Cultivating and forming regional traditions by the Visegrad Group teachers

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by the Visegrad Group Teachers

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by the Visegrad Group Teachers

Edited by Beata Pituła Anna Waligóra-Huk

Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego • Katowice 2015

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Referees

Małgorzata Suświłło, Gabriela Petrová

Publication within the project “Cultivating and Forming Regional Traditions by the Visegrad Group Teachers”

The project is partially funded by the International Visegrad Fund

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Introduction (Beata Pituła, Anna Waligóra-Huk) 7 Imre Lipcsei

The effects of social coexistence as exemplified by a region in Hungary 11 Viera Kurincová, Anna Klimentová, Tatiana Slezáková

The school as a place of regional education in a global world 29 Alicja Żywczok, Beata Ecler-Nocoń

Attitudes towards tradition and their consequences — analyses in the scope of the theory of upbringing and education and the history of pedagogical and praxeological philosophy 41

Jaroslav Veteška, Markéta Václavková, Kateřina Ducháčová

Further education of upper secondary school teachers in the Czech Republic in the context of forming regional traditions 59

Beata Pituła, Wiesława A. Sacher

The teacher facing the difficulties in cultivating regional traditions 81 Tatiana Slezáková, Viera Kurincová, Anna Klimentová

Regional education in the pre-primary education as an essential means in children’s development 99

Krisztina Katona, Attila B. Kis

The role of folk riddles in children’s development 105 Ewa Szadzińska

Regional cultural traditions in the school education content — a contribution to ethnopedagogy 115

Anna Waligóra-Huk

Teachers on the possibilities of cultivating regional traditions within the eTwin- ning framework of international collaboration of schools 123

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Anna Brosch

The role of multimedia in cultivating Polish culture and tradition in early school education 133

Hewilia Hetmańczyk-Bajer

Regional education as a significant area of the preschool educational activities 143 Agata Cabała, Violetta Rodek

Cultivating regional traditions in preschool and early school education 159 Julia Ivanovičova, Anna Klimentova

Regional education in kindergarten and the first grade of primary education 191 Mirosław Kisiel

Cultivation of regional traditions by members of child folklore song and dance ensembles 199

Natalia Stankowska

Teachers’ participation in cultivating and forming regional traditions (on the basis of the arts workshop conducted by Anna Donder) 209

Anna Klim-Klimaszewska, Ewa Jagiełło

Cultivation of festivals, holidays, and cultural traditions by preschool teachers from Siedlce commune 223

Zoltán Roszik

Education in Szarvas 255

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The European nations’ community seems self-evident, since in addition to hav- ing shared roots consisting of cultural and scientific heritage dating back to antiquity, the countries of the continent can refer to the common philosophical and axiological foundations, which is significant in the fields of education and arts At the same time, the traditions of particular regions, stemming from the specificities of their forming process and the consequences thereof, make Eu- rope richly varied It is the major task for the contemporary societies to stress and appreciate the said differences regardless of popular opinions, encountered much too often, that render a false picture of the phenomenon in question

Regional cultures are manifested in the emergence of material, artistic, intellectual, and spiritual goods, as well as values accompanied by rules and conventions of social life (i e local customs) It is an area of great importance in the course of cultural identity development Currently, cultural phenomena are mainly understood by way of presenting the values and goods to the general public The most common and effective way of doing it is disseminating cultural contents through the mass media easily reaching millions of people at the same time Simultaneously, however, we observe a rather distressing process involving the atrophy of the “regional instinct,” still at work in the pre-media times, that made it possible for an individual to choose from the wide array of cultural products those of the greatest value

Most efforts exerted by the media to provide culture to the general public focus on the commercial aspect of the process Therefore, the consumer attitudes towards life become dominant It is especially alarming with reference to children and adolescents due to their vulnerability to television, the Internet, and other computer-related activities ¹ In this context, the mission of teachers

1 Cf works by J Koblewska, A Przecławska, J Izdebska, J Gajda, B Łaciak et al

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seems crucially important because it allows children to have a first-hand experience of regional traditions, which gives them the sense of connectedness and community with their own region This process of identification, when properly conducted by the teacher, paves the way for benefiting from this area of human activity in the future, which eventually translates into the students’

quality of life Future is being built right now and the shape thereof depends on our present actions in all of their complexity The act of cultivating regional traditions can be a powerful defense against the onslaught of a unified (and unifying) popular culture, as well as the resultant confusion of an individual in the cosmopolitan society

Passing the present publication to our readers, we would like to stress its significance that stems from the fact that the majority of the texts contained herein are of research character It gives readers a chance to overview the issues discussed within the scope of the international research project entitled

