The CTD teacher opinion poll

CHAPTER 4 THE CTD TEACHER OPINION

POLL

drgneshat6

Within the framework of the CTD-80 study we asked 2391 teachers in 70 general schools to complete a teacher questionnaire containing questions about their training, teaching backThe opinion poll had two aims. ground, teaching load, and also to complete an opinionnaire. Its first aim was to find out how general school teachers reacted to new educational documents (detailed statements on the curriculum including suggested methods) which had been introduced successively since 1978. Before starting to use the new syllabuses and textbooks, teachers had been instructed in how to use these materials, and in 1980, at the time of our questionnaire-survey, they already had some practical experience in their use. They were somewhat familiar with their new characteristics, and the problems connected with them. Hence the opinions of teachers as feed-back to the designers were particularly important. The second aim of the study was to find out how teachers themselves evaluate their own school practice and what the connection is between the level of pedagogical culture (teachers' quality) and the effectiveness of their work. Measures of student achievement within the same study (reading comprehension, scientific experimentation, achievement in mathematics) offered a basis for exploring effects but this analysis will not be undertaken in this chapter.

ANTECEDENTS OF TEACHER SURVEYS IN HUNGARY

Since the establishment of the system of state public education in Hungary over 100 years ago the supreme educational authorities have always regarded the teacher as a prime factor in the work of the school. The first nationwide statistical surveys considered primarily quantitative factors, such as sex, the different degrees of qualification and experience, status, average wages, housing conditions, and the like. These statistical surveys were repeated at regular intervals but surveys concerning the qualitative character of the teacher's role were conducted only marginally and occasionally. These qualitative studies investigated teachers' educational levels (e.g. their knowledge of foreign languages), their level of experience (age and seniority), and, on the other hand, with the help of comparative historical data (1903 - 1912 - 1934 - 1951 - 1977) they tried to identify those factors influencing the standards of education over the past 80 years. These statistical surveys provided actual data on the whole teacher population. The two investigations made - one in the 1970s and a second at the turn of the eighties represent a different type of survey. Their common feature is that they ask the teachers themselves about their aims, motives, practices. Our survey belongs also to this latter group (&at&, 1983). The first teacher opinion poll was undertaken by a group of sociologists (Ferge et al., 1972). They tried to answer the question to what extent teachers were able to perform their tasks in school, and they attempted to explore teachers' general social conditions, their opportunities‘for mobility, their general views about work in school, and about the most

