Vol. 75
(2025)
Issue 03-04 | DATE OF PUBLISHING: 2025-06-04 ABSTRACTS | 5-14 | SZIJÁRTÓ, ZSOLT – BÉNYEI, JUDIT – TIMÁR, BORBÁLA – RAJNAI, RICHÁRD The conversation reviews a recently published book on the state of media literacy in Hungary. It presents the initial situation, reviews developments over the past few decades, and analyzes the current state of media literacy. |
| 15-30 | JÓZSA, KRISZTIÁN – SZÁNTÓ, ZSUZSANNA – HAJDUNÉ HOLLÓ, KATALIN – PODRÁCZKY, JUDIT Mastery motivation in early childhood plays a crucial role in children’s cognitive, social, and psychomotor development, as well as in laying the foundation for future academic success. While previous research has confirmed the predictive value of mastery motivation, comparatively little attention has been paid to the methods and opportunities for fostering and enhancing it. This study seeks to address this gap by examining the multidimensional nature of mastery motivation and identifying effective kindergarten practices to support its development. The analysis considers the influence of the social environment on motivation and delves into core components such as persistence and emotional engagement, emphasizing the pivotal role of educators in nurturing motivational growth. Drawing on concrete examples, the study offers practical recommendations for teachers, including the implementation of optimally challenging tasks and the creation of supportive, responsive learning environments. Moreover, the paper explores the impact of family background and highlights the significance of parent-teacher collaboration. Ultimately, this work underscores the importance of the intentional cultivation of mastery motivation and outlines pedagogical strategies within early childhood education to effectively support this essential developmental domain. |
| 31-58 | SÁVAI-ÁTYIN, REGINA – BACSKAI, KATINKA The heterogeneity of student communities in schools is a challenge for teachers. One of the characteristics of heterogeneity is the increasing proportion of learners with special educational needs or difficulties in integration, learning and behaviour (BESD) (KSH, 2024). One possible pedagogical response to this challenge is differentiation and the use of varied methodologies (Reinhardt & Kökönyei, 2009). In teaching, educators encourage effective learning (Chrappán, 2020), through which educators seek to facilitate the learning difficulties of students with difficulties in fitting in, learning and/or behaviour. In our qualitative study, semi-structured interviews with classroom teachers (n=9) were analysed using Atlas.ti 24 text analysis software. Our interview participants are working in primary and secondary schools in the counties of Hajdú-Bihar; Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg. The focus of our research is primarily to get a comprehensive picture of teachers' knowledge and experiences with BESD students and to what extent teachers perceive the heterogeneous student population as a challenge. Our results show that teachers naturally accept the diversity of students and strive to meet the challenges this brings, but this is not straightforward for them. Between daily tasks, they are constantly trying out different tools and approaches to learning methods. Some techniques (using online content, working in pairs) are considered particularly useful, while others (e.g. group work) are not. |
| 59-69 | KOMJÁTHY, ZSUZSANNA This paper examines the past and current situation of the integration of children with special educational needs in the mainstream education system, using and comparing the results of a previous study conducted by Horváthné in 2006 and the results obtained from the research data of students at the University of Miskolc (2024) regarding the integration attitude of teachers.
The research examined teachers' attitudes towards integration along three key aspects: willingness to integrate; degree of professional competence; and the method of acquiring the knowledge necessary for acquiring special knowledge.
The aim of the research was to reveal, within the sample examined, the extent to which the willingness of mainstream teachers to include children with special educational needs has changed over the past twenty years. The research also attempted to determine what obstacles teachers may face in achieving the highest level of inclusion.
Our future research objective is to examine how sincere teachers' integration intentions can be in the absence of a sense of professional competence? |
| 70-78 | ANTAL, CSILLA This study presents the practical aspects of Roma integration through a specific case study. We follow the success story of a young girl attending the integrated group at the Ficánka Nursery School in Odorheiu Secuiesc.
Between 2020 and 2024, I conducted a research project based on educational sociology and romology. The study focused on the factors influencing the institutional attendance of Roma children in Harghita County. During the sampling process, interviews were conducted with the girl's mother and the kindergarten teachers working in the integrated group at the Ficánka Kindergarten.
The core of this study is based on reports from these interviews, offering insights into the girl's story from both the mother's and the educators' perspectives.
