10 EUROPEAN EDUCATION

European Education, vol. 34, no. 4, Winter 2002–3, pp. 10–33.

© 2003 M.E. Sharpe, Inc. All rights reserved.
ISSN 1056–4934/2003 $9.50 + 0.00.

TAMÁS KOZMA

Transformation of Education
Systems: The Case of Hungary

Central and Eastern Europe ceased to belong to the Soviet sphere of

interest in 1994, and returned to the historic roots retained during the
period of Soviet influence.
The united and compulsory basic and lower secondary school was
organized under the Soviet influence after World War II, although the
new system appeared to be unified only on the surface and in declara-
tions. Empirical research occurred only after the political system began
to lose its stability in the 1970s, and even then not everywhere, espe-
cially not at the institution level. It would be interesting to compare
basic seven-year schools in Romania or Serbia with eight-year ones in
Hungary or Croatia, especially if the study examined basic schools re-
structured from former lower gymnasiums, representing a generalizing
of the system of lower gymnasiums, or higher elementary schools, rep-
resenting a lengthening of elementary public education. Differences
between education systems in distant areas of the region (e.g., Bulgaria
and Czechoslovakia) were even greater. In the former case it was pos-
sible to continue vocational training after six years of basic education
even in the 1980s, in the latter case nine years of basic education be-

English translation © 2003 by M.E. Sharpe, Inc. “Az oktatás átalakulása:

Magyarország és Közép Kelet Európa esete. Atalakulás: társadalmi és történelmi
kihavás.” Paper prepared for the international symposium “Transformation of Edu-
cational Systems in Comparative Perspective,” DIPF [German Institute for Interna-
tional Educational Research], Berlin, 24–26 January 2002, with the contributions of
Imre Radácsi and Magdolna Rébay.
Tamás Kozma is a professor at the University of Debrecen, Hungary.
Translated by Gabriella Zsigovits and Leslie English.

10
 WINTER 2002–3 11

came compulsory. Diverse territorial conditions led to tremendous dif-

ferences, as could be seen in the backwardness of the network of institu-
tions in the Balkans in the 1970–80s, while in Central Europe this network
fitted in the municipalities and new centers of industry.
The international tendency of the expansion of secondary education
reached developed areas of the region in the 1960s; overall educational
reforms of the region date from then. Such reforms were not really
launched in countries that inherited firm and traditional secondary
schools; they resisted the pressure of the party, international unity of
action, or the demands of experts. The clamor for a ten-year “upper
polytechnical school,” which was regarded as a Soviet pattern, led to its
creation only in the German Democratic Republic. A new type of sec-
ondary school (secondary technical) was added to the system. In these
areas of the region, the education policy satisfied the increasing demand
for secondary schools by developing the system of vocational training
instead of opening more secondary schools. This was the universal trend
in socialist countries at the time, but the combination of secondary edu-
cation and vocational training was created only in this area of the re-
gion. This factor widened the basis for continuing studies in colleges
and led to an expanded need for higher education.
In countries where the tradition of secondary education was weaker,
legislating the education system to have ten compulsory years was easy
and rapid, as it meant restructuring and reorganizing traditional institu-
tions; in some countries, it induced development of schooling. Never-
theless, in most places this acted as a new filtering device between the
tenth grade and the preparatory years before higher education. Tradi-
tional centers of secondary education, which were already accepted by
local society, were dissolved or reorganized into two-year vocational
training and as a consequence lost their reputation. As 1990, the year of
change, approached, this restructuring was described as a failure in Po-
land, Romania, and in some states of Yugoslavia, and they tried to return
to the abandoned (French) pattern of secondary education.
Thus, restructuring has been one reason that the expansion of sec-
ondary education is reaching countries on the periphery of this region
only now, thirty or fifty years later than in the developed regions of
Europe. As secondary school is selective and academic, the real need
for higher education is even weaker. The spectacular rise of needs at the
beginning of the 1990s can be described as temporary and can be ex-
plained by the sudden release from political pressure (e.g., Bulgaria,
12 EUROPEAN EDUCATION

Romania). The network of higher education at hand cannot fulfill the

needs of extended continuation of studies. The lack of tertiary voca-
tional training is typical of the network of institutions, except for Hun-
gary in the 1970s; instead, a network of so-called “specialized
universities” came into being. This network comprises, more or less,
developed areas in the region, so higher education is accessible to wider
groups of local society. This could be a way of making higher education
in central Eastern Europe democratic. However, specialized universities
are specialized on the national or sometimes regional level, which means
that they cannot necessarily meet the needs for higher education in par-
ticular areas in their present form.
These factors contribute to the fact that the needs for higher educa-
tion are still stagnant in this region of Europe; if they suddenly rose, it
would cause inextricable difficulties in the present network. Recogni-
tion of this situation supports the pursuit of regional higher education
policies and the political slogans about privatizing higher education in
the 1990s. However, it is highly improbable that the problem could be
solved this way. Higher education in the region is ahead of overall
reform processes that would widen the network and the narrow field
of specialization. It is difficult to reform and expand higher education
under conditions of an economy that is falling apart and awaiting re-
structuring. This process can be launched in this region only when
economic prosperity occurs and countries of the region catch up with
the European Union.

