Education in Hungary 2000

Chapter 7 - Teachers

7.1 Employment of Teachers and the Teaching Profession

After passing the law on statutory rights of public servants in 1992, Hungary’s legislative practice regarding the teaching profession conformed with general European standards. Nevertheless, the practice of employment, dismissal and waging of teachers remained one of the most controversial issues in the economic, administrative and pedagogical processes following the change of regime. One of the reasons behind all this can be found outside the educational system, in the income gap conditions between the public and the private sector. Although it is true that the gap between the two sectors is natural in all economies, it is the width of the gap which is strikingly large in Hungary (and usually in the young democracies of East-Central Europe). Another reason behind the controversy is that the uniform rights of employed teachers laid down in the law mentioned above came to power in a system of shared responsibility. On the one hand, the establishment of the terms of employment and waging for teachers and other school staff, and the continuous updating of these terms applies to a wider public servant sector. On the other hand, as a result of independent financial management and the right, in most schools, to independent financial status, there is no direct connection between central wage-regulation, educational state-funds and local employment and waging decisions.

The so-called normative funding system, set up in 1990, basically links the allocation for education in the budget (and thus wage-costs) to trends in the number of students, but the schooling age population dropped drastically in the nineties due to demographic reasons. At the same time, the Hungarian education system lived the days of expansion in a wide variety of forms. Aside from and despite of decreasing student numbers, the number of educational institutions grew, due to the termination of the state monopoly on schools and to the transfer of the schools’ ownership to local governments. At the end of the nineties students spent more time in the education system. The number of people employed in education did not change significantly between 1990 and 1997, whereas the total number of people employed in the national economy dropped almost by 30% (about 1.5 million people) during the same period. As a result, there were 248 152 people employed in education in 1999. (This number includes the 44 013 physical workforce employed in the education branch, who make up 17.7% of the total.) In Hungary the index measuring the employment of teachers was very impressing even on an international scale. In 1995 Hungary was ranked first among 18 OECD countries with 4.2% of the total labour force being primary and secondary teachers. The number of teachers required in education is basically a question of student numbers. The unfavourable demographic processes of the nineties were reflected in the data on student numbers: the populous generations born between 1974 and 1978 have already left secondary education by now, and as a result of low birth rates in the eighties and nineties the size of schooling-age population is constantly shrinking. The total number of children attending nursery schools and schools, and that of employed teachers have all decreased in the nineties. Apart from the general decline, only in secondary education (general and vocational schools) have student and teacher numbers grown. This is partly the result of a shift of proportions in secondary education (the powerful and continuous decrease of student and teacher numbers in all vocational training schools), and partly due to the growing number of students and teachers, compared to previous decades, in secondary institutions that grant the school-leaving exam (taken at the age of 17-18). The decrease of teacher numbers (except for nursery education) has been somewhat smaller than that of student numbers throughout the whole period, whereas the increase of teacher numbers in secondary schools has been somewhat greater than that of student numbers (Fig. 7.1).

 

Figure 7.1    Changes in teacher numbers in the various institution types (previous year = 100%)

Source: OM Educational Statistics; KSH Educational data 1999/2000 (Preliminary data)

In comparison with international trends, not only the rate of teachers compared to employment in general, but that of teachers compared to students is also high. In 1998, for example, in all of the 19 OECD countries surveyed, the student per teacher rate in primary level education was the lowest in Hungary (Appendix). (However, it is important to note that if we exclude day-care service teachers, who look after children in the afternoon in the school, the student per teacher rate nears international trends.) The index for the number of lessons is also impressive on an international level. Regarding the annual total number of lessons given by full-time employed teachers on the level of education corresponding to upper-primary school, the state of affairs in Hungary is only more favourable in comparison to Turkey, Korea and Spain, where lesson numbers are strikingly low. Although it is worthwhile to treat these international comparative indices with care, the relatively small size of the workload of Hungarian teachers, measured by the average student and lesson numbers per teacher, is remarkable. On the one hand, the numbers indicated by the indices are the remnants of the ternary system of the socialist state: full-time employment, low wages and low efficiency. On the other hand, they are the unintended by-products of new efforts in expanding the educational system in the nineties. They are nevertheless a red light, signalling the problems of efficiency in the employment of teachers on a national level.

