ICT and teacher training in Hungary

Katalin Csoma

Academic, Cultural and Public Affairs Officer

Embassy of Canada, Budapest

Hungary: quick facts

Hungary: quick facts

Hungary CanadaArea 93,030

sq km 9,093,507

sq km

Population

10.1 million 31.6 million

Age structure

0-14: 15.2%15-64: 69.3% 65+: 15.6%

0-14: 16.3% 15-64: 68.8% 65+: 14.9%

Population growth -0.254% 0.83%

History

• 1945-1989: communism (behind the ‘Iron Curtain’)

• now a free republic

• member of the European Union (2004)

Education highly valued

Boasting 13 Nobel Laureates

The Bologna Process

• creating “the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world’’

• European Higher Education Area by 2010

• comparability and transparency

• international cooperation

Institutes of Higher Education

• regulated by government decrees

• 30 state colleges/universities

• 51 state-recognised private institutions

• 444 programs (state-funded or self-funded)

• enrolment more than quadrupled between 1989 and 2005

• teacher trainee numbers have recently plummeted

Teacher education in higher education

Distribution of teacher training institutions

Teacher education philosophy

Kolb’s Learning Cycle (Kolb 1984)

Levels of teacher training

The „Decision Pyramid” and Teacher Training for E.L.T. Brumfit and Rossner: 1982

Continuing professional development

• regulated by the Ministry of Education

• required for promotion and retaining jobs and

• a list of accredited courses published every year

• a mandatory 120 credits every 7 years for each teacher

Educational Information Strategy (1996–2006)

• delivery methods supported by ICT at all levels of education (Schoolnet Program)

• digitalisation of learning content (LMS), providing access (Digital Knowledge Base)

• institutional and individual IT infrastructure development (Sulinet Express)

• a unified educational identification, infrastructure and IT applications for educational and administrative processes

• monitoring and analysis

ICT in education courses offered by

• professional teachers’ organisations

• Schoolnet

• textbook publishers

• hardware and software developers

• private trainers

• embassies and cultural institutes

Two projects in ICT and teacher training

The Roma IT Project (2003-05)

The Roma IT Project (ROIP)

• OECD-funded research project (2003-2005)

• focussing on equal opportunities

• involving teachers from disadvantaged schools

• subject-specific (11) contact course based on practitioners’ projects

• material incentives

ROIP: method

• goal: content development and introduction to new media literacy

• ‘mentored innovation’

• teachers receive input and experiment

• performance measured primarily through children’s results

• case studies

• collection of best practices

The Roma IT Project (ROIP)

ROIP: Findings

• cognitive development (inductive,combinative thinking, reading)

• persoonal development (self-assessment test)

• increase in motivation (time spent on homework)

• sustainability?

The European Pedagogical ICT Licence (EPICT)

The European Pedagogical ICT Licence (ePICT)

• a web-based service for the professional development of teachers

• original licence: UNI.C. Danish IT Centre for Education and Research

• in Hungary since 2006• country adaptations updated yearly• ICT skills through hands-on school-based

examples (handling, understanding, reflecting upon technology)

• teamwork via blended learning

The European Pedagogical ICT Licence (ePICT)

5-6 months

output: lesson plans

The European Pedagogical ICT Licence (ePICT)

Compulsory modules• Let’s find something on the net• Type a text• Where are you now? Communication and collaboration on the Internet• The choice is yoursOptional modules• Pictures tell the story – working with images on the computer• It does its own calculations - spreadsheets• Information on the screen – presentation tools and interactive stories• Get it out on the net – web pages and dissemination on the Internet• Into the database – internal databases• The die is cast – models and simulation• Columns? – layout and desktop publishing• Is it not possible to learn it on the computer? – educational software• It is easy on a computer? – working methods and ICT• ICT as a compensating tool• ICT and reading skills• Games and edutainment in education

The European Pedagogical ICT Licence (ePICT)

• accredited (popular)

• available in various delivery modes

• always current

• focus on pedagogy

• ICT viewed as an agent of change (innovation)

• certification: sense of achievement

ReferencesBrumfit, Cristopher és Richard Rossner (1982): The

‘Decision Pyramid’ and Teacher Training for E.L.T. English Language Teaching Journal, 36/4, 226-231

EPICT, www.epict.orgEuridyce: The information network on education in

Europe, www.eurydice.orgHungarian Ministry of Education and Culture,

www.okm.gov.huKárpáti Andrea: Travellers In Cyberspace: ICT In

Hungarian Roma Schools. In Kárpáti Andrea (ed.): Promoting Equity Through ICT in Education. Paris: OECD, 2004, 141–156.

Kolb, David. A. (1984): Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

ROIP, edutech.eltel.hu/roip

Thank you for your attention.Merci de votre attention.Köszönöm a figyelmet!

katalin@csoma.eukatalin.csoma@international.gc.ca

download: csoma.eu/CNIE

Hope to see you in Hungary soon!