According to the Educatio Nonprofit Plc., (an institution of the Ministry of Education and Culture responsible for ICT developments within education), all teachers should have a basic knowledge of ICT and associated pedagogical issues. However, ICT in initial teacher education is not compulsory at the present time; nor is in-service teacher education related to ICT either. The strongly centralised developments in teacher training have had the tendency to homogenise the target group and led to an absence of innovation in this area (European Schoolnet, 2009, p7). This is worrying. Plomp (2009, p367) states that:
The key to successfully disseminating the outcomes of innovative projects and sound use of ICT in teaching and learning seems to rest with teacher education. … Accordingly, between 2000 and 2006, the Hungarian government provided large-scale, national in-service courses for teachers. In the near future, ICT-based educational reforms will hopefully reach university level.
As universities are responsible for all initial teacher education in Hungary (as well as providing ongoing continuing professional development), this seems like a vital area of work for the continuing developing of ICT usage in all Hungarian schools.