7.2 The Composition and Stratification of the Profession

The teaching profession, with its one-hundred and fifty thousand members, is fairly heterogeneous in terms of education, school type, geographical location of the school, degree subject, gender, age, professional competence and beliefs.

It can be said in regards to qualifications, that on the whole, apart from the 2% decrease in total teacher numbers no considerable re-stratification took place between the 1989/1990 and 1999/2000 school years (Table 7.1). According to the evidence of the data, the level of qualification rose in general: the number of teachers with only intermediate level nursery teaching qualifications and that of teachers without any teaching qualifications dropped considerably. As for larger professional groups, the number of teachers qualified for vocational education decreased significantly, and a smaller decrease may be observed in the number of lower and upper primary level teachers. In contrast, the number of teachers qualified in other categories, such as teachers of handicapped children, higher level nursery teachers and secondary level teachers, is growing.

 

Table 7.1    Qualification of teachers and changes in teacher numbers, 1989/90-1999/2000

Source: OM Educational Statistics. The data on the last two years from OM Educational Statistics, 1998/99
and 1999/2000, calculated by Zsófia Szép and Mrs László Szalay

The proportion of different qualifications within institution types also changed fundamentally (Table 7.2 on the next page). In nursery schools, between 1990/91 and 1999/2000, the number of nursery teachers with higher level qualifications grew by 13%, whereas that of teachers with intermediate level qualifications and unqualified teachers dropped by almost 80% and 65% respectively. In primary schools, simultaneously with the 8.5% decline in total teacher numbers, the number of lower-primary teachers rose by 2% and the number of upper-primary and unqualified teachers was reduced by 15% and 47% respectively.

 

Table 7.2    Institution types and the qualifications of full-time employed teachers in public education

School year	1990/91	1993/94	1996/97	1997/98	1998/99	1999/2000	1998/99 (percentage of 1990/91)
Nursery school
Higher level nursery school teacher	25 668	26 341	27 200	28 526	29 292	29 117	113.4
Intermediate level nursery school	6 324	5 663	3 647	2 232	1 738	1 434	22.7
Other teacher		146	210	284	297	286	0.0
Other qualification*	1 643	807	834	806	659	572	34.8
Total	33 635	32 957	31 891	31 848	31 986	31 409	93.4
Primary school
Lower-primary school teacher	35 521	38 405	36 212	35 961	36 069	36 101	101.6
Primary school teacher	52 461	49 259	46 083	45 054	45 254	44 596	85.0
Other teacher	592	418	244	802	977	1 111	187.7
Other qualification	1 937	1 573	1 119	1 087	1 104	1 021	52.7
Total	90 511	89 655	83 658	82 904	83 404	82 829	91.5
General secondary school
Secondary school teacher	9 121	10 786	11 674	11 831	12 085	12 494	137.0
Primary school teacher	989	1 009	1 287	1 462	1 551	1 502	151.9
Other teacher	24	83	102	78	87	90	108.4
Other qualification	112	73	70	80	63	69	61.6
Total	10 246	11 951	13 133	13 451	13 786	14 155	138.2
Secondary vocational school
Secondary school teacher	7 405	7 459	8 498	8 746	9 438	9 965	134.6
Primary school teacher	3 025	1 500	1 835	2 108	2 227	2 318	76.6
Other teacher	224	4 121	4 462	4 500	4 450	4 487	108.7
Other qualification**	2 002	1 782	1 534	1 475	1 452	1 392	72.5
Total	12 656	14 862	16 329	16 829	17 567	18 162	143.5
Vocational training school
Secondary school teacher	2 165	1 646	1 288	1 230	1 300	1 267	58.5
Primary school teacher	3 900	2 202	1 847	1 808	1 768	1 887	45.3
Other teacher	149	1 894	1 757	1 625	1 560	1 568	82.8
Other qualification**	724	631	400	355	313	280	38.7
Teacher of all subjects	6 938	6 373	5 292	5 018	4 941	5 002	72.1

* Includes teachers employed as unqualified and teachers with other qualifications in 1990,
and only includes teachers with other qualifications from 1991.
** Includes the number of teachers employed without higher professional and teaching qualifications
and trade workers employed as teachers.
*** Because of the striking differences in the 1990/91 data, these are the 1999/2000 data and 1993/94 data compared.
 
