Edit Tóth, József Balázs Fejes, Jolán Patai & Benő Csapó: Resilience in the Hungarian Education System: Results From a Longitudinal Program

Although the Hungarian education system is not effective in compensating for disadvantages, the issue of academic resilience has not been addressed in Hungary. The aim of the present study is (a) to investigate resilience in Hungary by examining the level of resilience, the school careers of resilient students and the ways resilience changes over time, as well as (b) to identify the impact of some background variables. We analyzed the data for the 2003–2011 cohort (N=4322) in the Hungarian Longitudinal Program based on the results from the mathematics, reading comprehension, inductive reasoning and science tests. We followed the PISA methodology in defining the concept of educational resilience and identifying resilient students. The results show that the proportion of resilient students differs to a great extent among the domains examined. The role of school in compensating for disadvantages is the most influential in reading comprehension. There is no great difference in the proportion of resilient students in the domains among the age groups examined; however, the population of resilient students in the different domains varies to a great extent. From those defined as resilient at the start of school, only about 50% were categorized as resilient in reading and science and 40% were classified as such in mathematics at the end of primary school. According to a cluster analysis, two resilient profile types were identified. Considerable differences were detected between the two profiles in maths (7.0–20.8%) and inductive reasoning (4.0–9.0%) tests. Girls are at an advantage in reading comprehension among disadvantaged students in all age groups; however, in other domains no differences could be identified in terms of gender. In general, the difference between rural and urban regions was not significant in most of the domains, while the proportion of resilient students in Budapest was generally much higher than in other parts of the country.

MAGYAR PEDAGÓGIA 116. Number 3. 339-363. (2016)

Levelezési cím / Address for correspondence: Tóth Edit és Patai Jolán, MTA-SZTE Képességfejlődés Kutatócsoport, H–6722 Szeged, Petőfi Sándor sgt. 30–34. Csapó Benő, SZTE Oktatáselmélet Tanszék, H–6722 Szeged, Petőfi Sándor sgt. 30–34. Fejes József Balázs, SZTE Neveléselmélet Tanszék, H–6722 Szeged, Petőfi Sándor sgt. 30–34.

 
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