Education paper by Fodor, Mónika, Réka Lugossy and Nóra Wünsch-Nagy
University of Pécs

Lessons in "Diversity" and "Equality"; Conceptual analysis of the 2020 Hungarian National Core Curriculum (Accepted)

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
Approaching diversity and equality have recently become central questions in educational contexts ranging from educational publishers integrating the themes in their materials and research teams investigating their presence in national curricula and teaching materials. From the perspective of literacy, literature and cultural studies, we set out to give an objective and detailed portrait of how the 2020 Hungarian National Core Curriculum deals with equality and diversity to observe it in the broader European context of school curricula. We decided to use the technique of thematic coding from the research methodology of social sciences and focused on the general introduction and humanities sections, including Hungarian Literature and Grammar, Foreign Languages, History, Geography, Drama, and Studies in Media and Moving Images. However, the initial reading of the curriculum’s text yielded very few exact matches of these concepts, which fact justified the need for the semantic expansion of “diversity.” This fact aligns with the public debates and recent political approaches to renewing education in Hungary outlined in the first section, proving our initial idea that diversity and equality would not appear explicitly or often in the national curriculum. In our presentation, we give a detailed account of our methodological approach our findings with examples and suggestions for dealing with this issue in pedagogical practice.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Monika Fodor works as an associate professor at the University of Pécs, Department of English Literatures and Culture. Her research interest includes narratives, identity, and oral histories.

Réka Lugossy works as an associate professor at the University of Pécs, Institute of English Studies. Her research interest includes narratives and narrative meaning-making and young learners.

Nóra Wünsch-Nagy works as an assistant lecturer at the University of Pécs, Institute of English Studies. Her research interest includes multimodal literacy development and meaning-making in visual narratives.