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Children’s Literature in Transcarpathian Schools for Teaching English as a Foreign Language
108-120Views:499Since the origins of formal foreign language teaching, literature has always played an important role. Currently, modern language teaching trends suggest starting foreign language learning as early as possible; thus, the use of children’s literature in foreign language teaching is undergoing a revolution. This situation encouraged us to examine the use of children’s literature and the attitude of foreign language teachers to it. This article focuses on primary and secondary school English language teachers in a western county of Ukraine (N = 118). The results of the qualitative research revealed that the teachers’ general attitude to the use of children’s literature is positive; they are aware of their advantages but still avoid using these materials. Most teachers do not apply children’s literature in their foreign language teaching because the school curriculum is too congested and fast-paced, they do not have access to appropriate authentic children’s literature, or they were not taught how to utilize authentic children’s literature during their university years. Results suggest that teachers should be encouraged to use children’s literature, though there is no universal solution. The first suggestion is for schools themselves to support teachers, but it would be a significant step forward if this approach were also to be taken in in-service training.
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“Student success is not an individual achievement” – Motivation and teacher education in the digital age
133–142Views:78The motivation of student teachers is a key issue in contemporary teacher education, typically examined through psychological theories focusing on individual learning processes. This paper does not aim to provide a comprehensive literature review; instead, it offers a conceptual reflection that pays tribute to the work of Gabriella Pusztai, whose research highlights the social embeddedness of student achievement, integration, and persistence. Building on her approach, the study integrates psychological, pedagogical, and sociological perspectives to reinterpret motivation in pedagogical courses. It proposes a three-dimensional framework consisting of integration, relevance, and identity, emphasising that motivation is a context-dependent and dynamically changing phenomenon. The paper also examines how digital learning environments reshape motivational conditions by influencing autonomy, relatedness, engagement, and perceived relevance. The findings suggest that understanding student motivation requires moving beyond individual-level explanations and recognising the decisive role of relational, institutional, and technological contexts.
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Teacher-Driven Strategies for Enhancing Parental Involvement in Rural Education
Views:279Parental involvement is widely acknowledged as a vital contributor to learners’ academic achievement and overall school success. While much is known about the benefits of parental engagement, particularly in urban and well-resourced settings, the dynamics and challenges in rural schools remain underexplored. This study addresses that gap by investigating how teachers perceive and implement strategies to enhance parental involvement in rural contexts. Specifically, the study aimed to answer the following question: (1) What are teachers’ perceptions and experiences regarding parental involvement in rural schools? and (2) What teacher-driven strategies do they propose to improve collaboration with parents? This qualitative case study draws on Rotter’s Social Learning Theory to explain how behaviour is shaped by observation, reinforcement, and social interaction. The study was conducted at a rural high school in Mandlanzini Agri-village, KwaZulu-Natal, with ten purposively selected teachers as participants. Data were collected through a semi-structured online questionnaire and analysed thematically following Braun and Clarke’s (2006) coding process. The findings reveal a pressing need for structured, teacher-driven strategies that extend beyond standard parent-teacher meetings to include structured and culturally responsive interventions. The study highlights the practical value of teacher agency in facilitating parental involvement and offers context-specific insights that may guide future interventions in similar rural settings.
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First Generation Students in the Hungarian Higher Educational System
53-65Views:407The first part of the study attempts to summarise the most frequently used and cited theories and empirical findings in the field of first generation students. The specialist literature has identified those factors (cultural background of family, parents’ special attitude toward learning, the features of the time-budget etc.) which can generate a disadvantageous situation within the higher education system for these students. However, the presence of this group is a significant indicator of the openness of a society and social mobility, and a more careful analysis of this population may reduce the drop-out rate, as well. During the empirical analysis two databases were used (Eurostudent VI, Hungarian Youth Research 2012 and 2016). Our results draw attention to the process of social closure and the decreasing chance of attending higher education for young people from lower social groups. This unfavourable shift can mirror the relatively closed features of Hungarian society, but at the same time it can make the distances among social groups more rigid.
