Lajos Somogyvári: Images and Roles of Teachers in Hungary in the 1960s

A great many concepts and images exist regarding teachers, this knowledge being based on everyday life experience. Sources on the history of education in Hungary have surfaced recently, both textual and visual alike. Relying on anthropological and iconographic methods, the aim of the study is to analyse and contextualise the meanings and functions of photographs taken of teachers. The theoretical background facilitates the framing of images and roles of teachers in Hungary in the 1960s. I take into consideration photographs in journals published under government direction: A Tanító (The Teacher), A Tanító munkája (Teacher’s Work), Köznevelés (Public Education), Gyermekünk (Our Children), Óvodai nevelés (Nurturing in Nursery Schools) and Úttörővezető (Pioneer Leader). Three main (traditional) types of images outlined from the visual sources are the Educator, the Expert and the Representative of the State. These images are associated with such ideologies as socialism, ethics, and the effectivness of teaching and learning (in terms of behaviourism). In a survey of the socio-historical constructions of mental and visual concepts of teachers, components that are both universal and particular, general and local, familiar and strange inevitably intertwine. The investigation can be approached in a number of ways, such as gender, the classroom environment, and comparisons of other countries and periods. Teachers occupy an important position in the conditio humana, which describes our experience of schools.

MAGYAR PEDAGÓGIA 113. Number 1. 29-52. (2013)

Levelezési cím / Address for correspondence: Somogyvári Lajos, Somogyi TISZK Közép- és Szakiskola Krúdy Gyula Tagintézményének Rudnay Gyula Szakképzője, H–8660, Tab, Virág utca 12.

 
PDF