Schools and communities in Hungary

The democratic reform of public education in Hungary after the Second World War brought about a system which now includes Day-Care from the ages of 4–6 and compulsory Elementary School education up to the age of 16. A high proportion of students go on to Secondary education in vocational schools, special schools or grammar shools. The system is supplemented by career-counselling and provision for children with difficult home-backgrounds and for the mentally-retarded. District Councils are responsible for the schools in their areas and for the zoning that determines which schools children should attend. The environment of a school has a strong influence not only upon the standard of its facilities and the quality of its staff but also upon the function it is expected to fulfil in the community. Achievement is directly related to the degree of urbanization, but the increasing participation of farming-co-operatives in education in rural areas promises well for the development of better facilities and mutual understanding there. Housing estates in high-density residential areas make special demands which are being met in different ways. The role of the school in general is being expanded to include children's leisure time activities; at the same time factories are making a significant contribution locally through vocational guidance, financial help, and training-for-work programmes. Councils are implementing the requirements of public education resolutions to integrate school education into the whole scheme of public education, co-ordinating the activities of all social and cultural institutions, and developing new multi-functional complexes, to give a more effective and efficient service to the whole community.

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Zusammenfassung Durch die demokratische Bildungsreform in Ungarn nach dem zweiten Weltkrieg ist ein System entstanden, das neben der Schulpflicht bis zum Alter von 16 Jahren auch Vorschulerziehung für die 4–6 jährigen umfaßt. Ein grosser Teil der Schüler geht nach der Pflichtschule auf Berufsschulen, Fachschulen oder Gymnasien über. Zusätzlich zu diesem Schulsystem gibt es Berufsberatung und Sondererziehung für Kinder aus schwierigen Familienverhältnissen und für geistig Behinderte. Kreisbehörden sind verantwortlich für die Schulen in ihrem Bereich und für die Zonenabgrenzung, nach der die Kinder auf die Schulen verteilt werden. Die Umgebung einer Schule beeinflußt nicht nur ihre Ausstattung und die Qualität ihres Lehrkörpers, sondern auch ihre Funktion in der Gemeinschaft. Ihr Niveau steht in direktem Verhältnis zum Grad ihrer Städtischkeit. In ländlichen Gebieten läßt jedoch die wachsende Teilnahme landwirtschaftlicher Kooperativen an der Bildung auf eine günstige Entwicklung zu besserer Ausstattung und gegenseitigem Verständnis hoffen. Siedlungen in Wohnballungsgebieten stellen besondere Anforderungen, die auf verschiedene Weise erfüllt werden. Im allgemeinen wird die Rolle der Schule auch auf die Freizeitbeschäftigungen der Kinder ausgedehnt; außerdem leisten Unternehmen einen erheblichen örtlichen Beitrag durch Berufsberatung, finanzielle Unterstützung und Trainingsprogramme. Lokale Behörden führen die staatlichen Bildungsbeschlüsse in bezug auf Integration der Schulbildung in das gesamte öffentliche Bildungswesen durch, indem sie die Arbeit aller sozialen und kulturellen Institutionen koordinieren und neue multi-funktionelle Komplexe entwickeln, um der ganzen Gemeinschaft wirksamere und leistungsfähigere Dienste zu bieten.

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Résumé La réforme démocratique de l'enseignement public en Hongrie après la Seconde Guerre Mondiale, a instauré un système qui comprend maintenant des garderies de jour pour les enfants de 4 à 6 ans et l'enseignement primaire obligatoire jusqu'à l'âge de 16 ans. Une forte proportion d'élèves poursuivent leurs études secondaires dans des écoles professionnelles, des écoles spéciales ou des lycées. Le système est complété par des services d'orientation professionnelle et des dispositions éducationnelles adaptées aux enfants retardés et à ceux qui sont handicapés par leur milieu familial. Les Conseils locaux ont la responsabilité des écoles situées dans leur périmètre et de la répartition des élèves dans ces établissements. L'environnement d'une école exerce une puissante influence non seulement sur le niveau de ses moyens et la qualité de son personnel, mais aussi sur les fonctions qu'elle est appelée à remplir dans la collectivité. II existe un rapport direct entre le rendement et le degré d'urbanisation, mais la participation croissante des coopératives fermières à l'éducation dans les régions rurales laisse bien augurer du développement de meilleures installations et d'une compréhension mutuelle plus profonde. Les nouvelles citées dans les zones de forte densité de population ont des exigences spéciales auxquelles on satisfait de diverses façons. Le rôle de l'école en général est élargi pour englober aussi les activités récréatives des enfants; de leur côté les usines fournissent une importante contribution locale: orientation professionnelle, aide financière, programmes de formation au travail. Les Conseils locaux observent les résolutions de l'enseignement public d'intégrer l'enseignement scolaire dans le plan général de l'enseignement public, en coordonnant les activités de toutes les institutions culturelles et sociales, et en développant de nouveaux complexes multi-fonctionnels, afin de servir avec davantage d'efficacité et une compétence accrue de la collectivité toute entière.