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3;itbory and

J. Ktiddr-Fillip

pressingproblemsof educationand teaching. They also investigatedwhy, and to what extent teacherswish to leave, and indeed do leave the profession. This survey involvedabout 2000 teachers. The second survey was carried out by researchersat the Faculty of Arts of BudapestUniversity (Falus etal., 1983; Falus and Kotschy. 1983). This survey aimed at exploringthe practical orientationof teacher training. The researchersapplied a dual method. Questionscovered both the views of student teachersprior to their teachingapprenticeshipand also the views of practisingteachers. First, universitystudents familiarwith universitytrainingand the relevanteducationaldocumentsprovidedinformationabout their plans concerningtheir future career: then teacherswho had shorteror longer working experiencewere asked about their perceptionsof the discrepanciesbetween the objectivesof teacher trainingand school practice. The sample included 580 student teachersand 3158 actual teachers(some findings of this study are reportedin Chapter 5). The methodologicalbasis of these teacher-surveys had much in common; all containedan analysis of teachers'attitudestoward the curriculumand teaching,and their opinionsabout innovationand creative teaching. Despite their differentapproaches,in the surveys,they all attemptedto identifyrelationshipsbetween structuralvariables,such as financial conditions,and educationalattitudesand efficacy. The similaritiesin the surveys prevented opportunitiesfor checking the validityof our conclusions. Inherent limitationsof the questionnairemethod should also be mentioned. Naturally,we have been aware of the many subjectivefactorswhich play a role in answeringquestionnaires and which, consequently,create distortions. It often happens that a questionor series of questions,as constructedby the researcheron the basis of his assumptionssuggestanswers or, at least, point to answers. Furthermore,for the sake of data analysis or for comparison purposes the questionsare often formulatedin such a way as to make it possibleto get exact answers which are easy to interpret,consequentlythe researcherconcentratesmore on the answers themselvesthan on the segment of reality behind them. Another danger of questionnaires is the abundanceof closed questions: The respondentshave practicallyno opportunities to refer to other aspects of the problem or to other connectionswhich they think important. Naturallywe had to take into account these factorsas plausiblesources of error. Finally,one cannot disregardthe possibledifferencein interpretationof educational technicalterms in the questionnaire. THE STRUCTUREAND CHARACTERISTICSOF THE QUESTLONNAIRE In Hungary,as in many Europeancountries, one of the traditionalcharacteristicsof public educationis the existenceof a central curriculum. This leads to constraintsand.central instructions,which, although they can be explainedas part of the right of the state to control education,appear to the teachersas being a restrictionon their freedom because they regard curriculardictatesas a projectionof "guidancefrom above". Since the early seventiesthe constraintshave certainlybeen relaxed,and the new curriculaintroducedin 1978 have given further room for choice of content of teaching. Now the greater part of school activitiesare covered by the curricularsystem of objectives, tasks and requirements,and the teachingprogram prescribesa definite line of approach although it is only partly compulsory. In the remainingtime teachersare free to undertake the educationalactivitiesthey design. One must also not forget that there is not always a one to one correspondencebetween the literal meaning of the curriculum,and what actually happens in the classroom. The solution to this problem depends,among other things. upon the teacher'spersonality,and primarilyon his skill of identification.This, of course, depends upon many factors,partly known, and partly not directlydemonstrable. Our questionnaire survey was aimed mainly at the clarificationof this problem. The 38 questionsin the questionnairecan be classifiedaccordingto form as follows:8 openended questions,11 closed questions,from which the subjectscould choose one of several alternatives,16 Likert-typequestionscontaininga scale, and 3 closed questionscontaining frequencyscales. As to their content, the questionswere aimed at the clarificationof the followingfour topics: (a)

living and working conditionsof teacherswith the help of some sociological

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185

backgroundvariables(13 questions);

(b)

teachers'opinionsabout the educationalreform, and modernizationof the curricula (1 question);

(cl

the impact of the new documentsof 1978 on the knowledgeand attitude of teachers (6 questions):

Cd) opinionsabout the connectionsbetween the curriculumand teaching practice,with special considerationbeing given to the new aspects of the curriculum(18 questions). The answers to the questionnaireitems were analysed in the followingway: -

relative frequenciesof answers were computed for the whole sample:

-

relative frequenciesof answer-a were computed by strata defined on the basis of the level of urbanizationof the settlementswhere the schools are located:

-

relative frequenciesof answers were broken down by the qualificationof teachers (unqualified:unqualified,attendingan evening trainingcourse, graduateof secondary level teacher training for primary-gradeteachers;graduateof 3-year teacher training college for primary-gradeteachers:graduate of O-year college for general school teachers:universitygraduate grammar school teacher);

-

relative frequenciesof answers were broken down accordingto the number of years spent in teaching (O-3, 4-7, g-12, 13-20, 21 or more years);

-

relative frequencyof answers broken down accordingto subject specialities(teachers of Hungarian,Russian, environmentstudies,history, geography,mathematics,physics, chemistry,biology, polytechnics,drawing,music, physicaleducation,classroom teacher,other):

-

relative frequenciesof answers were computed by school for some questions. FINDINGSAND CONCLUSIONS

