s wish for his own political ends. As prime minister, he announced decisions supposedly beneficial for children, which were swiftly implemented by the Ministry of National Education under Barbara Nowacka. Despite clear concerns from the teaching community—mostly supportive of the Civic Coalition (KO)—the changes came into effect on April 1, 2024. Under these new rules, grades 1–3 in elementary schools have no homework assignments, except for exercises improving fine motor skills. In grades 4–8, homework is voluntary; instead of a grade, the student receives feedback on what they did well and what needs improvement.
“Stress-Free Education” at the Heart of This “De-Form”
Here, one might expect fanfare: such a “success” in such a short time! It is, after all, one of the few promises from Tusk’s set of “100 specifics” that was actually fulfilled. But there are no trumpets sounding. A year later, the Ministry of National Education is sounding the retreat. This demagogic move by the leader of the “December 13th crowd,” who exploited a child’s whim for short-term political gains, has become a systemic problem for Polish education. Children and teenagers have worse academic results, which in the long run will affect both the quality of their education and add to the woes of Polish schooling. A year on, the strongly left-aligned ZNP openly admits as much.
Driven by polling data, this “de-form” has proven very dysfunctional—removing homework and making it voluntary has had the most predictable psychosocial outcome: without a bit of discipline, children simply don’t feel like studying. It makes no difference whether they’re from rural or urban areas, or whether they come from affluent or poor homes—reality quickly put this left-wing vision of “stress-free education” to the test. Unfortunately, the liberal-left media have no interest in holding Tusk accountable for his poorly conceived but actually fulfilled promise. Because that’s the way it is with these “lumpen-liberals”: if they promise something, it’s usually better that they don’t keep their word.
But this issue is not just about an educational setback or the decline in performance among school-age children. Nowacka’s “de-form” should have been firmly protested well before April 1, 2024. And it likely would have been if a similar step—a major change to the rules during the school year—had been undertaken by the United Right. Indeed, the organization of work and cooperation between teachers and students in schools is one of the most critical issues for consistently implementing the core curriculum.
Most likely, officials in the regional education boards knew this; so did school principals and teachers, as well as responsible parents. So why did the education ministry itself, or those serving within it, not know—or not want to know—what they were getting into? The question is rhetorical: the only goal was to curry favor with Tusk. After all, who knows how he might have reacted if he got really angry at Barbara Nowacka? It probably wouldn’t have ended with him just snatching the phone from the hand of his “leftist minister.”
ZNP Got the Government It Wanted
Jokes aside, the ZNP (Polish Teachers’ Union -ed.) and, more broadly, the teaching community—by and large supportive of the current government—bears significant responsibility here. We know very well that the union, led by Sławomir Broniarz, works hand in glove with the post-communist left. Although the ZNP has admirable pre-war traditions, after 1945 it became thoroughly subordinate to the then-ruling regime. The effects of that subordination have lingered for decades.
Right before the October 2023 elections, Broniarz argued that “only a government formed by today’s opposition can solve the problems of Polish education, because the current government fails to notice them.” True, he added that “we need to watch them carefully,” but ultimately concluded: “I can’t imagine any politician from the opposition who, after taking power, wouldn’t want to follow through on their promises to teachers.”
It quickly turned out that either the ZNP leader was lying or he was misled: just a brief look at the press coverage from 2024 and early 2025 shows that teachers are unhappy with how the current governing coalition has delivered on its pre-election pledges. ZNP Vice-President Urszula Woźniak recently stated that the pay raises “are worsening teachers’ material and social situation.” But does the current government and its collaborators care? As in other areas, their quickly broken promises served only one purpose: toppling the PiS government.
The Ministry Backs Down
Returning to the main point: both teachers and parents now want mandatory homework reinstated. This extreme populist “de-form” rapidly disappointed everyone—ZNP members even acknowledge it. The same is evident from a survey conducted by the National Association of Educational Management Staff (OSKKO) for “DGP.” It shows that 81.2 percent of school principals surveyed support restoring mandatory homework. Nearly 90 percent say that the new regulations have negatively affected students’ preparedness for class. And almost 70 percent believe the December 13th “de-form” has restricted teachers’ autonomy in choosing teaching methods.
What does Barbara Nowacka’s ministry say? Somewhat hypocritically, they argue that “the regulations on homework were misunderstood.” Is the MEN suggesting that principals and teachers are too stupid to grasp the enlightened directives from on high? If PiS were in power, the ZNP would likely interpret it that way. But now those involved put on a brave face. “Minister” Nowacka explains that it’s all the fault of an overloaded core curriculum, which has conveniently been reduced. Supposedly, that means mandatory homework can return in September 2025. Yet we know perfectly well what sort of “reduction” the ministry, led by a decidedly left-wing politician, has enacted—one that strikes at patriotic education and national consciousness among children and teenagers.