Schools of the third millennium, changing paradigm in the education

József Benda, Dr.

What happens in the schools today appears in the society 20-30 years later when the children grow up.

The Hungarian education is in the past 30 years crucial. In the 80’s Ferenc Gazsó put it this way: in the school classes “contrasocialization” can be observed. Today we can see the results of this in the social public situations.

About 25 years ago a new school movement has started in Hungary. It was called the Humanistic Cooperative Learning (HCL).

This program’s main goal was the non-violent organizational culture (educational method which develops the personality), which is able to adapt itself to the people’s needs, who have different social backgrounds and cultures.

The theory behind the development of the organizational culture came from the humanistic psychology. The program lets the children into the educational processes, because this helps the reaching of the common goals. The children can experience from the very first moment in the school that they have a great role in developing themselves and they are necessary. In this way every year they can control their learning processes more and more. This children-friendly culture decreases the children’s defenselessness, and they can experience less humiliating and more cooperative situations.

Compared to the traditional schools this program concentrates on the socialization of the children more. In order to develop the social competencies the program uses the rules of the group-dynamics; it balances the processes of cooperation and competition. Besides the lexical knowledge it includes the development of the pro-social behaviour. (empathy, reciprocal respect, helping others and accepting others’ help, following the partner’s thoughts, organizing-leading, evaluating, self-monitoring, emotional intelligence etc.)

The program concentrates on (empirical) learning instead of teaching. The source of knowledge is not only the teacher and the textbook but also the complex educational situation. The group’s climate, values, dynamics and roles play a great role in the development of the individual’s abilities. The success of the learning is determined by the individual’s abilities and his or her relationships. In an organization made of small groups every child feels safe. They learn between calculable rules and processes.

Due to the consequent system of values, the social atmosphere, the objective culture, the curriculum and the processes’ control it is possible that after 5-6 years a group of students become educational leaders.

The program was sometimes financiered by the state, other times it was threatened. Today they teach it in most of teacher training courses but it could not be institutionalized.