Role of Adults’ Cultural Learning in the Hungarian educational reforms

Author(s):

Erika Juhász(presenting / submitting)

Conference:

ECER 2017

Network:

06. Open Learning: Media, Environments and Cultures

Format:

Poster

Session Information

06 SES 04.5 PS, General Poster Session

General Poster Session

Time:

2017-08-23

12:00-13:30

Room:

W4.corridor (Poster Area)

Chair:

Contribution

As in other countries in Europe since the 1990s, the educational system have been undergoing extensive reforms in Hungary too. In this reforms Cultural Education has a really important role which we would like to present with current poster. In our poster show, in the framework of survey K-101867 entitled “Learning regions in Hungary: From theory to reality” supported by the Hungarian Scientific Research Fund, we present the findings of the “Cultural Learning” team on non-formal and informal adult learning activities.

The main questions posed by our research:

What kind of learning activities can be observed with adults in the area of culture?

How do different learning activities influence a given region’s state of socio-economic development, and how cultural learning influence the Hungarian educational system?

How can the findings be utilized in the development of a region?

As an outcome of the research we have established an analytical index system in which the main indicators of the socio-economic development index (SEDI) and the cultural learning index (CLI) generated in our examination are compared. Based on our findings we wish to prove that although cultural learning is present in every region to a considerable degree, in more disadvantageous regions its presence is more significant as a means of compensating for a shortfall in economic-social development. In these regions, cultural learning also changed the daily practices of the professionals (eg. teachers, researchers stc.), students and pupils as well as their parents’ practices. This fact can be conducted in all the levels of the Hungarian educational system: from kindergartens to universities. This phenomenon can be connected to theories of social and cultural capital (by way of Bourdieu, Coleman, etc.), in the cases of which in our previous researches we have indicated the outstanding significance for development they have in disadvantageous regions.

Method

The basis of methodology for our survey is based on the German Learning Map, which is based on national samples. In this method scholars examine the connections between regional development and learning activities along four dimensions. These four dimensions are: learning in a formal school system, vocational training, individual personal learning, and learning in a community. Our team deals with research into personal learning (Persönliches Lernen), but in this we used some changes, so our new researching theme is the cultural learning. Our team has defined it as a dimension of informal and non-formal learning with the devices of culture, which is different from formal learning systems and professional non-formal learning, or vocational training. These dimensions have been examined in other international researches as well with variation (e.g. Composite Learning Index (CLI) – Canada, European Lifelong Learning Indicators (ELLI) – based in Germany, etc), based on the findings of which we have expanded the dimensions of the German Learning Map and have formed the dimensions that can be investigated in Hungary. Our sources include works of international scholars such as Peter Jarvis, Jaques Delors, Janette Griffin, Lynda Kelly, Judith Van Evra, George Comstock and others. In the framework of the poster show, relying on our empirical research results I wish to present the connection that can be detected between cultural learning and the state of socio-economic development of a region. During our research we have examined connections in the following four fields with the help of statistics: - participation in culture (community culture, library, museum, music, etc.), - (amateur) sports activities, - and personal learning with the help of media tools (including primary mass communication and the Internet). Apart from this, we have also examined the opportunities for and support of cultural learning in institutions of the above lines. To do so we have selected community cultural institutions, tourist clubs, and local cable studios in the Northern Great Plain region. 30% of the 327 organizations sampled have been assessed through a standard questionnaire and we have processed the findings with statistical analyses.

Expected Outcomes

The changes of the Hungarian educational system gives a really huge job for the cultural learning professionals and their institutions in the most disadvantageous regions. In the framework of our research we have found 327 institutions in the Northern Great Plain region of Hungary of the most disadvantageous economic-social situation which meet the research criteria. We have examined more than 30% of these institutions, 112 of them, including cultural institutions, local cable studios, and tourist clubs. We have examined the options for, system of assets and programs of cultural learning in these institutions and the opinion of experts managing these institutions on how their unit can contribute to the development of their region. Through the findings we wish to prove that in disadvantageous regions, thus in the region under survey, too, the development of human resources is one of the most important ways out of backwardness. We present four case studies of our findings where the examined institutions contribute greatly to the continuous development of the disadvantageous region. This way our basic research has a point of connection with applied research through these best practices.

References

Erika Juhász (2013): Quality of the personal learning of the adults in Hungary. In: Viola Tamásová et al. (eds.): Quality in the Context of Adult Education and Lifelong Education. Slovakia, Dubnica Institute of Technology in Dubnica nad Váhom, 34-43. p. Erika Juhász (ed.) (2012): Education in Transition. Dubnicky technologicky institút v Dubnici nad Váhom, Slovakia 246p. Erika Juhász (2012): Adult education and regionalism. In: Zdeněk, Novotný – Antonín, Staněk – Pavel, Kopecěk – Pavel, Krákora – Gabriela, Medvedová (red.): CIVILIA. Odborná revue prodidaktiku společenských věd. (Praha, Pro Univerzitu Palackého v Olomouci vydalo Nakladatelství Epocha s.r.o.) 3: (1) 108-117. p. Erika Juhász (2008): Research into the history of Hungarian adult education. In: SZÍN, Országos közművelődési folyóirat (Hungarian Cultural Review) 13: (6) 18-21. p. Erika Juhász (2007): The institutional system of adult education in Hajdú-Bihar County in the light of the historical tendencies in Hungarian adult education. In: Felnőttképzési Szemle (Adult Education Review, Hungary) 1: (1) 117-127. p. Erika Juhász (2015): Indicators of the cultural learning in Hungarian regions. In: Viola Tamášová – Erika Juhász – Mihály Sári (Hers.): Innovation und Erneuerung im Bereich der Erwachsenenbildung in Mitteleuropa. Dubnica Institute of Technology in Dubnica nad Váhom, Slovakia, 229-247. p. Erika Juhász (2015): Sectors and institutions of the cultural learning in Hungary. In: Erika Juhász – Viola Tamášová – Erich Petlák (editors): The Social Role of Adult Education in Central Europe. University of Debrecen Department of Andragogy, Hungary, 120-135. p.

Author Information

Erika Juhász (presenting / submitting)

University of Debrecen

Department of Cultural Management and Adult Education

Debrecen

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