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% ( 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 development integration 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 Szilágyi