Education in Hungary 2000

Chapter 1 - The Socio-economic Environment of Education

1.1 The Country and the People

Hungary is located in East Central Europe. Its neighbours are Austria, Croatia, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine and Yugoslavia. Two-thirds of its territory are flatlands, below 200 meters of elevation. Ninety percent of its water resources come from outside the country, the two main rivers being the Danube and the Tisza. The largest lake of Central Europe, the Balaton, can also be found here. Hungary is a relatively small country, the population and the size of the country are very similar to those of Portugal or Austria. 10.2 million people (1.5% of the population of Europe) live on 93 030 km2 (0.9% of the territory of Europe). The population of Hungary has been decreasing since the 1980s. The density of population is on average 110 people per square kilometre. Urbanisation is accelerating: 62.2% of the population live in 196 towns (1994 data) and almost one-third of town-dwellers live in Budapest. The capital is a city of 2.1 million inhabitants. Ninety-six per cent of the population are Hungarian, the largest minorities in Hungary being Gypsies, Germans, Croats, Slovaks and Romanians.

Hungary is a parliamentary democracy with a multiparty government system. After the communist era, the first freely elected government in 1990 was a coalition of parties characterised by a Christian Democratic spirit. In 1994, the Hungarian Socialist Party obtained the majority of votes and formed a coalition government with the largest liberal party in Hungary, the Alliance of Free Democrats. After the elections of 1998 a centre-right wing government was formed by the Fidesz - the Hungarian Civic Party. Hungary is a republic. Officially speaking, the head of state is the President of the Republic who is elected by the Parliament. In effect, he possesses little political power. Real executive power is exercised by the Prime Minister, who is always nominated by the most powerful party in the Parliament. The Constitutional Court, established in 1990, also retains relatively great influence in political life.

The system of public administration is fairly decentralised. The elected bodies of local municipalities of villages and towns enjoy considerable political and financial independence. The country is divided into 19 counties and Budapest, the capital. There are locally and directly elected governing bodies at county level, but they hardly have any disposition over major resources, their importance and responsibilities being reduced since the change of regime in 1990.

1.2 The Major Factors Determining Changes in the 1990s

Changes in the Hungarian public education in the 1990s can essentially be linked to two factors; on one hand, to the changing global and external political and socio-economical environment and to changes within the educational system on the other.

Challenges within Hungary

Similarly to other countries in the East-Central European region, Hungary experienced dramatic changes in the political and socio-economic environment of public education. The most traumatic phase of these changes had taken place by end of the 1990s.

The economic transformation was paralleled by social changes on a similar scale: a part of the society became well-to-do capital owners, while other groups found themselves in a disadvantaged position. The gap between rich and poor regions and communities has increased. The number of inactive people driven out of the labour market has multiplied and social integration has become more difficult for certain minority groups, primarily Gypsies. Social changes incorporate the fact that knowledge and high qualifications are valued more highly by the labour market, the ongoing cultural transformation, a pluralisation of values and an increase in forms of deviant behaviour. An especially significant area is demography. The current major and long-term demographic decrease will have an effect on potential future trends in public education in the next 10-20 years.

Socio-economic changes were accompanied by the total transformation of the political system and the structure of administration. Particularly significant elements include democratic and constitutional structures, the emergence of Hungary’s characteristic multi-party system, an increase in the power of elected bodies at the expense of career officials, the emergence of autonomous local governments and an overall consolidation of civil society. By the end of the decade it has become clear that certain problems of public education cannot be handled within the prevailing administration that was formed at the beginning of the decade.

Global Challenges

Hungary is more and more exposed to the challenges and changes that Europe and the developed world has to face at present, especially to the transformational process known as globalisation, which includes previously unknown forms of fierce economic competition. This has an effect on expectations towards public education.

Direct challenges for education are trends threatening social integration and cohesion, such as long-term unemployment, an increased polarisation of society, an increase in the proportion of peripheral social groups, an increasing cultural and ethnic diversity, conflicts between different cultures and the emergence of media and electronic communication as a determining factor in culture. Traditional school culture and the traditional forms of social regulations at schools have their limits in counteracting the negative effects and consequences of these trends.