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The Development of the Number of Pupils in Secondary Institutions in Light of Political and School Structure Changes
70-81Views:331There are a number of factors around the world that influence the evolution of school structure such as historical, cultural tradition, nature of the economy, demographics, etc. After-primary school further education is a highlight of the Hungarian school system, as it also defines the entire school career and future of the pupils. The choice between the three types of training, the secondary school, vocational academic school and standard vocational school, is backed by different strategies spanning the entire school career of the students, the educational qualifications being the goal. While choosing high school leads to a degree, the choice of vocational school is one of the fastest and easiest ways of the acquisition of qualifications. However, vocational secondary school also offers a chance to study in higher education (Hermann, 2005) In our study, we look at the evolution of secondary school types in light of policy changes from the 1940s to the present day.
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Dropped-out Students and the Decision to Drop-out in Hungary
31-40Views:1207The interpretation of the phenomenon of student dropout, which represents a waste of a relatively large proportion of human and material capital in the social, individual and institutional domain, is impossible without examining dropout students. In this study, we analysed the DEPART 2018 database, which contains data from 605 Hungarian dropout students. We tried to identify higher education dropout scenarios and pointed out that higher educational dropout is a complex phenomenon. Based on the students' reports on their interpretation and evaluation of their dropouts, four student clusters were created. We compared the groups with their socio-cultural background and their decision to drop out from higher education, and their assessment of that decision. The most important result of the study is that it identifies a new group in addition to the international dropout types, and provides a detailed picture that calls our attention to the diversity of dropout groups, thereby moving beyond the over-generalised image of the dropout student.
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Religious Socialisation of Children and Youth in Eastern Orthodox Christian Church as Educational and Pastoral Challenge of Sharing of Cultural Practices
1-16Views:493As a result of three decades of social-cultural transformation, Bulgarian literature and practice of religious education though still rare is increasing and improving. As the Church recovers, local parishes, monasteries, and convents become visibly re-socialised and motivated again to provide more adequate pastoral care for all ages. This study explores the importance of informal improvisation and innovation as an approach, in the best interest of children and youth, at a time when an effective, regulated mass public religious education system in Bulgaria is not likely to appear soon. At the same time, revitalised eparchial, parish, convent, and monastery centres start meeting actual needs of renewed church ethos, and begin to provide opportunities for religious socialisation of children and youth that is more functional. Based on direct and indirect experience, on observation, and on partial access to limited local empirical data (that is historically and/or anthropologically only partially explored and categorised), this paper contributes to the analysis of the following unresolved issue: how to direct research toward and keep account of well-known educational and pastoral practices, whether traditional or contemporary, that aid the effective and sustainable religious socialisation of children and youth.
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A Comparison of the Educational Methods of Zoltán Kodály and his Student, Klára Kokas
47-52Views:800After the presentation of Klára Kokas’ pedagogical methods and her own invented musical activities with children, I shall try to compare these methods with Zoltán Kodály’s music educational practices and innovations to emphasize the continuity and discontinuity of Hungarian music educational practice. Kokas centered her pedagogical concept on children’s creativity, human relations, acceptance of and complete attention paid to others. This world view and ideology was constructed around a child-centered sensitivity, music being her primary pedagogical resource. The goal of this paper is to explore the main elements and characteristics of Klára Kokas’s pedagogy, which were revolutionary and new in the fields of personality development, music and complex art education. I will draw out those elements, which show similarity between his work and Kokas’s, then I will point out those components in which Kokas offered excess for personality development. The main elements of this concept is music, dance improvisation, motions, imaginative stories, visual arts, painting and drawing, but it’s most important component is that very specific and intimate relation, which connected her to the children. My purpose is to highlight the contours of the Kokas’ pedagogy. In my comparative research I mention the reform pedagogical elements of the Zoltán Kodály’s concept, and I seek the common and different elements of their music educational ideas and innovations. The importance of her beliefs and moral convictions in the art of education will be outlined then.