Source: OM Educational Statistics, calculated by Zsófia Szép and Mrs László Szalay

In secondary general education the number of teachers grew steadily (38%) in general. The number of teachers with secondary level qualifications shows a smaller (37%) and that of teachers with upper-primary qualifications a greater growth (52%), with the number of unqualified teachers being significantly reduced. In secondary vocational training the number of teachers rose by 44%: the number of teachers with upper-primary qualifications fell by 23% and that of teachers with secondary level qualifications rose by a greater 35%. The number of teachers qualified in other categories also grew considerably.

Due to decreasing student numbers teachers already in the profession have an advantage over those about to enter, as a result of the decline in the need for labour supply. In spite of this, the average age of Hungarian teachers is lower than in most European countries. One of the reasons behind this is the former pension scheme, still in practice in the middle of the decade, which specified the retirement age for women at 55, i.e. the age limit was quite low compared to the rest of Europe. Another reason, in close connection with this, is probably the high proportion of women in the Hungarian teaching profession, another striking difference to international trends (Table 7.3 on the next page). Women are outnumbering men on almost all school levels and school types. The only exception is the 54% rate of male teachers in institutions offering purely vocational training (secondary vocational and/or vocational training schools).

Evidence of the differentiation of professional roles is shown by the process of establishing professional organisations, which has begun in the nineties. In the beginning of 1999, the Ministry of Education had 117 professional organisations in the register. The main types are as follows: subject-teacher organisations, different bodies for the separate educational levels or functions, organisations formed on ideological bases, associations serving special student needs or special education-policy aims, movements and organisations for the education of the young, chambers, and local or regional associations. Sixteen percent of teachers are members of one professional organisation or another, with the vast majority registered in subject-teacher associations.

Simultaneously with the formation of new trade unions, the trade union activity of teachers underwent a significant transformation after the change of regime. In primary and secondary education the Trade Union for Teachers (PSZ) and the Trade Union for Hungarian Public Education and Professional Training are representative organisations, together with the Trade Union for Hungarian Musicians and Dancers, which represents a narrower segment. These are organisations entitled to represent teachers in national consultative bodies, but other trade unions are also invited to these sessions, such as the Democratic Trade Union for Teachers (PDSZ), which was established at the time of the change of regime. 49% of teachers are members of one trade union or other, with most of them (42%) registered in the Trade Union for Teachers.

The total number of those employed in education but not in the line of teaching was 98 402 in local-government maintained institutions in May of 1999, and their number in proportion to teachers was 65%. According to a survey taken on a representative school-sample in 1997, 44% of schools employed professionals to directly facilitate teaching. The need for such colleagues is growing. The number of individuals not employed in the line of teaching went well beyond the OECD average in 1994. At the same time, there is a shortage of workforce for completing certain non-teaching tasks (such as organising extra-curricular activities).

 

Table 7.3    Proportion of female teachers in education in the OECD countries, 1995 (%)

Country	Primary and lower-secondary level	Upper-secondary level
Hungary	84	55
Italy	84	55
United States	78	50
Sweden	73	42
Austria	72	49
United Kingdom	70	nd
New-Zealand	69	48
Finland	68	nd
Belgium (Flemish parts)	67	44
Spain	66	48
Denmark	58	45
Greece	58	46
Norway	58	32
Korea	56	25
Germany	52	24
Japan	51	24
Turkey	43	40
National averages	65	42

Source: Education at a Glance, 1998

7.3 Employment Conditions and Waging

Although the teaching profession was much less struck by unemployment in the nineties than the rest of the national economy, unemployment did appear in the circles of qualified teachers. The rate of unemployed teachers compared to those employed did not at any point go beyond the average rate of unemployment amongst the highly qualified. Their number shows a declining tendency in the surveyed past two years. The changes are in accordance with the movement of the large student intake of the populous generations of 1974 to 1978. The rate of retirement has increased in all educational institutions in the middle of the decade, but the number of people leaving for ‘other reasons’, thus probably quitting the profession or the type of institution, is generally larger. This tendency is stronger in secondary institutions, and extremely high in vocational training. The rate of graduates entering the profession from regular teacher training has been fairly low throughout the decade, regardless of institution types.