“Cultivating and Forming Regional Traditions by the Visegrad Group Teachers”

financed by the Visegrad Fund

The book is a collection of texts by Polish, Czech, Slovak, and Hungar- ian researchers who attempted to answer the question of whether and to what extent teachers are involved in the process of cultivating and creating regional traditions

Imre Lipcsei in his study “The effects of social coexistence as exemplified by a region in Hungary” attempts to answer the question concerning the value of tradition in the process of supporting minority cultural identity The analyzed examples encompass the national minorities living in Hungary, and particularly developing the attitudes of acceptance and tolerance to attain peaceful coexistence

Viera Kurincová, Anna Klimentová, and Tatiana Slezáková in their article

“The school as a place of regional education in the global world” focus on regional education in the schools of the Slovak Republic In the presented research report, the authors suggest that the emphasis put on the quality of tasks performed pertaining to regional education is greater than ever

Alicja Żywczok and Beata Ecler-Nocoń in the article “Attitudes towards tradition and their consequences — analyses in the scope of theory of upbring- ing and education, and the history of pedagogical and praxeological philosophy”

describe and analyze the basic principles of the approach to tradition Using the biography of a Silesian woman, they present the influence of local environment on the process of cultural identification and creation of one’s own identity

In the text “Further education of upper secondary school teachers in the Czech Republic in the context of forming regional traditions,” Jaroslav Veteška, Markéta Václavková, and Kateřina Ducháčová discuss the issue of further education of the secondary school teachers in the Czech Republic, particularly focusing on the curriculum contents covering the issues of regional traditions

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“The Teacher facing the difficulties in cultivating regional traditions” by Beata Pituła and Wiesława A Sacher is a research report on the difficulties in implementing the selected objectives of regional education in kindergarten and primary school

In Tatiana Slezáková, Viera Kurincová, and Anna Klimentová’s “Regional education in the pre-primary education as an essential means in children’s development,” the authors point out to possible ways of teaching regional education to preschool children, taking into account the issues of sociocultural identity, as well as the foundations of the intercultural competences development

Krisztina Katona and Attila B Kis in their study “The role of folk riddles in children’s development” analyze the meaning of folk wisdom delivered in a form of sayings, dictums, adages, etc in the process of stimulating socio- psychological development of kindergarten and lower primary school children The article by Ewa Szadzińska “Regional cultural traditions in the school education content — a contribution to ethnopedagogy,” in turn, constitutes a voice in the discussion on the issues of ethnopedagogy with reference to regional education

Anna Waligóra-Huk’s “Teachers on the possibilities of cultivating regional traditions within the eTwinning framework of international collaboration of schools” presents the opportunities to create and cultivate regional traditions by using the tools and methods offered by the eTwinning platform for international collaboration of schools to be applied by Polish teachers The significant role of the multimedia in the process of cultivating and supporting regional traditions as well as in the development of student’s own cultural identity is the subject of the discussion in the article by Anna Brosch entitled “The role of multimedia in cultivating Polish culture and tradition in early school education ”

The importance of regional education in teaching preschool children as well as the significance of teachers’ work in this field, are presented by Hewilia Hetmańczyk-Bajer in the article “Regional education as a significant area of the preschool educational activities ”

The actual degree of cultivating regional traditions in the work of kindergarten teachers and integrated education teachers is the subject of the research study by Agata Cabała and Violetta Rodek “Cultivating regional traditions in preschool and early primary school education ”

Julia Ivanovičova and Anna Klimentova’s “Regional education in kindergar- ten and the first grade of primary education” is a report from the implementation of the educational project KEGA which developed innovative activities based on the new model of regional education in the context of globalization

The article by Mirosław Kisiel entitled “Cultivation of regional traditions by members of child folklore song and dance ensembles,” is a description of artistic activities including singing and dancing which raise children’s awareness of their own regional traditions

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The article by Natalia Stankowska, “Teachers’ participation in cultivating and forming regional traditions,” describing the work performed by teachers in the art workshops for children with disabilities, emphasizes the role of an educator who, due to their attitude, may uncover to children the cultural values of their own cultural region

In Anna Klim-Klimaszewska and Ewa Jagiełło’s “Cultivation of cultural festivals, holidays, and traditions by preschool teachers from Siedlce commune,” based on surveys, the authors depict the traditions of Podlasie which are most frequently cultivated by kindergarten teachers

Finally, in his paper “Education in Szarvas,” Zoltán Roszik turns the readers’ attention to the significance of regional education in the district of Szarvas We hope that, owing to the themes presented, the book will prove to be an interesting reading and may become a source of inspiration for further in-depth analyses and discussions

