The 2020/2021 school year started with traditional classroom education in institutions for initial and vocational education. Tertiary educational institutions launched the academic year with digital learning outside the classroom.
Following the protective measures introduced owing to the Covid19 pandemic in November 2020, secondary schools changed to digital education again, while primary schools changed in March 2021. During the spring of 2021, after the gradual easing of protective measures, educational institutions, except for tertiary education, closed the school year in the traditional form.
In the 2020/2021 school year 1.8 million children and young people participate in the different levels of initial, vocational and tertiary education in Hungary. Compared to the previous school year, the number of kindergarten children (323 thousand) and students in secondary educational institutions (469 thousand) decreased, while that of students in primary schools (729 thousand) and in tertiary educational institutions (287 thousand) increased. Similarly to the previous school year, 2.5 thousand children with severe and multiple disabilities fulfil their compulsory school attendance in schools within developmental education.
In the 2020/2021 school year the institutional system of initial and formal vocational education was transformed considerably: the institutions for initial education and the vocational educational institutions were separated. 398.3 thousand students participate in secondary full-time education, 12.5 thousand fewer than in the previous school year. In 2020 a total of 67.6 thousand students passed the final examination at upper secondary level.
The institutional system of initial education and formal vocational education has been transformed considerably
Over the past five years secondary education has considerable changed. In the 2016/2017 school year the names of institution types as well as the tasks to be fulfilled by them were modified. The scope of the collective term secondary school was also extended. In the 2020/2021 school year, further transformations were made, as a result of which the institutions for initial education and institutions for vocational education were separated. In the institutions for initial education the teaching of arts, pedagogy and public culture takes place in upper secondary vocational schools, and the vocational educational institutions, technicums and vocational training schools also run courses of phasing-out vocational grammar schools and secondary vocational schools.
At secondary level, 398.3 thousand students study in full-time education and 71.1 thousand in part-time education
There are 398.3 thousand students in the full-time education of secondary institutions, which is 12,5 thousand fewer than in the previous school year. Compared to the 2016/2017 school year, the number of students fell by 36.4 thousand. The proportion of students in secondary general schools to secondary school students is 48%; slightly more than half of the students go to schools which (also) offer vocational training: vocational training schools, technicums and upper secondary vocational schools. 1.7% of students continue their studies in vocational schools and special skills development schools providing secondary education for students with special educational needs, which proportion has been nearly unchanged over the past 10 years.
In secondary schools 71.1 thousand students continue their studies in adult education and part-time education, which is 14.5 thousand fewer than in the previous school year.
The number of students kept increasing in secondary general schools
In the 2020/2021 school year, there are 191.5 thousand students in the full-time education of secondary general schools, 2.5 thousand persons more than in the previous school year. Considering these students,
- nearly two-thirds (65%) attend governmental,
- 27% secondary general schools maintained by a church, and
- 8% schools maintained by foundations and other organisations.
The number of students going to secondary general schools has increased by almost 10 thousand in the past five years. The largest increase of nearly 20% can be observed in secondary general schools maintained by foundations, where 16 thousand students do their studies in this school year. At secondary general schools maintained by a church the number of students has increased by 14% (by 6.5 thousand students) in the past 5 years. The number of students in governmental secondary grammar schools is nearly the same as the number recorded in the 2016/2017 school year; 123.7 thousand in 2020.
Besides four-grade training, secondary general schools have also been offering six- and eight-grade education to students since 1991. In the 2020/2021 school year, 69% of secondary general school students (131.7 thousand persons) continue their studies in 4-grade secondary general schools, 16% (31.1 thousands) in 6-grade secondary general schools, and 15% (28.7 thousands) in 8-grade secondary general schools. These proportions have basically been unchanged in the past ten years.
Regarding all types of training in secondary grammar schools, the proportion of girls is still higher, 56% of the students (107 thousand persons).
In secondary education, the proportion of students with special educational needs is the lowest in secondary general schools, where 1.8% or 3.4 thousand students have special educational needs (SEN).