SociologicalCharacteristics In the sample of 2391 general school teachers 78.7 percent were female and 17 percentmale (4.3 percent did not answer the question). The break-downaccording to qualificationsis shown in Table 4.1. The ratio of non-qualified teachers (1.6 percent+ 5.6 percent) is somewhathigher than the national statisticfor the school-year1978180 (5.1 percent). Teachers'openness to up-to-dateeducationalconcepts, and their innovativespirit and fastidiousnessin their work are no doubt strongly influencedby their opportunitiesfor permanentself-improvement and the extent to which they participatein the efforts of the professionto up-date and develop itself. One of the basic conditionsof self education is in ownershipof books. We got a relativelyfavourablepicture of the number of books owned by teachers. These figures do not indicateanything about reading habits. Other questionslead to the conclusionthat educationalliteraturedoes not form a large part of these book collections: hence, it is not surprisingthat the reading of technicalliteratureis placed only 4th and 5th in order of priority in answer to the questionabout what factors influenceteachers' planningof teachingand choice of strategies. It could be that the lack of financialand moral incentivesencouragingwork of a highstandard plays a role here. Another possiblereason is that teachersare generallyoverworked in their differentextra occupations, Despite this, teachers participatedin great numbers in both nationaland local educational innovations. In the sample 9.2 percent had taken part in the school-year1979/80in research

2. BBthoty and J. K&d&-Fiiliip

Table 4.1.

The Professional Qualifications of Teachers in the Sample

Qualification

level

Frequency %

No qualification

1.6

In progress of acquiring qualification

5.6

Graduate of secondary level teacher training school

21.7

Graduate of training college for primary school teachers (3 years)

17.3

Graduate of teacher training college (4 years)

42.6

Graduate of university with the diploma of a secondary school teacher (5 years)

7.1

Other qualifications

2.1

No answer

2.0

Table 4.2.

Numbers of Books Owned by Teachers Frequency %

50 or less books owned 51-100 books owned

0.5 2.5

101-200 books owned

12.2

201-500

40.4

books owned

501 or more books owned

43.4

of various kinds. If we compare this percentage to the total number of teachers, this means that almost 7000 teachers participated in such activities throughout the country. One explanation for this, perhaps too favourable, picture is that at the time when the survey was conducted, research studies were being extensively conducted even though more of them did not employ rigorous scientific criteria.

Teachers' Attitudes Towards Reforms On the other Many people say - perhaps not without reason - that education is conservative. hand, society shows a strong tendency to bring about change in the field. This is not a In Hungarian public specifically Hungarian phenomenon - one could say it is international. education the different generations of teachers over the last 100 years have lived to see, on average, at least 3 curricular reforms, and countless changes of textbooks - and they have been the "victims" of at least one in their student years. The question is whether this does not produce indifference or passive resistance in the masses of teachers, and whether the constraint of renewal dictated from above has not eliminated all wishes for change? The answer to these questions seemed to us very interesting just in the period of the survey, two years after the introduction of the new curricula. The answers showed that the overwhelming majority of teachers agreed with the program of continued modernization of presentday schooling. According to 66.5 percent continuous reforms will be also needed in the future; 10.8 percent believed that "there should be no change for a time", and 20.3 percent thought that what was needed was radical change (2.4 percent did not answer). It is fortunate that in the present situation, with large-scale curricular modernization in

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187

progress,relativelyfew teachersexpressedopions which might lead to the conclusionthat the reforms had disappointedthem. Another positivefeature is that the majority of elementary-school teachersbelievedin permanentchanges. A further question tried to probe their opinionson the nature of changes needed. We proposed 12 fields, and the teachershad the opportunityto mark the degree of their agreementwith each (agree,agree partially,don't agree). The order below characterizes their views about school development,derived from the frequencyof the "agree" answers: -

improvementof the practicalorientationof teacher training (81.4 percent);

-

increaseof expenditureson education from the national income (78.2 percent);

-

total reorganizationof teachers'in-servicetraining (59.2 percent):

-

improvementof the living and working conditionsof teachers (57.8 percent);

-

modernisationof curricula(57.1 percent);

-

establishmentof unified secondaryschools (33.4 percent);

-

reorganizationof vocationaltraining (32 percent);

-

the occasionalregroupingof children (29.8 percent);

-

the introductionof goods-producing work into the school (21.1 percent);

-

establishinga new system of subjects,integration(18.3 percent)

-

developmentof a new system of activitiesin school (17 percent);

-

the prolongationof the period spent in elementaryeducation(9.2 percent).