As a result, the government’s concept of education has changed radically, a key element being lifelong learning, which induces a major change in the tools of educational policy. The revolutionary development of information and communication technology (ICT) poses quite a challenge. It opens up a new dimension for education but at the same time it threatens traditional institutional structures.

The 1990s have seen spectacular results in the opening up of education. For Hungary the milestones were system-building development programmes through World Bank loans, membership and evaluation surveys in the OECD, as well as participation in educational programmes of the European Union.

1.3 Changes in Regulations

Between 1990 and 1999 there were five new laws or major amendments affecting public education. Following a minor amendment in 1990, the Acts of Parliament determining public education were passed in 1993 (Public Education Act, Vocational Education Act and Higher Education Act). These Acts essentially:

• guarantee basic rights of freedom
• consolidate the principle of shared responsibility and local autonomy
• have opened the way for a vertical transformation of the school system
• have extended the period of general education and postponed the beginning of vocational education (from 14 to 16 years of age)
• have improved the links of vocational education to the economy
• by replacing a former system of central regulation of teaching content, have introduced two-tiered regulation promoting local curricular independence.

The key document regulating the content of teaching, the National Core Curriculum, was passed in 1995. Amendments were passed in 1995 and 1996, improving the original 1993 Act with new elements (including new norms of local responsibilities, a more detailed regulation for evaluation and exams, the responsibilities of curriculum design on the county level and new rights for students). In 1997 the government accepted a new system of secondary school-leaving examination to be phased in gradually by 2004, in which the student is entitled to select the exam level (Ordinary or Advanced). The most recent amendment was passed in 1999, which - leaving the basic system untouched - included a number of changes. The amendment has increased the official responsibilities of the Minister of Education, introduced the concept of frame curriculum and provided a significant role for quality assurance.

Public education is affected by other new acts of Parliament as well. A most important one is the 1990 Local Governments Act, which has significantly transformed responsibilities within public education and resulted in one of the most decentralised educational systems in Europe. The frames of ideologically committed education have been defined (Freedom of Religion and Conscience Act, 1990), ownership relations have been modified (Act on Former Church Property, 1991), the status of teachers have changed (Public Employee Act, 1992) and the system of civil and minority rights concerning education have been altered (Minority Act, 1993).

Public education has been rather influenced by the State Budget Act (1992), the annual budget and - in reference to development and compensation for inequalities - the annual Acts on earmarked subsidies for local governments. In the second part of the nineties public education was also significantly influenced by the Child Protection Act (1997), the Non-profit Organisations Act (1997) and the Local Governments Association Act (1997).

1.4 Demographic Trends

In the past decade the size of age groups have changed in a particularly rapid manner in Hungary, which meant a major problem for the optimal use of educational capacities. While in the early nineties large-sized age groups (particularly at secondary level) posed a problem, by the late nineties the problem became the too few number of children. Since 1993 the age groups have become smaller in primary education as well, and the birth rate has been decreasing ever since (Table 1.1 and Fig. 1.1).

 

Table 1.1    The size of age groups born between 1975 and 1999 on
January 1st, 1999

Year	Size
1975	189 092
1976	177 737
1977	170 587
1978	161 757
1979	154 379
1980	143 587
1981	137 942
1982	129 196
1983	122 981
1984	120 828
1985	126 135
1986	124 218
1987	122 930
1988	121 527
1989	120 784
1990	123 459
1991	124 968
1992	119 733
1993	115 405
1994	114 094
1995	110 695
1996	104 075
1997	99 308
1998	96 467
1999*	94 098

Source: KSH, Hungarian Statistical Yearbook, 1998
* Preliminary estimate

 

Figure 1.1    The size of age groups born between 1975 and 1999 on January 1st, 1999
NB: Data for 1999 is a preliminary estimate
Source: KSH, Hungarian Statistical Yearbook, 1998

While the number of registered live births was 123 000 in 1996, it was merely 94 000 in 1999. Experts forecast further decreases in all age groups in the next few years, which will limit the expansion of secondary and higher education.

