A key focus of Hungary’s digital strategy is transforming teachers’ pedagogical practices by improving their digital competencies, promoting knowledge sharing, and providing them with pedagogical tools and methodological support. The Digital Pedagogical Methodology Centrer (DPMK), which provides training, support, and resources for teachers, has therefore been a key pillar of the reform. The strategy also involves measures to upgrade digital infrastructure in schools. The DPMK played a key role in supporting teachers with distance learning in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. As well as organising its own webinars for teachers and school leaders, the DPMK published a range of e-learning opportunities for teachers on its website. It also produced recommendations for distance learning when schools closed in March 2020, and provided guidance on implementing blended learning during 2020/21.
In 2020, the OECD began working alongside the Hungarian Ministry of Innovation and Technology on the “Support for the Digital Transformation of Hungarian Higher Education” project. This project will assist the Hungarian government in setting new guidelines for digital learning in higher education and evaluating and revising existing practices, building on innovations that took place in the early stages of the pandemic. As such, it supports the aims of the Digital Education Strategy as well as Hungary’s higher education strategy (Digital Welfare Program, 2020[6]).
Further reading: OECD (2019[7]), Education Policy Outlook 2019: Working Together to Help Students Achieve their Potential, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://dx.doi.org/10.1787/2b8ad56e-en.