The frequenciesin which choices were made show a sharp decline after the fifth question. Hence we can see which are viewed as the five most importantareas of development. It is remarkablethat of the 12 themes only three refer to the personal-professional role of teachers (practicalorientationof teacher training,living-andworking conditions,in-service training)but these three are among the five areas of priority. Secondlv.it is interesting that from the nine themes linked with the conceptualand organisstionalconditionsof educationalwork only two have been given priority (expenditureon education,modernization of curricula). From the remaining7 conceptual-organisational conditionsthere are two for which the proportionof those who accept them is a little higher than of those who reject them, but in the case of 5 conditionsthe dominantresponse is rejection. The rejected themes: integrationof subjects,a new system of activitiesin schools. unified secondary schoolst the introductionof goods-producingwork in schoolD and &he prolongscionof the time spent in elementaryeducation. In connectionwith the last point it is worth mentioningthat at the time of the survey it was generallyknown that the five-dayworking week would be introducedshortly,and that this could be accompaniedby a change in the existingorder of school lessons. From the above we can conclude that general school teachers feel and considereducational changes primarilyas factors linked to their personal-professional role; they consider conceptualand organizationalfactors to be of relativelyless importance, The Identificationof Teachers with CurriculumObjectives The educational documentsintroducedin 1978 - in conformitywith the demands of social change _. - have laid more stress on the developmentof certain personalitytraits in pupils. Accordingly,some of our questionswere aimed at finding out what teachersthought of the importanceof educationalaims, and how they graded the five comprehensiveobjectiveslisted by us (Table 4.3). The data suggests that teachers do not approve of the regulatoryrole of documentsvery much. They place it 3rd out of 5 in the list of educationalobjectives. They consider the preparationof pupils to make them able to activelyadjust to modern society to be the

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Kridkr-Fiilip

Table 4-3. Order of Preferenceof Some General Educational Goals as Viewed by Teachers

Goals Executionof the orders of the basic document

1st

Placing in % 2nd 3rd 4th

21.9 18.7 26.7

No 5th Answer

6.8

18.8

6.9

General preparationfor adjustment to society, integration 36.9 21.6 12.5 17.4

4.5

6.7

4.9 13.0 Ip.6

6.9

Preparationfor continuingstudies Maximum developmentof abilities Treatmentof subject matter