Qualifications of the Population

The qualification levels of the Hungarian population has been constantly improving in the past decades, but a characteristic group of the population (approximately one-third) still has primary school qualifications only. The economically active population, on the other hand, shows a much better picture, four-fifths of them have higher than primary school qualifications.

As seen in Fig. 1.2 and Table 1.2, the number of those leaving the educational system shows that education responded to the appearance of larger age groups with a few years’ delay. As a result, the proportion of school leavers with low qualifications have increased. Since the mid-1990s the proportion of those leaving the educational system with secondary or higher qualifications has improved significantly. By the end of the nineties, the proportion of the Hungarian population with secondary or higher qualifications is better than the European Union average. While in 1997 the 31% of the 20-29 age group has no secondary level education, the same figure in Hungary is 22% (Key data on Education in Europe (2000)).

 

Figure 1.2    Highest school qualifications of those leaving the educational system, 1990-1998
Source: KSH, Hungarian Statistical Yearbook, 1990-1998

 

Table 1.2    Highest school qualifications of those leaving the educational system, 1990-1998

	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998
University or college degree	10.6	10.1	9.9	9.3	11.0	13.8	15.3	16.3	17.8
Secondary school leaving exam total sum	18.8	22.2	24.3	30.3	30.4	30.3	30.9	32.2	35.3
General secondary school	4.9	7.5	7.6	9.4	9.3	11.3	11.7	11.7	12.0
Secondary vocational school	10.8	11.5	13.0	17.2	14.3	10.8	7.8	7.4	6.8
Post-secondary training	3.1	3.2	3.7	3.7	6.8	8.2	11.4	13.1	16.5
Vocational training school	33.9	33.1	36.5	33.3	33.6	33.5	32.2	30.8	25.8
Short vocational training school	2.8	2.9	3.2	5.1	6.4	7.2	5.5	4.4	3.0
Primary school	27.2	24.3	20.3	18.2	15.1	12.1	12.7	13.0	14.8
Primary education incomplete	6.6	7.4	5.8	3.8	3.7	3.3	3.4	3.2	3.3
Total percentage	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0
Total sum (in thousands)	152.4	167.5	172.6	180.3	174.3	151.8	153.8	155.2	155.4
Percentage of qualified population	61.2	60.8	66.3	68.4	71.9	73.3	72.2	72.0	69.9
Percentage of unqualified population	38.8	39.2	33.7	31.6	28.1	26.7	27.8	28.0	30.1

Source: KSH, Hungarian Statistical Yearbook, 1990-1998

Adult Literacy

International experiences show that a high level of school education does not necessarily ensure a high level of literacy in the adult population, unless it is expected by the labour market.

According to the SIALS international survey on adult literacy - an initiative of the OECD - in a total of twenty countries the Hungarian adult population was the 15th in quantitative comprehension exercises and the 16th in the reading comprehension test (Table 1.3). In reading comprehension the performance of about one-third of the Hungarian population was on the lowest level and the performance of only 2.6% reached the highest level. Interestingly, Hungarians seem content with their reading skills. 72% of those with the worst results rated their own skills good. They probably had a good reason, since in response to the question whether their lack of literacy hinders their work, the proportion of negative answers was the highest in the Hungarian population (95%).

 

Table 1.3    An international survey on reading comprehension in the 16-65 age group, 1994-98, average

The survey has shown that lifelong learning is still not widespread. Furthermore, the available training possibilities are distributed rather disproportionately, in contrast with international data. A manager in Hungary has five times the chance to participate in a training programme than a worker, while in other countries the proportion is 2:1 (Literacy in the Information Age (2000)).

1.5 Changes in the Hungarian Economy (1989-1999)

GDP Trends

In the second half of the nineties the more advanced East-Central European countries, Hungary amongst them, survived the crisis of the change of regime and the transition to a market economy. The austerity measures of 1995 (the so-called Bokros package) had their due results. From 1996 on, the Hungarian GDP increased more rapidly, with inflation decreasing at the same time. Since 1997 the GDP has had an annual growth of more than 4%, which is higher than the OECD or European Union average. Provided that the economic growth can be sustained without hindering external financial balance, the state budget will have more resources to spend on community areas (social security, health care, education) in the long run.

