Steven N.Hungary’s colleges and universities posted their admittance numbers for the fall, and the low number of students admitted for teacher training may pose problems in the future, writes Népszava.
The news outlet looked at statistics published by felvi.hu, and reports that 73,805 applicants were admitted to higher education this year, which is 2,000 less than last year. In both 2010 and 2011, the number of admitted students was close to 100,000, representing a decline on average of 20,000-25,000 over the past ten years.
The Hungarian daily writes that one of the most critical areas is teacher training. Only 6,449 applicants were accepted out of around 12,000 this year, which is among the worst results for this field in recent years.
Last year, 7,327 students started teacher training programs, which professional organizations and interest groups even then considered extremely low. Four or five years ago, around 10,000-11,000 were accepted to teaching programs out of 17,000-18,000 applicants.
Union Leader: Admission Results are “Disastrous” for Teaching Field
Gábor Gosztonyi, vice-president of the Teachers’ Union (PSZ), called the admission results in teacher training “disastrous.”
Gosztonyi said that with such low numbers of students entering teacher training programs, Hungary will not be able to replace its retiring teachers, even if all of the new students get their degrees. Of course, many students end up dropping out and not graduating, and others who do graduate find work in other fields and do not work in the teaching profession.
“If the government does not take action, we may soon reach the point in some schools where public workers will be brought in just to do childcare,” said Gosztonyi. [Telex]
You describe a major symptom of a disfunctional public administrative system astutely, with these figures.
If school teaching in Hungary was officially recognized as more than just “a job with a cap”, without the strict governmental control and more room for including the individual student, teachers with a genuine interest in personal development would raise the bottom levels considerably. It’s now among the lowest PISA scores in the EU.
Of course, positive teacher training and goals are key to better recuitment.