Although the girl and her family strive to follow the norms of majority society in every possible way, they live in the Budvár roma settlement in Odorheiu Secuiesc. The parents' main aspiration is for their daughter to continue her education in a majority school after finishing his studies at the Ficánka Kindergarten. This goal—initially seemingly out of reach—was eventually achieved.
This study is particularly compelling because it tells the story of integration in practice through a real-life example, offering insights and inspiration from everyday reality. |
| 79-83 | TÓTH, KRISZTIÁN – SZIMLER, BÁLINT In response to László Trencsényi's research questions, a Hungarian „adventure organiser” (tour guide) working in Barcelona and the young director of the school film Black Spot (Fekete pont; 2023) will talk about their own pedagogical experiences in their work. |
| 84-94 | SZENT-GÁLY, VIOLA The value of the kindergarten experiment started in the Dob Utca Kindergarten in 1980 goes beyond the fact that it was once a prominent representation of the change of approach in kindergarten education. Born in the wake of the Differentiated Kindergarten Behaviour Programme (DOB Programme) and then running in parallel in the 1990s, the kindergarten innovations of the 1990s drew on each other's knowledge. It is time to analyse the significance of the DOB Programme and the work of its author from a distance, and to begin to uncover the facts that will show that the programme's developer, Dr. Éva Hűvös (1942-2014), a kindergarten teacher and psychologist, was the most influential kindergarten researcher of her time.
As a preliminary study of an ongoing PhD research, this paper leads us into the hitherto unexplored process of Dr. Éva Hűvös' paradigm-shifting approach to the DOB Programme, in which she builds up and puts into practice the “basic units” of the preschool form of social learning in kindergarten. By applying the closed (controlled) and open (changeable) principles of the communication system and introducing micro-situations and situation analysis as basic units in the DOB Program, she creates a new constructivist methodology in the 1980s. It is outlined that through the studies of the author of the Program, he had an early insight into the work of Vigotszij and the theory of the proximal developmental zone, which, we assume, was the first Hungarian kindergarten adaptation of the DOB Program.
By reviewing the career of Dr. Éva Hűvös, by examining the origins of her approach and by comparative analysis of the DOB program's interpretation of learning, we can conclude that she may have been a prominent player in the implementation of the social-constructivist pedagogical trend in Hungarian kindergarten practice through her publications and the development of the “Kindergarten Program of Global Education and the Development of Autonomy”. The present preliminary study sheds light on the contents of this process that we already know, and thus aims to catalyse the launch of a deeper, comprehensive research on the topic. |
| 95-106 | THÜR, ANTAL – FÜGEDI, BALÁZS The aim of our review-type study is to take into consideration the effects of movement and active living in the segment of cognitive skills and functions. We also examined the relationship between physical indicators, in terms of assessing cognitive functions, brain function and school performance based on the complex skills provided in school performance.
Based on the literature review, there is no unified opinion in terms of relationship between movement on cognitive abilities and academic performance, but in most cases it assumes a connection and does not prove a negative effect. Studies using different methods show a heterogeneous effect, which often proves a positive relationship, but it is almost impossible to determine its extent, objective monitoring is not suitable for unification due to the complex functions and different forms of movement. Unfortunately, the literature treats the development of cognitive functions, subject and movement separately, even though it presumably functions as a complex system. However, it is difficult to establish a causal relationship in the absence of objective measures.
