The main responsibility for public education in Hungary lies with the Ministry of Education and Culture. Their responsibilities are assisted by a number of other institutes, councils and offices, including the National Office of Research and Technology. At the regional level, education is under the control of politically autonomous elected bodies, with schools having a responsibility for developing their own ICT infrastructures and their compliance with the different educational programmes that are legislated.
The Hungarian education system comprises of three main stages. Basic schooling is provided by the primary schools and lasts eight years (from the age of 6-14). Following this, students can choose from three types of secondary schools: the secondary grammar school, vocational secondary school or the short vocational training school.
The Ministry of Education has a strategic role and focuses on policy development and general administration. Regional administration has an important role in delivering national policy. County councils set up their own educational strategy plans for their particular regions and ensure proper funding of the educational institutions therein.
Current policy developments that affect the use of ICT within Hungarian education are centred on the Second National Development Plan (2007-2013). Within this plan, the 21st Century School Flagship Program (CSFP) has aimed to disseminate and draw on the findings of ICT-related trial programs in order to accomplish the following aims:
- Renovate and modernise school buildings so they can accommodate up-to-date ICT infrastructures;
- Provide training and support services necessary to implement and integrate ICT in school teaching and learning programmes;
- Train teachers and produce digital resources;
- Ensure financial and consultancy support for schools to allow them to integrate students with various learning difficulties.
As will have become apparent, this program is primarily about providing an appropriate infrastructure in each of Hungary's educational institutions. A sub-set of the CSFP is the Intelligent School of the 21st Century program. This program extends the influence of the CSFP by focusing on a range of further issues to do with the effective use of ICT in education. Amongst a range of aims, these include:
- Supporting a competence-based educational methodology;
- Supporting teachers' pedagogical work;
- Establishing community communication networks and providing digital teaching and learning resources.
The program has trained 40,000 teachers to integrate ICT skills within their teaching. This has included the use of a range of digital content, electronic lesson administration, online help and support.
The Intelligent School of the 21st Century program is deemed the most important ICT-related initiative of the Second National Development Plan. It is a phased approach, with phases 2 and 3 spanning into the iTEC project. The program is due to end in 2013.