Beata Pituła Anna Waligóra-Huk

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The effects of social coexistence as exemplified by a region in Hungary

Abstract: The study aims to present a historical perspective on national minorities in Hungary by tracking quantitative and qualitative changes Moreover, it directs the reader’s attention to particular regional values by using the example of Békés County and putting them in the context of state and church tendencies that involve the entire country The author’s intention is to show the role of various churches in running different types of school as well as the minorities’ fight for preserving their identity The implemented methods include statistical surveys and analyzing central documents and the county’s educational files regarding the national groups

Keywords: multiculturalism, inclusion, receptivity, tolerance, identity, tradition, integration

Introduction

In this day and age, such issues as the quality of social coexistence, and tolerance towards “otherness” seem to be gaining increasing importance The second half of the 20th century brought about the influx of new cultures, religions, and cultural conventions into societies that, as a consequence, became more heterogeneous It resulted in greater contradictions as well as hightened tension between different social groups The revaluation of “otherness,” by emphasising dissimilarieties between individuals, has made peaceful coexistence a prerequi- site in the endeavour to learn about others

The Europe’s aim to provide sustainable wellbeing to diverse societies is becoming more and more difficult to attain It partially stems from the fact that immigrant groups who settled in European countries, tend to instigate social, economic, and demographic changes that impact entire states Members of

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majority society turn to migrants first with interest, then anxiously, to finally express growing hostility, which leads to generalizations in referring to diverse ethnic groups Thus, “they” are, among others, blamed for increasing unemployment and deteriorating public security Inhabitants of the “receiving” state are also worried about social allocation provided for them by the welfare state Several politicians have already suggested that, contrary to common practice, benefits for economic refugees, such as the job seeker’s allowance, must be reviewed. Some politicians even consider reviewing the granting of the refugee status in order to reduce the scale of this phenomenon

The politicians’ urgent calls for austerity measures, which have been heard in many places, divide the society, but the opposite camp, referring to statistical data, is also anxious A growing number of immigrants in European countries does not have to pose a daunting challenge, but various extreme manifestations thereof can sometimes constitute threats to national security (When this study was being written, the social unrest resulting from the attack on Charlie Hebdo was still palpable )

The major aim of the European integration policy is achieving the improvement of social relations that would encompass everybody in the long term In order to do this, the active participation of all the citizens, both immigrants and nonimmigrants, is required. We need to allievate the tension that arises, on the one hand, from the reasons related to immigrants’ origin, and on the other hand, from the conditions of discrimination The majority societies face increasing diversity and the adaptation to the values that were hitherto not present

The fact of diverse cultures and traditions living together within a single state organism is hardly a novelty for the European countries Nowadays, about 90% of mankind lives in multi-ethnic states and not only the history of particu- lar countries, but also their presence and future is interwoven with complicated contradictions stemming from different cultures’ features For this reason, in the European Union, different protective mechanisms had to be developed, such as the European Convention on Human Rights in which the principle of non-discrimination has been declared According to the said principle, each and every individual has to be provided with the equal access to existing social services, facilities, and amenities Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights stipulates: “The enjoyment of the rights and freedoms set forth in this Convention shall be secured without discrimination on any ground such as sex, race, colour, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, association with a national minority, property, birth or other status” (European Convention on Human Rights, 2015)

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The situation of minorities in Hungary

Like in many other European countries, also in Hungary several ethnic communities have lived side by side throughout the history Since the state’s establishment in 1000 AD, the proportions and positions of different national minorities have changed, which was to a great extent influenced by Turks and the period of their occupation (When Turks were driven out of the country, there was a considerable decrease in mortality, and the increase in the number of non-Turkish population due to migration of 17th and 18th centuries) The restructuring of the population resulted from two processes, namely, organized settlement and spontaneous migration Minorities had been entering Hungary mainly over 17th and 18th centuries, as a consequence of which by the 19th century nearly half of the population belonged to the national minorities This situation did not change until the end of the First World War This is well il- lustrated by Figure 1 which is based on the data of the 1910 official census

Figure 1. Distribution of nationalities in Hungary (1910) S o u r c e: The Census Report of the Central Bureau of Statistics

In the aftermath of the First World War, following the Treaty of Trianon (1920) two-thirds of Hungary’s former territory had been lost, so a well-devel- oped country became less significant both economically and politically, with the area of mere 93,000 square kilometres in Central Europe The redrawing of borders adversely affected not only the Hungarian-speaking population, but also seemed to be to the detriment of the nationalities living there until then

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The proportion of the recorded non-Hungarian-speaking ethnic minorities on the remaining territory of the country barely exceeded 10%

