Educational Integration Measures in Hungary

Dr. Judit Szilágyi

2007, Simferopol

          

                 Parliamentary Commissioner    for the Rights of National and Ethnic Minorities                      of the Republic Hungary

Ombudsmen

3 Commissioner,Parliamentary Commissioner for the Rights of

National and Ethnic Minorities,organ of the Parliament, independent, (accountable exclusively to the

Parliament)main activity is to conduct independent

investigations,acts upon complaints or ex officio.

Minorities in Hungary

historical, traditional presence

in Hungary only „indigenous” minorities are regarded as minorities

13 recognized minorities:Armenian,Bulgarian, Croatian, German,Greek, Polish,Roma, Romanian, Ruthenian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian, Ukrainian

Roma in Hungary

differs in many respects from that of other minorities figures: estimates go from 4-6% to 7-10% (400.000-1

million people),unemployment rate: approx. 40%,live under extremely poor living conditions,segregation,state of health: determined by social status and

poverty,educational qualifications are much lower then those

of the majority population,discrimination.

What should be done?

Hungarian Minority Act: provides cultural and linguistic minority rights, cultural autonomy

BUT: social problems and discrimination!

education and awareness-raising campaigns, tackle discrimination, prejudices and negative attitudes, promote good relations between the minority and the majority society,

general social-policy measures.

Segregation

One third of Roma children are affected of segregation:

selection between schools, segregation based on place of residence, selection within schools,special schools for children with a mental

disability, declaring Roma children as private students.

Reform I.

2002 the Education Ministry launched a program

Target: integrate disadvantaged and Roma pupils, eliminate and prevent school segregation,

discrimination, and in connection spread modern teaching methods

Changes:political, legal, financing and teaching methodology

Reform II.

Two new educational programs:skills development and integration preparation,

for which extra support in the form of supplementary grants was awarded,

and an institution offering professional assistance to modernize teaching methodology was also established (National Education Integration Network and Development Centre),

a new sphere of financial support for educational integration was also introduced: there were new application possibilities, and new scholarships.

Our investigation

ex officio, own-initiative investigation,already four comprehensive surveys in in the field of

education,2006: concerning the effectiveness of educational

integration measures,consisted of several phases: forum; in depth

interviews; conference; visited almost 30 schools and the local governments as maintainers

Target group

„multiply disadvantaged children”,= the use of social indicators and not ethnic

origin,diverse problems with ethnic data,suited to reach the real target group

Target schools

in Hungary only in elementary schools,needs to be extended to:

nurseries,secondary schools,schools not maintained by municipalities

the importance of catchments areas.

Educational integration measures

two new educational forms:skills developmentintegration preparation

heterogeneous class,additional grant from the central budget,obligation: integration strategy, pre-school

preparation, develop cooperation and partnership relations and apply numerous elements of a set of tools assisting teaching and learning.

Modern pedagogical methods

frontal teaching is not suitable,innovative pedagogical programme:

(cooperative learning, the project method and drama-pedagogical elements, etc.)

basic teacher training?

Multicultural elements

introduction of multicultural elements into the syllabus and teacher training is a basic condition of changing attitudes and avoiding “cold integration”,

Hungary: „every pupil has to become familiar with the cultures of minorities”,

Roma minority education.

Anti-discrimination trainings

a teacher with personal prejudices who has the appropriate methodological background will create only “cold integration”,

attitude-training courses also in the basic teacher training.

Organisational framework

background institution:

National Educational Integration Network and Development Centre:

„spreading”… and help…

(Roma) teaching assistants

Case study /Körösszakál/

Hungarian, Roma, Rumanian,a lot of failed initiatives,„inventing” the SCHOOL,new methods,„multiply disadvantaged children should be in the

school all day”,help by learning and entertainment,sport,educational integration affecting the whole village

„Recipe” of educational integration

a coherent governmental program,commitment and activity from the side of the

maintainer and from the school,methodological and attitude trainings, time,effective evaluation and monitoring mechanisms.

Thank You for your attention

Dr. Judit Szilágyiszilagyijudit@obh.hu