At a press conference on the system of teacher assessment and school inspection held on the 12th of December 2013 in Budapest, Minister of State for Public Education Dr. Rózsa Hoffmann declared: „School inspection – external professional monitoring – and the introduction of teacher assessment procedures are key elements of the reformation of the Hungarian public education system”.

The Minister of State expressed that both measures aim to enhance the quality and efficiency of teaching, and so are to the advantage of students, families and the whole country.

The European educational model clearly shows that public education cannot function without good external professional monitoring. Through the establishment of a unified and transparent system of assessment for teachers, school principals and institutions, the Government is rectifying an almost 30-year deficiency. According to surveys, approximately 90 percent of the Hungarian population promotes the introduction of school monitoring.

Good schools can only exist with highly qualified and committed teachers. Within the framework of this new assessment system, the Government expresses its appreciation for the work of teachers by providing them with an average 34 percent wage-rise from September 2013; therefore, the acknowledgement of professionalism and performance appears in the salaries of teachers by ranking them in a higher salary-category.

An expert group of the Educational Authority has worked out the system of school inspection – pedagogical-professional monitoring – and the standards of teacher assessment, in addition to which authoritative information summaries have been compiled which answer questions related to professional-pedagogical supervision to help experts involved in school monitoring.

(Ministry of Human Resources, State Secretariat for Public Education)