A Forgotten Moment in Education Policy - A Hungarian-Swedish Case Study from the Early 1970s

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by jay

A forgotten 1971 IEA summer school is revisited through the memories and research of Tamás Kozma and Zoltán Tőzsér. After the 1956 uprising, Hungary’s Kádár regime pursued gradual reforms and gained permission to join the IEA. Hungarian delegates were the only participants from behind the Iron Curtain, observing Sweden’s centralized welfare model shaped by American liberal democracy and education. The study links this experience to later education-policy initiatives after 1989/90 and highlights the roles of Árpád Kiss and Zoltán Bathory in this reform era.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages15

Reading Time38 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

The late 1960s–early 1970s reform era

The 1971 IEA summer school and its impacts

A Forgotten Moment in Education Policy A Hungarian-Swedish Case Study from the Early 1970s Tamás Kozma*1 and Zoltán Tőzsér2 • After the brutal uprising of 1956, there was a decade of gradual reform in Hungary under the Kadar regime. As part of this decade of reform, Hungary received permission to join the IEA (International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievements), an organisation that had been established in the late 1950s by the well known Swedish educator and researcher Torsten Husén, who played an intermediary role in education policy between the West and the East. One step in fulfilling this role was his initiation a summer school under the umbrella of the IEA in the Swedish resort area of Graenna. The Hungarians were the only delegates from behind the Iron Curtain to participate. For them, it was a unique experience to view the centralised Swedish welfare state with contributions of American liberal democracy and education. This summer school of 1971 has since been forgotten, yet most of the initiatives of education policy after the political turn of 1989/90 have their roots there. This is especially true of the work and career of the well known Hungarian educator and a follower of Husén, the late Zoltán Bathory. Keywords: Central and Eastern Europe, Educational reform, IEA, Torsten Husén, Zoltán Bathory 1 *Corresponding author. The University of Debrecen, Egyetem tér 1, 4032 Debrecen, Hungary [kozmat@ella.hu](kozmat@ella.hu) Personal Website: [http://cherd.unideb.hu/kozmatamas](http://cherd.unideb.hu/kozmatamas) 2 The University of Debrecen, Egyetem tér 1, 4032 Debrecen, Hungary [tozser.zoltan@arts.unideb.hu](tozser.zoltan@arts.unideb.hu) Personal Website: [https://sites.google.com/site/nevtudtozser/](https://sites.google.com/site/nevtudtozser/) Pozabljen trenutek v edukacijskih politikah Madžarsko-švedska študija primera iz zgodnjih 70. let prejšnjega stoletja Tamás Kozma* in Zoltán Tőzsér • Po brutalni vstaji leta 1956 se je na Madžarskem v času Kadarjevega režima začelo desetletje postopnih reform. V tem desetletju je Madžarska dobila tudi dovoljenje, da se pridruži IEA (International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievements), organizaciji, ki jo je v poznih petdesetih letih prejšnjega stoletja ustanovil znani švedski pedagog in raziskovalec Torsten Husén, posrednik med zahodnimi in vzhodnimi edukacijskimi politikami. Eden od korakov k doseganju tega poslanstva je bil tudi pobuda za poletno šolo, ki je potekalav okviru IEA, in sicer na območju Graenna na Švedskem. Madžari sobili edini udeleženci, ki so prihajali iz držav za železno zaveso. Za njih jebila to edinstvena priložnost, da so spoznali centraliziran švedski primer socialne države, nastale po vzoru ameriške liberalne demokracije in zizobraževanjem. Poletna šola iz leta 1971 je bila pozneje sicer pozabljena, a večina pobud v edukacijskih politikah po političnem preobratu leta 1989/1990 izvira prav od tam. To še posebej velja za delo in kariero dobro znanega madžarskega pedagoga in privrženca Huséna, pokojnega Zoltána Bathorya. Ključne besede: Edukacijske reforme, osrednja in vzhodna Evropa, IEA, Torsten Husén, Zoltán Bathory In Memory of Zoltán Bathory and those Hungarians who participated in the 1971 summer school Introduction A “new era of Hungarian education policy” started in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when the Kadar regime, doing away with the severe international isolation of the late 1950s and early 1960s (after the 1956 Hungarian Revolution), undertook its most intensive period of reform, the peak of which was in the 1968 economic reform. Even though the reforms of the 1960s ended at the turn of the decade, in certain fields of public administration, such as education policy, the spirit of reform survived the fall of the reform period. This reform period came to an end with the acceptance of the 1972 Education Policy Act, which was, however, considered by the participants as a co

FAQs

What reform context led to Hungary joining the IEA?

After the 1956 uprising, Hungary’s Kádár regime carried out a decade of gradual reforms, and during the reform period Hungary was permitted to join the IEA to participate in educational achievement evaluation activities.

Why was the 1971 IEA summer school in Graenna considered unique for Hungarian delegates?

Hungarians were the only delegates from behind the Iron Curtain, giving them a distinct opportunity to observe Sweden’s centralized welfare state and compare it with ideas linked to American liberal democracy and education.

What long-term influence does the study attribute to the 1971 summer school?

The document states that the summer school had a long-term impact on participants and laid groundwork for a flourishing period of educational assessment in Hungary, with effects still evident later, including initiatives after 1989/90.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by jay