The objective of the Hungarian study is 1) to interpret Hungarian results via political and policy changes in the education system during the past two decades of centralization and decentralization efforts; and 2) to study the relations between accountability, attitudes toward accountability, and cultural values. The study sample included 341 Hungarian teachers (18% male, 80% female); mean age 46 (9.2); mean experience 20.5 (10.5) years. Hungarian teachers in transition: Tumultuous social changes in the early 1990s brought along new expectations towards Hungarian teachers. The system moved from centralization towards decentralization: the professional inspectorate ceased to exist in the 1990s; teachers chose their own materials/ methodology/ created their own curriculum (Arató & Szemerszky, 2004). The academic year of 2013/2014 brought forth a new vigorous centralization effort in the education system. A central (national) administration took over every aspect of directing the school system and teachers are in the process of adapting to changed requirements. In the data, we observed that internal and external accountability had a relatively high correlation (r=.46, p<.05) demonstrating close interaction between bureaucratic and professional accountability dimensions. Descriptive analysis showed that the entire Hungarian sample scored higher on internal than external accountability (Mean 4.57, SD .39 and 3.91, SD .54, respectively) as did all the other participating countries. These results indicated that Hungarian teachers were portrayed by high professional and moral standards. It may have been the result of gained professional independence during the two-decade long Hungarian decentralization process when teachers assumed personal responsibility regarding their quality of work. Correlation analysis showed that while external and internal accountability were hardly related to individualism (r=-.051, n.s.; r=.127, p<.05, respectively), they were moderately to highly related to collectivism (r=.383, r=429, respectively, p<.001). These results showed that accountability was an interactive mechanism in teachers’ relationships within their work environment. Comparatively, Hungary was the bottom lowest in uncertainty avoidance (Mean 2.93, SD .77). It was related to external and internal accountability (r=.137, r=.147, respectively, p<.05) within the Hungarian sample. It may indicate that Hungarian teachers were flexible and pro-active in coping with responsibilities. Results of the study contribute to understanding Hungarian teacher disposition during a period of political, social, and policy changes (Green Book, 2009) and their need to have the ability to influence day-to-day educational activities (Falus, 2013).

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