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The Evolving Concept of (Language) Assessment Literacy. Implications for Teacher Education
120-130Views:857Language teachers’ assessment knowledge and skills have received considerable attention from language assessment researchers over the past few decades (Davison & Leung, 2009; Hill & McNamara, 2012; Rea-Dickins, 2001; Taylor, 2013). This seems to be linked to the increased professionalism expected of them in classroom-based assessments. However, teachers seem to face a number of challenges, including how large-scale standardized language exams influence their classroom assessment practices. Teachers’ assessment literacy, therefore, needs to be examined in order to explain their assessment decisions. In this paper, we review the concept of (language) assessment literacy, how it has evolved and how it is conceptualized currently. Recent interpretations seem to reflect a multidimensional, dynamic and situated view of (language) assessment literacy. Implications for teacher education are also highlighted by presenting research findings from studies that explored teachers’ and teacher candidates’ assessment literacy in various educational contexts. As a result, we can identify some common patterns in classroom assessment practices as well as context-specific training needs. Finally, we make a recommendation for tackling some of the challenges language teachers are facing in relation to classroom-based assessment in the Hungarian context.
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The Mentoring’s Role among Alumni Students of István Wáli Roma College for Advanced Studies of the Reformed Church
36-52Views:420Colleges for Advanced Studies (CASs) are the oldest institutionalized talent development initiatives of higher education in Hungary (since 1895). The Act CCIV of 2011 on National Higher Education initiated the creation of a national network of denominational Roma CASs. In a CAS, students live in a dormitory, build a strong community, get scholarships and support from tutors and mentors. Important elements of Roma CASs are the following: religious education, social responsibility for society, and Roma identity empowerment (Godó et al., 2019; Kardos, 2013; Charta, 2011). In this study, we examined alumni (ex-university students) of a Roma CAS in Debrecen. Among other things, we were interested in how they relate to the mentoring process, how they feel about it, and how mentoring is perceived in their own lives. We are also interested in what types of mentors are mentioned and whether there is any form of mentoring in their current activities. Method of our research: qualitative interview analysis. Semi-structured interviews were conducted in 2018 with 17 alumni selected by snowball method. According to our results, the former students named 2 types of mentors who were next to them: layman and professional mentors, or they themselves can be typed as mentors on the basis of the following: layman mentors (layman persons involved in mentoring activities) and professional mentors. We consider it important to emphasize the role of the pastor in a Reformed institution, who has also been promoted to the professional mentoring category. In addition, our goal is to investigate the characteristics of networking patterns that emerge around specialist college students.
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Aspects of the Well-being of University Instructors Related to Online Education During and After the Pandemic – Case Study of a Hungarian University
14-25Views:290In the past decade, quite a few articles have been published about the advantages and disadvantages of working from home online, and by studying the experiences that they present, it would be possible to much more thoroughly plan the rather complex, multi-faceted process of digital transition. However, the coronavirus epidemic that broke out in early 2020 did not allow for thoughtful preparation. The new work schedule resulted in profound changes to the work of university lecturers, thus, it obviously also had a significant impact on their well-being. In this study, we examine the state of the well-being of the instructors at one of the biggest universities in Hungary, the University of Debrecen. The period in question is at the introduction of emergency remote teaching and at the end of the pandemic period. Using quantitative and qualitative methods, we collected data and information at different times. Based on this, we revealed what resources the instructors relied on, how they were able to meet the challenges of education online.
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Education and the Significance of Life by Jiddu Krishnamurti
166-169Views:534Bibliography of the reviewed book: Krishnamurti, J. (1974). Education and the Significance of Life. All India Press.
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Department history research and collections in the service of understanding the Debrecen school of educational sciences
20–28Views:81Exploring the history of the Department of Educational Studies in Debrecen, as well as the history of university teacher training and the practice school, began in 2002 under the leadership of László Brezsnyánszky with the collaboration of the “Debrecen School” research group. In our study, we summarize the main results and present the collections under the supervision of the department, as well as the professional forums on departmental history organized by it. According to our findings, the Debrecen School of Educational Sciences – its various organizational units – possessed three functions: 1. It provided for the education of the scientific next generation in its own field of expertise; 2. It conducted training in its own discipline and announced lectures on pedagogical subjects for the interested circle of the student body; 3. It performed the instructional tasks of theoretical pedagogical courses for teacher candidates, and additionally carried out organizational and supervisory work in this field. The state university of Debrecen carried on the traditions of its predecessor, the Reformed College. In departments critical to the shaping of worldviews, such as pedagogy, Reformed faith and ecclesial commitment remained vibrant until 1950. In the years following the foundation (1912), lectures on educational science were held by the professor of the Department of Philosophy (Béla Tankó); later, the now independent Department of Pedagogy sought to strengthen its prestige with a more diverse and colorful range of lecture offerings. In his lectures, Professor Gyula Mitrovics strived to present the fields of science according to the traditional division of pedagogy (theory of education, history of education, didactics), while in his seminars, he covered the significance of the intelligence tests he conducted and of experimental pedagogy. Sándor Karácsony already spoke to his students about the practical questions of school educational work. The era of Béla Jausz and László Kelemen was about stabilization, the strengthening of the position within the Faculty of Arts, and the alignment with the direction and research designated by socialist educational science. During Kelemen’s leadership, the preparation for the independence of units growing out of the individual departmental groups took place.
