Hungary - Primary Maths

Two thumbs up to the teachers in Hungary!

nMay I express the great pleasure you have allowed us to have with viewing such interesting, as well as refreshing our memories,video clips.

I now make sure that I find the time to choose another clip almost each day.

I have been teaching since 1965, and cannot give up! Due to health problems I had to stop regular teaching in main stream schools, but have been very fortuneate to teach pupils excluded from school...at all ages (very scary as this is happening to so many)

Discovering your site has been such a great help and encouraging in my use of teaching skills, even though well used , many older methods still work. I have an open mind to still learn from new ideas, but it seems that schools are reverting to old tricks, especially with class and group teaching so everyone has a chance to have fun at the same time.

May I take this chance to thank you all that are responsible for setting up and adding so much to your site as I do know what is involved with designing and producing web sites....so well done and keep at it PLEASE!

Thank you.

I found this very inspirational although I agree with Filthy McNasty this can in no way represent the way that mathematics is taught throughout hungry. It is an example of highly skilled teachers working under the Hungarian system. I have no doubt that a video of skilled teachers working under the British system would be equally inspirational. I am a student teacher in the UK however I am originally from Cyprus and so the primary national framework is quite different to what I am used to however I believe that it is not the system a country adopts but rather the teachers imaginative use of that system that produces good mathematics teaching.

I agree that what we see in the video shows Maths being well-taught - and dedicated, industrious teachers. However, whether this is really demonstrative of the Hungarian educational system is a matter for conjecture.

I do have first-hand knowledge of the way that Maths is taught to primary children in Hungary. The curriculum is incredibly prescriptive. Teacher's plans, with regard to Maths, are gratuitous as the children use the same textbook, moving from page-to-page. The system also maginalises children who lack mathematical ability. All children do the same activities - and children who are acknowledged to have special needs are allocated time when they simply go over the questions they were unable to complete during the relevant lesson.

I suspect that most British teachers would readily 'pick holes' in the system of teaching Primary Maths; it allows scant opportunity for adaptation by the teacher - and it addresses only children with ability.

Maths is a cultural issue within Hungary. It is expected that children - and especially boys will be successful in this academic area. Therefore, there is a social pressure for children to be perceived as being successful. Additionally, Maths is frequently taught in a theoretical manner - with little opportunity to utilise it as a pragmatic skill. As a result, Hungarian students do appear to have considerable knowledge of Maths -but, arguably, in a narrower, linear fashion than their British counterparts.

As a trainee teacher I found this video very interesting. It would be interesting if we could incorporate this more into British schools and not get bogged down with meeting targets and test scores! Definately some great ideas! I too will be hunting for conkers!

This was absolutely fascinating! I am a firm believer that children lose their enthusiasm for maths and struggle with concepts because they do not have enough practical, hands-on experiences. They struggle with abstract concepts because they have nothing to help them visualise them. This was a real insight into helping children to overcome this through practical application. The teachers were incredibly hard working and thorough in their organisation and delivery of the sessions and it was a joy to watch. I have gone away feeling inspired and come Autumn I'll be out there collecting conkers!