This report examines the recommended minimum instruction time in full-time compulsory general education in 2016/17 in 42 European education systems. It includes national diagrams illustrating the data by country and by subject. The comparative overview examines the policy changes that have taken place over the last year regarding the recommended instruction time and its distribution across subjects. It also looks into the minimum instruction time allocated to several subjects which are currently of particular interest at European level; reading, writing and literature, maths, natural sciences, the teaching of other languages, and physical education and health. For maths and natural sciences it compares the instruction time reported by teachers and students in TIMSS [an international assessment of mathematics and science at the fourth and eighth grades] and PISA [Programme for International Student Assessment] surveys with the minimum recommended by education authorities.