Abstract

Peter Tibor Nagy
Have we got teachers?

Other studies undertaken by Peter Tibor Nagy – published in previous volumes of Educatio – have proved that the popular word used in Hungarian educational policy “pedagógus” is not relevant as a social category; for, as is well-known from the history of education, not only do “tanítók” (elementary school teachers) and “tanárok” (secondary school teachers) form very different social groupings but the social difference between teachers of 10-14 year-old pupils and those of 15-18 year-old pupils has not shown any alterations in the last few decades. This paper goes further: it proves that the socially “highest” groups of teachers do not represent a “profession”. In the case of professions – like medical doctors or lawyers – every member of the profession has a university degree, but only two-thirds of secondary school teachers have finished university. The different school subjects (English, History, Mathematics etc.) represent different symbolic universes. They have different amounts of cultural capital, network capital, work market opportunities, and private and public life strategies. The “pedagógus” or the “teacher” and even the “secondary school teacher” point to an over-diversified social category that make them unusable as the name of a profession.

Keywords: teaching profession, professionalization, study subjects, symbolic universe, empirical sociology

 

Zsuzsanna Hanna Biró
Indicators for becoming a teacher in Hungary before 1945

The analysis of Zsuzsanna Hanna Biró is based on an integrated personnel database that contains registration data for secondary school teachers graduating between 1873 and 1945, and the teachers’ data from the so-called secondary school pocketbooks. There is the attempt to correlate possibilities for becoming a teacher with three sets of variables: a) the structural features of the school (gender and confessional segmentation), b) the role played by cultural capital and the transmitting of professions among factors connected with family socialization, and c) the impact of the choice of higher education studies and gaining a doctoral.

A logistic regression analysis proves that becoming a teacher relates to all three sets of variables. Among structural factors, gender separation seems to be the stronger indicator, which, due to the straitened market in which girls’ schools operate, shows a lower chance of female graduates becoming teachers throughout the covered time period. ”Confessional inequality” can only be mentioned in relation to Jewish graduates, and their situation improved only temporarily, in the 1920s, with the opening of Jewish schools. The father’s education was not a substantive indicator. Male teachers usually emanated from families with a low socio-economic status – while a higher proportion of female teachers came from families possessing a high socio-economic status. Transmission of professions played a greater role in any teaching career after the First World War. However, one’s study program has always been able to improve the possibility of one’s getting employment in this time period – which can be especially seen in the case of language faculties. Though having a doctoral degree had no direct influence on someone’s taking up a career, a lack of academic positions did result in the fact that more and more teachers with academic ambitions got a job in secondary schools, which significantly raised the prestige of being a teacher in the first half of the 20th century.

Keywords: history of professions, features of the school market, study strategies, teacher’s career

 

István Polónyi
Teacher salaries – still low?

The study begins by stating that a key factor in the quality of education is the well-trained, capable teacher, and this is an essential condition for a good and suitable level of remuneration. Wages – that is, the wage differences for short-term and macro levels – will determine the allocation of labour, while micro level differences do have a motivating role. In the long run, however, there are associations here relating to the prestige of the occupation.

Looked at from a historical perspective, teacher’s salaries, and especially high school teachers’ earnings, are very unfavourable – so teachers’ salary levels are significantly below the average salary for a graduate. In an international comparison, we can see that, in Hungary, teachers’ salaries were among the lowest in the OECD countries in 2013. A new teachers’ wage system was introduced in 2013 and, as a result, primary school teachers’ salaries will reach roughly 70% of the average salary for graduates in 2016, while high school teachers’ salaries will reach around 80% of a graduate’s average salary. Thus, Hungarian teachers’ wages were up 6-10 places in the OECD rankings list; so teachers will catch up with lecturers and even pharmacists in the rankings of domestic earnings – and this significant shift promises more prestige for the teaching profession. The question, of course, is how long will this earnings situation remain? And, in spite of pressures, can this teachers’ wage advantage be retained?

