The Hungarian Education Act of 1985: a study in decentralisation

Abstract

(1) Ideologically committed educational groups: relatively homogeneous, with an idea of the educational system based on a theory of unified polytechnical training, which would develop an almost unified educational provision obligatory for every body up to the age of 18. (2) Ideologically less committed groups of economic planners, concerned with the long-range planning of the national economy, and linked with the institutional networks of economic planning. Since the education service had to provide a labour force for a relatively backward economy, these groups urged the development of a system which would turn out most young people at 16 for simple manual work. (3) Ideologically committed vocational education groups, concerned with the development of vocational education and its integration into a traditional school system so that education would take precedence over merely vocational training. These groups urged the preservation of the existing educational system as a pre-condition for the expansion of vocational education. (4) Ideologically less committed education groups, growing stronger since the mid1970s, trying to work out a rational theory of society and taking account of the fact of socio-economic development. These groups think in terms of a differentiated school structure and wish to preserve the secondary school in its existing form but do not exclude some possible extensions. Conflict between those four interests was resolved in an arena (not generally accessible to the public at large), where bargains and compromises could be made. In terms of systems analysis, within a closed political system it was possible to identify relatively few gatekeepers involved in the authoritative allocation of values. During the 1970s Halasz identified some growth in the strength of professional and less ideological educational interests; and when