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The Effectiveness of the Let’s Teach for Hungary Mentoring Program
150-160Views:318The situation of disadvantaged students has been a problem in the field of education for decades, -so much so that several disadvantage-compensation programs have been set up in an effort to reduce its effect. This includes the mentoring process, the primary purpose of providing support and assistance to younger individuals. The subjects of the research are the 7th grade students participating in the Let’s teach for Hungary mentoring program. The questionnaire survey was conducted in the autumn of 2019 (n=585), during which I focused on the children’s expectations of the mentoring program, their learning difficulties, learning motivations, and their plans for further learning. Classifying students in clusters based on their motivations, highlights the fact that the range of participants is not homogeneous this aspect. The Coronavirus epidemic has posed a significant challenge to traditional education, and the opportunities offered by personal mentoring have been pushed into the background over the past year and a half. Educators and students alike have struggled through the transition to digital education (Kristóf, 2020). Attendance mentoring was forced to continue in the form of distance mentoring. In my current research, I examine the existence of distance mentoring, the exploration of experiences, and the preparedness of the participants in the Teach for Hungary program. Data collection began in December 2021, and the query process is still ongoing. I carry out the survey using a mixed-method. I collect quantitative data among students with the help of questionnaires, which focus on the experiences, opinions and readiness of the children. In addition, I use a qualitative, interview-based research method that provides an understanding of more comprehensive experiences. I conduct interviews with educators, mentors, and mentored students. The subjects of the research are primary school students (8th grade students), mentors and teachers of a small settlement in Hajdú-Bihar county and Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg county (n=60 people). The research results can serve as feedback to the participants on the success of work done during distance mentoring. The results obtained can also serve as feedback for the Let’s teach for Hungary program because the program can be developed in the future from interviews.
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Emerging successes and persistent challenges in Hungarian minority education in Romania
48–60Views:57This study examines the early impacts of recent curriculum and examination reforms in Romanian minority education, focusing on the introduction of the “Romanian as a non-native language” curriculum for Hungarian-speaking students. Using aggregated national assessment and baccalaureate data from 2020–2025, the research analyzes trends in Romanian language performance among minority students, compares results across regions and school types, and uses mathematics performance as a comparative indicator to contextualize language-specific achievement patterns. Descriptive, cohort-comparative, and proportion-difference analyses, complemented by hypothetical “what-if” calculations, reveal that while a persistent 1.3–1.5 point gap remains between minority and majority students in Romanian language performance at the 8th-grade level, mathematics scores are nearly equivalent, indicating that the gap is linguistic rather than cognitive. In the 2025 baccalaureate – the first year of full curriculum implementation – pass rates improved notably in high-minority regions (e.g., Harghita +5.3 pp, Covasna +1.6 pp), alongside a significant reduction in failure rates, particularly in vocational and technical schools. The findings suggest that aligning examination content with a differentiated curriculum may be associated with more favorable educational outcomes among minority students, though effectiveness varies by region and school type. Sustainable gains require targeted teacher training, adequate resources, and systematic monitoring to address persistent structural and contextual disparities.
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Higher Education Research on the Issue of Dropout
90-94Views:395Book review on Pusztai, G., Szigeti, F. (eds.): Dropout and Persistence in Higher Education. Debrecen University Press, University of Debrecen, 2018.