Over the 1920s and 1930s the politicians reacted to the shock stemming from the altered borders by implementing policies against national minorities Even though some initiatives were undertaken to improve the situation of minorities at first, later they were not realized Nor were the minorities’ assimilation efforts supported

The period after the Second World War was equally disadvantageous to the national minorities in Hungary for such reasons as expulsions, deportations, emigration, population exchanges, as well as the natural demographic processes brought about by the fact that in 1990 the change of regime caused the proportion of non-Hungarian speakers to largely decrease

There were attempts made by the newly established democratic system to rectify the errors of socialism, also in terms of national minorities To this end, in 1993 the Hungarian Parliament adopted the law on National and Ethnic Minorities Rights Pursuant to this law, national and ethnic minorities native to Hungary have a right to establishlocal and national level minority self-governments Resultantly, 12 national and one ethnic self-government were established, namely: the Roma self-government, and self-governments of the following nationalities: Bulgarian, Greek, Croatian, Polish, German, Armenian, Romanian, Ruthene, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian, and Ukrainian

In 2011, the Act CLXXIX on the Rights of Nationalities was enacted which declared that: “Hungary protects nationalities, ensures the fostering of their culture and the use of their mother tongues, provides education in their mother tongues, enables them to use names in their own languages and to collectively take part in public affairs, promotes the attainment of their cultural autonomy and guarantees the right of their actual communities to self-administration and self-government ”

Nowadays we observe the effects of affirmation encouraging citizens to take on their ethnic and minority identity As a consequence, according to surveys conducted over the last two decades, groups cultivating traditions, minority re- search institutes, libraries, regional folklore museums, and cultural groups, have come into being Consequently, the statistical data show that the proportion of citizens who affirm their nationality has increased Of course, those processes are not equally distributed across different regions of Hungary, but the reason for this lies in the fact that the national minorities traditionally settled in particular areas

In my study I attempt to outline the situation of minorities in Békés County I have decided to focus on this region first of all, because the Faculty of Educa- tion of Gál Ferenc College is located in here, namely in Szarvas; secondly, it is a diverse county where six nationalities live together, which allows comparative analysis among regions of the impact of the national trends

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The presentation of Békés County’s recent history

The provisions of the Treaty of Trianon of 1920 considerably changed the life of Békés County: “The frontier engendered both a threat and some possibilities One of the regional centers of the management of the built-up border security was transferred to Gyula Békéscsaba’s military role has increased, and permanent military units were also settled in Orosháza to new barracks”

(Kassa & Sándor, 1999) Orosháza’s situation improved since the vast majority of the neighboring county’s (Csanád) agricultural production taken over by the plants in Orosháza, and the county’s merchants conducted the business Békés County was transferred to Szeged’s catchment area which was also preferred by the government, since the greater public investments of the region were realized there

Subsequently to the change of the borders, the strategic role of the low- land counties, including that of Békés, strengthened, therefore, in addition to the county seats, some of the larger cities also benefited from state aid The redrawing of borders gave regional preferences to Békéscsaba again As Arad and Nagyvárad (Oradea) remained on the other side of the border, the earlier well-trodden economic and trade relations ceased to exist Those areas which had previously orientated towards these two cities, found the new economic centers in Békéscsaba: “After the territorial changes, the importance of the city increased to such an extent that it was among the first 15 cities in the country, even though it was granted city status only in 1918” (Csepelényi &

Attila, 2001)

As a result of the economic boom of the 1920s, before the global economic crisis, in Békéscsaba, the greatest number of houses and public buildings was built in the county, and its rail passenger traffic surpassed that of Szeged, Győr, and Szombathely

In the county, after the initial difficulties, the boom started after 1925, but at the end of the decade, the unfolding economic crisis thwarted this process until the mid-1930s The permanent jobs were scarce, but seasonal workforce demand was sustainable in agriculture and industry It made it possible to create the conditions to obtain livelihood From 1930 onwards, the social problems seriously affecting the county began to recede, as the economy slowly revived All this was facilitated by the prolonged land reform since 1921, as a result of which the peasantry increasingly strengthened in the second half of the 1930s in Békés and Csanád counties The preparation for the war brought considerable subsidies to Békés and Csanád counties’ treasuries, which were mainly utilized to modernize the production and processing of food and industrial raw materials

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The present territory of Békés county was formed during the county plan- ning in 1950 At that time, Békéscsaba, in the place of Gyula, became the county seat Békés is ranked among agricultural counties, the terrain conditions of this region are outstandingly better than the national average Industrializa- tion largely attracted the workforce that had been made redundant as a result of the mechanization of agriculture However, mainly the food and light industry sectors prevailed

After the regime change in 1990 recession ensued since many of the large state-owned companies were closed, or at least they operated with decreased production output or downsized workforce