2.1

2.3

24.3 33.6

20.4 10.9

3.7

6.8

7.6 16.5 28,2 33.1

7,2

7,O

The most frequentplacingsare underlinedto indicatetheir relative importance. most importantaim. Most teachers place 2nd the full developmentof pupils' abilities,and this agrees with their belief that from the point of view of teachingand educationneither the very able, nor the average, nor the weak pupils should be favouredbut the overwhelmingmajority believe that their developmentis of equal importance(87.4 percent). This picturemay seem rather sketchy but this, in part, is a functionof the phrasingof the question. On the basis of the data in the questionnairewe gained the impressionthat teachers tend to be conservativeconcerningthe values they wish to develop in their pupils. We asked them to indicatethe 5 most importantpersonalitytraits in open-endedquestions. The answers show a remarkableabsence of coherence. A rather high percentagedid not answer (13.1). In the opinion of teachers the most importantpersonalitytraits were the Collowingin this order: pupils'attitude to work, to the community,and to educatedness. These three traits are certainlyparts of a humanisticideal. Some Characteristicsof Teaching Practice As already mentioned,earlier sociologicalsurveys also dealt with the attitude of teachers toward the curriculum,and it was found that 25 to 50 percent thought that the constraintsof the curriculumand the compulsorysubject-matters were the greatestobstaclesto their independence. At the time of our survey the then existingcurriculacontainedcompulsory materialof instructionbut also left more room to teachersin the determinationof content (e.g. supplementarycontent,and optionalsubjects). A few of our questionswere related to the role of the curriculumand textbooksin planning and we asked which documentwas consideredthe most useful by teachersin the planningof their work. In the basis of the answers the frequencyorder of the various materialsis the following:the syllabus,textbooks,teachers'manuals accompanyingtextbooks(see Table 4.4). Teachers of physics and music put the textbookin the first place in a much higher percentage of cases (92 and 85 percent respectively). Essentially,however, the answers indicatethe priorityof the syllabus. We also tried to examine the components,forms, and, in part, the planningof learningunits of differentlengths. We thought that the central syllabi would be followed blindly,that teacherswould not undertakeany thematicplanning but that the preparationof lesson-plans would be undertakenby all teachers. however, 46.4 percent of the sample said that it was only partly true that they used the central syllabus,and only 34.7 percent declaredthat they used it exclusively. Considering the circumstances,this is quite a high level of independence! It is surprisinghow many teachersmake thematic plans (46.9 percent)but probablythis does not mean effectivethematic planning but rather that they pinpointthe most importantthemes within the syllabus. In

Educational

Table 4.4.

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Studies

189

Documents Used for Planning Pedagogical Work in X

Documents

Used Principally

Basic principles of new curricula

Used Generally

Not Used

No Answer

22.1

57.0

The document "Plan of education"

13.2

59.3

12.1

15.2

Syllabus

60.3

21.5

2.5

15.6

Textbook

52.4

22.7

5.0

19.8

Central directives of new documents

23.8

52.0

8.4

15.6

Central subject matter directions

19.2

41.0

17.7

21.9

Teacher's manuals accompanying textbooks

39.3

35.6

8.2

16.7

The literature of their subject matter

6.5

29.0

50.2

5.7

14.8

General pedagogical works

5.2

60.6

19.0

15.0

Articles on subject methodology

24.4

59.5

3.4

12.5

3.4

9.8

3.6

83.0

Others

in Hungary

particular, teachers of mathematics (52 percent), environmental knowledge (50 percent) and physics (49 percent) as well as the teachers of lower section classes (42 percent) declared that they made thematic plans. Supplementary teaching content is that part of curricula which assures independence to teachers in selecting their material. There is, however, a great deal of uncertainty with regard to its application. When examining the factors which influenced the selection of supplementary content we found that a high percentage of the sample did not answer (57 percent); and in some strata of teachers this percentage was even higher. The way in which objectives are categorized is another element of uncertainty in the new curricula. Therefore, we wanted to discover something about its utilization, appreciation, and evaluation. Contrary to our expectations there were relatively few teachers (10 percent) who were "unable" to make use of the list of objectives defined in the curriculum. The majority utilized them regularly in planning their work (71 percent), in the evaluation of pupils' achievements (64 percent), and in constructing work-sheets and control tasks (52 percent). This seemingly favourable picture is, in fact, not as favourable as it might appear because the statements were not supported by concrete examples in the teacher's own subject of which objectives might be needed. One can at least state that there is a great deal of uncertainty with regard to the interpretation of the stated objectives and missing objectives. In comparing the objectives of the earlier curriculum with those of the new one, 42.8 percent in the sample found that the new list of objectives was more demanding than the old ones, but only 7.7 percent found them over-demanding. 35.5 percent thought that the list of new objectives was more detailed and that it was more accurate than the old one; furthermore they stated that they would like to receive centrally provided exercises designed-to fit the new objectives. The improvement of the teaching-learning process is a major condition for the up-dating of the content covered in school. Its two main aspects are the work of teacher and pupil: i.e. the teacher's methods, his manner of conducting a lesson, his selection of techniques, in brief: his strategy, and the pupils' learning habits and methods. They should mutually

190

2. ffcithory and J. Kc+d&-Fiilip

influence each other. The teaching strategy is a characteristic indication of the teacher's pedagogical culture in which his craftmanship and art are condensed. -It has many components including planning, factors influencing the selection of methods and organisatory forms, utilisation of media, involvement of pupils, etc. As said earliqr, teachers attribute a decisive role to the curricula and the list of objectives when selecting their methods and forms of organisation (see Table 4.5).

