Education in Hungary 2000 [antikvár]

Foreword This is the fourth occasion on which the National Institute of Public Education, assisted by the Ministry of Education, has prepared and published its Report on Education in Hungary. The intention of this study is to analyse and evaluate the current state of affairs and ongoing trends in Hungárián public education. As on previous occasions, an abridged English version of the Report is alsó being published, which forms the present volume. The idea of producing a comprehensive report on the changes in public education at intervals of every 2 or 3 years was originally conceived in the mid-1990s, following the OECD report on Hungárián education policy. The concept was motivated in part by background analyses relating to the OECD report and their influence on debates concerning education, and in part by OECD recommendations. Hungárián public education administration officials came to the conclusion that such a thorough professional analysis, based on statistical data, research results and documents, could have several positive effects. Firstly, it may have a favourable influence on generál opinion concerning public education by approaching problems in a systematic, thematic and professional manner, thereby making trends in education policy more predictable and more rational. Secondly, by analysing the system and providing feedback, it may have a favourable influence on the quality and efficiency of education. Thirdly, by documenting events in educational policy-making it aids continuity and helps to maintain a balance between change and stability in an age characterised by rapid changes and unstable periods of transition. The Report published in 2000, which now appears in an abridged English version, differs from previous reports in that it attempts to provide an overview of trends over the 1990s, rather than looking only at a few years. The emphasis, however, is on the description and analysis of changes that have taken place since the publication of the last such report in 1996, but this time they are presented in the context of the still ongoing socio-economic changes that began in 1989. It is not an exaggeration to say that changes in Hungary in the 1990s took place on a historical scale. Responsibilities for the maintenance of educational institutions were given to politically autonomous local communities, with rights to control education in many ways. A number of priváté and church-affiliated schools were established, and new forums emerged. In certain areas of public education (primarily in secondary schools) considerable growth was observed, whilst vocational training greatly diminished. A significant proportion of institutions have gone through a transformation in character and many schools have introduced years of teaching extending before and after their former operational period. This has altered the demarcation lines between primary, secondary and higher education, verticai divisions in the school system, and student flows - a change unprecedented in previous decades. Regulations concerning the content of the curriculum have been transformed in a unique way, unparalleled in East-Central Europe. The early 1990s saw the abolition of mandatory, detailed central curricula and new national documents were prepared to define the requirements concerning the essential content of education. Schools were obliged to create documents