The school system in transition

Basic-school provisions

The most important basic institutions are the primary schools. In the
long run, we develop cultural basic provision by developing primary
education. Organizing educational activities imply different tasks de-
pending on the type of settlement. More than 50 percent of primary-
school children live in towns in some counties; in other counties (e.g., in
Bács-Kiskun, Békés, and Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén), the number of schools
in villages is one and a half times larger than the number of schools in
towns. It means, from the viewpoint of development, that development
concentrated on towns may influence only the minority of children in
some areas. The equipment of schools differs according to the area. In
 WINTER 2002–3 13

towns, the number of teachers who graduated from teaching institutes is

higher than the number without teaching diplomas. Schools in small
villages, however, have fewer pupils per teacher than in town schools,
which show large differences in the ratio of students to teachers. The
need for supplies in village schools is much greater than in towns. We
have to take into consideration the potentialities of the settlement and its
role in a particular area when we organize complex (integrated) cultural
institutions. This process will be supported by a more unified and flex-
ible training system for class teachers or specialized teachers. One con-
dition that will aid students’ further learning, moving on in the educational
system, is teachers’ more flexible movement among levels of education.

Secondary-school provisions

There have been different ideas (models) in connection with the devel-
opment of secondary education. These ideas presupposed different levels
of economy, society, and culture and tried to solve the associated prob-
lems. These differences can be found simultaneously and side by side in
regions of the country. Considering that regions develop differently, the
following variants are suggested: more intensive coordination of exist-
ing educational, vocational training, and cultural institutions; building
vocational-training centers; building and developing cultural urban cen-
ters; developing so-called “common” secondary schools; integrating the
pedagogical and vocational-training programs of a gymnasium, a voca-
tional secondary school, and/or a vocational school (preserving institu-
tional independence); integrating horizontally the social and cultural basic
provision, building and maintaining cultural areas.

Higher-education provisions

Expansion of higher education is possible if the system of institutions is

expanded as well. The expansion may break the system of institutions
into smaller pieces. The demands of structural development and effec-
tiveness can be aligned if the existing and planned institutions are inte-
grated in bigger structural units. The institution that can provide for the
needs of a region is an existing or planned “regional university.” Higher-
education policies are the following: forms of further education between
existing institutions of secondary and higher education are in the center
of development in the long run; the system of institutions is centered
14 EUROPEAN EDUCATION

around a regional university; the university is developed as a multifunc-

tional institution, quantitative or polycentric development of the exist-
ing intellectual center.
Problems can be caused not only by a system that is broken into smaller
parts, but by the need of the necessary intellectual background. We can
develop intellectual centers if we can rely on the wider potential of a
region. To use intellectual potential more effectively, we need to build
up an almost complete structure of education in every area and maintain
medium-size and smaller institutions.

The basic structure of Hungarian education was easy to

survey before 1990

The traditional structure started to change after 1990. Possible variants

are the following.

8+4 basic structure with four-year secondary school

Four-year secondary schools (grammar schools and secondary techni-

cal schools) involve upper secondary education compared with interna-
tional standards. They are incomplete formations from the historic point
of view. We can see similar incomplete formations, though with differ-
ent grades, in the Scandinavian countries. Four-year secondary schools
are the direct results of the organization of general education schools.
The organization of general education schools was supported by profes-
sional and political reasons. Expanding and standardizing secondary
education seemed to be a professional reason, while the devaluing of
elite gymnasiums was a political reason. The structuring of general edu-
cation schools was not an organic process (e.g., expanding higher el-
ementary public schools, which are the majority in grades five through
eight, and combining elementary public schools in education districts).
An important aspect was to organize, possibly in every settlement, grades
five through eight, which corresponded to lower secondary school. The
educational administration at the time insisted on organizing all of them
within one building, in one standardized system. It does not seem rea-
sonable to maintain general education schools without any changes af-
ter forty years. The goal was to develop an integrated education system.
Obviously, lower and upper grades can be organized independently from
each other. Thus, the 8+4 structure can be considered 4+4+4 as well.
 WINTER 2002–3 15