Considering economic development, the differences are striking between various regions of Hungary. The two extremes are Central Hungary and Northern Hungary. Central Hungary, where Budapest belongs, per capita GDP is 73% of the European Union average, while it is merely 33% in the Northern Hungarian region. The Northern part of the Hungarian Great Plain is far below the European average (34%), as well. In the Transdanubian region and in the Southern part of the Great Hungarian Plain per capita GDP is 38-51% of the EU average (1997 data).

Fundamental changes have taken place in the ownership and sector-related structure of the Hungarian economy during the nineties. The number of foreign companies has grown fourfold in the 1990-1998 period and foreign investment rate has grown twenty-five times. In 1997 45% of gross added value was produced by companies that were owned in part by foreign investors, a fact characteristic of the current state and future trends of the Hungarian economy. In addition, so far the quality of the Hungarian workforce has also been highly valued. In order to keep this capital in Hungary, the economic environment will have to remain favourable in the long run, part of which is a well-trained workforce. Hungarian education, professional training and higher education have key roles in this process.

Income and Consumption

The real value of income and the consumption of the population decreased from the early nineties to 1996, but have been on the rise ever since. The level of consumption in 1999 did not reach the level it had attained four years before. The income gap between households in the lowest and in the highest tenth of the population had increased rapidly and the difference reached 7.5 times by 1995. The same difference within Budapest reached a striking tenfold while in small villages it was 5.9. Inequalities have further increased, although at a slower rate, since 1995. The reallocation of incomes had taken place with a real income decrease before 1995, which affected those at the lower end of the scale the worst. Families with many children and no regular income were more likely to sink to the bottom of the scale. In Hungary of all personal net income the bottom tenth received 3.3%, while the top tenth achieved 25% in the mid-nineties.

Income has become more and more determined by qualifications and economic positions. The income of white-collar staff decreased less extensively in the past four years than the income of blue-collar workers, whilst the advantage of the former grew from 58% in 1994 to 66% in 1998.

The most sensitive issue of Hungarian education was the permanently low income of teachers. In contrast with most European countries, in 1998 gross incomes in education were lower than the national average by 12%, in health care they were lower than the national average by 22%. At the same time in Europe people employed in the finance sector earn 40% more than the national average, while the same rate in Hungary is 110%.

Trends in the Labour Market, Economic Activity and Employment

The nineties have seen a significant decrease in the demand for workforce. Between 1987 and 1997 the number of employees were reduced by more than 1.5 million people, while since 1997 the labour market has seemed stable. In 1998 the economically active population was approximately 4 million people, and it was the first year since 1990 that their number did not diminish. The size of the economically inactive population stopped increasing in 1998, although the activity rate is still rather low and the number of dependants per employed is still extremely high (Table 1.4).

 

Table 1.4    Population and economic activity at the beginning of the year, 1990-1998 (in thousands)

	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998
Total pop- ulation	10 375	10 355	10 337	10 310	10 277	10 246	10 212	10 174	10 135
Employment age	5 957	5 997	6 032	6 057	6 071	6 082	6 081	6 145	6 137
Employed*	5 227	5 052	4 534	4 090	3 882	3 793	3 743	3 728	3 747
Registered as unemployed**	24	101	406	663	632	520	496	478	464
Economically active population***	5 251	5 153	4 940	4 753	4 514	4 313	4 239	4 206	4 211
Economically inactive population****	5 124	5 202	5 397	5 557	5 763	5 933	5 973	5 968	5 924
Depen- dants*****	5 148	5 303	5 803	6 220	6 395	6 453	6 469	6 446	6 388
Dependants per one hundred employed	98	105	128	152	165	170	173	173	170
Registered unemployment rate	0.5	2	8.2	13.9	14	12	11.7	11.4	11
Activity rate	81.5	80.1	77.6	75.3	72	69	68.2	67.3	67.5