Table

4.5.

Factors Determining the Selection Methods and Organisatory Forms

of Teaching

Not Factors

Signalled Signalled in % in %

NO

Answer in 5

Things to read in educational literature

29.6

55.6

14.6

Availability of learning aids

50.6

34.7

14.G

Earlier teaching experience

33.6

51.6

14.7

Pupils' erudition state of preparedness

36.0

49.1

14.7

Curriculum requirements

56.0

29.1

14.7

Character of subject matter

42.5

42.7

14.7

Pupils' learning habits

8.1

77.1

14.7

Other

1.7

73.9

24.2

In order to obtain a picture of the most characteristic teaching strategies applied, we defined three types based on their most characteristic components: a “traditional” strategy where the teacher's activity is central and independent student activity is almost nonexistent; and "up-to-date" one which conforms to the spirit of the new documents, is built on pupils' experiences, requires independent work, differentiates between pupils and trains them type which takes into account pupils' experiences, for problem-solving; and an “intermediate” motivates pupils and assumes the use of many modern media but does not allow sufficient teatments and does not build on pupils' independent activity, Teachers were asked to place the three strategies in an "order of perceived effectiveness". On the basis of our experience we thought that most teachers would vote for the traditional or maybe the intermediate method of conducting a lesson but when we weighted the orders of frequency we got the following order: 1. "up-to-date" strategy; 2. "intermediate" strategy: 3. "traditional" strategy. The picture is different if we analyse the answers according to the location of schools. Teachers in Budapest and large villages placed the traditional strategy first. If we examine preferred strategy according to teacher qualification, it is interesting to note that unqualified teachers, students and those who have other qualifications than educational ones favour the traditional strategy. Teacher's subject matter specialization was not related to choice of strategy except for the teaching of foreign languages where the traditional approach was preferred. In the questions where we asked about the reasons for the teacher's choice we gave the following possible answers: 1. This is the most efficient method, 2. This is what students prefer, 3. This is what the school inspectors require, 4. This is the method required by the specific content of the subject material, 5. The financial conditions of the school allow only for this strategy, 6. This is regarded as up-to-date according to the educational literature, and, 7. In the course of in-service training this method has been found to be efficient. We found that primary factors influencing teachers' choice of strategy are mostly followed by factors related to the needs of students. practical (efficiency, economy), The choices of teachers with regard to teaching strategy reElect the changes of the last one to two years of teaching practice. The main characteristics and extent of these changes are summsrized in Table 4.6. Although according to other information there has not been any

Educational Evaluation Studies in Hungary Table

4.6.

Chenges in Teaching Practice in the Last 1-2 Years According to the Opinion of Teachers

What Has Changed?