10+2 basic structure with two-year additional training

A basic structural problem of public education is that compulsory edu-

cation until the age of sixteen, which matches European standards, does
not have the necessary organizational framework and legal guarantees.
The system is so deficient in this respect and the legal controls so con-
troversial that leaving primary school at the normal time, the age of
fourteen, constitutes compulsory education. Rural primary schools are
threatened by further “centralization” (whatever name it will be given in
the future), since the number of students decreased after the demographic
boom. A way of “escaping ahead” is keeping in school the fourteen- to
sixteen-year-olds who will not go on to secondary school. Increasing
primary school to ten years, which is preferable in areas with scattered
settlements, could slow the reduction of the network while fulfilling the
requirement of compulsory education until sixteen years of age. Where
possible, a lengthened primary school could take over compulsory sub-
jects from vocational training schools, which are close to a crisis, could
offer vocational training, or could prepare for secondary grammar school.

4+8 basic structure with eight-year secondary school

The idea of eight-year grammar schools began in 1988–89. Some of its

concepts present a real alternative to existing grammar schools. Eight
grades are easy to arrange by dividing the present primary school. In
this case the upper grades are to be joined (again) with a “mother school.”
It should be mentioned that this version was included in the 1961 re-
form—schools with twelve grades—some of which operated almost until
the present. Eight-grade grammar schools require restructuring inde-
pendent four-grade elementary schools. This part of the concept is the
easiest to realize and agrees with the educational policy that would like
to (because it could) supply local authorities with institutions of fewer
grades (and fewer students).

6+6 basic structure with six-year secondary schools

Secondary schools with six grades do not have such a long tradition.
This idea appeared first in the educational policies of programs of new
parties after the downfall of communism in 1989–90. There are similar
schools in the Scandinavian countries, where the three-grade structure
16 EUROPEAN EDUCATION

of the French education system was adopted, rather than the four-grade
German–Austrian type. The six-grade secondary school presupposes a
six-grade basic school. This concept is supported by the psychological
reasoning that the age limit of elementary education should be raised by
two years so that children can catch up. At the same time, at around
twelve years of age there are psychological processes in the child’s de-
velopment that make changing schools necessary and possible. These
arguments are supported by the inner differentiation of the current
primary-school bureaucracy. It is definitely easier to organize six grades
than eight grades in each area of settlements; this model is easier to
handle than that of 8+4 or 10+2 from the viewpoint of organization.
Another positive element of this idea is that the aims and methods of
basic schoolteacher training would not be divided, as it is today. There
are heavy arguments against this model, as well, because it could lead to
reconstructing an old and outdated structure: the elementary public school
and upper-grade schools.
The models discussed concentrate on gymnasiums, where 30 per-
cent of secondary school students go. A similar type of structure change
occurs with vocational schools, the majority of secondary schools. The
“movement” of an alternative grade structure can be viewed as the
need of gymnasiums to find their place. The question is how certifi-
cates from different types of gymnasium can be validated in other types
of secondary schools. There is also the problem of inner equivalence.
How it is possible to change one type of gymnasium to another? We
can expect that a unified overall structure will be formulated in the
next few years, and existing variants may be authorized as possible
alternatives.

The school content in transition

The National Core Curriculum

The 1993 Law on Public Education superseded central curricula docu-

ments. The National Core Curriculum was accepted in the autumn of
1993. It prescribes unified requirements for all types of school until
tenth grade. There is a huge social interest in the development of two
areas, languages and computer science. Because the demand for these
subjects is growing as a consequence of globalization at the turn of the
millennium, there is an emphasis on them in the curricula.
 WINTER 2002–3 17

Unfortunately, knowledge of foreign languages among adults is rather

poor: only 32 percent of those older than fourteen spoke any foreign
language in 1994. Most spoke German, followed by English, Russian,
and French. For the sake of comparison, in Austria 69 percent of people
above the age of fifteen spoke some foreign language. The number of
language learners grew in Hungary in the 1996–97 academic year.
The National Core Curriculum is flexible concerning languages. It is
uncertain how many language classes are scheduled in a given school
after preparing the local curriculum and pedagogical program, or after
the agreement between local/municipal government and the school.
Compulsory language learning now starts in the fourth grade, but on the
basis of the National Core Curriculum it would start in fifth grade, which
means the number of language learners in elementary school would de-
crease. The other important area to develop is computer science. It en-
hances the modernization of aspects of public education such as
administration, as well as development of the information network and
the context of public education. The success of the teaching and devel-
opment programs of computer science depends on the teachers and other
agents of education who recognize the possibilities offered by informa-
tion technology.
Regulation leaves ample room for schools to adjust their local cur-
ricula to the knowledge and capacity of their students. The National
Institution of Public Education developed the data bank of curricula start-
ing in late 1996. Schools had to begin preparing their local curricula in
early 1997. The information network of institutions of public education
was built while the supply of curricula was developed. Schools were
supported by the budget through the preparation of local curricula and
in-service training for teachers.
The new National Core Curriculum was launched in the beginning
of 1997. The 1996 Law for Public Education provides for its compul-
sory introduction starting in 1998. From that date on, schools have to
teach according to their local curriculum and pedagogical program
that is compatible with the National Core Curriculum. The success of
the introduction of the National Core Curriculum depends on the
schools that are able to prepare their local curriculum with the neces-
sary quality and on time. According to a 1997 survey, 8 percent of
schools had completed the pedagogical program, and 8 percent could
not manage this task at all; 10 percent had a local curriculum, 16 per-
cent had not even started to prepare it, 23 percent were planning to buy
18 EUROPEAN EDUCATION