Local Employment Policies

Since the legislation on the employment of teachers and other school staff is guided by the principle of shared responsibilities, local and institutional features have a significant role within the general tendencies of employment. The results of a survey on a representative sample indicate, for example, that the rate of teachers within the staff was 73 percent on average, but the spread was between 28 and 100 percent. According to data from the same survey, permanent teaching posts were discontinued in 49 percent of the schools, and new posts were taken in 59 percent of them between 1994 and 1997. The decrease was more characteristic of towns in the countryside, of large schools rather than small ones, and of schools maintained by local governments rather than private or denominational schools. Local employment practices also differ in the case of part-timers and guest teachers. The tendency is that guest and part-time teachers are employed at secondary level, usually in cities and in larger schools. This type of employment is especially frequent in non-government funded institutions.

Management of the number of employed teachers is only relevant in the case of larger schools. The smaller the school, the more likely that despite changes in student numbers teacher numbers remain intact. The influence of changing student numbers on teacher numbers is the least apparent in village schools. The larger the settlement, the more probable it is for a decrease in student numbers to mean a simultaneous decrease in the number of teachers. The expenditure-per-student rate increased most in schools where both student and teacher numbers had dropped.

Income Trends

The pace of income rise in the public sector has been lagging behind that of the competitive sector throughout the nineties. The income gap between the two spheres kept widening. The income of those employed in the budget sphere was 62.5 percent of the income of workers in the private sector in 1999. The relative income lag, similarly to earlier years, was the largest in the educational branch (48%) and the smallest in the executive and social security branches (23%). The 37% income lag, representing the whole of the budget sector, is considerably higher than in EU countries. This cannot be compensated for by the advantages of the public sector (higher employment safety, occasional flexibility of the work schedule, favourable distribution of work and free time). In the second part of the decade (until 1998) not only had the gap between the national average income and that of teachers widened, but this time it did not even keep pace with the rise of the consumer price index (Fig. 7.2 and Table 7.4 on the next page). Whereas the average income of educational workers in developed countries is 20 to 30% higher than the national average, it is 10-15% lower in the Central-European region, and in Hungary as well.

 

Figure 7.2    The consumer price-index, and the gross income of full-time employed teachers and workers employed in public education between 1990 and 1999 (1989=100%)

Source: Data from the Waging Department of the Ministry of Social and Family Affairs, 1999

 

Table 7.4    The consumer price-index, and the gross income of full-time employed teachers and workers employed in public education between 1990 and 1999*

	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999
Consumer price-index**	128.9	135.0	166.1	203.5	241.8	309.7	383.2	453.3	517.7	569.5
Gross income of national economy workers	128.6	167.2	209.1	255.0	318.5	272.0	417.9	547.8	648.0	738.2
Gross income of public education workers	124.2	152.6	188.1	209.7	271.4	292.3	329.1	403.5	474.9	540.1

* Data for 1990 is calculated from the annual percentages for 1989, and from 1991 they are calculated from the base-data of 1990.
** Data calculated from the percentages in 1989.
 
Source: Data from the Waging Department of the Ministry of Social and Family Affairs, 1999

One attempt was made at wage-correction in the educational sector in 1999. The waging of branches typically financed from the state budget increased the most in the educational sector, and least in health care. According to data gathered by the Ministry of Education, salaries in the teaching sector rose by 16.2 percent on a national average between December 1998 and April 1999, whereas only by 12.5% in the rest of the public sector.

