Session Information
99 ERC SES 04 E, Social Justice and Intercultural Education
Paper Session
Contribution
In Hungary, after the change of regime in 1990, a number of educational policy changes affected primary schools, which also had a major impact on students' opportunities for further education. These changes in the education system are strongly influenced by both social and economic factors (Andl, 2015, 2020; Halász, 2001), which in the case of Hungarian schools can be mainly seen in the processes of centralisation and decentralisation (Kozma, 2014). In the 1990s, subsidies to local governments played an important role in the life of educational institutions, as they led to a significant increase in the number of schools (Andl, 2015; Imre, 1997). However, the decade was also characterised by segregation in education policy, which mainly affected Roma pupils (Forray, 2009; Forray & Pálmainé Orsós, 2010), and was also contributed to by the right of parents to choose their schools (Havas et al, 2001). This was changed by the integration efforts of the early 2000s, which were also reflected in the school scene. The Integration Pedagogical System (IPS) was established within this framework, providing significant support to the institutions participating in the programme for almost a decade. By 2012, it had been implemented in 2.000 public education institutions and had reached more than 100.000 pupils (Híves, 2016). The „Széll Kálmán Plan”, introduced in 2010, reflects the drive to centralise education: „the state must return to the world of education. The quality of education should not depend on the situation and ad hoc decisions of local governments, the state can bring uniform order in this area” (Széll Kálmán Plan, 2010 cited in Györgyi, 2019, p. 214).
In my research, I will mainly examine the impact of these interventions through the example of an institution that has innovated a lot in the space of thirty years, but is now under threat of closure due to a drastic reduction in the number of students. This institution is one of the participants in the career guidance mentoring programme in which I am involved as a junior researcher. The child-centred pedagogical work in the school and the dedication of the teachers struck me when I was doing input research for this research and development programme. It was then that I began to wonder how, despite its positive values, the survival of the school was threatened.
Method
My research is a case study, using both quantitative and qualitative research tools and it is exploratory and I have formulated the following questions: 1. How the changes mentioned above have affected this process. How have they affected the educational opportunities of disadvantaged and Roma pupils in the school? 2. What elements of the school's life can be classified under the aspects of the SWOT analysis? In order to answer my questions, I conducted semi-structured interviews with the teachers of the school (N=5). Three of them were interviewed individually, but all five teachers participated in the focus group discussion. Participation in the interviews was voluntary. I interviewed teachers who had been employees of the institution for at least 2/3 of the period under study (about 20 years). Content analysis was carried out on the transcripts of the interviews using an inductive approach, supplemented with education statistics. During my participant observations, I visited classrooms and participated in other extra-curricular activities with a class from the school. A thorough review of the relevant literature on the subject helped me to get a general idea of the process I was studying.
Expected Outcomes
The last 34 years of the institution under review can be divided into three periods: 1. 1990-2003: the newly appointed headmaster brought many changes to the school, which were most evident in the development of the teaching staff. 2. 2003-2007: the integrationist education policy of the early 2000s gave a new impetus to improvements. Exemplary pedagogical work was carried out in the institution, reinforced by the support provided by the Integrated Pedagogical System. 3. From 2007 until present day: from 2007 onwards, the institution gradually lost its autonomy. In that year the institution became a member school of a multi-purpose association of local authorities, and in 2013 the state took over the maintenance of the public education institutions. It was the last third of the period under review that jeopardised the school's survival. During this period, the school suffered a sudden and sharp reduction in staff numbers, which, although it has eased, has not stopped. There has been a constant turnover of teachers and a decline in the representation of young teachers. My case study shows that the situation of small schools in Hungary has become hopeless. The experience of previous years shows that, with sufficient financial support and a more decentralised education system, institutions can be more viable than in the current situation, where the long distance between the school and the institution is to the detriment of the school and its pupils.
References
Andl, H. (2015). A kisiskolák és nemzetiségi oktatás összefüggésrendszerének néhány aspektusáról. Romológia, 3(9), 36-55. Andl, H. (2020). A kisiskolák és lehetőségeik. Educatio, 8(3), 409-424. Forray, R. K. (2009). Hátrányos helyzet – a cigányság az iskolában. Educatio, 18(4), 436- 446. Forray, R. K. & Pálmainé Orsós, A. (2010). Hátrányos helyzetű vagy kulturális kisebbség – cigány programok. Educatio, 19(1), 75-87. Györgyi, Z. (2019). Célok és következmények: tanügyirányításunk átalakítása. Educatio, 28(2), 211-227. https://doi.org/10.1556/2063.28.2019.2.1 Halász, G. (2001). Az oktatási rendszer. Műszaki Könyvkiadó, Budapest. Havas, G., Kemény, I. & Liskó, I. (2001). Cigány gyerekek az általános iskolákban. Oktatáskutató Intézet, Budapest. Híves, T. (2016). Halmozottan hátrányos helyzetű tanulók és az Integrációs Pedagógiai Rendszerben résztvevők statisztikai elemzése. Autonómia és Felelősség, 2(1), 21-41. Imre, A. (1997). Kistelepülési iskolák. Educatio, 6(1). Kozma, T. (2014). A központosítás haszna és ára. Educatio, 23(1), 3-12. Varga, A. (2018). A hazai oktatási integrációs tapasztalatok és a korai iskolaelhagyás megelőzése. In: Fejes, J. B. & Szűcs, N. (Eds.): Én vétkem. Helyzetkép az oktatási szegregációról. Motiváció Oktatási Egyesület, Szeged.
Search the ECER Programme
- Search for keywords and phrases in "Text Search"
- Restrict in which part of the abstracts to search in "Where to search"
- Search for authors and in the respective field.
- For planning your conference attendance you may want to use the conference app, which will be issued some weeks before the conference
- If you are a session chair, best look up your chairing duties in the conference system (Conftool) or the app.