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Social innovation in a Romani community. The case of the Gandhi Secondary School in Hungary
63-70Views:4T
The Story. Following the post-communist transition of 1989–90, a Romani secondary school—the first of its kind in Europe—was established in Pécs, Hungary. This initiative began as a grassroots civic movement and operated under non-governmental management from 1994 to 2011. In 2011, the Hungarian state took over oversight, and the institution was restructured as a non-profit organisation. This study presents and analyses the Gandhi Secondary School as a notable example of social innovation. Research Questions. a) What prompted the surge of civic initiatives within the Romani community of Southern Transdanubia after the political transition? b) How can we explain the trajectory of the Gandhi Secondary School, which experienced initial success, followed by decline, and eventually stabilisation? Methodology. It utilises the framework of educational anthropology. The methodology includes secondary analysis of existing research, participant observation, narrative analysis, and social listening. Results. a) The uniqueness of the Gandhi Secondary School stems from its origin as a social innovation directly emerging from the local and regional Romani community. b) Although its lifecycle aligns with theoretical models of social innovation, its specific 'destiny' is closely linked to the socio-political context of the post-communist transition. Thus, this lifecycle serves as both a model and a unique historical case. c) The history of this innovation illustrates that in the Hungarian context, social innovations can only be sustained through strong partnerships with central/ local government.
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Innovation in Social Science
88-90Views:220Bibliography of the reviewed book: Márkus, E., Boros, J., & Kozma, T. (2022). Sustainability of innovation. Debrecen University Press
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Strengthening family–school partnerships through research, training and innovation: Reflections from the MTA‑DE‑PARTNERED program
71-84Views:7This study presents the comprehensive findings of the MTA-DE-PARTNERED research and development program, which ran from 2021 to 2025, and aimed to explore and develop the theoretical, empirical, and practical dimensions of family-school partnerships. Within the framework of Epstein’s model of parental involvement, the research examined parents’ educational and learning-support activities at home, school–parent communication, volunteering, participation in decision-making, and community building. Analyses based on a review of the literature, large-scale questionnaire surveys, interviews, and case studies show that patterns of parental involvement are influenced by the child’s achievement, school type, school sector, and social background. The MTA-DE-PARTNERED program placed a strong emphasis on improving teacher training, recognizing that teachers’ preparedness and attitudes play a key role in the quality of the partnership. During the development phase, we created an evidence-based collection of best practices, a university toolkit, and an innovative educational board game based on cooperative. The board game aimed to support the positive development of asset-based attitudes among students and teachers through the simulation of various parental involvement scenarios. The results of the impact assessments suggest that the board game significantly contributes to the development of reflective thinking, a multi-perspective approach, and partnership-centered attitudes. This study shows that strengthening family-school collaboration requires systemic, research-based, and training-related innovations that will, in the long term, contribute to the improvement of student achievement and the development of pedagogical culture.
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The Connection between Extracurricular, Leisure Time Activities, Religiosity and the Reasons for Drop-out
55-67Views:637The interruption of tertiary education and the reduction in the dropout rate have been a central issue in educational sociology and education research. Exploring the possible reasons for dropping out can significantly contribute to reducing the trend. Our aim is to map the links between students dropping out and individual factors. Consequently, we investigate the connection between extracurricular and leisure-time activities, health behaviour and religiosity in relation to dropout. This is explained by the fact that one of the axioms of the literature on dropout is that belonging to civil networks usually strengthens the commitment to the successful completion of studies. In our analysis, we used the database created during the research carried out in 2018 by the Center for Higher Education Research and Development (CHERD-H) in the framework of project No. 123847 of the National Research, Development and Innovation Fund of Hungary, entitled The Role of Social and Organisational Factors in Student Dropout (DEPART 2018, N=605). Our results show that the neglect of study obligations among those who are disappointed in the course and further education is closely related to the shift in value preferences and an increase in the time spent with entertainment activities and partying. It can also be stated that students take part indifferent types of extracurricular activities only to a limited extent, and the different forms of participation in activities and religiosity are not related to the causes of dropout.
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Reading Assessment for Diagnosing Acquired Reading Disorders in Adults: Theoretical and Practical Aspects of its Development
70-83Views:301The 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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Religious Socialisation of Children and Youth in Eastern Orthodox Christian Church as Educational and Pastoral Challenge of Sharing of Cultural Practices
1-16Views:481As 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.