Currently, the county may be characterized as a backward one It is the sev- enth largest in the country, whereas in terms of population it ranks fourteenth The population decrease, in comparison with the national average, stems from lower birth rate as well as significant emigration Another negative characteristic is stagnation of the county’s industry which clearly results from the poor infrastructure (there is no highway crossing Békéscsaba)

Of course, we may also mention numerous positive aspects, such as university and college faculties with research institutions Moreover, it is a county of thriving tourism with famous spas as well as wildlife conservation areas

Situation in Békés County in terms of ethnic composition seems improved, too According to the 2011 census, 8 1% of the population belongs to nationalities other than Hungarian, which represents an increase compared with the data from the census conducted ten years earlier Slovaks, Germans, Romanians, and Roma make up the four largest national/ethnic minority groups Roma population constitutes the lion’s share of all the minorities in the county; their proportion is 3 0% of the entire country’s Roma population The percentage of Germans is 1 8% compared to the entire German population living in Hungary In the case of Slovaks and Romanians, the county, however, ranks first in the country, since most of the citizens representing those two national minorities live in Békés County: 25 0% of the Slovak ethnic group, 18 0% of Romanians

The surveys of local governments also indicate the prevalence of Roma representatives, since out of 75 settlements of Békés county, the Roma self- governments were established in 35 places Slovaks and Romanians are present in 17 settlements each, whereas Germans run nine local governments It is also worth mentioning Serbs, who maintain their local government only in one town, namely Battonya, whereas Poles represent themselves in Békéscsaba

In the following sections of the article, I will closely examine the situation of ethnic and national minorities

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National minorities in Békés County

Slovaks

Slovaks settled (or were settled) in present-day Hungary by arriving from the northern overpopulated counties at the end of the 17th century after the expul- sion of the Turks At the beginning of the 18th century, the settlement of Slovaks progressed in an organized manner, that is in a way aided by the settlement organizers; the then landowners frequently had brought the Slovaks into the country with state licences to their abandoned land property During this phase, a series of independent Slovak settlements and enclaves came into being Baron János Harrucken located the Slovak settlers in the then territory of Békés county, therefore they got to Békéscsaba, Szarvas, and Mezőberény The 19th century was characterized by further migrations At the time, the Slovaks of Békéscsaba founded Tótkomlós and Apateleku, and next, by moving to the north, they ar- rived in Nyíregyháza The newest Slovak settlements are Kétsoprony and Tel- ekgerendás in the Békés country, the shape of which came to being as a result of consolidation of former homesteads at the beginning of the 1950s

When it comes to religiosity, according to the data of the 2001 census, 46 6% of the Slovaks in Hungary are Roman Catholic, 29 9% are Lutheran, 4 8% are Reformed, and 2 5% declare to belong to other Christian denominations The lack of affiliation to any church or religious community is declared by 10 7% of Slovaks, while 4 6% of them decline to answer the question on religious affiliation

The above-mentioned proportions are thought-provoking, since according to the data of the 1920 census, in terms of the distribution of religious denominations, Békés county significantly differed from the national average After the settlement in the 18th century, clear Protestant dominance was characteristic of the county, which remained the same in the 20th century During that time the proportion of Roman Catholics in Hungary was 64 0%, whereas Lutherans constituted 6 2%, and the share of Reformed was 20 9% From the point of view of the entire Hungarian state, the situation of the Greek Catholics was interesting, since their proportion was 2 2%, whereas the Orthodox merely amounted to 0 6% from of overall population

The data presented in Figure 2 reveal the fact that in Békés county Prot- estants lived in a proportion much higher than the national average As to Reformed, their number was 150% of the national average, and the number of Orthodox was nearly four times the national average, whereas the number of Lutherans was only slightly above it Moreover, these data did not refer to the particular national minorities, but to the entire population If in 1920 the proportion of religious affiliations among different nationalities had been measured

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separately, as it happens today, it would have shown an even greater differences because of Slovaks, the overwhelming majority of whom were Lutheran at the time It is not a matter of coincidence that the largest Lutheran church in Hun- gary was built in Békéscsaba which, in terms of its capacity, is amongst the Europe’s largest Therefore, it is worth pointing out that nowadays Catholics are much more numerous than Lutherans among the Hungarian Slovaks The data presented in Figure 2 mainly refer to the Slovak, yet they are illustrative (keeping the proportions) of the overall population of the Békés county

Romanians

The historians who are leading experts on the subject cannot decide as to when Romanians actually settled in the territory of the present-day Hungary They are sure that from the 18th century onwards, the number of Romanians certainly increased In this respect, experts distinguish between two kinds of population movement happening in several waves First of them was voluntary migration, when the hope of improved living conditions and the incentives coming of landowners’ instigated the movement from the more densely populated areas towards the Great Plains The other was the organized settlement when Hungarian