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A schema social circle of Indonesian students in higher education
143–158Views:83Social circle is one of the issues that we must address. It emerged as a significant social phenomenon because members joined based on their shared interests, rather than proximity or assigned ranks. It changes based on individual needs and the environment. This research aimed to expand the Indonesian community that studies abroad socially, specifically within their social circle. It is also a goal to explore students' social circle strategies as they learn within Hungary's higher education system. Quantitative pilot research was employed in this study. Convenience sampling was used. A questionnaire was administered to Indonesian students to collect data from 22 per cent (N=47) of Indonesians who studied in Hungary. The Indonesian student was the one who held a Stipendium Hungaricum scholarship. All of them come from different educational backgrounds and programs. The results revealed that most of respondents are members of home country student associations. Among various social background variables, educational attainment emerged as the sole significant determinant of multi-organizational membership. Other result is among the identified clusters, there is one that represents new types of motivations including relationship-building motivations, among Indonesian students. These findings highlight the pivotal role of informal, peer-driven networks in the social integration of Indonesian students, superseding formal university-led initiatives. Universities should implement policies that actively promote student satisfaction by facilitating access to identity-affirming and interest-based student organisations, while ensuring the affordability of participation through low-cost or subsidised social programs to guarantee inclusivity and accessibility for all students.
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Reading Assessment for Diagnosing Acquired Reading Disorders in Adults: Theoretical and Practical Aspects of its Development
70-83Views:308The study of reading processes is of particular importance in the assessment of cognitive-linguistic functions in both atypical development and acquired disorders of the adult developmental skills system. A comprehensive assessment of cognitive processes allows the selection of the appropriate therapeutic techniques, which in turn contributes to the best possible quality of life following rehabilitation. A common leading symptom of cognitive dysfunction in adult acquired neurological impairment is a deficit in reading. Our aim was to develop a reading assessment procedure based on national and international theoretical and empirical research to allow a complex assessment of reading processes. In order to investigate the reliability of the test and to develop an assessment system for it, a large-scale survey was organised. During the analyses, an evaluation system was developed which would allow us to objectively describe not only the fact of impairment but also its extent. Based on our results, the design of the Adult Acquired Reading Assessment and the comprehensive assessment system associated to it have resulted in a complex test procedure that is not only well applicable in clinical diagnostics but also in exploratory empirical work.
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Wind Bands for Hungarian Community Music
90-97Views:348The scholarly study of community bands as music communities can be considered a relatively young trend even on an international level. Despite this fact, there is more and more research done on the potential effects they may have on society and music education. Our national literary records on wind bands, however, are mainly focused on their historical background and their legacy in the military. Thus, there is an insufficient amount of information provided on the aspects of sociology and pedagogy. Besides the literary comparison done in our research, we also study the resupply of our national bands in music schools, using available data from the the 2016/2017 Statistical Yearbook of Public Education. This paper serves mainly as a tool of problem identification, laying the groundwork for further researches done in this area.
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New Paths to Online Teaching – How Can We Manage Knowledge Transfer and Make the Learning More Enjoyable?
55-62Views:494This study is based on the results from a national project initiative on digitalization, supported by methodology evidence from e-learning materials at the level of teachers’ training for vocational education institutes. Looking for the new paths to online learning We have been formulating the question for almost a decade: How can we manage the transfer of knowledge and make learning more enjoyable? For the steps forwards, the first impulses for understanding the recontextualization of vocational didactics and re-defining roles and responsibilities of the actors. Our paper deals with seeking a new method for content development and its application in vocational education and training (VET). This study recommends a kind of open framework[1] is provided by the fact that the innovation, which takes open source content development as one of the approaches of reforming teacher training for VET, is connected to a technical university of long-existing traditions. In line with the peculiarities of Hungarian VET, our research group undertook to develop methodological training in terms of complex school subjects. By applying their new concept, their concrete objective was: the methodological renewal of vocational teacher training and practical training by creating and applying complex learning content units online.
