National Institute for Public Education

Centre for School Improvement and Integration

Director of the centre: Mayer József

The main responsibility of the Centre for School Development and Integration is to carry out research activities aimed at the improvement of public education - in the context of lifelong learning - and to pilot development programmes in various subjects, cultural domains and scenes of learning. In partnership with schools and other institutions it carries out research, development and innovative activities related to teaching pupils with special educational needs and those threatened by failure and dropping out, let them be of school age or beyond.

Research and development activities of the Centre

Research and development related to lifelong learning

Research and development activities in this area aim at revealing the pedagogical, social and economic implications of lifelong learning as well as developing and disseminating pedagogical tools. Activities include developing, piloting and adjusting curricula, textbooks, modules, resource books, methodological publications for school-based (primary and secondary) adult education. A national conference on Innovation, Integration and Inclusion is organised annually.

Other research activities aim at revealing national and international processes related to lifelong learning, studying the infrastructural and financing conditions of the system, and analysing governmental policies concerning the system.

Programme development, improving learning and school improvement

The activities in this area aim at developing, piloting and disseminating pedagogical, instructional and school improvement procedures serving the development of learning skills for lifelong learning. In this context development work focuses on methods for motivating students, for personalized teaching and learning, and for active learning and adaptive teaching.

Research work aims at revealing how teaching practice can be renewed, how classroom processes can become more effective and how the school can become a permanently learning organization that reacts quickly to ever changing needs.

Complex pedagogical programmes are also developed in some subjects or cultural domains. It involves developing curricula, textbooks and resource books as well as in-service training programmes that prepare teachers to apply them. This system-like development is always a several-year-long process, in which teachers of partner schools play active parts as well.

School improvement programmes like the Ecoschool programme based on applying comprehensive ecological approaches or MAG (Preventing – Adapting – Caring), a programme serving the dissemination of adaptive instruction accompanied with the development of school organization, which is realized in Dutch-Hungarian cooperation.

Review and analysis of the learning and teaching processes (observation)

The activities in this area aim at providing the theoretical-methodological background information for developing work. The most important element of this work is the analysis of the state of art of particular subjects or cultural domains (observation). The main objectives of this research are: (i) to solidify the knowledge necessary for dissolving subject fragmentation and strengthening inter-subject co-operation as well; and (ii) to learn about the organizational and management conditions required for improving the learning environment.

This research will move from questionnaire-based reviews to qualitative analyses focusing among others on the ways of instruction, the methodological repertoire of teachers, quality improvement.

Observation also aims at contributing to reviewing and improving the national documents of content regulation (National Core Curriculum, cross-curricula, pedagogical programme packages and frameworks of reference for assessment). These activities also include monitoring the use of ICT at school and preparing an evaluative report on it.

Improving education of disadvantaged students and those with special educational needs

The activities in this area aim at revealing the causes of school failure and dropping out; developing and disseminating solutions serving the management of these problems; increasing the knowledge that can contribute to the social integration of the groups concerned; and developing programmes that are suitable for being applied with those concerned.

The main areas of research and development include: (i) developing programmes for the improvement of integrated education of SNE (special needs education) pupils, revealing good national and international pedagogical practices, developing and disseminating solutions supporting effective integration; (ii) revealing and disseminating the good local and school strategies, practices that can enhance the integration of the Roma minority or can effectively manage and solve institutional and social conflicts accompanying integration, developing programmes, techniques, communication strategies that can more efficiently increase the chances of Roma children for schooling.