Teacher Education and Training in the new Democratic States of Eastern Europe [antikvár]

Greeting Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Colleagues! Not long time ago I had the opportunity to participate in a local conference in Békéscsaba, Southern Hungary, where one of the colleagues told me that the biggest problem in our professions is that we do not speak the same language. She meant that very often the representatives of the college and university departments of education speak a different language from that of those involved directly in the practical side of education and psychology. Even within a college or university department, the directors, the staff and the students have quite different opinions. I would alsó like to add that the supreme leadership of the Hungárián education system do not speak the same language in terms of the nigher education in generál and teacher education in particular. This is why I was particularíy pleased to have the opportunity to organize the seminar entitled "Teacher Education in the New Democracies - the 1990s and the European Dimensions" because I hoped that the foreign and Hungárián participants attending would be able to fínd the same language, at least for the days of the seminar. We alsó hope that the process of understanding will start here, and that we will be able to identify our final goals as well. Another thing that I would like to mention here is that more and more often we complain about the suffocating lack of funds. New laws are made one after the other, only to be found inadequate later. Despite all these diffículties we find satisfaction in the feeling that the working ability, willingness and activity of professionals in Hungary, and that of teacher educators among them, is unbroken. Many conferences, seminars and symposiums have been organized here at Gy. Bessenyei College of Higher Education in the past few years. The number of these events not diminished - on the contrary. We are proud to report that their number has somewhat increased. 1 started by saying that people often do not understand each other in our profession and expressed my hope that here we wouid be able to lay the foundations of a better understanding. One of the signs is that this event appears to have received considerable international attention. Much to our pleasure, a great number of our colleagues from the neighbouring countries honour our seminar with their presence. Prof. Jürgen van Buer, sitting here with us today, exemplifíes this new type of understanding. He has been a supporter of our department, and íhrough it, our college for years. This is a A