Homeschooling in Poland (Edukacja Domowa): Rules and Permits
Short answer: Polish law lets a school director permit home education for any enrolled child aged 6-18, foreign families included. You need a request, a statement on core-curriculum conditions and a commitment to annual classification exams. The service is free, decided within 30 days, and refusal can be appealed.
Homeschooling is legal in Poland, and expat families can use it - but it is not a free-for-all. Polish law calls it "fulfilling the school obligation outside school", it requires a formal permit from a school director, and it comes with annual exams your child must pass. Here is how the system works under the current consolidated text of the Education Law (Dz.U. 2026 poz. 820), as of October 2026.
The legal frame: an obligation you fulfil elsewhere
Every child in Poland aged 6 to 18 must be in education. The Education Law breaks this into the pre-school obligation (the year a child turns 6), the school obligation (primary school, up to the end of the school year in which the child turns 15), and the learning obligation (until 18, usually a post-primary school). Non-citizens subject to these obligations use public schools on the same terms as Polish children - and the route that lets them learn at home is equally open to foreign parents.
Under Article 37 of the Education Law, the director of the public or private kindergarten, primary school or post-primary school that has admitted your child may, by decision, allow the child to fulfil the obligation outside the school. That decision is the legal core of what everyone calls edukacja domowa (home education). Your child stays enrolled at the permitting school; home becomes the place of learning.
One boundary to know: an adult student no longer covered by the learning obligation cannot apply for this permit. It is a route for school-age children, run through their parents or legal guardians.
Who teaches, and what you must promise
The official gov.pl service page is blunt about qualifications: your child's teachers can be parents, legal guardians, or other people the parents name - and none of them needs a teaching degree or special training. The state replaces a qualification check with two documents and one exam system.
To apply, you submit three things to the school director:
- A written request for permission. There is no official national template; ask the school whether it has its own form, or write the request yourself.
- A statement that you will provide conditions enabling your child to cover the core curriculum (podstawa programowa) at their educational stage.
- A commitment that your child will sit annual classification exams each school year.
The commitment is waived for children with a special-education needs certificate issued for moderate or severe intellectual disability.
You can apply before the school year starts or at any point during it. The service is free. The director has up to 30 calendar days from receiving your complete documents to issue a decision, and the permit specifies the educational stage it covers: stage I (grades 1-3 of primary), stage II (grades 4-8) or stage III (post-primary school).
If the director refuses, you can appeal to the education superintendent (kurator oświaty) - within one month of receiving the decision, filed through the same director.
The part families underestimate: annual exams
Homeschooled children in Poland do not simply study at home and move up a grade. Each year, the permitting school runs classification exams (roczne egzaminy klasyfikacyjne) covering the part of the core curriculum agreed with the director for that school year. Pass them and your child receives the school-leaving certificate for that grade - without a behaviour grade and, per the gov.pl guidance, without grades in music, art, craft and physical education.
The exams are the permit's enforcement mechanism. The director can revoke the permission if your child fails to sit the annual exams and you do not justify the absence (or the director does not accept the justification), if your child fails the exams, or if the permit turns out to be invalid. Parents can also end it themselves by asking the director to withdraw the permission - for example when a child should return to classroom schooling.
In practice this means a homeschooling year is never fully self-paced. You and the school agree each year on the exam scope, and the calendar of those exams anchors your teaching plan.
Support the school owes you
Homeschooling in Poland is not meant to cut a family off from the school. Under Article 37, a child learning outside school - and their parent - can use support from the permitting school: the right to take part in selected classes, access to textbooks and teaching aids from the school's resources (in agreement with the director), and consultations preparing the child for the annual exams. Ask the director early what participation looks like in their school; arrangements vary, and the law frames access as support rather than full enrolment in regular lessons.
Practical notes for expat families
- The permit attaches to a school, not to you. If you move within Poland, expect to restart the process with the new school that admits your child.
- Documents are in Polish and so are the exams. The classification exams test the Polish core curriculum, including Polish language and literature at the relevant stage. For children arriving from abroad, preparatory classes (oddzialy przygotowawcze) and free Polish lessons exist - see our school enrolment guides.
- Kindergarten year counts too. The pre-school obligation can likewise be fulfilled outside the kindergarten, by decision of the director.
- Keep the paper trail. The decision, the annual agreement on exam scope, and the certificates are the documents that let your child re-enter ordinary schooling smoothly, in Poland or abroad.
* Photos: Shixart1985 (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0) and Mafo (CC BY 4.0).
Frequently asked questions
Is homeschooling legal in Poland?
Yes. Article 37 of the Education Law allows a school director to permit a child to fulfil the pre-school, school or learning obligation outside the school, on the parents' request. The child remains enrolled at the permitting school and passes annual classification exams.
Do parents need teaching qualifications to homeschool in Poland?
No. The official gov.pl guidance states that the child's teachers can be parents, legal guardians or other persons named by the parents, and that these people do not need to complete special studies or training. You must, however, declare that you will provide conditions to cover the core curriculum, and commit your child to the annual exams.
How much does the homeschooling permit cost and how long does it take?
The service is free. The school director has up to 30 calendar days from receiving your complete documents (request, statement, exam commitment) to issue the decision. You can apply before the school year or during it.
Can a homeschooled child return to normal schooling?
Yes. Parents can ask the director who issued the permit to withdraw it at any time, and a child who passes the annual exams receives the standard grade certificate. The permit can also be revoked if the child misses or fails the exams without an accepted justification.