In the annual international analyses of the OECD, from the indices which are relevant for comparison, the index which eliminates the differences in economic development between different countries is relevant, as it presents teachers’ wages compared to the GDP per capita. According to this index, Hungarian teachers occupy a very unfavourable position on all levels of education in terms of beginning salary, the rate only being worse in the case of teachers in the Czech Republic. Although the national average of beginning salaries is above the GDP in almost every country, in Hungary and in the Czech Republic they only constitute one half to two-thirds of this amount (Fig. 7.3).

If we compare salaries in terms of purchasing power parity (i.e. we take economic development into account), it may be deduced that, from the countries included in the survey, the annual salary of a beginning primary level teacher was the lowest in Hungary (USD 5 987) and the highest in Switzerland (USD 32 391) in 1998. From the countries listed the non-weighted average is USD 20 530, which means that the average teacher’s salary in Hungary makes up less than one-third of the average. In order to reach the highest wage category teachers have to work for 30 years at primary and 26 years at secondary and tertiary levels in the countries examined, whereas in Hungary they need to wait further 10 to 14 years (which adds up to a total of 40 years on each level) to become the best paid members of their profession.

The wage of teachers per lesson only demonstrates the costs of education indirectly, but these statistics indicate whether teachers are employed as a relatively cheap or expensive workforce in education. From this aspect, teaching workforce is clearly the cheapest in the two Central-European countries included in the list of data (Hungary and the Czech Republic): USD 13, 13 and 16 at primary, secondary and tertiary levels respectively in the latter, and USD 15, 20 and 20 in Hungary for one lesson, compared to the average of USD 35, 43 and 52. In comparison with European Union countries, the relative income lag of Hungarian teachers is extremely high, and clearly greater than the difference of economic performance compared to EU standards. There are no obligatory regulations in the European Community dealing with wage-standards and the system of wage-calculation, but meeting the community requirement which gives ‘the right to reasonable wages’ might raise concerns, as a result of the fact that the minimum wage is low even compared to average Hungarian wages. At the same time, we should bear in mind the problems of efficiency, suggested by data on the number of teachers and their workload. The salaries laid down in the book are supplemented by a series of extras both in the Hungarian and international practice. The total sum of extras in Hungary, depending on the institution and on the educational level, made up 12 to 16% of salaries on average.

 

Figure 7.3    The GDP per capita and the salaries of teachers with a 15-year-experience in lower-secondary levels (corresponds to upper-primary level) education in the OECD countries, 1998

Source: Education at a Glance, 2000

7.4 The Pedagogical Knowledge of Teachers
and Staff Culture

In the nineties relatively little attention has been paid to the transformation process of pedagogical activities. In the previous decades there seemed to be no need for research in this area. According to research based on interviews, carried out in 1998 and 1999 on a sample of one hundred teachers, 91% of teachers face difficulties when teaching. The possible reasons mentioned, were students’ lack of motivation and discipline, their failure to prepare for lessons, family background and the content of the curriculum. Teachers ascribe great significance to teaching methods in successful teaching. Although they are acquainted with a variety of methods, basically most of them use methods labelled as traditional (explanation, discussion, visuals). At the same time, at least two-thirds of those interviewed use group-work, student presentations, lectures, debates and games, even if other work-modes are rarely in use.

Within each field of pedagogical knowledge (education, teaching, attitude to students, planning, differentiation, teaching methods, evaluation) we may distinguish between views held by strong teacher groups, mostly along the lines of school types, the subjects they teach, their sex and their experience as teachers. Adopting a normative attitude to education, emphasising the positive role of school, and approaching teaching and school-related problems from a teacher and situation-centred point of view are all important features of the pedagogical knowledge of teachers. As shown by everyday experience, there are different staff cultures and every school has its own atmosphere. It is likely that crucial changes in the nineties and the growing abundance on the school market have intensified the differentiation of staffs, and have resulted in the strengthening of these differences.

