Abstract:

In Hungary attempts to design and implement all-day school educational programs have been made for decades. In the past two years, the new professional concept of all-day school could have been developed thanks to EU funds. Involving 55 educational institutions, complex educational programs were developed in six fields: the lower & upper grades of primary schools, science education, complex art education, practical life skills and an eco-school educational program.

The poster demonstrates the results of a survey evaluating the findings of the complex development work with qualitative and quantitative methods. In the survey, we involved both those educators who took part in the development phase and those who were not part of the work. During the survey we were looking at different opinions on the concept of all-day school, the possible obstacles standing in the way of its widespread realization, and we were tying to detect the fields where all-day school can provide something more than traditional school. We approached institutions with an online survey research and we received responses from the leaders of 451 primary and secondary schools. 52 personal and 12 focus group interviews were also made with educators and school leaders.

The research proved that a significant proportion of educators and institutional leaders are highly supportive towards the concept, aims and realization of all-day school programs. The representatives of the institutions not involved in the program development emphasized the all-day school has significant effects in catching up, in preventing drop-outs, and also in individualized, differentiated development as compared to traditional education. The representatives of the institutions involved in the development process added its importance in talent development. However, both of them were skeptical towards the widespread implementation of the new school organizational form. They assigned 3 main areas threatening the realization of all-day school programs: lack of material and technical resources, the surfeit of the educators with changes, and parental reluctance. The opinions about the efficiency of all-day school correlated with previous experiences: the educators involved in all-day school programs – as developers or just as educators – found the concept of all-day school more beneficial than traditional school in a significantly larger proportion. According to the findings of the research, a general problem which arises concerning the realization of the all-day primary school is the fact that in the 5-8 grades, which are the part of primary schools in Hungary staying in the schools for the afternoon hours is uncommon, it has no culture in the educational system or in the society. It would take long time and a lot of work to change this view by developing a system of extracurricular activities co-ordinate by the school, and to implement a this new approach into public awareness that raises all-day school to become the school of opportunities instead of mere day care institution for pupils with disadvantaged social backgrounds.

References:
[1] Zsófia Tanító is a student of the Philosophy of Science Doctoral School, at the University of Pecs. She currently works as a researcher at the Hungarian Institute for Educational Research and Development.

Keywords:

All-day school, educational program, development.