The number of full-time teachers (18.6 thousand) at secondary general schools is nearly the same as the figure in the previous school year. Due to the increasing number of students, the student-teacher ratio has risen from 10.2 to 10.3 students over a school year.
At secondary general schools, further 30.2 thousand students continue their studies in adult education, 7.2% more than in the 2019/2020 school year. In the adult education of secondary general schools, nearly 92% of students attend evening courses, 4.1% correspondence courses 2.6% other specific courses, and 1.8% full-time educational programmes.
In upper secondary vocational school in the fields of arts, pedagogy and public culture, nearly four-fifth of students are girls
In upper secondary vocational schools operating according to the Act on National Public Education, students learn general educational subjects as well as arts, public culture and pedagogical subjects. In the closing school year, the number of full-time students in these fields is 9.6 thousand. The majority, 79% of the students are girls.
In these institutions, the number of full-time teachers exceeds 1.7 thousand persons, and the student-teacher ratio averages 5.5 students, thanks to the specific features of arts education.
In the upper secondary vocational schools of arts, besides full-time students in adult education, a little more than 1,000 students are getting prepared for both the final examination at upper secondary level and the artistic examinations.
In vocational educational institutions, two-thirds of students attend technicums and one-third go to vocational training schools
In the 2020/2021 school year, vocational educational institutions have a total of 218.5 thousand students, out of which 136.3 thousand persons attend vocational training courses, in vocational grades. More than two-thirds of students go to technicums preparing for final examination at upper secondary level and vocational examination, and nearly one-third study at three-year vocational training schools preparing for the acquisition of the given profession.
The vast majority of students (83%) participate in full-time education, while less than one-fifth of students (38 thousand students) – who have an adult-training legal relationship - study in part-time education.
In case of part-time education, students selected training in technicums in a larger proportion (57%, or 21.7 thousand persons) in this school year. The number of part-time students in vocational training schools was 16.2 thousand in the 2020/2021 school year.
In institutions for vocational education, the majority of students are boys, with a share of 58%.
From this school year on, teachers in vocational training are qualified as instructors according to the legal provisions. The number of persons working as instructors in full-time employment is 17.3 thousand in this school year, and 71% of them teaches in technicum training.
As for the fields of vocational training, the largest proportion of students (35%) study in fields of engineering, manufacturing and construction, while the fields of services (26%) and business and administration (14%) are also popular.
In institutions fulfilling vocational training school and technicum tasks within the initial educational system (that is, they operate as multi-purpose initial educational institutions), 2.1 thousand full-time students study in vocational training schools and 7.5 thousand in technicums in the closing school year. In both types of school-sites, further 1,000–1,000 part-time students continue their studies.
Around 7 thousand students in vocational schools and special skills development schools in the past five years
Only students with special educational needs attend vocational schools and special skills development schools; there are nearly 7 thousand students in these schools in the closing school year. More than 57% of students have mild intellectual disability, nearly 32% have moderate intellectual disability, 4.3% live with autism spectrum disorder, while the remaining students live with other disabilities (e.g. speech, vision, hearing).
At present, the number of full-time teachers is 1.5 thousand, which nearly equals the number recorded in the previous school year; therefore, the student-teacher ratio has remained unchanged since last year (4.5 students).
67.6 thousand students passed the final examination at upper secondary level and 49.6 thousand the vocational examination in 2020
In 2020 a total of 67.6 thousand students – nearly 600 students more than a year earlier – passed the ordinary final examination at upper secondary level. 58% of students graduated from secondary general schools, 37% from vocational grammar schools and 5.2% from schools that operated as secondary vocational schools in the 2019/2020 school year. The vast majority (92%) of graduates passed the final examination at upper secondary level after full-time education. At the end of the 2019/2020 school year, a total of 49.6 thousand students passed the vocational examination; their number is nearly the same as a year earlier. Nearly two-thirds of the students obtaining vocational qualifications passed the vocational examination after full-time education.
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