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Big Brother Mentoring in the Let's Teach for Hungary Program
114-141Views:386The number of mentoring programs within the framework of schools is increasing both internationally and domestically (Raufelder & Ittel, 2012; Fejes et. al., 2009). Besides traditional mentoring, the role of peer mentoring (Miller, 2002) has also come to the fore in recent years. In our study, we focus on cross-age peer mentoring (Miller, 2002; Sipe, 2005), where older youth mentor younger youth. One example of this in Hungary is the Let's Teach for Hungary (LTHMP) mentoring program, where undergraduate students mentor primary school students. In our research, we studied mentors at the University of Debrecen who had completed at least two semester-long cycles in the program. We were curious about how the COVID-19 pandemic period affected mentoring, so we examined the transition of a mentoring program based on a personal meeting to online mentoring, and its pivotal points, advantages, and disadvantages. As a method, we used qualitative interview analysis, during which we worked with semi-structured interviews, recorded in the spring of 2020 and 2021 – during the global pandemic situation – with a total of 50 mentors. The content analysis of the interview texts was performed based on the codes formulated based on the theory, and the emic codes emerged in the interviews (Creswell, 2012). Our results show that mentors can be grouped into different types based on their attitudes towards online mentoring. Overall, the digital transition has been a big challenge. The biggest problem was the lack of equipment. The issue of age has been also an important factor in terms of the sense of digital comfort. We noticed the phenomenon of Big Brother Mentoring and the importance of chameleon mentors. Our research, which can fill a gap, highlights both the challenges and benefits of online mentoring. In addition, we can also contribute to the effective and successful operation of the Let's Teach for Hungary Mentoring Program.
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Correlation Between Educational Performance, Family Background and Settlement Type in Covasna County, Romania
62-69Views:345In social sciences, a more sophisticated way of examining students' school performance, based on the combination of school and family factors, is becoming increasingly popular. Important indicators of schools operating in a given territorial and societal context can be obtained both at student and institutional levels if territorial characteristics are included. In our research we examine the correlation between family background and performance, and investigate the settlement type where the proportion of students from low SES schools is the highest. At the same time we are also curious whether there is a greater chance of resilience in smaller communities. Our results show that the majority of students from low SES schools study in small settlements, but resilience is clearly not more typical in smaller communities.
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The Situation and Chances of Roma students in Secondary and Tertiary Education in Hungary
26-35Views:367Addressing student drop-out or early school leaving has long been a major challenge for education policy makers at both national and international levels. This phenomenon affects all levels of education and has a profound impact on those classes of society that are economically and socio-culturally disadvantaged. This is particularly the case of the largest minority group in Hungary, the Roma, and its roots go back to primary education. Since the 1990s, so from the change of the regime, a positive tendency could have been observed in the completion of primary education, but in secondary school graduation and in obtaining a higher education degree they are still far behind the non-Roma population. In the current study, we identify causes of their learning failures, and we also present a selection of study grants that are available to young Roma students and support them to achieve higher levels of education. We also highlight the difficulties faced by those Roma youth, who have origins in traditional communities but obtain higher educational degrees.
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Family-School Partnerships in Improving Academic Performance of Grade 10 Learners in a Rural Public School
42-51Views:177Family-school partnerships address academic difficulties and ensure the performance of learners, thus, they are crucial for the improvement of learners. However, these collaborative partnerships can occasionally be hampered by problems including inadequate communication, and limited parental involvement. Research acknowledges the significance of these partnerships, but their successful implementation is hampered by a variety of institutional and socioeconomic barriers, which lessens their impact on learner academic performance. This study examined how essential forming family-school partnerships are for enhancing the academic performance of Grade 10 learners in a rural public school in Limpopo, South Africa. The study aimed to better learner performance and provide support strategies to foster improvement. An interpretivism paradigm was adopted, employing semi-structured individual interviews and document analysis. Purposefully selected participants included four academically underperforming learners, their parents, and two teachers. The study was grounded in Epstein’s model of school, family, and community partnership, advocating for parental collaboration with school personnel through six key guidelines, promoting mutual responsibility among stakeholders. Findings revealed that parents understood the value of family-school partnerships and their roles within these. However, challenges such as other obligations, transportation issues, and time constraints were identified as hindrances preventing them from fully supporting their children’s academic integrity.