Schools typically vary as to how they prepare their pedagogical programme, the question being whether certain tasks (curriculum design, writing lesson plans, situation analysis, wording the pedagogical curriculum) were performed by more than one teacher, or to what degree had they become specialised in carrying out certain tasks. It seems that if a school is located in a larger settlement, it possesses a greater number of students and better infrastructure, it is more likely to carry out different tasks by sharing the duties, in other words, given the above listed circumstances, the rate of schools where every teacher is equally involved in all tasks is smaller. This is particularly interesting in the case of lesson planning for example, where a clear-cut hierarchy may be observed: the larger the host city of schools, the more of them involve teachers exclusively working on lesson planning. Creating pedagogical curricula has had a significant effect on the inner dynamics of staffs. In medium-sized and larger schools more or less the same number of discussions evolved around the pedagogical curriculum, whereas few instances of this were reported from smaller schools.

7.5 Training for the Profession

Training for the teaching profession is gradually becoming one with the concept that learning is a lifelong process, which is a permeating notion in the main tier of training, in-service trainee instruction and teacher training programmes. Indications of this tendency may be observed in the various educational systems and in everyday practices, but today’s reality is better characterised by the institutional, organisational and theoretical differences between training and in-service training centres, and by the lack of in-service introduction of beginner teachers into the profession.

Changes in Teacher Training

Changes in the numbers of teacher trainees are largely determined by the processes which take place in higher education. The most striking process is the dynamic increase of student numbers in the 90s. From 1980 to 1995 the number of students registered for full-time training in higher education doubled, and the number rose further each year towards the end of the decade. Although the increase has been steady from 1996 on, the demographic decline will slowly freeze the extensive development of the higher education system.

The decrease in the number of students leaving secondary school has gone hand in hand with the drop in the number of students entering teacher training, but the scale of the latter was far greater: 41.5% of all students applying for admission into higher education intended to continue their studies within the domain of teacher training in 1995, but the rate had dropped to 32.7% by 1999. The rate of full-time students entering teacher training therefore went down from 35% in the early 90s to 26% in the 1999/2000 school year. The rate is high compared to international standards, but also high in comparison with the labour force needs of public education. The number of graduating students is always around 15 000, which is three times the number of vacancies in the public education system. The problem of oversupply in training has not yet caused problems beyond control, since several professional fields may absorb qualified teachers to replace retiring labour force, and because a proportion of applicants only take ‘teacher training’ studies beside their chosen majors out of obligation from the beginning.

The most influential change in teacher training in the nineties was brought about by the 1994 government regulation, concerned with nursery and primary teacher training, and the 1997 regulation, concerned with the uniformity of teaching qualifications. The former increased the length of nursery teacher training to three, and primary teacher training to four years, and at the same time extended the training competence of teacher training colleges by adding the first two years of upper primary school to their field of operation. The preparation period for the introduction of the new training system gave rise to significant changes in the content of nursery and primary training. Teacher training colleges also initiated content-development, and the integration into higher education had a powerful effect on professional (pedagogical, psychological, methodological) training.

In the 90s lesson plans have begun to include more skill-development activities and tasks, i.e. the intention to develop teachers’ pedagogical and personal skills strengthened. Several institutions implemented social, educational and applied psychology programmes, as well as special needs training. The same pursuit may be observed in pedagogy, as indicated by subjects such as educational and pedagogical-sociology, school pedagogy, special needs pedagogy and education-management. Within the Hungarian institutional system of teacher training, the fundamental concern is training qualified teachers (in nursery, primary and secondary teacher training), which means that organisational frameworks are more or less functional, fixed and very similar to each other in all institution types. On the university level there are other possible fundamental goals, therefore the educational role which the institution decides to take may be influential in the development of its internal organisational structure. As a result of institutional integration, ordained by the amendment made to the Higher Education Act in 1999, several colleges and universities will probably re-structure their teacher training programmes, which might occasionally initiate the establishment of teacher training faculties.