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At the Crossroad of Cultures: Education and Identity of Hungarian Deaf Learners in Romania
68-78Views:340Deaf people living in ethnic-national minority situation form a social group whose members have multiple cultural backgrounds. Starting from interpretations which are viewing the deaf child as a member of a distinct cultural and linguistic minority, I studied the education of Hungarian deaf pupils in Romania graduating from the Hungarian Special School in Cluj/Kolozsvár/Klausenburg, with particular regard to the relationship between formal and informal language use in school, communication culture and identity. Methodologically the research is based on life path interviews with Hungarian Deaf Special School graduates, family case studies of two or three generation deaf families and structured interviews with experienced educators. The research results reveal that the educational practice of the concerned educational institution strengthens the pupils' identity awareness and sense of belonging to the Hungarian nation in two distinct, still interconnected ways: on the one hand, through oral language acquisition, nursing the oral Hungarian language skills, and on the other hand through cultivating the Hungarian Sign Language embedded in the deaf culture within the learner community. Nowadays, the conditions and modalities of exercising this role are changing in several respects. The positive educational effects achieved so far can be reinforced and strengthened by educational policies based on the recognition and cultivation of cultural diversity, in all its complex and multifaceted manifestations, including the peculiar needs of ethnic minority deaf learners.
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Gender Differences Among Teacher Education Students in Light of a Pilot Study
80-93.Views:269This paper aims to present the measurement tool designed to examine gender differences among teacher education students and the results obtained during the research. The theoretical section of the paper describes teachers’ and parents’ influence on children’s gender role attitudes, gender socialization and career orientation. To prepare the questionnaire, we analyzed the Hungarian and international literature and built on the results of our previous qualitative research. We grouped our questions into three dimensions: (1) gender socialization in the family, (2) parental involvement, (3) gender socialization at school and career orientation. According to our results, gender-neutral toys were more often chosen by male students’ parents, and mothers were more involved in their children’s school activities than fathers, setting higher expectations as well. Teachers and parents, especially mothers, played an important role in students’ career choice. In addition, students perceived that teachers handled them differently depending on their gender in terms of the evaluation of their academic progress and behavior as well as the frequency of compliments and punishment.
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Thoughts on open science, or new trends in publishing the results of pedagogical research
6-12Views:79The radical transformation of education over the past quarter-century, especially accelerated by COVID-19, has raised significant challenges and opportunities for both pedagogical theory and practice. This article examines how the landscape of publishing scientific research—particularly in education—has evolved in response to these changes. Reflecting on more than fifty years in educational research, I explore how digital transformation and Open Science now shape scientific communication and publishing. The introduction reviews the early impulses that shape the theoretical background. It explores new communication forms arising from infocommunication (Katz et al., 2021). Examples show a paradigm shift, demonstrating how scientific communication has adopted online practices. The article highlights conceptual frameworks, spatial and methodological changes in communication, and new ways of sharing research (Nyíri, 2007). It emphasizes the expansion of publication spaces. These changes show that pedagogy researchers must address new issues.
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Favouring Middle-and Upper-Class Students? The Structure and Process of Attending China’s Selective Universities
1-16Views:554Research suggests the increasing influence of family socioeconomic status, as measured by parents’ income and occupations, in access to Chinese higher education. Yet, the literature remains inconclusive about the extent to which the social background of rural and urban students is associated with academic and social performance at elite universities. We address this limitation by looking at the academic and social success of representative samples of first- and second-year students enrolled at four Chinese elite universities. Our aim is to understand the characteristics that students from both urban and rural environments bring with them and how those characteristics bear on academic and social performance in university. We found an overrepresentation of students from middle- and upper-class backgrounds in both urban and rural student groups. The fact that the process indicator of cultural capital has a direct association with social success suggests students from urban areas exhibit traits valued in the selective university environment.
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Migrating From Face-To-Face to Online Learning During the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Experiences of Psychology Students at a Private Higher Education Institution in Gauteng
11-21Views:754Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there was an accelerated migration from face-to-face to online learning. This article aims to explore and describe how psychology students experienced the migration from face-to-face to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. It entailed a qualitative research design with an exploratory and descriptive approach. The participants were 28 purposively sampled psychology students from a Private Higher Education Institution in Gauteng. An online survey method was employed to gather the needed information which was then subjected to a thematic analysis. It emerged that the challenges experienced by students were internet connectivity issues, insufficient computer literacy, reduced class time, anxiety, physical impact, and communication issues. Moreover, some benefits related to flexibility, the convenience of online studies and safety from infection with COVID-19 were identified. It was also noted that having certain attributes such as independence, time management skills, having support and being tech savvy improved the online learning process. Some opportunities for Higher Education Institutions to improve the experiences of students included creativity in module delivery as well as providing guidelines on how to use these online platforms.