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CLIL: Bridging the Gap Between Language and Content
94-97.Views:173Bibliography of the reviewed book: Coyle, D., Hood, P., & Marsh, D (2010). CLIL: Content and Language Integrated Learning. Cambridge University Press.
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Digital Diet and Relevant Minority Aspects during Home Preschool Education
121-130Views:204The aim of the present research is to provide an outline of the home education situation of Hungarian children enrolled in educational institutions in Romania. The research focuses on the perspective of early childhood teachers and education experts. Our objective is to identify the factors influencing the digital diet in minority preschool education and investigate whether this phenomenon, along with practices in home education, have specific distinguishing features as compared to trends in mainstream education. Approaches to digital diet and preschoolers’ use of digital tools are basic components of our interpretative framework. We set out to investigate this pedagogical phenomenon in the light of minority education, considering the educational situation in dispersed and block regions. Our descriptive study, built on a questionnaire (own design), presents the good practices in home education focusing specifically on minority aspects. Our sample consisted of 403 early childhood teachers and 14 minority education experts resulting from convenience sampling. The investigation reveals a more liberal home education style. According to experts, the national regulatory framework for home education gives rise to conflicting interpretations and specific minority provisions and recommendations are less straightforward. During home education, the proportion of the areas of development and that of learning content is distorted, and the language of instruction as a factor influencing the digital diet becomes especially prominent. Research results did not focus primarily on the minority features of home education and the digital diet but rather on regional and local distinguishing features.
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Designing An instrument to measure explicit and implicit learning processes
92-102Views:641In this research paper, the researcher’s intention was to design an instrument that is able to measure learning under two different conditions: explicit and implicit learning. Exploring explicit and implicit learning is gaining more and more attention nowadays in the field of second language acquisition (SLA). The Quantitative method was used in this study to investigate which learning mechanism proves to be more efficient in the selected sample. The present study involved Hungarian technical school, secondary school, and university students from Budapest (N = 40) who participated in completing an Artificial Grammar Learning (AGL) task. The most important finding of the present research endeavour is that implicit learning has proven to be more effective than explicit learning in the case of the selected participants and this was a statistically significant finding. The pedagogical implication of this study is that the effectiveness of implicit learning should be reconsidered by EFL teachers in Hungary.
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Metamorphoses Creative-Developmental Fairy Tale Therapy Against the Dangers of the Internet. A Series of Activities for Young Undergraduate Students
83-100Views:438This paper is about the practical application of Metamorphoses creative-developmental fairy tale therapy, which is presented based on a three-session Metamorphoses creative-developmental fairy tale therapy session. The sessions were conducted between April and May 2021, among students (n=24) of the University of Debrecen, who were previously not familiar with fairy tale therapy, nor with the works of Ildikó Boldizsár. Through the media environment of the session, we also reflected together on the effects of internet consumption and the dangers of the internet. The study highlights the students' attitudes towards this method and their participation and activity in the online space. The experiences gained during the 3 sessions and the feedback of the students appear as a guideline to conclude the study. The practical application of the Metamorphoses creative-developmental fairy tale therapy will show whether this methodology has a role to play in higher education.
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College Begins in Kindergarten: A Path to Higher Education Through Family-School Partnerships in a K-5 School
1-12.Views:303As income inequality rises in the United States, students from low-income backgrounds and other excluded identities are likelier to remain in the lower income percentile, especially if they do not have college degrees (Kochhar & Cilluffo, 2018). Therefore, a critical approach is to focus on what happens before middle and high school, realizing that early childhood is prime for students to learn about college and their future. This study explored the practices influencing college-going aspirations for marginalized students in a K-5 school that engages teachers and families. The exploration extends the literature on how schools prepare elementary-aged students to develop college-going aspirations. The case study design collected data from observations, an administrative interview, and a document review. Findings revealed social and environmental practices influencing students and families regarding college-going attitudes and aspirations. The results have implications for curriculum and school culture to redefine the postsecondary conversation.