* Excluding parents on child care allowance
** Officially registered at the National Labour Centre
*** Total sum of employed and unemployed
**** Children below 6, students, pensioners, parents on child care allowance,
housewives, passively unemployed individuals (who would like to be
employed but do not seek jobs)
***** Inactive individuals and unemployed
 
Source: Hungarian Statistical Yearbook, 1998
NB: Based on the labour force balance of the Hungarian economy

Supply on the labour market is permanently reduced by the fact that the time spent at schools has been significantly extended in the 1990s and students leave schools at a later point in their life. Many children start school late, at the age of 7; more students enrol in secondary schools and enrolment in higher education has doubled. Since the time spent on education has thus been extended, the educational system has a key role in not letting young people enter the labour market in the most critical year.

Unemployment

The labour market of the early nineties was characterised by coercive and global unemployment due to an insufficient demand for workforce. The number of unemployed people increased particularly at the beginning of this period and the increase slowed down after 1993. In 1999 the rate of unemployment, better than ever before, dropped to an annual level of 7%, which is below the average in the European Union. The demographic characteristics have hardly changed: unemployment is worst amongst the youth and those with low-level qualifications. The rate of unemployment is relatively high in the 15-24 age group, but it is still better than the EU average (Fig. 1.3).

 

Figure 1.3    Rate of unemployment according to age groups, 1999 last quarter (%)
NB: Based on the Labour Force Survey
Source: KSH Monthly Statistical Notices, 2000 first quarter

The low activity rate of the 20-30 age group must be pointed out. Among them especially low is the activity rate of young women (in the last quarter of 1999 the activity rate of men aged 20-24 was 68.7%, the same for women was 52.6%, in the 25-29 age group men’s rate was 90.4%, women’s rate was 58.8%). The low activity rate of young people may be explained in part by the expansion of higher education and the lengthened period of transition from school to work. Women’s activity rate is reduced by childbirth and child care, as well. The inflexibility of the labour market is shown by the low proportion of part-time employment. Very few people can afford to work and raise children, or study, at the same time.

The chance of becoming unemployed is reduced by high qualifications. In the last quarter of 1999 the proportion of people with low or no qualifications among job seekers was 33.9%, while their proportion among employees was as low as 16.8% (Fig. 1.4).

 

Figure 1.4    The distribution of unemployed and employed individuals according to their highest school qualifications, 1999 last quarter (%)
Source: KSH Monthly Statistical Notices, 2000 first quarter

The most dangerous kind of unemployment for the society is permanent unemployment affecting the youth - for a period of one year or longer. (In 1998 young people aged 15-29 constituted 35% of all unemployed.) School-leavers cannot find work due to a lack of new or available jobs, or they become unemployed after a relatively short active period. Some help is available by means of active tools of the labour market, such as training, retraining and continuing education, among others. Year by year more and more people take advantage of these opportunities.

The large-scale restructuring of the Hungarian society in the nineties was primarily determined by qualifications and positions held in the labour market. The role of schools in particular, and training in general, have become extremely important. Essential skills and abilities necessary in the information society of the present and future are now highly valued.

1.6 Social Trends

Besides the economic growth starting in the late nineties, the social gap has increased, posing a major challenge for schools, whose social role is becoming more and more emphatic. As a result of a decline in state support for families in the recent years, poverty has grown amongst children, becoming their number one risk factor.

Poverty and its Main Characteristics in Hungary

According to the 1995 income survey of the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH) the income of 8.7% of households and 12.1% of individuals was below the minimum old-age pension, a total of 1 229 398. Many of the poor are registered as unemployed or they are of employment age with no regular income, and the rate of dependants below 15 years of age is higher than the average. Based on income estimates, the risk of falling below poverty level was five times the national average for households with three or more children, and they were four times as likely to fall into the bottom tenth of the income scale as the national average. The poverty risk factor is even higher in cases where the head of the household is unemployed: in 1995 the likelihood was fourfold to fall into the bottom five percent of the income scale, 3.2 times the national average to fall below the minimum old-age pension, 2.4 times to fall below the subjective poverty threshold and estimates put the risks even higher for 1997.

