LLP Comenius Multilateral Partnerships

Education – a journey in time

INTERNATIONAL PROJECT MEETING in Budapest, Hungary1 – 8 February 2011

EDUCATIONAL PATTERNS

Tradition and innovation

I. Tradition: educational policy

Maria Theresa (1740-1780)

only female ruler of the Habsburg dominions

financial and educational reforms

Enlightenment

Enlightened absolutism is a form of absolute monarchy in which rulers were influenced by the enlightenment.

Ratio Educationis

Ratio Educationis - 1777• enlightenment: emphasis upon

rationality• religious toleration, freedom of speech

and the press, and the right to hold private property

• education was national interest• before 1777: church after 1777:

centralization• school age: 6-12• basic skills: reading, writing, counting• language of education: Latin• subjects: History, Geography, Natural

History, Basic Economics, German language no Hungarian

Joseph II (1780-1790)

eldest son of Maria Theresa compulsory elementary education tuition fee in universities scholarship for poor students schools for religious minorities subjects taught in German

1849-1919

1844: Hungarian became the language of education

primary education for girls After the 1848-1849 Revolution and

War of Independence the government tried to extend its control over education.

German became compulsory national textbooks banned

Baron Joseph Eötvös- Minister of Religion and Education

National Schools Act

compulsory education for ages 6 to 12

parents had to pay penalty in case of breaking this act

obligatory language: Hungarian first Hungarian secondary

school for girls

Count Kuno von Klebelsberg

Hungarian Minister

of Interior, later

Minister of Culture

of Hungary

Count Kuno von Klebelsberg

Educational reforms:

elementary schools in

the country modernization of universities Collegium

Hungaricum abroad progressive policy

on scholarships for university

students

1949-1990

situation of education changed radically because of the invasion by the Soviet Union

every field of education controlled policy determined by the

government 8-year-long elementary schools Russian language is compulsory other foreign languages restricted no religious education practical training stressed

Change of the regime - 1989

Act of Education (1993) right to study more independence from the state formed on the basis of Anglo-Saxon

patterns learning Russian isn’t compulsory

any more wide range of foreign languages right proportion between arts and

science subjects school age: 6-18 skill development, life-long learning

II. Tradition and innovation:

working methods

What did pedagogy mean before and after the 20th

century?

identified what a human being should become through education

what values and what knowledge they should acquire

but did not take the child’s physical and psychological characteristics into consideration

new schools child-centred let the children develop their

skills children working at their own

pace minimal supervision of the

teacher

Before 1900

1900

After 1900

Traditional approach to teaching

authoritarian principles discipline, students’ obedience is

very important teacher’s strict control

emphasis on factual knowledge, not individual skills

everybody has to learn the same and is expected to meet identical requirements

less students could get into higher education than nowadays but specialists obtained a more global and profound knowledge

Primary school class in a village, 1960s

Liberal approach

from the 1990s, the focus of attention is shifted on the personality and the skills of the student

roots: reform pedagogical innovations, new results of developmental and humanistic psychology

basic principle: students should concentrate on those areas of their studies that they are good at

feeling of success, personality development and self-actualization in the centre

very permissive

Personality development in the centre

Competence-based education

basic principle in public education today: to improve skills (= key competences) through giving knowledge that is useful in everyday life

a combination of both authoritarian and liberal views

students are expected to suit some standard requirements but individual differences are taken into account

absolutely student-centred aim: to educate people who are self-

conscious and can manage their lives

efficiently

Working methods in the competence-based classroom

Four basic types:

frontal work group work pair work individual

work

Frontal work

it is a method that has the same aims, ways and tempo for everybody

roots: authoritarian approach guided by the teacher, who is in a

dominant role students are relatively passive

teacher lectures, students listen sitting in silence

assumption that students are similar in its basic form, no differentiation is

possible

Frontal work in the modern classroom

possible problems: not enough feedback

to the teacher whether the students understand

there are always people who are not able to follow the teacher

if used exclusively: frontal work

stabilizes individual differences

low academic achievement cannot be improved

Efficient frontal work

students can ask questions

they can give feedback

they are allowed to express their opinions

they can start discussions

two-way communication

teacher – student interaction

student – student interaction

Group work cooperative activity of 3-6 students

working on the same task takes individual differences into

account students in a group must be able to

accept each other ways of grouping: groups can be formed spontaneously (rarely effective) group members are picked based on

sympathy (they might not concentrate on the

task) teacher puts students into groups,

often according to their levels of knowledge

Advantages and disadvantages of group

workAdvantages:

social skills are improved students learn to

cooperate students learn to solve

problems, conflicts ideally, students

experience that they are equally responsible for doing the task and they set standards to each other

Disadvantages:

only 1-2 people are working on the task and the others are passive

teacher’s constant monitoring is needed

assessment is problematic: individual participation or only the „final result” should be considered?