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Present to Anyone on Any Devices? The Conflict Between Telework and Family Life for Teachers and Researchers of Helping Professions
35-41Views:202The study examined the digital work experiences of academics in human services professions (teachers, doctors, health workers, and clergy). Answers to the following question were sought after: What are the patterns related to digital work? How does work-life or family conflict (WLC) affect teleworking? It was hypothesized that digital work generates WLC. Quantitative international data were collected by the Research and Development Centre for Higher Education (CHERD–H) at the University of Debrecen in 2023, across five countries (Romania, Slovakia, Hungary, Serbia, and Ukraine). A subsample of 315 academics involved in caring professions was collected and principal component analysis, ANOVA, and correlation tests were performed using the SPSS statistical program. The subsample included 114 male and 193 female teachers, 33 of whom were Romanian. Perceptions of advantages and disadvantages dominated the digital work patterns. In addition, a "digital super-power" component was identified. The ANOVA test showed that Romanian academics had a significantly higher average in perceiving disadvantages compared to others. Academics working minimal hours were considerably more open to seeing the benefits of digital technology than those with longer working hours. According to the correlation test results, there was a negative relationship between the level of WLC and the perception of technology benefits: those who detected digital advantages had lower WLC values, while those who recognized disadvantages had higher WLC values.
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A General Overview of the Educational Programmes of the Hungarian Football Academies
101-110Views:363In the course of our research, we surveyed the educational programmes of the football academies of Hungary. We wished to reveal the educational aspects of the life of the students at the football academies. The purpose of our project is to comparatively analyse the formal and conceptual dimensions of the educational programmes of the academies through an analysis of the documents of the academies concerned. We also conducted semi-structured interviews with the heads of the social- and educational sections of the academies (N=6). We used the results of the interviews to check–confirm or refute–the results we found. We believe that the findings of our research make it possible for us to better understand the elements and value-based components of the educational dimensions of the football academies. In this way, our survey is similar to the projects of researchers who worked with local educational programmes (for example, Brezsnyánszky et al., 2000). As a conclusion of our research, we may point out that both the formal and conceptual dimensions of the educational programmes of the individual football academies are strongly heterogeneous, and the quality of their pedagogical programmes is often questionable. The results yielded by the analysis of the interviews suggest that although an educational-social department is present at each of the academies, some our former conclusions in connection with the general standards of the educational work were confirmed by the answers we received from our respondents. The academies, almost without an exception, produce their own educational programmes and carry out their educational work individually, and do not cooperate with the other institutions. There is, consequently, no uniform and standard educational work, and there is no professional documentation of the work going on either. In this way, the quality of educational work is not really able to improve.
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Inquiry into the Correlations between Sports Activity and Value Preference among Students in the Northern Great Plain Region as Regards the Role of Everyday Physical Education
53-65Views:207The vision of society can be influenced by the values young people hold regarding their way of life and physical well-being. Today, we are experiencing a crisis of these value preferences (Perényi, 2010). The aim of our study is to examine the effect of transferred sports values on the lifestyles of physically active and inactive students in light of the role of everyday physical education. In our research, 1521 students of the University of Debrecen and Nyíregyháza filled out the online questionnaire. Two-variable analyses and a multivariate principal component analysis were used, and the data were processed using SPSS. Regarding the relationship between sports activity and value orientation, the students included in the sample mostly focused on the “open” or post-material value dimension representing individual autonomy. This is in agreement with previous research data (Kovács, 2013; Perényi, 2010). Since this is a complex mechanism of action, we are unable to show causal relationships in our analysis. However, with regard to our research sample, it can be said that in the period since the introduction of everyday physical education, it has not yet had a demonstrable role in the physical activity and value system of students. Thus, promotion of an active lifestyle will, in the future, be critical in the lives of everyone. It will also prove essential in shaping the physical condition and mental well-being of the future’s society, not to mention it will help save the national economy. The first step in this process is the actual participating in physical education.
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International Academic Mobility as a Capacity Building Factor in Higher Education
82-91Views:299International academic mobility means the teaching or research activity of higher educational instructors or researchers, which spans a couple of days or a few months, during which individual professional growth, the establishment of international cooperation and networks, personal relations and friendships may develop. It is also considered to be a fundamental necessity for building capacity and an outstanding supremacy, even if a country’s academic resources are modest. Thus it is crucial to gain information about its current and actual state, quality, standards, struggles and the direction it is heading towards. As a part of a bigger research study, we wanted to know how international academic mobility, used for capacity building, changes over time, and whether country-specific features and patterns could be traced. In this present study we made an attempt to uncover the international activity based on the academic mobility of the full-time instructors at two Hungarian higher educational institutions. One of them is a large university that plays a leading role in internationalization. The other is a dynamically developing regional knowledge center. We examined the instructors of two faculties from the first, and everybody from the regional knowledge center, since it is smaller in size. Altogether 210 instructors responded to our 60 questions in the survey. The surveys were processed in the SPSS statistical analysis program. Concerning the examined discussions, categories and proposed topics, our research was built upon two previously carried out investigations – a Hungarian and a Norwegian one. We found that in Hungary in the given time period (2012-2014), the instructors with the strongest international activity were: 1. the men; 2. those who held higher academic positions; 3. those who were married or were in a relationship; and 4. who were from the field of social science.
