Scandal at the Educational Research Institute. Homework report with expert's name without her consent

• As many as 93 percent of school principals believe that the ban on homework has reduced students' motivation to learn, according to a report by the Educational Research Institute (IBE-PIB), which reports to the Ministry of Education.
• The same institute, in response to the problem, has published recommendations for the future. However, instead of restoring teachers' ability to assign assignments, it proposes changing their name.
• There's a deeper meaning to this matter. It turns out the author of the document didn't prepare it at all, and the IBE included her name without consent. "I've become the face of recommendations I completely disagree with," argues Danuta Kozakiewicz.
• Following the image crisis and journalists' questions, the IBE withdrew its recommendations from its website. "The director decided to re-examine," the institution's spokesperson assured.

Homework has been a hot topic of debate for months. Civic Coalition leader Donald Tusk announced its elimination during the election campaign. Although many experts and teachers argued that this was a coup de grace, Minister Barbara Nowacka ultimately decided that younger children (grades 1-3) could only be assigned exercises that improve fine motor skills. In older grades (grades 4-8), homework may be assigned, but without obligation or grading. The new rules came into effect at the end of the previous school year – in April 2024.

A year later, the IBE national research institute surveyed teachers and principals about the new solutions. The results were overwhelming – although they assessed that students' workload had decreased and they had more free time, the costs included difficulties with retaining material (91.3% of principals noted this), a decreased sense of responsibility for learning (79.9% of principals), and a decline in independent learning (76.9%).

The IBE-PIB published the report's results in installments. First, the Ministry of National Education and the public received the good news. On October 2nd, the institute published a press release highlighting both its successes and neutral statements, such as: "40% of school principals declare that their school has developed good practices related to the new homework policy." Information about student motivation and decreased independence was woven into the text. Information about material consolidation was completely absent from the press release.

Almost a month later, the IBE published the full report of the investigation. Only then did the matter become clear. The report was posted on the website on Friday, October 26, shortly after 2:00 PM.

Four days later, the IBE prepared another document—this time with recommendations for changes to homework. However, it ignored the results of the survey with principals. The experts recommended that homework remain optional, but that it be renamed. Students would be given "own work."

According to the proposal, homework assignments will generally not be allowed in grades 1-3. Homework assignments will be allowed in grades 4-8, but they will be optional and not graded. Teachers will provide feedback. Schools will also coordinate how much homework students are assigned overall.

The IBE lists Danuta Kozakiewicz as the first author of the recommendation. She is the principal of Warsaw Primary School No. 103. The problem is that the teacher is not the author of the recommendation.

I did not write these recommendations and I do not subscribe to them.

- he says in an interview with the Local Government and CIS Portal.

Principal Kozakiewicz reports that she was invited to participate in two IBE homework meetings. These were held online, during which she presented her opinions on the solution. She also demonstrated the homework guidelines developed at her school before the pandemic.

I didn't receive any formal appointment to the team, nor did I see the final document. Suddenly, I found myself at the top of the list of authors of recommendations with which I largely disagreed. Suddenly, I became the "face" of a document that wasn't my work.

- says.

The director wrote to the IBE requesting an explanation of how this happened. Maciej Jakubowski, the head of the institution, apologized to Danuta Kozakiewicz and the other experts and announced that the IBE would begin working on the recommendations again.

How did Director Kozakiewicz come to be included in the report? We inquired with the institution about this. We wanted to know, among other things, who the actual author of the document was and how it was prepared, as well as whether there was a formal team of experts at the IBE whose work resulted in the document's creation?

The Institute of Educational Research (IBE) did not respond to any of the questions. It stated that it had decided to re-examine its recommendations regarding possible changes to the method of assigning and grading homework assignments. "This decision is the result of information about the manner in which the aforementioned project was handled, which was inconsistent with the Institute's standards. IBE-PIB apologizes to all experts for this situation," wrote Ryszard Kamiński, IBE spokesman.

However, as other experts who have worked with the institution admit, this isn't the first time that recommendations have diverged from what the experts actually advised. Jarosław Pytlak, principal of the STO school in Warsaw's Bemowo district, previously complained about a similar situation.

On the Edunews.pl website, he described how he participated in the work of the IBE expert team preparing proposals for changes to the primary school curriculum. He reported that the ministry sent the experts signals about what "must not be touched" and what "must be included." This led the experts to self-censor.

Ultimately, the team submitted its recommendations to the IBE. "We also adopted some less obvious proposals, such as including health education in the science curriculum in grades 4-6, and making it a separate subject only in grades 7-8," Pytlak reports, adding that the institute later arbitrarily amended the document, including by limiting the number of hours for physics and chemistry, a decision not discussed with the experts. Despite these changes, the IBE presented the material as the joint work of the expert team, even though it actually differed from their findings.

For 2026, IBE is preparing a key change in the education system for Barbara Nowacka - the reform of the core curriculum.