Within the primary school, 37% of teachers use computers for presentational purposes, with 33% incorporating computers within tasks that their pupils undertake. This places Hungary at 25th place in terms of European rankings.
Hungarian teachers also access fewer learning materials from schools’ networks than their European counterparts (42% compared with 64%) and rely less on offline materials. The recent STEPs report stated that Hungarian teachers use particularly little material from established online sources (European Schoolnet 2009, p2). Similarly, although nearly all Hungarian primary schools have access to the Internet via a broadband connection, there is relatively little use of this in comparison with other European countries (44% of schools have a website; 35% offer email to teachers and 20% to their pupils).
Primary teachers in Hungary, when compared to the rest of European countries, are very optimistic about the impact of ICT on their teaching and learning. 57% of teachers agreed strongly that 'pupils are more motivated and attentive when computers and the internet are used in class'. This ranked Hungary at 15th position (out of 27) when compared to other European countries. 67% of primary school teachers were assessed as having good or very good ICT skills with only 16% of teachers being classified as ICT novice users (European Schoolnet, 2009, p4).
Whilst Hungary is somewhat below average in regard to the level of school ICT equipment, there teachers are neither too optimistic nor too pessimistic in their identification of potential barriers to the use of ICT in their teaching. 80% of teachers stated that their school was well equipped with computers, and 87% said that the internet connection was sufficiently fast. However, 83% of teachers expressed the view that better technical support and maintenance was desirable and nearly 50% of teachers found it hard to find adequate learning materials online.
The Network of Multi-grade Education (NEMED) project, part of the EU Socrates Programme, aimed to improve the pedagogy in multi-grade classes using ICT schools. Working with children aged between 6 and 10, the project trained teachers to use a mentored innovation model to adopt ICT more fully in their classrooms. The study found that ICT improved pupils' motivation and attendance, reducing the gap between pupils with poorer educational conditions and the national average by making them motivated to go to school. There were also reported successes in raising the skills levels of pupils in poor, disadvantaged areas to the same starting point as those pupils who had more privileged backgrounds (European Schoolnet, 2009, p6).