Figure 2. Distribution of (the Slovak) population in terms of religion in Békés County (1920) S o u r c e: Karner Károly (1931): Denominations in Hungary in the Light of Statistics

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landowners settled Romanians The result of such a settlement(s) was, among others, coming into being of creolized population, for example in Csorvás and Lökösháza in Békés County, but in the later, the Romanians eventually became completely Magyarized At the same time, however, settlements with entirely Romanian population evolved (in smaller numbers) in Békés county They were for example Méhkerék, Kétegyháza, and Pusztaottlaka

When it comes to religion, the vast majority of Romanians in Hungary belong to the Orthodox Church within which we can distinguish 20 congrega- tions Their characteristic feature is the language of both the liturgy and the internal church administration, that is, Romanian Additionally, the number of Greek Catholics and Baptists is significant among the Romanians in Hungary At the end of the 19th century, the Hungarian language became more popular amonst Greek Catholic and certain Baptist houses of worship, chiefly in the Bihar County Up until today, merely three Baptist communities still use their mother tongue, namely, Magyarcsanád, Méhkerék, and Kétegyháza

Germans

Certain tiers of Hungarian Germans came to their current place of residence in distinctive demographic waves Thus, different factors must have been at play here In this respect, the period of the Turkish occupation, more precisely, the moment of liberating the country from Turkish rule at the end of the 17th century, was a milestone in this process The Hungarian landowners’ “recruitment agents” were looking for people willing to migrate mainly in the southern and central Germany What was of significance here was also the fact that Lutheran and Calvinist German peasants could rely on a considerably more secure shelter from the Protestant Hungarian landowners than the one they were receiving in the German or Austrian provinces which were tormented by Counter-Refor- mation at the time The German national minority groups are larger primarily in Baranya, Tolna, and Bács-Kiskun counties, whereas smaller German groups occur in Almáskamarás, Elek, Gyula, Kétegyháza, and Mezőberény in Békés County

Roma

Roma people constitute the largest officially recognized minority of the country Among the ethnic groups currently living in Hungary, only Roma have no state of their own; based on which, they are not defined as national minority but an ethnic one If we analyze their history, it will appear that has been one of constant persecution and migration In the 18th century, Maria Theresa passed

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several decrees to regulate the compulsory settlement of Roma people How- ever, these strictly supervised measures proved only partially successful

Various groups of Roma were skilled at different trades For example, the Lovari Roma were the most famous horse dealers operating in Hungarian fairs since the 19th century They were known for their unsurpassed skills and love of horses The Boyash Roma who had been emigrating from Romania in the 19th century pursued an itinerant way of life, and they offered different services to the settled villagers, such as: braziery, knife grinding, horseshoeing, making adobe, basketry, etc In the 20th century, spreading of mass-produced manufactured goods made the traditional occupations of Roma people redundant in villages Moreover, the laws enecated between the two world wars limited the activity of itinerant traders, so the majority of Roma became unemployed, which led to social conflicts Roma were entirely left out of the postwar land distribution and offered new ways to earn livelihood Most of Roma people landed seasonal unskilled jobs yet men were also directed towards remote industrial centers So, many countrymen “commuted,” that is during working weeks, they lived in workers’ hostels provided by employment agencies Since the late 1960s, the elimination of Roma settlements began, wich meant that Roma people were given preferential loans to purchase houses Thus, they were given chance to take possession of old vacant houses in many villages Roma settlement and moving to villages, however, met with social resistance in some places, because after Roma people had moved in, the value of property decreased, triggering migration of the natives from the villages

Generally speaking, Roma people display a considerably lower level of education than the national average, which obviously translates into the highest level of unemployment among national and ethnic minorities (this phenomenon especially affects the Roma women)

In most cases, the Romani religion is identical to that of the people living around them Within the Roman Catholic Church, the institutions of Roma pastoral counselling deal with the targeted mental health care of the Roma

The situation of national minorities education in Hungary

The endeavour to attain the conditions of tolerance, leading to peaceful coexistence, starts at school On the part of minority cultures, education from its early stages assists them in the process of understanding the majority society’s tradition, values, culture, as well as the rules of peaceful coexistence What is more, over the period of education, the minorities have a chance to obtain

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useful qualifications and, as a result, contribute to society while retaining their culture, tradition, language, and identity

