Education in Hungary 1997 [antikvár]

ForewordThis is the second time we have pubUshed a report on the current situation in Hungarian school education. The previous volume {Education in Hungary, 1996), which focused on the changes which took place in the field of education from the end of the 1980s to the mid-1990s, was based on a much more detailed publication in Hungarian {Jelentés a magyar közoktatásról, Report on Hungarian School Education, 1995). During the course of 1998 the second Hungarian report was prepared {Jelentés a magyar közoktatásról. Report on Hungarian School Education, 1997). The abridged and updated version of the latter report is recommended to our Esteemed Readers.The compilation of this volume was facilitated by the antecedents. Here we can focus on the changes in the field of education in 1996-97. There is only one aspect of change more recent which could be included in this volume: the parliamentary elections of May 1998 witnessed the victory of new political forces. As a consequence, a centre-right government has been formed in Hungary. The most significant measures of the new government, aimed at the transformation of the central educational administration are introduced here, but it is too early to venture for more, as we can obviously not deal with the new governments current educational policy, which is under review.We have been greatly aided in our work by the development that a great deal of data published internationally in comparative literature about our country and its education system over the past few years. The interested reader can now easily find some more detailed information on a particular area or can satisfy his/her demands for more specialised topics (in the more refined statistical or comparative educational analyses now available). Therefore, this volume sets out to present the Hungarian school education system in general terms and also to describe the major areas