The Transformation of In-service Teacher Training Programmes

Instead of in-service teacher training, today we more often speak of the ‘professional development’ of teachers, and aside from traditional training modes other training methods appeared, such as training courses, and school-based personal or staff-development training. In the domain of in-service training, the greatest change in the nineties was brought about by the 1996 Amendment to the Public Education Act of 1993 and the corresponding regulation, which required teachers to take part in training programmes regularly, at least on a seven-year basis. It also compelled teachers to pass the post-professional exam, introduced with the regulation, if they are to continue their job (within set time limits). The legislation also laid down the financial conditions of the training system. Contrary to earlier practice, state funds for in-service training were directed to the schools, instead of the institutions offering the programmes. By drawing up five-year in-service training programmes, public educational institutions assert their institutional interests with respect to their pedagogical curriculum. Applications to the scheduled training programmes should be based on teachers’ personal interests and individual professional ideas, and are annually acknowledged. As a part of the system, two bodies have been set up by the regulation. One is a permanent ‘sister committee’ to the National Public Education Council (OKNT), called National Pedagogical In-service Training and Accreditation Committee (PAB), which deals with rating teacher training courses. The other is the Methodology and Information Centre for In-service Teacher Training (PTMIK), whose task is secure the efficient operation of the system.

The Amendment to the Public Education Act in 1999 modified certain elements of in-service training: passing the post-professional examination was made optional, it only remained conditional for some posts (such as institution-management and different fields of expertise). It also ordained to place teachers with the post-professional exam in a higher category in the job hierarchy. The law discontinued the operation of the PAB, and its duties have been taken over by the Body of Pedagogical In-Service Training and Accreditation (PAT), set up by the Minister of Education. According to the 1997 regulation, preparatory activities for the post-professional exam may only take place in higher educational institutions, in specialised frameworks for teacher training. The requirements for qualification are stipulated by ministerial decree. At the same time, the Ministry of Education accredited the diplomas of some specialised training programmes as being equivalent to the post-professional exam (specialised programmes training participants to become public-education managers, educational administration experts, managing nursery teachers, pedagogical evaluation experts, and curriculum-design experts). The PhD degree and scientific degrees taken during specialisation, if related to the specialised qualifications conditional for the job, are also equivalent to the post-professional exam. The Hungarian Accreditation Committee (MAB), which is responsible for the accreditation of higher level post-professional training programmes, continuously evaluates the applications for setting up programmes that come from teacher training institutions.

As for training programmes, which do not provide post-professional qualifications, the Ministry of Education allowed higher educational institutions and pedagogical service providers to offer training courses for teachers and to accept the financing of these from the state budget. In the first round of accreditation, in the spring of 1998, more than 70 percent of submitted programmes were linked to the subject areas of NAT, which were concerned with the theoretical and methodological innovation of each subject. Apart from these, a significant number of training programmes tackled the issue of local curriculum-design and computer technology. The reason behind all this is that the most important changes in public education of the period were the implementation of NAT and the installation of the Sulinet-system. By January 1st, 2000 a further 1 064 programmes were given the green light. At the beginning of 2000 almost one-third of the programmes were offered by higher institutions (32%), and somewhat less (26%) by pedagogical service providers (Table 7.5). The list and information on programmes are regularly updated on the internet. The vast majority of the chosen training programmes were brief courses giving only certificates to participants.

 

Table 7.5    In-service teacher training programmes and the institutions behind them, 1997, 1998, 2000

Institution	1997		1998		January 2000
	Number of pro- grammes	% of all pro- grammes	Number of pro- grammes	% of all pro- grammes	Number of pro- grammes	% of all pro- grammes
Higher educational institutions	2 090	38.0	704	39.1	341	32.0
Pedagogical provider institutions	2 310	42.0	432	24.0	277	26.0
Public educational institutions	165	3.0	112	6.2	89	8.4
Associations, professional organisations	165	3.0	144	8.0	119*	11.2*
Private businesses, economic organisations	385	7.0	263	14.6	168	15.8
Private funds	55	1.0	73	4.1	-	-
Other organisations	330	6.0	47	2.6	50	4.7
Private persons	-	-	25	1.4	20	1.9
Total	5 500	100.0	1 800	100.0	1 064	100.0

* Total of NGOs
Source: 1997 and 1998, 1999 data: based on data from Mihaly Kocsis; January 2000: The Educational Journal 2000 first quarter; calculated by Márta Polinszky