However, apart from creating opportunities, education can sometimes strengthen the effects of assimilation Overwhelming, or even complete, dominance of the majority society that ignores the minorities’ values (in particular their language and culture) advances assimilation Analyzing Hungarian educational policies of the past, we see the examples corroborating the above- mentioned tendency Currently, however, the education policies directed at minorities are in the process of transformation Assimilation endeavours are no longer present, and “positive discrimination” implemented in education system suggests significantly more inclusive approach

Nevertheless, the Hungarian national education has come a long way In accordance with European efforts of the time, the Law I of 1868 on People’s Academy declared that all students shall be able to obtain education in their mother tongue For this reason, in multilingual villages, only the teachers who were able to teach in the languages spoken there could be employed Conse- quently, the law stipulated that upon employing teachers, there must have been a requirement for them to meet the above-mentioned linguistic standards A few years later, the Law of 1879, however, diverged from József Eötvös’s ambitions In teacher training schools Hungarian language was made compulsory subject and persons who could not teach in Hungarian where prevented from obtaining the post of a teacher (or even a teaching assistant) Also, all the school boards were exclusively staffed by Hungarian-speaking employees

After the Treaty of Trianon, high politics invaded the life of schools even more visibly In 1922, the separate Ministry of National Affairs was dissolved Instead, by relying on the work of governmental commissioners, the Department of Nationalities begn to deal with this issue The governmental commissioners regularly visited the settlements inhabited by the minorities; they had to write reports concerning their experience Yet, their task was not to protect the minorities, but ensure their Magyarization and advance the process of assimilation The most effective means of Magyarization were elementary schools In recognition of this fact, several regulations were adopted that ostensibly aided the education of minorities, but in fact limited their freedom of choice

In the decree entitled “The Rights of Linguistic Minorities When Determin- ing the Language of Teaching” 209 494/1919 Number B II , a blueprint for the education of national and ethnic minorities was formulated At the same time, however, the validation of the language of teaching in connection with the minority languages was reinterpreted in the decree 110 478/1923 VIII /a It provided the following:

Type A

Schools with instruction in the language of minorities Hungarian is a regular subject; education is delivered in a mother tongue

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Type B

Bilingual school Type C:

Schools with instruction in the Hungarian language, mother tongues are taught only in the scope of reading and writing

This regulation also provided that the curriculum for the minorities should be elaborated, which was to be achieved with the help of the decree 62 800/1925 VIII/a However, the decree referring to the education of the minorities, more exactly the possibility of the choice from the three types of schools, was short-lived In 1935, the Prime Minister Order of 11 000/1935 abolished the said option, and introduced a uniform system which was based on the aforementioned Type B schools

Henceforth, in several settlements, certain numerous national minorities did not avail themselves of the chance to apply for a Type A schools It was not so only in Békés County, but the wait-and-see policy was typical at the national level Although the population of national and ethnic minorities was significant, there were no Type A schools, that is, schools with instruction in the language of the minorities In the middle of the 1930s, among the elementary schools in Hungary, there were only 50 in which instruction was delivered also in the Slovak language Only three of them were of Type B and 47 of Type C It is important to mention that none of the Type B schools existed in Békés County

Ta b l e 1 The Language of instruction of elementary schools of Békés County

in the school year 1932—1933 Language of

instruction

Type of elementary schools Public Mu-nicipal

man Ro- Catho-

lic

formedRe- Lu- theran Uni-

tarian Greek Catho-

lic Other Jewish Mano-rial Pri- vate Total

Hungarian 49 53 58 22 6 1 — 2 6 4 3 204

Hungarian

and German — — — — 2 — — — — — — 2

Hungarian

and Slovak 1 — — — 34 — — — — — — 35

Hungarian and Romanian

2 — — — — — 3 — — — — 5

S o u r c e: Szentkereszty (1933): The History of Public Education of Békés County

The language of instruction of the state-run elementary schools was Hun- garian In Békés County, however, religion was taught in the language of the minorities in three public schools in Békés County: “In the elementary school of Kétegyháza, the religious education class of Orthodox, Wallachian-speaking

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students takes place in the Wallachian language At the same place, Baptist, Wallachian-speaking students also learn religion in Wallachian, but not compul- sorily” (Sub-Prefect Report 6278/1924 Archives of Békés County 6278/1924) In Tótkomlós, because of the numerous Slovak population, the national minorities constituted the majority of students in public schools; therefore, the Slovak language was optionally used during the classes of religious education of Lutheran Slovak-speaking students as well