The results are still significant, because the present generation is characterized by a sedentary and an inactive lifestyle, which can only be changed if we motivate the students by renewing the lessons in the primary scene of learning and, in addition to the health of the hearth- and circulatory system, with the fitness of the brain, by replenishing the learning environment through movement. This new type of thinking could gain strength against outdated pedagogical methods and learning strategies. |
| 107-116 | KAMARÁS, ISTVÁN In the role of critic the sociologist in culture distinguishes five types of writings. First, those of authors who consider themselves representatives of conservative pedagogy, whose writings he considers much more ideologists and culture warriors than practitioners and investigators of the science of pedagogy. Second, the author deals with the writings of educational researchers who are critical of them, presenting facts, arguments, and sometimes irony, which are rightly missing from the ideological treatise that misuses the adjective conservative. The writing of Kristóf Nyíri, who considers himself a conservative, can be classified in a separate category, which is the more nuanced and reflective writing in the volume, which is able to rise above the various dichotomies. László Trencsényi with sorrowfulness lists the innovations and realized utopias of Hungarian pedagogy of the past half century, which seem to be increasingly disappearing from the pedagogical discourse. seems to be falling out of the public discourse in educational science. Finally, philosopher Endre Kiss comments on the writings in the volume with Swift irony and convinces the reviewer that in this case it is not conservatism and progressivism that are at odds, but universalism and particularism. And the latter pitfall can be stumbled upon not only by ideologists, but also by scientists. |
| 117-124 | KERÉNYI, MARI A Review of Béla Fábry and László Trencsényi (Eds.): Conservative Pedagogy – Pro and Contra. A Pedagogical Paradigm at the Center of Debate
This volume, created with the intention of fostering dialogue, brings together authors representing two distinctly opposing perspectives. In this review, the author aims to separate current political narratives from academic inquiry, and to highlight the truly pressing pedagogical questions that remain unanswered.
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| 125-130 | POZSÁR, ANDREA The edited volume New Research, Innovations and Analyses in Subject Didactics, published in the summer of 2024 under the auspices of the Subject Didactics Subcommittee of the Educational Science Committee of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, offers timely and relevant responses to the interdisciplinary challenges of contemporary subject didactics. The 350-page compilation — dedicated to the memory of the late Prof. Dr. Benő Csapó — presents cutting-edge research directions in science, social science, and arts education. The contributions cover a broad thematic spectrum, including digital curriculum development in environmental education, energy awareness, STEM education, history instruction, smart textbooks, financial literacy, music and drama pedagogy. Notable emphasis is placed on recent studies concerning the Kodály concept, as well as interdisciplinary integrations, such as the musical interpretation of Sándor Petőfi’s poetry. This collection serves not only as a valuable resource for researchers, but also as a practical guide for educators seeking to modernize teaching practices in the 21st century. This review aims to offer an overview of the structure and thematic diversity of the volume, and to reflect on its pedagogical and educational policy significance. |
| 131-133 | TÍMÁR, GIGI There is a broad consensus in the literature on the value and importance of critical thinking. The book is designed to provide readers with a tool that can be used on its own to develop this skill. |
| 134-139 | TURCSIK, KATALIN – MAJOR, ANITA In 1994, the Öveges József Secondary School in Budapest became the first in Hungary to provide targeted support for secondary school students with learning disorders. The paper reports on the DISZ30 – three decades for secondary school students with learning disorders conference and tableau exhibition, which the school held to recall the milestones and lessons learned over three decades.
The author of the next presentation, in a very personal speech, looks back at the ten years spent at the Öveges József Middle School (Öveges József Középiskola) preparing the learners with dyslexia, dysgraphia and dyscalculia for their final exams educating them outside of classroom settings. She shows why this gave great pleasure as a human and why this was greater success as a Hungarian teacher than teaching less problematic learners. When the children experienced strictness with love, when they realised that having a paper stating that they are partially disables does not mean that they are immune to the consequences of their actions, the teacher was able to adapt to their way of thinking, and is able to jolt them out, they will produce excellent results: their writing improved, their spelling and memory got better. Self-development activities, hiking groups, open-air school, folklore programmes, folk dancing and handwork all helped the underprivileged children to earn self-esteem, integrate and become successful. This study shows the story of a dyslexic boy who finished in the academic year of 2000/2001, who became a folk dancer and poem reciter. Due to the denial and shame of the parents he did not get an official paper about his disability, and hance did not get special treatment in certain exams. Thanks to the environment and special education methods employed, he finished university and as a grownup he spends all his time reading and writing books. |
| 140-142 | DARVAI, TIBOR In 2024, the most relevant representative professional-scientific event of the Hungarian educational science community, the National Conference on Educational Science, was held for the 24th time. The conference was organized by the Institute of Educational Studies and Cultural Management at the University of Debrecen at the request of the Pedagogical Scientific Committee of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. From an organizational sociological perspective, the ONK's nearly quarter-century presence indicates that the conference has become fully integrated into the structure of educational science, and that without its annual implementation, the field of educational science in Hungary would be unimaginable. During the three days of the conference, a total of 30 symposiums, 39 thematic sections, and 5 poster sections were organized. |
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