Hungary was one of the first countries to ratify the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. This commitment is enshrined into the Constitutional Act LXIV of 1991. Children's rights can be found most comprehensively in the Act XXXI. of 1997 on Child Protection and Social Services Administration. This chapter outlines how children's rights prevail in kindergarten practice in the Hungarian context. First, the understanding of children's rights is addressed in view of policy and legislation and key government documents are highlighted that serve to frame and guide practice in early childhood institutions. In the second half of the chapter the implementation of children's rights is demonstrated and aspects of practice are outlined that aim to facilitate children practising their rights.The chapter is concluded with emphasising the need for pedagogical materials to be embedded into kindergarten pedagogue training nationally to ensure children's rights are embraced in institutional care.
Whilst international policymakers have reached consensus on the importance of investing in early childhood development and increasingly monitor that investment using standardized measurement, the nature and rationale of early childhood education and care (ECEC) provision remain diverse. In the context of that disparity, this article explores an aspect of ECEC provision that is commonly recognised for its potential to enhance young children's development and learning, yet for which characteristics remain variable: partnerships between ECEC practitioners and parents. The article reports and discusses results from a cross-cultural narrative study that investigated the nature of such partnerships in three different countries: England, Hungary and Kazakhstan. During focus group interviews, ECEC academics (n=16) discussed five themes that emerged from literature reviews. Findings indicate more differences than similarities between the countries' narratives concerning ECEC parent-practitioner partnerships, suggesting such partnerships may be an aspect of ECEC provision for which a homogeneous approach and quality measure across countries are not feasible.
Hungary has experienced significant political, economic, demographic and social changes since the end of Soviet domination in the 1990s. The gradual move towards liberal-democracy has been accompanied by growing emphasis on individualism, choice and diversity. Universal kindergarten provision for 5-6 year olds is a long established feature of the Hungarian education system, but little is known about parental choice (Török, 2004). A case study (Yin, 2004) of factors influencing parental choice and satisfaction was undertaken in one Hungarian town. This was based on a survey of 251 parents of children attending both mixed-age and same-age groups across 12 kindergartens.Parents suggested that the most important influences were geographical location and the individual pedagogue(s). Given that traditionally each pedagogue follows 'their' cohort from kindergarten entry to primary school, their influence appears heightened.Although generally satisfied with their chosen arrangement, parents from same-age groups expressed significantly more confidence and satisfaction, particularly in relation to cognitive development and preparation for school.Parents appear less convinced about the trend towards mixed-age groups and questions are raised about sufficiency of evidence of their benefits in a Hungarian context and the driving factors behind change.
Hungarian pedagogues agree that children should be listened to, have their rights recognised, and their voices heard. The UNCRC recommends that children’s rights should be part of early childhood education, but this is not typical in Hungarian kindergartens and there is little pedagogical material to support the education of children about their rights. This paper focuses on 5 kindergartens each typically accommodating over 150 children between the ages of 3-6 years old across Hungary. Six pedagogues worked with multi-age groups (4 kindergartens) and same-age groups (2 kindergartens). The research adopted participatory methods to gather children’s views recognising them as valuable collaborators. Children provided insight into their own lives through play based creative activities that focused on eliciting children’s thoughts and feelings. Pedagogues collected video data using a ‘toolkit’ of children’s play activities during a 6-week period of the COVID-19 pandemic. Pedagogues reflected on children’s play through a series of online focus groups with emphasis on how children expressed their views and preferences through play. Participants were encouraged to examine the power relationships between children and adults and analyse their role in knowledge production rather than knowledge extraction. Six themes emerged through thematic analysis, mapped to the 4 guiding principles of children’s rights: participation, survival, development and protection. The findings highlight the juxtaposition between children’s life-as-experienced and life-as-told by adults; the skill of pedagogues to hear and sensitively interpret children’s voices based on their play and the challenge to slow down and reflect on practice.
The focus of attention of this special issue has both personal and professional significance for the guest editors and most of the contributors, whose childhoods were touched by either the experience of socialism or its collapse and consequences. Influenced by Foucault’s (1977) idea that reporting evidence and significant moments from the past contributes to histories that are authentic and accurate, this special issue offers insights into the changing narratives of socialist and post-socialist childhoods. We are mindful of the risks associated with revisionism; that is, revisiting and, through that, re-evaluating the past in light of what we know in the present. Mitigating this risk, to some extent, is that many of the authors whose secondary research papers are published in this issue were privileged to work with original documents written in local languages. In this way, they were able to interrogate the past and reveal the nature of discourses and practices in order to make a contribution to better understand the present (Skehill, 2007).
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