Recent activities at OKI

Research Centre

Analyses of the system of public education in Hungary

Analyses supporting medium- and long-term planning and decision-making in public education are done in this context including analyses of the impact of policy decisions and evaluations of various programmes. Indicators for such evaluations are being developed in co-operation with the indicator team of the Ministry of Education and Culture.

A comprehensive report Education in Hungary is published every three years giving a detailed analysis of current educational policies, challenges facing the system of public education and reactions given to it.

Empirical research of local and institutional processes regarding the effectiveness of public education

Representative empirical survey is carried out every three years on changes at schools and in their professional and social environment. In addition, qualitative research is done on specific problems (among school managers, teachers, students, parents and members of the local community). The analysis of institutional processes is completed with student level observations. School effectiveness and added value are two priority areas in this research. The findings are disseminated in a 600 to 700-page report and in a publication Some indicators of secondary school education sent to all secondary schools in Hungary.

Analyses of the socio-economic and political contexts of public education

Analyses of the socio-economic and political contexts of public education aim at revealing the effects of regional co-operation and of the reforms of public administration and public financing on the effectiveness of education. The analyses are based on the approach that education is a significant factor of human resource development. Priority areas in this research are: education and employment, lifelong learning, transition from school to employment.

International comparative analyses

Major activities in this area are: participation in the indicator programme of OECD and coordination of INES Network C, which is responsible for developing indicators connected to organisational and human conditions of education and for providing relevant data (e.g. for Education at a Glance).

The background study for the national report to the European Union is prepared within this research area (the next report is to be submitted in 2007). Activities connected to the OECD Teacher Survey programme are also carried out within the framework of this research. Occasionally we provide data and carry out expert work for various international organizations (e.g. EU, UNESCO, Council of Europe, World Bank).

Maintenance and improvement of databases

Main activities in this area are: recording, processing, and completing data on empirical research; purchasing and adjusting databases for further research; purchasing and refreshing software for data analyses; connecting the available databases and making databases user-friendly. This work is done in close co-operation with the Statistics Department of the Ministry of Education and Culture.

Centre for School Improvement and Integration

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.

Centre for Standards and Examination Development

Analyses and development of standards

Research and development activities in this area include quantitative and qualitative analyses of the new secondary school-leaving exam, international (EU, OECD) recommendations for competence development, national documents of content regulation, newly developed teaching materials and frameworks of reference used in national and international assessments. The results of these analyses may enhance the joint analyses and development of national content regulation instruments with special regard to the areas of knowledge and competences of lifelong learning.

The aims of this work include: further improvement of requirements/standards, developing new standards among others for complex subjects in the domains of science, arts and social sciences; revealing the common competence areas in different subjects and other assessment situations (e.g. reading comprehension, critical thinking, information management and interpretation, ICT literacy).

Other activities in this area include participation in developing a national Qualifications Framework and harmonizing it with the European Qualifications Framework.

Review of national and international examination systems

Research activities in this area aim at (i) reviewing the secondary school-leaving examination systems in Europe, including the requirements and examination systems of the parent states of nationalities in Hungary, and (ii) analysing the performances at and effects of the new secondary school-leaving exam introduced in Hungary in 2005.

Research in this area includes the analysis of knowledge, skills and attitude components of successful transition to higher education.

Task development

Development activities in this area include (i) developing the content of written, oral and practical task types, (ii) expanding and describing task types, and (iii) developing assessment criteria and scales for various task types.

The development of tasks focuses on the following key competences:

communication in the first language, including the languages of the minority education in Hungary
communication in foreign languages in international cooperation
numeracy and basic competences in natural and technical sciences
digital competence in the context of increasing learning opportunities and encouraging new ways of learning
learning to learn in order to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of teaching and training
social and civic competences
competence for taking initiatives and entrepreneurship
culture-consciousness and expressiveness in the context of creative writing and other artistic ways of self-expression

The task types being developed include projects, portfolio, task completion in cooperation, site work.

Tasks that can be used in the classroom and for formative assessment are also developed in the framework of this development.

Publishing and Information Centre

Publishing the outcomes of the research and development work of OKI

The major task of the Publishing and Information Centre is to plan, edit, prepare for publishing and promote the publications of all centres. A special task of the Centre is to publish and disseminate the outcomes of research and development activities supported by the National Development Plan.

Editing and maintaining the OKI website

OKI website has a double function: (i) to present the organizational structure and operation of the National Institute for Public Education, and (ii) to provide information for the public, i.e. to disseminate the outcomes of research and development carried out at the Institute and of other, national or international RCD activities.

The website provides forum for professional dialogue and information exchange for partner institutions and R&D networks; through the website e-publications of the outcomes of research and development activities carried out at the Institute and of those supported by the National Development Plan are disseminated. A major function of the website is to present the outcomes of national or European educational R&D activities to the Hungarian or international audience, respectively. In addition, to ensure transferability, all relevant information related to the operation of the Institute is also available on the website.

Editing and publishing the monthly Új Pedagógiai Szemle (New Pedagogical Review)

The major functions of the monthly are: (i) to publish essays and studies on various issues of education and pedagogy, educational policy analyses, analyses of the economic and social environment of education; (ii) provide forum for debates, publish interviews and documents to ensure publicity for experiences emerging from the practice of education; (iii) to disseminate the outcomes of the of research and development activities supported by the National Development Plan; (iv) to present international developments, especially in the EU and the OECD.

Enhancing the information flow within and outside the Institute

In addition to publications the outcomes of the R&D activities of the Institute are presented through various channels of publicity: national and regional exhibitions, book presentations, press conferences, background discussions. The media is continually informed of the activities of the Institute by electronic newsletters, and press releases.

The OKI staff is informed of the activities of the various Centres, past or upcoming events and media appearances through an electronic newsletter.

The Directorate General

Public education policy analyses, evaluation and planning

Public education policy analyses, evaluation and planning related to the preparation of the National Development Plan 2.

Coordinating international relations

This activity includes preparing and annually revising the international strategy of the Institute as well as coordinating its implementation, especially organizing cooperation with the Consortium of Institutions for Development and Research for Education in Europe (CIDREE), and managing international communication.

Dissemination

This activity includes organizing public professional programmes, conferences in cooperation with the Publishing and Information Centre, especially the annual national conferences of the Institute.

Library services

The library of the Institute provides documentation and information background for research and development activities; collects and makes available the products of research development carried out at the Institute.

Participation in the activity of the Training Institute for Educational Management

OKI as one of the founders of the Training Institute for Educational Management carries out some coordination tasks.