digital education on demand – Microsoft Hungary
The new school year of the Innovative School Program starts
In October, the Innovative School Program will start again. You can still apply for the program, currently 157 schools are members. Rural, urban, metropolitan, state, church and foundation schools are among the members, as the program offers test-tailored solutions and support to all participants. They can acquire all the knowledge on Microsoft Learn, where the teacher’s lessons can be more playful and colorful, and the students can acquire skills that they will need most in the future labor market.
Two years: this is usually enough time for a school to adopt ways to make education more experiential and easy using digital solutions. In the past ten years, 157 schools have joined the Innovative School Program in Hungary, which was launched globally by Microsoft in 2008 and in Hungary in 2012. So many schools have taken the path of freeing local creative energies, taking burdens off the shoulders of teachers and making education student-centered and future-proof. You can still join the program this year!
Teachers and managers of innovative schools can participate in professional training, during which they are introduced to Microsoft technologies, as well as friends, guided and practical content related to their roles and goals. THE Microsoft Learn training program has several levels: Microsoft Educator, Advanced Educator and Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert.
In addition to completing these levels, the most dedicated teachers can also obtain the Microsoft Educator Trainer certification, which allows them to compile and teach their own educational material. There are already 124 teachers in Hungary with the Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert qualification, which shows an outstanding number in relation to the neighboring countries, that in the entire Central and Eastern European region there are a total of 1251 teachers with expert qualifications.
By incorporating the material of the courses into the curriculum, the classes must be chosen, and the students can be given skills that the best players will need in the future labor market. According to the teachers, they were able to save time with the new approach and find a better voice with the students, who are more open and active in the lessons.
Attila Tószegi, the director of the Herman Ottó Primary School and Knowledge Center and also the professional leader of the program, said: in the past three years, the number of schools participating in the Innovative School Program has increased seven to eight times. The restrictions due to the epidemic situation and therefore the rapid spread of distance education played a significant role in this. At the same time, according to the program manager, the “training plans” tailored to individual needs also appeared to increase the program’s popularity.
“Digital education is not primarily about distance learning,” underlined the program manager. “Everyone uses the solutions that we give them according to their own possibilities and needs. We empower schools to find their own path – we provide the framework for this. The fact that we don’t want one kind of uniformed school, but that we have adapted the important domestic program completely to Hungarian conditions, so that everyone can get the most out of their own talents.” He emphasized: one of the key words of the Innovative School Program is support, since there are no specific expectations, but the trainings are designed according to the needs of the given school. “A small town has 80-100 students and 15 teachers, while a larger high school in the capital can have up to 70-80 teachers,” explained Attila Tószegi. “Nowadays, there is no type of settlement in the country without an Innovative School, plus the program has reached all maintainers, so there are also state, church and foundation schools in the program.”
Among the Innovative Schools, they often stand out Shop window schools, i.e. those “showcase schools” where student-centered, forward-looking educational methods are used in an exemplary manner and students are encouraged to learn throughout their lives. In the last academic year, there were 17 such schools in Hungary, which is a high number even in international terms, considering that there are 356 such schools from just one school. Among them, there is a school where experiential teaching was the focus, for which not only the strategy was changed, but also the pedagogical methods. According to Attila Tószegi, the XXI. mastering 21st century learning design is the best way to achieve the objectives of the program.
“We give the schools all the help we can, and where there is an openness to this, real miracles happen,” Attila Tószegi pointed out. As an example, he mentioned a teacher on the verge of burnout who joined the community of expert teachers again for new challenges and development in the award-winning interactive digital tutorial using ClassNote.
“It is also inspiring for us to see that we are progressing very well and that the demand for this kind of support for schools is increasing. And the numbers speak for themselves,” said the specialist, who will continue to increase the number of schools joining the Innovative School Program and teachers participating in the Microsoft Expert Program in the future.
About the showcase school program on this pageand about the Microsoft Educator Program on this page more information is available.
You can inquire about the programs or apply for them at the following address:
Attila Tószegi – [email protected]