One of the most important principles of modern pedagogy is that education is not just about passing on the curriculum, but also about supporting children's individual development. The new teaching methods and tools aim to ensure that schools truly serve the interests of pupils and help them to understand and make sense of the world. This approach is reflected in the Ministry of Education-funded project 005UKF-4/2024 entitled Innovative educational materials for the development of interpretative competence for the new educational content for the subject Hungarian language and literature, launched by the Institute of the Hungarian Language and Literary Science of the Faculty of Central European Studies at the Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra. The project aims to develop an innovative work and reading book for 4^th graders for the new standard of the public education reform.

 

The opening workshop of the project took place on September 5^th at the Faculty of Central European Studies with the participation of seven institutions. The project was carried out by the literature teachers of the hosting institute, with the participation of Dr. habil. PaedDr. Žofia Bárcziová, PhD., prof. PaedDr. Kristian Benyovszky, PhD., Mgr. Patrícia Kovács, doc. Mgr. Gabriella Petres, PhD. and doc. Mgr. Anikó Tóth, PhD. – who asked six Hungarian primary schools in Slovakia to test the developing textbook. The new teaching aids will be piloted with nearly 150 pupils.

 

The workshop was opened by doc. Mgr. Gabriella Petres, PhD., the project leader, who presented the basic information, objectives and timetable of the project in detail. The audience learned that the development and testing of the new toolkit will take place between 2024 and 2026. The most intensive period will be the school year 2024/2025, when the first testing phase of the pilot textbook will take place. The reading book consists of 35 interactive worksheets focusing on creative and productive processing of fiction works using different text processing strategies. The different stages of text processing – from reading technique practice to text analysis and differentiation – are all adapted to the individual needs of the students. Special attention will be given to the development of a methodological guide to support teachers in using the textbook. The dissemination of the project results will be achieved through the organisation of methodological workshops.

Following a general introduction to the project, doc. Mgr. Anikó Tóth, PhD. presented the material of the first set of tasks, focusing on the methodological issues and focus of each task. prof. PaedDr. Kristian Benyovszky, PhD. summarised the feedback from teachers and described the process of filling in the evaluation forms. The organisers of the project ask teachers to summarise their observations and comments after each task sheet, following a set of criteria, which will allow for corrections and improvements to be made to each task and for it to be adapted to the needs of the children.

 

The final event of the meeting was the signing ceremony of the contracts between the collaborating institutions, coordinated by Dr. habil. PaedDr. Žofia Bárcziová, PhD. The signing of the contracts was made possible thanks to the kindness of the principals of the eight primary schools and the Dean of the Faculty of Central European Studies, RNDr. Ladislav Szekeres, PhD.

The event was closed with speeches by RNDr. Ladislav Szekeres, PhD. and doc. Mgr. Gabriella Petres, PhD. At the end of the meeting, the first task packs were handed over to start the testing period. The participants hope that the new teaching aids and experiential learning methods will contribute to the renewal of the teaching of Hungarian language and literature and to the further development of the skills of 4^th grade students.

 

Text and photo: Mgr. Patrícia Kovács, PhD. student, FSŠ – Institute of the Hungarian Language and Literary Science

 

 Published: September 30, 2024