How do Master Teachers plan to renew early childhood education in Hungary? – The five-year plans of the Master Programmes and their implementations

Abstract

In Hungary, the teacher qualification and promotion system was extended with the missing Master teacher grade in 2016. The analysis of the five-year plans of the Master teacher candidates provides an opportunity to get an overview of the vision of experienced and highly qualified teachers about the current situation and the potentials of the educational sector. The research explores the Master programmes of 95 Master teacher candidates from the early years sector to understand what issues they identify in their everyday work, which motivates them for professional learning and for setting innovative goals. The qualitative research uses document analysis to explore the programmes that is followed by semi-structured interviews. The Master kindergarten teachers consider teacher fluctuation and the changes in the legislation the main issues that induce extra tasks to deal with. They also plan to enrich their practice with innovative methods. Collaborative methods for professional learning and planning are frequently mentioned in the programmes, but the terrain of knowledge sharing is mainly their community of practice. Even though opposition is visible in the teachers' attitude against the qualification network, the majority of the Master teachers claim to consider their master programme as an enhancement of their professional work.