ABSTRACT
In Hungary the term ‘secondary education’ normally designates education offered by schools receiving pupils beyond the age of fourteen, after the completion of the eight-year basic school. Nevertheless, by the term “secondary school” most people understand only the four-year general schools and the four or five-year professional schools offering preparation for the maturity examination and do not place in this category the shorter three-year vocational schools which prepare students for the skilled-worker certificate. Up to the eighties the almost exclusive source of curriculum change in Hungarian schools was overall periodical reforms affecting the entire system. The last curriculum reform of this type, leading to the introduction of new curricula at nearly all educational levels and school types, was carried out in 1978–79. In general, the quality of teaching is seen as high in most church secondary schools, a few of them being especially innovative.