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From Ukraine to Hungary: A Specific Case of Student Mobility
101-103Views:165Bibliography of the reviewed book: Pallay, K. (2024). Mobility, career development, integration. Mobility, career development, integration. Students of the Balassi Institute in Transcarpathia]. University of Debrecen Centre for Higher Education Research and Development (CHERD).
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Linguistic Socialization and Identity in Ethnic Hungarian Deaf Families in Romania
46-54Views:305Ethnic minority Deaf people form a social group whose members often share complex and multiple cultural backgrounds. This research explores linguistic socialization and identity development in ethnic Hungarian Deaf families living in a multi-cultural region of Romania, examining the identity related aspects of the family formation and the transmission of identity to children in ethnically homogenous (Hungarian) or heterogeneous (Hungarian-Romanian) families founded by Deaf spouses. Methodologically the research is based on survey among members of the ethnic Hungarian Deaf community in Bihor County and their ethnic Romanian spouses, career interviews with Hungarian Deaf Special School graduates and family case studies of two or three generation Deaf families. The research results reveal that the ethnic homogeneity of Deaf family partners is a key factor in handing down to children the Hungarian ethnic-national identity and the Hungarian sign language / oral language knowledge. The research findings also highlight the fact that within family interactions involving three generations where Deaf and hearing, ethnic minority and ethnic majority family members are present, specific, multifaceted communication models may prevail, and pathways and modes of identity transmission with particular characteristics may occur.
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Health Awareness and Study Performance in Public Educational Type Sports Schools
134-136Views:201Book review on Kovács, K.E. (2020). Health and Learning in Public Educational Type Sports Schools. University of Debrecen: CHERD-Hungary. ISBN 978-615-6012-03-6
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A Test of the Effect of Denominational Schools in Romania
38-47Views:387Studies in sociology of education in recent decades have consistently found an advantage for students in denominational schools - those with religious subordination - in terms of educational performance, compared with those in secular schools. Although in Romania a large part of the students from pre-university education attend confessional schools this advantage has not been investigated for the Romanian case. Taking advantage of the increased validity of the Romanian baccalaureate exam, following the measures from 2011-2012 and the availability of the statistical data regarding the schools in Oradea (Bihor county), we checked whether the hypothesis of such an advantage is confirmed in the Romanian case. Applying bivariate analyzes by type of schools (secular vs. confessional) and by types of tracks of the net pass rates (from the total of the graduates) we find that, although the promotion rates are higher for denominational schools, the support for the hypothesis of an advantage of denominational schools is fragile as much of the difference can be attributed to the academic orientation of denominational schools and to the fact that they succeed, probably, in selecting students with better educational skills.
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Sociology of Education – Theories, Communities, Contexts
107-109Views:267Bibliography of the reviewed book: Pusztai, G. (Eds.), (2023). Sociology of Education – Theories, communities,
contexts. Debrecen University Press. -
Perceptions of effectiveness and performance evaluation in Hungarian higher education in the Carpathian Basin
26-34Views:157Several international studies have addressed the quantitative and qualitative changes in higher education participation and the impact of the evaluative state and institutional quality management on higher education societies (Altbach, 2000; Altbach, 2002; Kwiek & Antonowicz, 2015). However, despite the relatively rich research in higher education in our region, the impact of higher education performance evaluation on the views of faculty members has not been investigated. In our study, we investigate the types of performance evaluation that are typical in higher education in the Carpathian Basin and provide a picture of the perceptions of faculty members on performance evaluation. We will examine the differences and similarities in performance evaluation across the different types of performance. Our research questions concern their homogeneity and interrelationships. We conducted a hybrid coding analysis of the transcripts of qualitative focus group interviews with faculty members in one of the most eastern regions of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), using data from 2022 on the impact of the introduction of performance evaluation in higher education. The main findings of the study show that faculty members' views on performance show high diversity. There is a correlation in views on performance evaluation, but they are not exclusive. The points to consider in the context of performance evaluation can provide guidance for decision-makers in higher education.