a curriculum from the data bank, and 84 percent were still preparing the
local curriculum.

Textbooks

According to the ratio of inflation between 1996 and 1997, the average
price of books increased 22 percent. Every school decides which text-
books to choose, so we can only estimate how much it costs for the
family. This estimate was between 4,000 and 12,000 Forints (Ft) in the
1997–98 academic year. A new practice has come into being at some
schools: families pay in monthly instalments; parents are not involved
in choosing appropriate and sometimes more expensive textbooks. Teach-
ers consider this decision to be part of their expertise and professional
autonomy. Family expenses in buying textbooks are supported through
the budget but the subsidy does not keep up with the rising costs.
This kind of aid was unified at all levels of public education (860Ft/
person) in 1994, but it was differentiated in 1997; it was decreased in
secondary schools at the real value (1.140Ft/person) and in primary
schools at the nominal value (760Ft/person). The result is that families
cover an increasingly larger part of expenses while the state covers less
and less. The normative aid was out of step with inflation; the group of
solvent parents became smaller under the influence of the Bokros pack-
age, and this group became resigned to paying more and more. A typical
form of social aid offered by local authorities is assistance given to the
poorest families to buy textbooks, in addition to paying for school meals.
Since 1993, textbook publishers whose books are on the list of ap-
proved textbooks are given some credit with a state guarantee to pur-
chase a certain number of books. This regulation helps publishers who
are successful professionally but cannot invest the necessary capital.
The Ministry of Education prefers textbooks that can be used for several
years in order to justify expenses. This initiative is not successful with
parents and children because they do not like to use second-hand books.
It is more popular to have a student use one approved textbook for sev-
eral years. The pedagogical institutes of the counties help teachers get
acquainted with the new books from the very large range of those avail-
able. Also, professional organizations have an important role in text-
book selection, primary among which is the National Union of Textbook
Publishers, which organizes exhibitions and conferences.
The flourishing of the market of educational materials has come late.
 WINTER 2002–3 19

National production is hindered by the need for capital, and imports are
blocked by the fear of competition. The role of the state, especially bud-
get support, cannot be seen yet. International examples show that devel-
oping and marketing the most expensive educational materials such as
educational videos, educational software, or CD is impossible without
some kind of state support. The 1996 Law on Public Education stipu-
lates that the minister of education publish the list of educational mate-
rial that must be obtained. The new list of educational materials is
compatible with the National Core Curriculum and covers a wide range
of educational materials; it includes not concrete materials but rather
educational tasks. Teachers’ unions, parents’ and students’ organizations
and local authorities were consulted when the list was compiled. In the
opinion of experts the functional list informs producers and traders about
the demand, thus giving it a marketing function. At the same time, the
list of educational materials must be published for the teachers, schools,
and users every year.

Examinations

The other important element of the contextual regulation is the change

of the system of examinations. The 1993 Law on Public Education in-
troduced an examination, called the basic examination, which can be
passed after the tenth grade, in both primary and secondary schools.
Detailed regulation was elaborated after the National Core Curriculum
was instated in June 1997. The maturity examination was passed in large
numbers in the mid-1990s and as a result of the expansion of secondary
education it will be general in the future. This tendency is strengthened
by the expansion of education after the secondary level and the need for
maturity examination in vocational training. Now the role, content, and
function of the maturity examination are questioned.
The maturity examination covers three areas: (1) education and in-
struction in the eleventh and twelfth grades of gymnasium and voca-
tional secondary school; (2) compulsory subjects; (3) elective subjects.
The examination has general education and advanced levels; applicants
have to pass in at least five subjects at the general education level, and
one subject may be chosen by the applicant. Compulsory examination
subjects are Hungarian language and literature, history, mathematics,
and foreign language. Any subject that is not involved in compulsory
subjects or any subject accredited in the local curriculum is optional.
20 EUROPEAN EDUCATION

