REMEMBRANCE IN TIME - Index of

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Remembrance in Time
refresher courses for teachers and what the most serious factor is that however the
necessary changes could be introduced easily it is hard to achieve positive results
regardless of the actual government. To sum it up one can say that the two-level system
of the school leaving exam is a success for the group of history teachers ( there is a
consent in this question between the two organizations of history teachers, the Teaching
Faculty of the Hungarian History Association and the TTE).
The history teaching went through a serious twenty years consisting of lots of turns but
there are a number of questions and dilemmas to be answered and solved and these
solutions would be great results for the teaching community. It is important to list these
issues here because the discussion of these topics can be a serious step towards the
solution. We have to be able to find a balance between the national, global and European
trends in teaching because they are crucial if we look at the identity of the future
generation because the young wait for the answers and guidance from their history
teachers who know more about the past. What also have to be balanced are the
methodology, the educational policy and the world of everyday teaching and the proper
knowledge transfer can be achieved through regular and direct refresher courses for
teachers (see LLL. Life Long Learning). 3 In our changing world the teacher roles also
transform rapidly and the ’knowing what’ and ’knowing how’ that is the forces of
selection and the formation of the obligatory learning material are also tasks that need
responsible answers in which the teachers can not be left alone and their awareness
should be raised that in addition to the past they have to prepare their students to the
present as well. This means more pressure on teachers and their financial and social honor
have to be thought over again.
And how complicated task it is, it can be seen from the fact that the teachers used to
deal with past can not neglect the requirements of the digital generation anymore and they
have to become familiar with the idea of using digital devices in their history lessons. It is
again a difficult task because of the conditions available in the average Hungarian schools
(just think of the fact that our students can gain any information via their iPad and they are
in constant contact with the web unlike their teacher). This is strongly related to the fact that
our students seem to be less and less motivated, interested and their general knowledge
imperfect. Is it a true picture about the present generation or we have to re-think (or
reorganize) our perspective? It must be such a complex system of problems which causes
problems not only for the history teachers and it can not be solved on their own.
The future of the examination system raises further questions: is it possible to adapt it to
the new requirements and to balance it with the needs of primary and tertiary education.
On the one hand it is necessary to change and re-think the present system but as we have
seen it is not enough to find the proper answers but they have to be accepted by the
teachers’ community because this was they will not feel it as obligation and pressure but
they can become interested in these changes. On the other hand there is a need for a
proper and precise teacher-revision during the fulfillment what should be looked rather as
professional support instead of an outer control.
As history teachers it would be good if we ourselves could prove (for the students and
the whole Hungarian society) that we are able to learn from the past and that our present
and future can be optimized with the help of our experience, because no matter how
enchanting and edifying the past is our decisions should be made in the present.
3 The translator’s note.