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Teacher Work and Job Satisfaction among Romanian Lower Secondary Teachers
93-100Views:451The purpose of this paper is to provide an empirical based understanding of the Romanian context of teacher work, which provides an opportunity to identify characteristics considered to affect teaching activities and gives a basis for planning and conducting other research on teachers working conditions. The paper is based on authors' research which is a secondary analysis of Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) 2013 database. The database contains the survey responses of teachers of lower secondary education (ISCED 2) and the principals of their schools. During the investigation cross/tables, cluster analysis, linear and logistical analyses were used. Based on our research results, we can see that the factors attributed both to the individuals and to the elements of pedagogical culture show a strong correlation with the characteristics of the teaching and the satisfaction with the teaching. Considering the factors attributed to the individuals, professional development and the total career time is the most influential factor of job satisfaction and teacher’s self-efficacy. Among the variables included in the school culture dimension, the effectiveness of teacher work, the disciplined atmosphere, the values of student/teacher relationships and the positive effects of teacher-teacher relationships indicated satisfaction and self-efficacy.
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Specific Needs of Families of Deaf Parents and Hearing Children
39-45Views:3852The aim of the paper is to describe specific aspects of deaf parenting of hearing children, based on an interpretation of research findings concerning the target group. Deaf parents, isolated from the verbally communicating majority by their sensory disability, face the challenge of raising and preparing hearing children for life. Our research based on semi-structured interviews with both deaf parents and hearing children demonstrates, however, that these parents do not primarily describe their parenthood as difficult or complicated. They are reconciled to their handicap and its consequences and use tools in the social environment to overcome the disadvantages of deaf parenting. Some “children” (all our respondents were adults reflecting on their childhood) describe, in contrast, their experience as a gradual reverse of natural family roles, with children eventually navigating their parents around the hearing world. These results indicate the need for further activities with these target groups in social work.
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The Challenges of Adopting a Learner-Centered Approach to On-Line English Teacher Education: A Teacher-Research Study on Jigsaw Reading and PeerTeaching in Cambodia
60-71.Views:379In Cambodia, the shift to on-line learning due to Covid-19 reinforced an already overly teacher-centric approach to education, leading to the risk of greater learner disengagement. To address this problem, I3 embarked on a research project involving the redesign of the on-line delivery of a final year English teacher education course on ‘School and Society’, in which all lectures were replaced with jigsaw reading (JR) and peer teaching (PT) tasks. To track the impact of this innovation, I recorded class sessions, kept observation logs, and obtained data from students’ reflective journaling, interviews, and a focus group. This paper reports on the design principles behind the innovation and its impact on student motivation and engagement. The research has implications for on-line teacher education and the introduction of learner-centered pedagogies in global south contexts.
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The Evolving Concept of (Language) Assessment Literacy. Implications for Teacher Education
120-130Views:710Language 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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Myth or Reality? Mobility Trends among Recent Graduates of Different Fields of Study
43-57Views:200The paper focuses on the intergenerational mobility processes in Hungarian higher education over the past decade. Its purpose is to explore these processes and to analyse the differences between the fields of study. The second-generation mobility theories, which serve to be the theoretical background of this paper, focus on the differences between income, education, occupational groups and social classes in connection with status attainment and mobility. Among the mobility theories relating to higher education, theories analyzing inequalities are studied, to discover whether they are found in Hungarian higher education („Maximally Maintained Inequality”, MMI and the theory of „Effectively Maintained Inequality”, EMI). The analysis also covers the „dynastic effects” related to mobility, whether they strengthen or weaken intergenerational processes. The database of the analysis is the Graduate Career Tracking System 2010-2021.
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The Effects of Family Background on the Processes of Foreign Language Learning in Hungary
87-97Views:427In Hungary, the academic achievement of schoolchildren is very strongly influenced by their family background, a statement often quoted in connection with PISA surveys (Róbert, 2004). Although the effects of family background have mostly been studied in connection with key competences, it is easy to see that they are also likely to influence foreign language learning, possibly to an even greater extent (Csapó, 2001). The aim of our paper is to provide an overview of theoretical and empirical findings related to the family background of Hungarian schoolchildren on different aspects of language learning: language choice, individual differences and success in language learning. We hope to provide a meta-analysis of empirical studies and their results, however it needs to be noted that their number is relatively scarce. We would also like to inspire future studies exploring similar, under-researched topics. Research into the effects of family background is imperative, as it appears to play a pivotal role in ensuring equal opportunities in language education.