The measures referring to the materials of examination decide the parts

of examination (oral, written, and practice). The aim of the examination
is to assess academic knowledge and the needed problem-solving skills.
Basic examination of education is a new element of the Hungarian
system of education. It is an examination that must be held nationally,
according to the requirements of the National Core Curriculum. Stu-
dents can sit for this examination after completing the tenth grade; the
certificate of the basic examination entitles them to join forms of voca-
tional training approved by law or to take certain jobs. The material
included can be any cultural area of the National Core Curriculum. Com-
pulsory groups of subjects are (1) foreign language or information tech-
nology; (2) biology and health education, physics, environmental studies,
chemistry; (3) social studies, music, media studies, dance and drama,
polytechnical studies, household practice, physical education, sports,
and visual education.

The teaching profession in transition

Teachers as a group

Teachers as a social group can be characterized by the following. The

number of the intellectuals was rapidly growing in the past fifty years,
and the number of teachers was growing even more quickly in this group.
In 1930, the number of people with diplomas in Hungary was 87,000.
This number grew to 176,000 in 1960, and the census shows 489,000 in
1980. Of these, 18 percent were teachers fifty years ago, 29 percent twenty
years ago, and today 37 percent. The facts show that teachers comprise
the most numerous group in Hungary among intellectuals. The propor-
tion of other sizable professions is small in comparison: technical intel-
lectuals comprise fewer than 30 percent, agricultural intellec-
tuals fewer than 20 percent, and other groups of intellectuals are under 10
percent. The teaching profession is feminized, although it used to be a
typical choice for women, as can be seen if we compare it with other
professional careers. Fifty years ago, 42 percent of teachers were women,
and in 1980, 64 percent. In 1930, only every tenth person with a diploma
was a woman, in 1949 seventeen out of one hundred, in 1970 thirty-one,
and according to the census, in 1980, forty-one. In fact, Hungarian intel-
lectuals became feminized more rapidly than the teaching profession.
Teachers as a whole are younger than Hungarian intellectuals in gen-
 WINTER 2002–3 21

eral. The proportion of people over age sixty is 10 percent among intel-
lectuals in general, but this proportion is only 7 percent among teachers.
The proportion of people over fifty is nearly 25 percent in general among
people with diplomas, but only 10 percent among teachers; 61 percent
of teachers are under forty, but only 57 percent among intellectuals.
Because young women predominate among teachers, there is compara-
tively more absence due to maternity leave. A recent survey showed that
every tenth teacher was absent from work because they were on mater-
nity leave, especially elementary teachers (15 percent) and nursery-school
teachers (16 percent). Rural intellectuals living in towns determine
teacher society; 40 percent of intellectuals work in the capital, but only
30 percent of teachers do; 20 percent of intellectuals work in villages,
where the proportion of teachers is 30 percent; 70 percent of teachers
live and work in the rural areas.
The educational level of teachers has grown rapidly in the past fifty
years. Secondary education was typical of teachers around 1930 (sec-
ondary teacher-training institutions), but the majority of teachers have a
diploma. A certificate of secondary education means “not trained.” The
transformation of the Hungarian teacher society is the result of a histori-
cal process, but fundamental changes occurred in the past ten to fifteen
years. Great numbers of students graduated from higher education and
appeared in the schools in this period, including growing numbers of
women. The effects of structural changes among teacher society can be
expected from now on.

The teaching profession

A teaching career has a great advantage over other professions, as far as

its publicity and the work itself. If there is a workplace that everybody
gets to know in childhood, it is school. If there is a profession that strongly
attracts one, it is the profession of one’s teacher.
Statistics of entrance examinations show that children of blue-collar
workers are more numerous among student teachers than among stu-
dents at other institutions of higher education. The teaching profession
lost a lot of prestige in society, but teacher-training institutions do not
have enrollment problems. Statistics from the end of the nineteenth cen-
tury show that the profession of a (secondary) teacher was more open to
the children of nonintellectuals than other intellectual careers in that
historical situation. We can suppose that the social force that motivated
22 EUROPEAN EDUCATION

young people to join the teaching profession was upward social mobil-
ity, and this is still the case.
Even today, those who choose a teaching career consistently adhere
to their choice. The majority of young women want to stay in their job;
but nearly half of the students in college are thinking about leaving the
profession. Relevant statistics indicate that primary-school teachers,
especially twenty-year-olds, are least likely to leave their job. Teachers
at vocational-training schools leave their job most often. As we can ex-
pect, this is more typical of men than of women. Outsiders may think
that teaching as a job has fewer restrictions, that there is more free time;
teachers do not think so. They feel that time utilization is wasteful, and
they are not expected to do what they can do best and what they like
most. Teachers—a group of intellectuals that is numerous and influen-
tial—feel they are on the periphery of public life, and, what is more, of
educational practice.

