A National Core Curriculum and the Democratisation of Public Education in Hungary

Abstract

Abstract In the wake of recent political and social changes in Hungary 1989 onwards, a new curriculum policy has been proposed and a new national core curriculum drafted. There seemed to be general agreement that more freedom and authority should be delegated to teachers and schools in curriculum matters following the democratic lines emerging in the society as a whole. The idea emerged that some kind of core curriculum could facilitate this trend. A group of experts initiated a national core curriculum. This paper describes the procedure: how the basic idea developed in three subsequent versions, what objectives were formulated and what kind of conflicts arose. It describes the tug‐of‐war going on between the different groups of the educational elite: the advocates of full freedom and those – like the author himself – who adhere to an equilibrium between state control and school autonomy. Teachers’ views about centralisation versus decentralisation in curriculum policy and their attitudes towards the national core curriculum are also discussed.