Poverty - including long-term poverty - also depends on school qualifications of household members, particularly on the qualifications of the head of the household. Their low qualifications increase by 1.5 times the chance of falling into the bottom five percent. While in 1990 poverty was the main reason for children at risk in half of the cases, in 1998 this proportion was 83%.

Health of Young People

Certain mortality indicators of the Hungarian population (lung cancer, liver diseases, suicide) are extremely bad even in a global comparison. Hungarian life expectancy at birth is the worst in Europe. Health surveys at schools, job and military aptitude tests give little reason for optimism.

The results of health surveys at school between 1993 and 1998 show that the so-called civilisation diseases are the most common amongst the youth. In the 1997/98 school-year a national survey found motor disorders in 15% of students, and 11% of student wore glasses. What is even worse is that the occurrence of these disorders is higher in older age.

Deviation among Young People

The nineties have seen the emergence of a number of subculture-related groups among young people. Age groups have become more heterogeneous and professional markets appeared to supply the ‘needs’. Youth unemployment and the difficulties of starting a career have resulted in the rise of a new kind of subculture-related groups.

One of the earliest forms of deviant behaviour is running away from home. Police statistics in the late nineties show 5 000 cases of missing children annually, which is a significant increase.

Alcohol consumption has grown significantly in the last twenty years. The rate of increase is even higher in the younger age groups. The number of registered alcohol and drug addicts in 1995 was four times the 1995 data, and while this rate of increase was ‘only’ 3.5 times higher in the 20-34 age group, it was six times higher among those below 19 years of age.

Education and Public Opinion

Public education is not the subject of heated political and social debates in Hungary. People are relatively content with education, compared to other public responsibilities, and their satisfaction has not dropped during the nineties. In general, people are satisfied with the quality of education and this satisfaction has increased during the course of the decade. However educated individuals and city-dwellers are less satisfied than individuals with a lower level of qualification or those living in villages.

Public responsibilities directly affecting the standard of living are generally given a higher priority than education. However, when asked about their preferences in the distribution of public support, people put education second, with healthcare on top of the list (Table 1.5).

 

Table 1.5    Public opinion concerning the proposed ratio of the financial support of various public fields (in the percentage of total expenditure)

	1997	1999
Health care	24.7	22.1
Education	14.6	13.8
Public order and safety	13.3	12.6
Building and reconstruction of flats	8.2	12.0
Social Care	12.9	10.6
Development of infrastructure and traffic	8.9	10.1
Culture, Sport	5.9	6.6
Environmental protection, improvement of local environment	5.7	6.3
Support for local enterprises	3.9	3.7
Support for local NGOs	1.9	3.0
Total	100.0	100.0

Source: Public opinion on public education, 1999

The priorities of clients of public education do not necessarily coincide with priorities of stakeholders within the system of public education. Public opinion thinks it less necessary to develop the system from within - by improving the life of teachers, developing new textbooks and curricula, building new schools or classrooms - than attaining objectives like supporting talented students, extra care for the disadvantaged or spending more on student welfare. Internal objectives of education have become greatly overshadowed in public opinion. At the same time there is an internal objective in education which is supported by the population: supplying modern technology for schools (Table 1.6).

 

Table 1.6.    Change in preferences of the population concerning public education between 1990 and 1999
(rank order 1 to 7)

	1990	1995	1997	1999
Upgrading of school equipment	3.6 (2)	3.0 (1)	2.6 (1)	2.9 (1)
Support for education of gifted pupils	4.0 (3-5)	3.4 (2)	3.5 (2)	3.8 (2-3)
Support for education of handicapped pupils	4.6 (7)	3.6 (3)	3.6 (3)	3.8 (2-3)
Allowances for pupils (scholarship, meal, day-care allow)	4.5 (6)	4.0 (4)	3.9 (4)	3.9 (4)
Improvement of teachers' living conditions	4.0 (3-5)	4.3 (5)	4.9 (6)	4.9 (5)
Creation of new syllabi and textbooks	3.2 (1)	4.6 (6)	4.3 (5)	5.0 (6)
Building new schools, classrooms	4.0 (3-5)	5.0 (7)	5.1 (7)	5.7 (7)

Source: Public opinion on public education, 1999