Professional interests

Teachers’ jobs seem easily substituted by other teachers. Teachers try to

change this situation in different ways. A teacher can assert his interests
as an employee, he can even refuse work—a preferred method in Hun-
gary nowadays, although few teachers do so. Teachers’ poor political
clout is not the only reason; they have been brought up to be loyal so
that they will bring up loyal students. While they can refuse to partici-
pate in activities, in very few cases would this present a real threat to the
operation of the school. Teachers try to realize their knowledge in the
market outside school, particularly in popular subjects such as languages,
sciences, physical education, and some arts subjects. But only great num-
bers of teachers in vocational training can expect to make a living from
teaching as a business.
If teachers want to assert their professional and scientific interests,
they have to keep together. There are teacher unions (teacher chambers)
again, but it is not clear yet for whom and against whom. They should
represent the professional standpoint of the teacher society in opposi-
tion to governmental plans, and, above all, suggest and elaborate a na-
tional system of requirements and examinations. A national system of
examinations would be the most important self-defense weapon of a
professionally organized teacher society. The teachers’ chambers, if they
were strong enough, could prescribe whom they want to take and with
 WINTER 2002–3 23

what qualification. Furthermore, there are examples in the world that

could help teachers to prepare for the qualifying examination that meet
the requirements of the chambers.

Educational policy in transition

School administration

There are four levels of educational administration: (1) central or gov-

ernmental level; (2) territorial or regional level; (3) local level; (4) insti-
tutional level. The main characteristic of the Hungarian educational
system is that decision making is possible at the school or local level,
but it is not necessarily so at the regional level. Supervision is regulated
at the national and regional levels by the minister, at the territorial level
by the county authority, at the local level by the local authority, at the
institution level by local interest groups, amd at the teachers’ level by
the head of the institution.
Sectoral responsibility in public education rests with the minister
of education. The law defines three types of responsibility: (1) direct
administration; (2) regulation; (3) development. The 1996 Law on Pub-
lic Education widened the minister’s responsibility with further educa-
tion of teachers and heads of institutions, preparing county development
projects, organizing a students’ parliament, and assessing and evaluat-
ing public education. The role of the social partners is more important in
the administration of systems of public education. The National Coun-
cil of Public Education coordinates partners interested in the contents of
public education (regulation of syllabuses, textbooks, educational ma-
terials, system of examinations, teacher training). These partners are
teachers’ professional organizations, teacher-training colleges and uni-
versities, the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and the minister’s direct
representatives. This Council initiated a national maturity examination
board and the national in-service teacher-training accreditation board.
The Council of Public Education Policies is the minister’s advisory or-
ganization that prepares decisions and formulates opinion and recom-
mendations. It involves national professional, social, and governmental
partners, such as teachers’ professional organizations, teachers’ trade
unions, parents’ organizations, students’ organizations, local authorities,
minority authorities, interest groups independent of the government or
local authorities, and ministries interested in education.
24 EUROPEAN EDUCATION

The national administration of education is supported by national in-

stitutions of improvement, services, and research. The ministry of edu-
cation controls the Hungarian Institution of Educational Research, the
National Institution of Public Education, and the National Bureau of
Services for Public Education. The registration and statistics of public
education has been in a state of constant change for years. County of-
fices of the Central Statistical Office took over the task of collecting the
statistical data of public education from county cultural departments
after 1990. The responsibility for collecting data is shared by the Cen-
tral Statistical Office and the Ministry of Education. The Ministry of
Education made a one-time data collection for the first time in 1995.
Data showing the processes of public education can be found in differ-
ent data collections. An authentic register of institutions is missing, which
contains the most important data of the institutions of public education.
In the past few years an information network of public education was
developed, with the task of creating information services (e.g., a data
base of patterns for local curricula).
Any institution can offer pedagogical professional services, but the
1996 Law on Public Education stipulates that this falls under the aegis
of county authorities. County pedagogical institutions cooperate in these
tasks; there are central institutions of research and improvement, and
the role of private enterprises is more important. Institutions of public
education, local/municipal governments, teachers, students, and local
authorities are among those that may need these services, which can
include assessment, counseling in teaching subjects, counseling for in-
stitutions, services for public administration, tasks in documentation and
information, in-service training, and participation in research.
Taking responsibility for public education is a task for local commu-
nities and authorities in Hungary; the responsibility for supply is not
connected with the obligation of plant maintenance. Local authorities
have the right to decide how they want to provide for the public educa-
tion of their inhabitants. The only restriction is that local authorities
have to take into consideration the county’s development projects for
public education. The quality of local administration of public educa-
tion is the most important strategic issue of national educational policy.
It is very difficult to establish the necessary expertise to perform tasks
of educational administration for most local authorities, and coopera-
tion is most important.
In the past few years, the responsibility of regional, county levels of
 WINTER 2002–3 25