     

Differentiation in the Making: Consequences of School Segregation of Roma in the Czech Republic,Hungary, and Slovakia

This article examines how various forms of ethnic segregation in education affect everyday life and future aspirations of Roma youth in three Central and Eastern European countries: the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia. It draws on a comparative European investigation about the diverging experiences and paths of ethnic minority youth in Europe (EDUMIGROM¹¹EDUMIGROM “Ethnic differences in education and diverging paths for ethnic minority youth in an enlarged Europe” was an FP7-funded research led by Prof. Júlia Szalai and Viola Zentai at the Center for Policy Studies (CPS), Central European University (CEU), between 2008 and 2011. The author was a member of the coordinating team at CPS, CEU. www.edumigrom.eu.). The article investigates how segregation actually comes about in Central and Eastern Europe and looks at ways in which various forms of separation shape the everyday experiences and future aspirations of youth through the lenses of 14–15-year-old Roma students and their teachers. It reveals that studying in segregated Roma schools limits young Romas’ chances for further education and deprives them of interethnic social networks. Meanwhile, studying in segregated classes of ethnically mixed schools has a devastating effect on the development of young people’s identity, self-esteem, and interethnic relationships.     

Youth Practitioner Professional Narratives: Changing Identities in Changing Times

This paper examines youth practitioner professionality responses to neo-liberal policy changes in youth work and the youth support sector in the UK, from New Labour to Conservative-led administrations. Using a narrative inquiry approach, six early career practitioners explore and recount their experiences of moving into the field during changing political times. The narratives reveal differentiated responses to a climate of increasing managerialism and performativity but point to the value of narrative capital as a personalised resource.     

Teacher Education in Hungary: system,process, perspectives

The author sees the Hungarian teacher education system as being in a state of transition and development and identifies a number of the planning issues to be faced.

There has existed, traditionally in Hungary, the two routes through teacher‐training familiar to many Western countries, characterised as the e'cole normale/university dichotomy. This has revealed a familiar problem: the older the age‐range for which the student is being trained, the less emphasis on pedagogy in the training.

Hungarian teacher education faces other problems. There is still a shortage of teachers, despite a high level of demand for training; demographic problems weigh heavily.

Attempts at finding solutions through mergers of institutions at different levels meet resistance, and the conflict of values from universities and teachers’ colleges echoes similar debates in, for example, France and Greece. The problems encountered raise a fundamental question: who should decide the nature of the teacher‐training programme: the specialist academics and pedagogues, or the employing community? In Hungary, the debate continues.     

Heritage,Identity and Belonging: African Caribbean Students and Art Education

This article addresses the issue of Caribbean cultural under‐representation in school art departments. It argues that diasporic subjects are not seen and their cultures not recognised precisely because their contributions to the way we live are indivisible from the mainstream. This in contradistinction to some groups whose cultures and heritages are relatively distinct and separate from Western mores. Our ways of understanding culture do not take this into account. Yet diasporic contributions to the way we live have buttressed Western lifestyles since the beginning of the slave trade. The article argues that this relationship, characterised by multiple entanglements, must be recognised if Caribbean cultural identities are to be seen and valued. In doing so it challenges the way we construct notions of cultural heritage and belonging, and promotes the adoption of more risk‐taking pedagogies possibly based on contemporary practices.     

From Policy to Practice: Roma Education in Albania and Sweden

This paper aims to make a contribution to recentering practice- and practitioner-oriented issues in Roma education studies. Gaps can be observed today between conditions of educational work in practice and the ways education is understood in mainstream academic discussions, compounded by the fact that educational workers in the field have limited access to academic environments. Also, as a subject dealing with minorities, education for Roma and Roma communities tends to occupy a marginal position in academic departments of Education. Inversely, in Roma studies, focus often lies on culture or history, and education is mainly considered through the lens of identity. This means that many important experiences in Roma educational work remain silent, and significant aspects of practices are not sufficiently shared across contexts. In this paper, experiences from education projects in Albania and Sweden are presented and considered against the background of Roma education policies in these countries generally. An analysis is made of the ways these projects directly or indirectly connect to local academic structures. Finally, suggestions are made of potential strategies for developing practice- and practitioner-driven research in this area, to make relevant experiences more accessible across linguistic and national borders.     

