ftp://ftp.oki.hu/bie/bie.pdf The Development of the Hungarian Educational System By Gábor Halász, Erika Garami, Péter Havas and Irén Vágó Edited by: Gábor Halász National Institute for Public Education Budapest, February 2001 ftp://ftp.oki.hu/bie/bie.pdf Table of Contents 1. The Hungarian educational system at the end of the 20th century: a summary 1.1 The main reforms and innovation of the past decad Causes of the changes......................................................................................................... 3 1.1.1 The legal framework............................................................................................... 3 1.1.2 The structural conditions of the educational system .............................................. 3 1.1.3 The evolution of control and financing relations ................................................... 4 1.1.4 Changes in evaluation policy.................................................................................. 9 1.1.5 Current and expectable reforms ............................................................................. 10 1.1.6 Current and expectable reforms ............................................................................. 11 1.2 The main quantitative and qualitative results of the past decade ................................. 17 1.2.1 Changes concerning participation in education ....................................................... 17 1.2.2 Establishing equal opportunity.................................................................................. 19 1.2.3 The quality and relevance of education..................................................................... 19 1.2.4 Social participation in the reform process ................................................................ 20 1.3 The main experiences of the reform period .................................................................. 21 1.4 Major problems and challenges ................................................................................... 23 2. Educational content and learning strategies for the 21st century 2.1 Curriculum development, fundamental principles, and requirements.......................... 25 2.1.1 The decision-making process: Levels and actors in determining educational content................................................................................................. 25 2.1.2 Curricular planning and curriculum preparation..................................................... 29 2.1.3 Teaching and learning strategies .............................................................................. 38 2.1.4 Evaluation policies and methods............................................................................... 41 2.2. The changes and expansion of the content of education ............................................. 48 2.2.1. The motives of the development of the content of education .................................... 49 2.2.2. Entities participating in content development .......................................................... 54 2.2.3. New content .............................................................................................................. 65 2.2.4. Planning, introduction and evaluation of reforms .......................................................66 2.2.5. Results and problems................................................................................................ 72 References and Sources ...................................................................................................... 73 List of Abbreviations .......................................................................................................... 76 ANNEX 1 ........................................................................................................................... 77 ANNEX 2 ........................................................................................................................... 78 ANNEX 3 ........................................................................................................................... 84 ANNEX 4 ........................................................................................................................... 126 ANNEX 5 ........................................................................................................................... 128 2 ftp://ftp.oki.hu/bie/bie.pdf The Development of Education in Hungary: A National Report 1. The Hungarian educational system at the end of the 20th century: a summary 1.1 The main reforms and innovations of the past decade 1.1.1 Causes of the changes During the 1990s the Hungarian educational system – like those of other countries in the East- Central European Region – went through historic changes. The scope and direction of these changes were affected by radical social, economic and political transformations which took place in the decade following 1989, at which time the institutions of parliamentary democracy and market economy were being built and the country joined the ranks of established European democracies. During the 1990s, changes in the Hungarian public education system took place partly due to the restructuring of the social and political environments, and partly due to efforts from within the system itself. Those factors, which affected the content-related curricular processes, are also dealt with in detail in section 2.2. Of the many causes that contributed in a decisive manner to the complete overhaul of the public education structure, there are a few which are especially noteworthy: • A sizeable decrease in demographics • The radical reform of administrative and public financing procedures (the direction of schools by local governments and the introduction of normative, per capita financing) • The general fall of government expenditures due to the economic crisis lasting from the end of the 1980s to the middle of the 1990s • A large scale decrease in the numbers and proportions of the active workforce and the appearance of unemployment • An increase in the discrepancy of incomes amongst different social groups and the related difficulties of social integration By the end of the second half of the 1990s, the most difficult period of the economic and social reforms ended in Hungary. A dynamic economic growth was established based on an equilibrium that produced favorable conditions for the development of public education. 1.1.2 The legal framework The comprehensive public, vocational and higher education laws adopted in 1993 define the present Hungarian educational legal framework. In addition it is worthy to mention the effects of some previously accepted legal acts, such as The Pubic Education Act in 1985, which widened the institutional independence to a large degree, and moreover, the modifications that brought about the dissolution of the state educational monopoly in 1990. The laws passed in 1993 have been modified over the past decade on several occasions, but the changes have not altered the basic framework established at the beginning of the 1990s. Besides the educational laws, other related legislation has also been enacted during this time period that has had a fundamental effect on education. Amongst them, the 1990 Act on local governments, which effectively handed over the control of the previously 3 ftp://ftp.oki.hu/bie/bie.pdf state-run schools to the local governments, has had the biggest effect. Similarly, the church property law of 1991 made it possible for religious organizations to regain control of schools that were nationalized by the state following the Second World War. Likewise, the 1992 Act on the status of civil servants created a new status for public institution workers – including teachers – with nationally regulated salaries. It is also necessary to mention the national and ethnic minority law of 1993 (which granted minorities, amongst other things, important rights to education), the Act on employment passed in 1991 (which had a considerable effect on vocational education), and finally the regional development law of 1996 (which affected development policies in the educational sector as well). The Public Education Act1 of 1993 effectively assigns local governments the task of administering primary and secondary education, with the state acting in a supporting role (this support is defined in size and shape by the annual budgetary bills). The Public Education Act defines the level of educational support, the programs to be initiated, the core organizational and operational framework of education, as well as the participants’ rights within the sphere of education. This law called for the restructuring of the system of curricular regulation, the introduction of so-called two-tiered regulation, under which the school level organization of teaching and learning is handled within the framework of nationally defined documents but on the basis of programs prepared by the schools and adopted on the local level. 1.1.3 The structural conditions of the educational system As a result of the reforms following the Second World War, the Hungarian school system adopted a two-tiered structure, ISCED 1 and ISCED 2, organized within a common institution (see Annex 1). The general framework is comprised of a combined two-tiered 8-grade school, which students generally begin at the age of six. Prior to this, more than 90 percent of students take part in institutionalized pre-school education (ISCED 0). Until the early 1990s primary schools followed a nationally standardized curriculum. Ideally,