administration was growing. The 1996 Law on Public Education im-

posed the responsibility of planning on county authorities, which means
that they must make a plan for performing necessary tasks to maintain
and develop institutions, and this should be done in cooperation with
local/municipal governments.
There were no important changes in the administration of institu-
tions; the independence of institutions is still important. The most im-
portant challenges for institutions are the decreasing number of children,
budget restrictions, and the preparation of a local educational program
that is compatible with the National Core Curriculum. In the educa-
tional systems, where decision making at the institution level is impor-
tant, the quality of institutional management is a key issue.

School maintenance

The state monopoly of maintaining schools was ended in 1990. The

Law on Local Administration stipulates that local authorities create the
necessary conditions for compulsory education, either by maintaining
public institutions or by contributing to the maintenance of private insti-
tutions for children of local families. Now local authorities maintain
more than 90 percent of institutions of public education, and churches,
foundations, or other interest groups maintain the rest.
In the 1995–96 academic year, 4.5 percent of the total number of
educational institutions were owned by churches or privately. There
was hardly any demand for religious and private schools; the well-to-
do living in towns needed private schools and in rural areas religious
schools were more common. More than 60 percent of religious schools
belong to the Catholic Church, 20 percent are Calvinist, 10 percent
Lutheran, and 1 percent Jewish. Catholic schools are maintained by
the diocesan Catholic educational authorities; local religious organi-
zations and monastic orders are under its control. Twenty-three mo-
nastic orders deal with education in Hungary at the present time.
Calvinist schools are maintained by the diocese and Calvinist organi-
zations under the control of the Synod Office of the Hungarian Cal-
vinist Church. Lutheran schools are maintained by the diocese and the
local Lutheran organizations under the control of the National Office
of the Hungarian Lutheran Church.
Private schools or schools of foundations (about 76 percent) belong
26 EUROPEAN EDUCATION

to individual organizations, 15 percent are maintained by private enter-

prises, and 9 percent are maintained by associations. A group of founda-
tion schools belong to a branch of reform education such as Waldorf,
Rogers, or Montessori. Private schools have become more popular, es-
pecially vocational schools, art schools, and nursery schools. Secondary
and vocational education were expanded after World War II; education
as an organization followed the state curriculum guidelines. Absolute
monarchy initiated and organized public education almost everywhere
in Eastern Europe; as it is impossible to organize expanded education
without state financial support, it is thus under state influence. A par-
ticular example of socialization is in so-called socialist countries where
autocratic communist parties socialized churches and their schools. Sev-
eral means of influencing schools were developed, some typical of state
influence, others identical with the means school supporters use in con-
nection with their schools (and teachers).
Increasing state influence brought about various forms of opposition.
The slogan “socialization of schools” hides the ideology of liberating
schools from the influence of the state and substitutes this with the in-
fluence of different interest groups. Neoliberal economists best expressed
the ideology of restricting state influence in education by increasing the
role of the private sector and the market. Restricting the state’s “abso-
lute power” means dividing areas of power in the representative demo-
cracy. According to some, state influence can best be restricted if differ-
ent individuals and organizations maintain schools. When schools (teach-
ers, headmasters, local interest groups, and others) unite and assert their
interests collectively in opposition to the state (administration, control,
legislation, etc.), this restricts state influence.
In the democratic restructuring of public administration (local au-
thorities), schools were taken over by the new interest groups without
reasonable guarantees. Under the Kádár regime, experimenting school
reformers resisted the control of the totalitarian regime.
Advocates of autonomy seem to forget about the fact that the school
is not the property of teachers; it belongs to students and parents as well.
That is why the next step of democratic changes in education was build-
ing up representative democracy instead of school autonomy. School
autonomy is guaranteed by building up interdependencies. If a school
has a problem with its local authority, it can turn to the central adminis-
tration; if it has to defend itself from the bureaucracy of the ministry, it
looks for a new supporter. If the influence of local authority is stronger
 WINTER 2002–3 27

than that of the administration, whether the supporter be a local author-

ity, a church, or a foundation, then a reasonable increase of state influ-
ence would be felt without restricting school autonomy, but would give
them more space to oppose their supporter.