Pair work

very similar to group work except that only two people are working together on the same task

cooperation is essential, pairs are usually formed based on sympathy

2 types: 1. classic pair work, the students

are on similar or the same levels 2. one student is much better at

the given subject or topic; he or she is

helping, tutoring the other student

Individual work

students may work individually in frontal arrangement but then everyone has the same task

usually individual work means that each person is given a task devised especially for him or her

maximum attention is paid to individual differences

individual work is not really possible in public education (classes / groups are too large)

instead: private lessons or e.g. learning to play a musical instrument is typically individual

Ideal class: all four working methods are used by the teacher

III. Innovation: alternativity

Two remarkable school experiments in Budapestin the 1910s

New School (1915-1949)

• Mrs László Domokos

• girls’ school

• age 6-18

• meeting the requirements of physical and emotional development of the child

• creation and getting knowledge through intuition

• encouraging students to work individually

Family School (1915-1943) • Márta Nemes • coeducational • age 6-10 • play as you work and

work while playing • flexibility in planning

curricula • decreasing teachers’

authoritative role • making school the natural

’habitat’ for the child

László Nagy, the forerunner of child psychology

The two most influential foreign educational trends in Hungary before

1945

The Montessori Method

Maria Montessori

• Erzsébet Burchard (teacher)

• 1927: first kindergarten with 27 children in her parents’ house

• 1928: first school with 4 classes, 24-28 students each

The Waldorf Method

Rudolf Steiner

• Mária Göllner (anthroposophist)

• 1926: first Waldorf school outside Germany

• 20 students up to the age of 14

The Montessori Method

teacher: supporter teacher – student relationship

based on mutual trust no competition students encouraged to ask few compulsory lessons all tools available for everyone closed in 1941 as a result of the

Word War II

The Waldorf Method emphasis on artistic education taught subjects in blocks (120 minute

long session in the morning with the same subject)

afternoons: gardening, playing outside

parents visit the school regularly no course books no failing; support classes for

children lagging behind problem: Hungarian cultural values

overshadowed closed in 1933 with the Nazi regime

The first Waldorf school building

Laying the foundation stone of the first Waldorf school in Hungary

Alternativity in education after 1945

Hungarian innovations New School Family School

Adaptations of foreign trends Waldorf Montessori

1900 1945 1970s 1985

Alternativity in education

Turning point in educati-onal policy

Education Act /Education Amendment Act

(1985 / 1990)new interest in alternative

education

Waldorf Schools first Waldorf School in Solymár, 1989 first school established by citizens

Montessori Schools first Montessori school in Central Europe (Csepel)

Rogers Schools first school started its work in 1990, in Budapest

Freinet Schools forerunner of Hungarian alternative school movements in the ‘70s first school: end of the 1980s

Waldorf: „I experience what others just read, learn and are tested on”

kindergartens 12-year-long curriculum in

schools extra year for GCSE

Montessori: „help me do it on my own”

kindergartens 6-year-long

primary schools 6-year-long

secondary education with GCSE

Rogers: „acquiring knowledge is not a must but a source of satisfaction”

kindergartens primary and secondary education

Freinet: „educate to life through living life and work – being close to nature”

kindergartens

primary and secondary education

Today:

from Montessori, Waldorf, Freinet and Rogers, only Waldorf became popular in Hungary

Today there are 40 Waldorf kindergartens 26 Waldorf schools 12 of which have

secondary classes 11 function as primary

classes 3 have only junior classes

2%

98%

Hungarian schools

alter-native schoolstate-ap-proved curricu-lum

Other alternative schools

alternativity appears not only in basic education

there are secondary trade schools and secondary grammar schools that work with alternative methods

Alternative Secondary School of Economics

institutions for special needs and those that support underprivileged children e.g.: Burattino

Pedagogical concepts developed by Hungarians

1945: Kodály’s ideas in public schools

1950: first music primary schools

within the next decade – a 100 more music primary schools opened

Reform of music teaching in Hungary

a world-famous method developed by Zoltán Kodály

used since 1945 in Hungary and later all over the world

1935: long-term project to reform music teaching

new curriculum and teaching methods new musical compositions for children

International success of Kodály’s method

Zsolnai Method – art and science  

1971: József Zsolnai started to work on a new pedagogical methodology system called NYIK (Language, Literature and Communication Programme) for primary schools NYIK has been in the National Curriculum since 1984 (as a program in grades 1-4) affects only teaching reading, writing, grammar and

composition skills and ability development in a complex way it is emphasised WHY we read, write and speak reading comprehension as the starting point of

individual learning verbal activities (pronunciation, reciting, story telling ) authentic materials

József Zsolnai (1935 -12 January 2011)

NYIK ÉKP (Value Transmitting and Ability Development

Program )

concerns not only particular subjects but the whole school

get acquainted with culture as a complex

1995-96: the number of these schools were the highest – 104

it’s 25 in 2009-2010 (6 of which operate as secondary schools )

internationally applied method nowadays

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION

Enjoy your stay

in Hungary!