Music Teacher Training in Hungary

I. Background / Organisation

II. Curriculum

III. Learning and Teaching Approaches

IV. Assessment / Examination

V. Current and Future Challenges

I. Background / Organisation

Music teacher training at universities in Hungary is currently being reorganised, as part of the Bologna Process. At the time of writing, the legislation governing the new university system has not yet been passed. The following explanations are therefore to be regarded merely as a provisional description of the situation of education in Hungary. The renowned Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest still offers the broadest range of music studies, but due to the reform the number of institutions responsible for academic Music teacher training has increased. In keeping with the three-tiered university system there are now several Bachelor degree courses on offer. Masters will follow, while the Franz Liszt Academy of Music will be responsible for PhD studies.

In Hungary (population 10 million) a total of 71 institutions offer higher education courses (tertiary education). In 2007, 10% of the nearly 400,000 students in higher education took courses in teacher training.[1]

For music education there are two types of teacher training: firstly, there are the courses at the former teacher training colleges which are now being incorporated into university courses from which students graduate with a Master’s degree qualifying them to teach in grades 1 to 12; secondly, there are courses offered as part of primary teacher training, which consist of a four-year Bachelor’s degree course for primary education and include the option of taking additional courses in music as a school subject that even qualify students to teach grades 1 to 6. The most important music universities are in Budapest, Szeged, Debrecen, Győr, Pécs, Miskolc and Szombathely.

II. Curriculum

Music education in Hungary does not have to be studied in combination with other subjects. At some universities students can choose particular topics for more in-depth study (e.g. choir conducting, church music, new media etc.).

Music Teacher Training for Primary Education

The Bachelor’s degree course for primary school teachers lasts four years and amounts to 240 ECTS credits. Teachers are now permitted to teach music at primary schools even if they have not specialised in music, which was not the case in the past. Successful completion of the Bachelor’s qualifies a student to work as a teacher. However, a specialisation that allows graduates to teach up to the 6^th grade (see above) means his or her musical qualifications are considerably higher. Having completed their Bachelor’s, graduates can continue with a Master’s degree course, for instance if they wish to undertake more thorough study of education as a science.

Music Teacher Training for Grades 1-12

The following paragraphs will focus on courses at music universities and faculties, however: to obtain a Bachelor’s degree a student takes an initial three-year course which is not a specific teacher training course but consists instead of “zeneismeret” (musicology) or “zeneelmélet” (music theory). Specific teacher training does not begin until the student does a Master’s. Let us take the curriculum of the renowned University of Szeged as an example:

The Bachelor’s course lasts six semesters and contains a total of 180 ECTS credits. The first semester serves as an introduction (30 ECTS credits) and covers the theoretical and practical basics which also include the so-called “general subjects” philosophy, ethics, political science and economics. Table 1 below shows an overview of the main course of studies in the five other semesters.

Table 1: The main courses offered in a Bachelor’s degree course at the music university in Szeged. Does not include the introductory semester with 30 ECTS credits and further credits for the baccalaureat paper and other tasks for which no further details are given in the course of study.

The subsequent Master’s degree lasts another five semesters and contains a possible 120 ECTS credits. Table 2 shows the areas of education that the course focuses on:

Table 2: The course of studies for a Master’s at the music university in Szeged

Figure 1 shows the percentages of each subject group that make up the Bachelor’s and Master’s courses taken as a whole according to the current curricula.

Fig. 1: Share of the ECTS credits allocated to each subject group in the curriculum of the University of Szeged. Bachelor's and Master's degrees are added together.

If the information available is correct and complete, optional subjects in the Bachelor's degree course account for 10 ECTS credits, in the Master's for only one ECTS credit. This corresponds to 3.7% of the total number of credits available from both courses.

III. Learning and Teaching Approaches

In Music teacher training in Hungary a formal distinction is made only between theoretical subjects (theory and history of music) and artistic/practical ones. As a rule the ration of the two is 40:60.

The well-known Kodály Method still plays a significant role in teacher training. Trainee teachers for the primary sector in particular receive intensive training in this method of movable-do solfège because pupils are still taught according to the Kodály Method in the first years of schooling all over Hungary with only a few exceptions. Native folk music also remains important and this is reflected in university curricula. The use of new media currently plays a comparatively minor role in Hungary except at those institutions that place special emphasis on this topic.

IV. Assessment / Examination

In all courses offered at Hungarian universities, and consequently also for Music teacher training at university, there are the following distinct types of assessment of examination:

·      classes, that must be attended regularly,

·      examinations, in which students are examined in the topics covered in the course of a semester,

·      the viva, in which students must show proficiency in the topics covered in every semester of a course (e.g. singing, ear training, composition/structure, piano, history of music, psychology & educational theory)

·      finals.

During the course each semester consists of two distinct stages: the lecture stage and the examination stage. As a rule there are no holidays between the semesters of an academic year unless a student manages to complete the examination stage particularly quickly.

Music Teacher Training for Primary Education

There is no comprehensive entrance exam in music for trainee primary school teachers. Entitlement to study is achieved by means of a specialisation in the final school report, but this need not necessarily be in music. However, an applicant's musicality is tested in the course of an aptitude test which also includes a language test and an examination of the applicant's physical suitability. No information is currently available about the final examinations.

Music Teacher Training for Grades 1-12

An extensive entrance exam is held at the music universities in air training, composition/structure and on the instrument etc. The degree course finishes with the final examination. This consists of the dissertation and the accompanying exam, the practical teaching exam, educational theory and choir conducting.

V. Current and Future Challenges

Before all else the new tertiary education system in Hungary must first be put to the test; there can be no doubt that a number of modifications will be necessary. Following the change to a three-tiered system, trainee teachers who study at university now graduate with a Bachelor's degree initially. A point of criticism must be that as things stand this university education offers no specific vocational orientation and that a qualification has therefore been created that has no pragmatic relevance.

However, the greater mobility between individual courses and institutions is already proving advantageous. The turning of colleges into universities will doubtless also entail a need for new resources. This will apply to infrastructure and equipment, but in some instances to personnel, too, in order to ensure that the quality expected of what is now university education is attained. It remains to be seen whether and to what extent the necessary funds can be raised. Ultimately it is also a question of the comparability of the qualifications awarded by the various institutions.