Even though the persons in charge of the Hungarian educational policies at the time did not promote instruction in the language of minorities, they created the conditions for it to thrive In the decree Number 62 800-VIII of 1925, the curriculum for the mother tongue and the Hungarian language in elementary schools with instruction entirely in the language of minorities were specified It declared that minority students must also acquaint themselves with the geog- raphy and history of Hungary, the civil rights and obligations For the sake of better comprehension, this knowledge also had to be imparted in the languages of the national minorities, but they were at the same time expected to learn the Hungarian language at appropriate level The decree draws the teachers’ attention to the following recommendations: “[…] in exercises developing speaking and thinking and while communicating with students, teachers should convey all the knowledge in the students’ mother tongue also while practising the Hungarian language Teachers should prepare the topics which they teach in Hungarian with the help of the mother tongue to such an extent that students should be able to give an account of what they have learnt coherently in their mother tongue” (Official Gazette, 1927)

After the Second World War in 1945, the Provisional National Government declared in its decree Number 10030/1945 M E that in primary schools with at least 10 minority parents it shall be required to make decision out of two options by means of a secret ballot:

1 Instruction is delivered in the mother tongue in such a manner that the Hun- garian language should appear only as a subject

2 Hungarian should be the language of instruction and students should only learn the minority language as a separate subject

Secondary national education was regulated by other decrees Those provi- sions suggested that the period of reconstruction, which was a period of momen- tary political pluralism, equality was present in Hungarian national education

The Hungarian political situation changed in 1948 As a result of the for- mation of the one-party system nationalist tendencies became ever stronger After the exchange of population, during the period of the cult of personality, it was claimed that the nationality issue should not be dealt with because this

“problem” would gradually resolve with time The national and ethnic minorities, over the following years, would be assimilated or they would blend into the Hungarian nation through marriages, education, and culture

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The national minorities, however, did not give in The political power could not compete with the bottom-up initiatives Therefore, despite the not very adventageous atmosphere, the national minorities education system was established In addition to primary and secondary education, the training of minority teachers began

After the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, this relative improvement of the minorities’ situation soon subsided The national minorities education was over- shadowed, its conditions worsened, but in spite of these negative tendencie, it did not cease to exist The devotion of the national minorities to their respec- tive mother tongues and cultures was so strong that it became increasingly obvious to the senior leadership, still engaged in “building socialism” at that time, that they could not abolish the fundamental rights of national minorities Of course, there still were a lot of constrains on this bottom-up process, but with some compromises, national minorities education began to bloom again The said revival is corroborated by the fact that kindergarten, low primary and upper primary, as well as secondary school teachers training, were all provided for each national minority In addition to this, different central and regional organizations have appeared again to help teacher training in its entirety

National minorities education in Szarvas

The annals which contain the records of the mentioned years, specifically in reference to the year 1959 draw attention to the fact that even during those days the range of institutional minorities education covered the entire state Similarly to the current situation, not too many students, however, applied to this institu- tion at that time, despite the fact that applicants could benefit from different types of allowances For example, they could sit for the entrance examination in the language of the national minorities, and apart from their academic achieve- ment, they were located at students’ hostels

The quota proposed by the ministry could not be introduced even if the fixed ratio was not too high Initially, it was determined that the number of minority students to be subsidized was to be 6, and later — 10

Figure 3 presents data concerning the number of graduates which is divided into ten-year periods

There may be several reasons for such a low number of students On the one hand, the number of students graduating from the minority high schools is not too high, and not all the students graduating from such a high school want to continue their studies One the other hand, another reason for the low rate of frequenting these institutions lies in the fact that school graduates, even if

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they want to continue their studies, do not opt for the teaching profession By choosing another profession requiring university studies, they rather apply to other higher education institutions, or even if they still want to become teachers, they choose more prestigious upper primary school teacher training colleges

Forms of education

Like other higher education institutions, starting from the 2006/2007 academic year, Gál Ferenc College accepts students to the BA courses of the two-part uniform training system, but from that time onwards, national minorities education does not appear on the offer as a separate course of studies due to a low number of candidates, but as a specialization of BSc training Since the 2007/2008 academic year, there is the Roma specialization in the educational offer, whereas since the 2010/2011 academic year, there is also the German specialization in the offer of both the basic courses in Szarvas

Our courses are conducted in accordance with the qualification require- ments stipulated at the central level It should be noted that in addition to full-time and usual correspondence courses, we have initiated additional train- ing and different types of new postgraduate studies At our college, both low primary and upper primary school teachers may pursue a degree in kindergarten teaching, of course taking a shorter period of time The other factors that make our educational offer significantly varied, are the following: the students who did not attend national minorities high schools enrol on our programs, both full-time and correspondent Moreover, there are teachers who have not gradu- ated from a full-time programs of teaching to national minorities, yet enrol to

Figure 3. Data concerning the number of national minorities graduates S o u r c e: Documents of the Faculty of Pedagogy of Gál Ferenc College