Migránsok iskolái

In the introduction to her article Specialised schools for migrant children, Ágnes Vámos establishes that, as a result of transnational migration, a separate group of students has formed – those who study not in local authority schools, but in schools run by the state, international organisations or the private sector. The mainly 12-year secondary schools do not attract their students exclusively through the use of foreign language or dual Hungarian foreign language teaching – but, rather, via their network of international relations, their mobility and their intercultural openness, and not least through the high level of services they give their student–parent client group. The polarisation of Hungarian society has lead to the emergence of a demand for this kind of fee-paying education, which (1) is a factor from the social group to which the student belongs and not his/her citizenship, (2) provides a constant environment for international education for a specific social grouping, and (3) means that Hungarian citizens do not necessarily need to travel abroad to get this kind of education. It is in the interests of the Hungarian state to create and maintain this kind of international institute and to require that the institutes that offer education to foreigners abide by international rules (as in the case of the NATO air base staff at Papa). The study introduces the international schools currently operating in Hungary, and examines how the Tarczy Lajos Primary School is trying, as a local government-funded institution, to satisfy the demands of families moving internationally, while abiding by the requirements of an international contract and yet operating within the framework of Hungarian public education.