Keywords: teachers’ salaries, teachers’ salary system, prestige of the teaching profession

 

Zsuzsanna Veroszta
Perception and selection in a teacher’s career choice

Zsuzsanna Veroszta’s paper examines the role played by perceptions of the teaching profession in any career choice among students facing higher educational enrolment. The main goal of the study reveals the background characteristics contained in the potential base of teacher training programs; and among these factors, the study highlights the relevance of perceptions of the profession. The research proves that in addition to (self-)selection mechanisms, perception is also a relevant criterion within any teacher career choice. Research results show that perceptions of the teacher’s profession differ for specific groups of students. Yet students who decide to be a teacher do show different levels of perception, too. Based on the above, an examination of perceptions of the teaching profession could lead us to identify on one hand the supply base of the profession and, on the other, detect weak points within such a career choice.

Keywords: teachers, career choice, perception, selection

 

Borbála Paksi, Andrea Schmidt, Anna Magi, Andrea Eisinger, and Katalin Felvinczi
The professional motivation of teachers active in the field

The study investigates the professional (vocational) motivation of teachers who are active in the field, i.e. those who hold full-time positions in Hungarian public education institutions. The net sample was 1078 persons, representing the target population. Motivations related to the teaching profession were measured – for the first time in Hungary – with “Factors Influencing Teaching Choice Scale – FIT-Choice Scale”.

The feasibility of the instrument in a Hungarian context was confirmed by the psychometric properties of the scale measured in relation to the current sample. The priority ranking of the different dimensions measured by the Scale is only slightly different from the structure observed in other countries. In the Hungarian sample the respondents overestimated perceptions related to the profession (expertise, difficulties of the chosen job/profession) as well as the social influences involved; while, at the same time, “job security” and salary-related issues were not rated as being so important.

Whilst explaining the pattern and/or structure of motivational-organisational dimensions, we can see that, amongst these, mostly the institution’s support system, organisational climate and trust and child-centeredness experienced in any given institution played more significant roles.

Keywords: teachers active in the field, professional motivation, FIT-Choice Scale, organizational context

 

Matild Sági
Teacher career types

This paper focuses on initial indications of what is occurring in the career rearrangement process for teachers in the first year of the newly-introduced teacher evaluation and classification system. The analysis is based on large-scale online teacher survey panel data. As a result, relatively well-defined types of teachers’ career paths are able to unfold even in the first year of the teacher’s career model. The chosen career paths do not correlate with general attitudes regarding evaluation and classification systems. Concerning career paths, a strong polarization among teachers can be seen: highly qualified and motivated teachers – who were active previously as well – have already begun the acquisition of skills and qualifications that are necessary to get ahead in this new promotion system, and have shifted in the direction of educational tasks that are rewarded by the career model – while teachers who were not active previously have remained passive bystanders.

Keywords: teachers’ career path model, teachers’ promotion system, career types

 

Ivan Bajomi
Managerialism or a public service?
The challenges teachers are facing in France

Ivan Bajomi, the author of this article, focuses primarily on one aspect of the situation of teachers working in French schools – which contrasts with the Hungarian system: French civil servants can be sure that until their retirement they will not lose their jobs except if they commit a serious professional error; or, if their job is terminated owing to changes in the educational services on offer, they are able to enjoy the great benefits of the state employment system’s fixed bureaucratic procedures and can get a new job in another school, perhaps in a new locality. In the second part of the study, the author presents the new challenges for teachers that the traditional framework of public service is facing. Ivan Bajomi cites as an example the case of the reform plans that occurred between 2007-2012, which affected evaluations of a teacher’s work, and also a program aiming to improve the education of disadvantaged pupils. With these examples, he demonstrates how aspirations for change in the direction of adapting management methods common in the corporate sector have arisen, to give birth to serious debates and to operational solutions that are better adapted to specifics in the field of education.

Keywords: job security of teachers, managerialism in education, teacher hiring, teacher evaluation