Hungary Revamps Teacher Professional Development System from 2025

Hungary is set to implement significant changes to its teacher professional development (CPD) system from January 1, 2025, aiming to modernize and streamline the process. These reforms are grounded in a series of legislative acts, including Act CXC of 2011 on National Public Education, Act LII of 2023 on the New Careers of Teachers, and the newly issued Government Decree No. 419/2024 (XII.23.) on the system of teacher training.

Main Characteristics and Changes

The core of the reformed system emphasises free professional development, particularly in content renewal training. Key changes include:

• Shorter Training Cycles: The CPD program will operate on 5-year training cycles, replacing the previous 7-year cycle.
• Credit-Based System: Teachers are required to accumulate 120 credits within each 5- year cycle, replacing the previous 120-hour requirement. One credit represents 60 minutes of study time, an increase from the previous 45 minutes.
• Annual Institutional Programmes: School directors, with the involvement of school working groups (WGs), will create detailed institutional CPD programmes for the upcoming school year, shifting from the previous 5-year programme. The deadline for this is April 30th, moving from the prior March 15th.
• Authorization and Control: The maintainer of the school, primarily School District Centres, will be responsible for authorisation and control.
• First Cycle Start: The first cycle will commence on the first working day of September in the fifth year following the diploma award

Types of Teacher CPD Trainings

• Content Renewal Trainings:
o These are mandatory for all teachers.
o They aim to update teachers on the current content requirements of education.
o Teachers must acquire at least 60 credits through these trainings.
o These trainings are provided by the Ludovika University of Public Service

Availability of Training Programs:
The Educational Authority maintains a public, online registry of training programmes accessible on its platform.

Author: Pázmándi Anikó