Radical Change

Extent of Change Some No Change Change

Choice of subject matter

21.4

37.0

Way in which subject matter is exploited

28.1

Use of textbooks

22.5

Use of work sheets

No Answer

15.3

26.1

40.4

6.1

24.8

33.0

13.4

30.9

20.2

31.7

17.2

30.6

Use of task sheets

17.0

30.6

18.9

33.3

Use of other books

19.9

35.0

14.7

30.3

Application of group work

17.4

40.4

15.8

26.2

Individual pupil's work

23.6

38.3

11.1

26.8

Application of audio-visual aids

22.9

35.7

14.9

26.3

6.9

22.4

38.8

31.7

Formative evaluation on closing a topic

12.0

31.6

24.2

32.1

Application of pupil experiments

12.3

21.3

21.2

44.9

Number of lessons teaching new material

22.6

35.9

13.1

28.1

Application of practice lessons

24.3

34.3

11.5

29.6

Application of control lessons

13.6

39.2

17.6

29.4

3.4

1.3

1.2

93.9

Utilisation of school radio and school television

Teaching the methods of learning in other fields

radical change in teaching practice in the past one or two years, the partial elements stressed by the answers, such as the continuity of the treatment of subject-matter, the application of group work, the teaching of learning-methods, etc. fit well into the strategy of modernisation. The other.indicator of modernity is the attitude of teachers toward the learning of their pupils. Teachers must know how their pupils learn. This knowledge is important even if the motivation is "only" to increase their achievement in the one subject being taught and even more if the teacher's aim is teaching them how to learn. So the way of learning can also be approached from the point of view of the method used and also c,an be analysed from this viewpoint, and not only from the point of view of achievement. The difficulty is that there is no learning method which can be recommended exclusively. There are, on the other hand, teaching-learning situations traditionally linked to alleged or effective learning methods. Four questions in the questionnaire refer to this in connection with the attitudes teachers showed towards the teaching of the principles and practice of learning. When we formulated the questions we supposed that teachers knew that they had to regulate the learning activity of their pupils in some way. We tried to identify elements such as whether the teacher felt it her duty to give methodological help to encourage effective learning; whether she offered this help while activities were being carried out, and finally how the teacher gained information about the result of her intervention. In examining these essential elements we tried to ascertain the general characteristics of the attituded apparent in the answers; we presumed that methodological instructions were also to blame for the absence or lateness in establishing individualized and economic methods of learning.

191

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2. B&bory and J. &id&r-Fui6p

The first finding was that the majority of teachers (65 percent) considered it important to give their pupils direct instructions about how to learn. When comparing the answers according to the qualifications of teachers it was interesting to note that the proportion of those who answered this question increased in direct relation to their degree of pedagogical qualification: only 48.6 percent of unqualified teachers answered this question positively, whereas 85.3 percent of those with secondary-school teacher qualifications gave positive answers.

GENERAL CONCLUSIONS

On the basis of the study, several conclusions can be drawn. The high proportion of those who did not give answers is striking. This probably indicates their inadequate knowledge of the documents and the uncertainties about their practical implementation. The reasons are probably to do with the shortcomings of preparation. In in-service training, special attention should be paid to unqualified teachers and beginners, both from the point of view of preparation and the development of their pedagogical culture. The teachers nearing the end of their career are also a critical group.

REFERENCES

Aratb, A., A pedagbgusok v&em&ye as uj dokumentumokrcil (The opinions of teachers about the new educational documents), Pedag6giai Szemle. 1983. 33, (2), 177-176. Falus, I., Golnhofer, E., Kotschy, B. and Nsdasi, kf., Tansirjelb'ltegyetemistdk a tan&k&p&r& (The attitudes of undergraduate student teachers to teacher training), Pedag&giai Szemlet 1983, 33 (Bf, 836-852. Falus, I. and Kotschy, B., Pedag6gusok a pedag6gusk&pz&r~, training), Pedaghgiai Szemfe. 1983, -33 (5). 458-474.

(Teachers talking about teacher

Ferge. 'Es., Gas&, F., H&ber, J., T&czos, G. and Vgrhegyi, G., A pedag&usok munksi (The situation and work of teachers), Budapest: WT.A SZKI, 1972.

helyzete 6s

General school teachers I. Summary documentation II. Budapest: University Computer Centre Dot.. 1977. Magyarors& 6v6- & okt~&szem&lyzet&ek statisztikgja az 1934/35 tan&ben (Statistics of Hungary's nursery and teaching personnel in the schoolyear 1934-35.) Budapest: 1937 Report of the Ministry of Religion and Public Education on the State of Public Education, 1870. Buda: 1870.