School finance

There were many who understood the reform of education as a reform

of finances. The opinion of this author, in brief, is as follows:
—General education should be maintained by the budget;
—Vocational training should be maintained by the entity for whom it
is profitable (the citizen, organization, or both);
—Higher education must be supported in areas where citizens are
least likely to find employment. Similarly, different financial and edu-
cational support needs to be made for social work, cultural activities,
and leisure-time activities outside of school.
General education is a central task of the state, so it is budgeted cen-
trally. The following financing techniques are used.
Normative financing: the financial support for performing a task is
decided in the budget, and the budget assures this sum to everybody.
(When deciding on the task different priorities can be determined, so
different conditions of schools and teachers can be considered.)
Per-capita financing: the expenses of general education should be
calculated and allocated per child, so the budget will guarantee every
citizen the necessary amount to obtain a general education.
Project financing: Projects and programs are financed rather than in-
stitutions. No amount of money can be attached to teacher tasks and
projects.
Basic education was overloaded with additional programs, such as
school meals, afternoon classes, sports, and leisure activities. These have
a different financing from the general educational budget. Complemen-
tary activities are paid for by citizens. However, the state subsidizes
citizens so they can buy necessary services. Possible forms of support in
Hungary are now:
Tax allowances: The family pays for complementary social and edu-
cational services but the budget balances it with allowances.
Local taxes: The local community can finance the complementary
services of schools and nursery schools from local funds.
Foundations: People may pay here according to their level of income,
28 EUROPEAN EDUCATION

and the budget may support them directly or indirectly.

Income supplementation: For example, the employer may supplement
a family’s income to allow them to pay for educational services.
Assignment: Local authorities finance the “buyer,” not the services.
To ensure that money is used only for education, funds are assigned and
parents (children) can pay the school with these funds. Institutions re-
ceive funding in proportion to the service provided.

The transition process: prospects and dilemmas

Expansion in higher education

The expansion of higher education means that more and more secondary-
school graduates seek the possibilities of further education, training, and
progress. In the past, 10 to 15 percent of eighteen- to twenty-three-year-
olds in a given country continued studies in higher education. Today this
rate is around 40 percent, and continued increase seems inevitable in al-
most all European countries. Those who expected the increase to peak
at about 35 to 40 percent must be surprised, as were decision makers
who expected a comparable level of secondary-school graduates in the
mid-1970s. People produced a strikingly different result. The expansion
of higher education cannot be hindered, and this expansion entails an
intensive integration of the educational system. This is reflected in their
names as well: once aristocratic and restrictive universities were men-
tioned first in higher education statistics, and now they are included in
tertiary education.
Expansion of education will not stop at “conquering” the third stage
of education. As there has not been a new formal stage of educational
systems in general, they will create a fourth stage, adult education.

Adult education

Adult education received new emphasis in international understanding

in the 1990s. This change of emphasis is symbolized in the Report of the
Delors Committee in 1998, but signs of new tendencies could be de-
tected in the previous decade. Comparing this period with the 1970s, it
can be argued that everything that was already known in 1960–70 has
been rediscovered, with a different emphasis and orientation.
The expansion of higher education does not necessarily take place
 WINTER 2002–3 29

through the expansion of traditional institutions. The majority do not

flock to universities in the most developed regions of the Atlantic area
(at least not yet), choosing instead postsecondary or postcompulsory
forms of education. These different forms gradually become identical,
as long as secondary education becomes general and compulsory. The
two trends—the expansion of nontraditional institutions of higher edu-
cation and the transition of adult education into lifelong learning—
actually follow the same route. The “fourth stage” is expected to develop
after the third stage of education, which is not traditional either.

New migration

If social security and safety covers everyone, and the elderly are sup-
ported primarily by the contributions of the young, and the proportion
of the elderly and the young are imbalanced in European societies, how
it is possible to assure, at the present level, social security and relatively
equal opportunities of different age groups? According to recent
UNESCO demographic forecasts, Europe would need 100–150 million
new immigrants.
How will the expansion of education change in Hungary if there is a
huge wave of immigrants, or if Hungary has to rely on these immi-
grants? Might a better-developed immigration policy expand the fourth
stage further? Naturally, not only children come as immigrants, but first
of all young people who are active economically, and who must become
acquainted with the economic, political, and cultural situation. In such a
case the need for the fourth stage of education will increase not only
because the population’s level of education is higher, but, even more
important, because their educational background is wholly or partially
inadequate with requirements here. If it holds true that the numbers of
migrants increase, then there will be a growing and more intensive so-
cial demand for the fourth stage of education and a corresponding change
in educational policy.

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