Stigma and Roma Education Policy Reform in Slovakia

This article addresses reform of Roma education in Slovakia against the backdrop of continued stigmatization of Roma students. Transnational NGOs and IGOs promote rights-based solutions leading to the fullest possible inclusion of Roma students in mainstream education. The Slovak state promotes educational policies that lead to the fullest possible assimilation of Roma students in the Slovak cultural milieu. Grass-roots NGOs promote small-scale, practical solutions that involve compromise and avoid alienating authorities. But Roma students labor within intractable cycles of stigmatization in which educational advancement is not for most a real possibility.     

The Place and Role of Video in Schools in Hungary

Abstract

This paper gives some of the results of a survey carried out at the request of ICEM into the extent that video technology is used in schools.     

Language Teacher Identities in the Southern United States: Transforming Rural Schools

Foreign language (FL) and English as a Second Language (ESL) teaching present considerable challenges in the rural U.S. South. Local language ideologies, budgetary considerations, and challenges in other curricular areas (e.g., math and science) lead to marginalizing both FL and ESL in schools. This article examines the personal and professional trajectories of in-service language teachers in K–12 settings in the state of Mississippi to better understand how participants conceptualize their practice and their roles in schools. By analyzing the interview discourse of nine teachers, we found that both ESL and FL teachers positioned themselves against dominant ideologies and educational policies and constructed themselves as agents of change in the classroom, school, and community at large. This study contributes to the argument for integrating FL and ESL in rural areas, where both groups need support, and provides suggestions for ESL-FL teacher collaboration in rural schools.     

Disadvantaged Identities: Conflict and Education from Disability,Culture and Social Class

This project reflects on the way in which students in a situation of social risk construct their identity. Based on the reflections and theories originating from research conducted on individuals and collective groups in a situation of social exclusion due to disability, social class or ethnicity, this paper will analyse the conflicts these students have to deal with when constructing their identity. It also examines the challenge that education has to face to turn those conflicts into opportunities that will help to build life projects with which they can freely identify. For this reason, from a critical perspective, the school’s role in constructing identity will be analysed, as will the way in which it affects children and adolescents from minority groups. In the same way, we will study and put forward some different channels aimed at providing more equal educational attention to those identities that are depreciated in neoliberal society.     

What Schools Need to Know About Fostering School Belonging: a Meta-analysis

Belonging is an essential aspect of psychological functioning. Schools offer unique opportunities to improve belonging for school-aged children. Research on school belonging, however, has been fragmented and diluted by inconsistency in the use of terminology. To resolve some of these inconsistencies, the current study uses meta-analysis of individual and social level factors that influence school belonging. These findings aim to provide guidance on the factors schools should emphasise to best support students. First, a systematic review identified 10 themes that influence school belonging at the student level during adolescence in educational settings (academic motivation, emotional stability, personal characteristics, parent support, peer support, teacher support, gender, race and ethnicity, extracurricular activities and environmental/school safety). Second, the average association between each of these themes and school belonging was meta-analytically examined across 51 studies (N?=?67,378). Teacher support and positive personal characteristics were the strongest predictors of school belonging. Results varied by geographic location, with effects generally stronger in rural than in urban locations. The findings may be useful in improving perceptions of school belonging for secondary students through the design of policy, pedagogy and teacher training, by encouraging school leaders and educators to build qualities within the students and change school systems and processes.     

Creating New Identities in Design Education

An international education opportunity has been created for design students at West Virginia University. This experience is unique because it takes an interdisciplinary approach to design that exposes students to the idea of a larger design methodology common to design professions. Students take core courses with students from a variety of design fields, including interior design, fashion design, fashion merchandising, landscape architecture, art, and graphic design. Through this interaction, students gain an understanding of the interrelationships among design fields, learn to appreciate new perspectives, and begin to appreciate the place of their field as part of the design community as a whole.     

Ethnic and Panethnic Asian American Identities: Contradictory Perceptions of Cambodian Students in Urban Schools

This article examined the various ethnic identities of Cambodian students, a group often perceived by the larger society through the lens of the model minority stereotype but often endure low expectations from teachers and counselors in their local high schools. Our findings suggested that a Cambodian identity was often considered a stigmatized label and students identified as Cambodian were essentialized into the discourse of urban low achieving and culturally deficient minority students. Cambodian students’ identities in the less selective academic programs were often quite visible to teachers. This characterization was often coupled with a panethnic representation of Asian American students in selective programs who were considered motivated and supported by advantageous home and cultural values. In these contexts, teachers preferred to discuss Cambodian students in panethnic terms, ignoring students’ ethnic backgrounds, described their Cambodian students as part of their “bright Asian students” group. Overall, this study extends other works on Asian American ethnicity and panethnicity by focusing on the conflicting identities that affect the schooling of Cambodian students. These analyses complicate further the static notion of Asian American students as model minorities by emphasizing the fluid, problematic, and contextually-based nature of the construct.