What does the facilitator do?

• The facilitator is a process manager, who facilitates the effectiveness of the group discussion. It may be chosen from within the group or be an external expert.
• Characteristics of its activities, is responsible for the effectiveness of the discussion of the topic(s) identified by the parties or the group. He/she is well versed in group decision-making techniques and can use his/her methodological knowledge to make suggestions to the group leader beforehand or to the group during the process on how to proceed with the discussion of a particular issue. At the end of the meeting, he/she summarises the results and the tasks that have been identified. Agree on who is responsible for writing the memo.

For which organisational or group situations do we recommend facilitation?

• Prolonged discussions
• Bumpy, groaning negotiations
• Heated debates
• Stubborn positions, disagreements that hinder joint work
• Lack of tangible results, disinterested discussions
• Difficult to reach agreement on a complex issue

What changes can you expect if you work with a facilitator?

• Time efficient operation
• The meeting is on track
• We manage to keep to the timeframes
• Participants will be involved and motivated to work together
• Group productivity increases
• Delivering tangible results
• Group decision-making becomes easier, simpler
• The meeting is held in a supportive atmosphere

Those who have used our service have said:

"Without facilitation there is no progress, either we get lost in the details or communication between actors becomes focused on advocacy. I asked Partners to work with me because of my personal experience and expertise. It is also good that they know the field in which the stakeholders work. So to do the work we need an external actor to keep us on track, to highlight, summarise, prevent or resolve conflicts, to help us 'keep on target' and 'stay on task'. In our case the facilitator made our meetings effective, I can only recommend him.

If it's important to you as a leader to make your meetings more effective and efficient, ask our trained facilitators to help you!

What conflicts can we encounter in the kindergarten?

• Behavioural and adjustment problems in children;
• parents who are difficult to find common ground with;
• colleagues with whom we talk past each other and can't work in harmony.

Why is it important to deal with conflicts consciously in kindergarten?

• Children learn most effectively when the adults around them take into account their needs and desires, respect their need for autonomy, encourage them to be autonomous and develop their empathy and self-confidence.
• Adults can support children to manage conflict well if they themselves are aware of their conflicts. However, in everyday life, we are often afraid of conflict and without conscious strategies we may tend to avoid it, deny it exists ("it's OK") or make quick compromises. Our socialisation and training have not taught us how to formulate and express our feelings and needs, which are key to building and maintaining good relationships.

What can I do as a parent if a conflict arises at my child's nursery?

If we feel we are not coping in a conflict situation involving our child, we should always you should first clarify the situation with the people concerned, and even if we are not in conflict with the kindergarten teacher, it is important to involve her, as she takes care of the children on a daily basis and can have crucial information and insights about the situation. It is worth emphasising that as parents we want to be able to work together to make the children's daily lives easier, as it is easier to work with them when adults work together as partners. It's worth talk about our own feelings, rather than qualifying the other party, it is not worth taking up the gauntlet, even if you feel that you are communicating offensively. . If we feel we are being outgrown, it is worth bringing in an external helper, whether it's the preschool social worker, the preschool psychologist, the head of the institution, or even conflict resolution specialists.

What can I do as a kindergarten teacher?

• If we see everyday conflicts not as a necessary evil, but as a natural phenomenon, we see the situation from a more positive perspective. If we are aware of this and aim to manage them rather than eliminate them, we have a realistic goal. Surprising as it may seem, conflict is an opportunity to rethink existing frameworks, to strengthen relationships, and the teacher may even find joy in the process of conflict resolution, where a secure structure provides a framework and the participants - even the children - can work their way to a solution. In a joint conflict resolution process, we gradually become able to express our feelings, interests and needs, if we are open to each other. This can be very rewarding for all involved.
• Appropriate methods and supportive environment helps conflict participants to experience that clashing different perspectives in the right circumstances can lead to better solutions and stronger communities. It's very inspiring to see children come up with creative and innovative solutions to their conflicts, and it's important to we recognise the work they put into their efforts. In our achievement-oriented world, we can help each other to reward not only the results achieved, but also the work, efforts, efforts, strategies, perseverance invested in ourselves and in each other, thus gaining the ammunition to face difficult situations that seem hopeless.

Our training for kindergarten and primary school teachers, Conflict Resolution in Early Childhood, covers the approach and tools of mediation with young children as an alternative conflict resolution method. It also covers practical tools for working effectively with parents and colleagues. Our training is 30 hours long and accredited by the Teacher Training Scheme, for a detailed description click HERE.

Why are there more and more conflicts in schools?

In fact, we may not have more, we just talk about it more - but we need to talk about it. Conflict is inherent in human interaction. Therefore, the way we manage these conflicts is key. Unmanaged conflicts can lead to aggression. School aggression and bullying have been shown to have a detrimental impact on young people's physical, mental and social well-being, to play a role in early school leaving and even to contribute to delinquency.

Why don't the old methods, the admonition, the punishment, work?

Difficult social situations can be learning opportunities. Learning can take place in a safe and positive environment. Punishment isolates and destroys relationships, and promises made out of fear only work for a while. Taking a cooperative-restorative approach rather than a punitive-disciplinary approach strengthens relationships within the community and prevents conflicts from escalating into aggression. Developing social-emotional skills and managing and preventing aggression is essential in schools, and there are appropriate and modern methods - which, fortunately, can be learned.

As a parent or teacher, what can I do if I get stuck with conflicts at school?

First of all, don't be alone with the problem, look for allies: another parent, a fellow teacher, someone who also takes the problem seriously and is open to finding solutions together. It is worth bringing in an external professional who can help to ensure that all parties' views are heard and that they can work together to find a solution. It may be worthwhile to first consult a school psychologist or a pre-school social worker, or a teacher with good communication skills who is not involved in the case. And if you are stuck, contact us!

Why should you involve specialist help in managing conflicts at school?

Partners Hungary Foundation has been working on school conflicts since 2009. Using mediation, facilitated discussion and restorative practices, we have successfully managed a number of school conflicts. Over the years, we have trained more than 250 educational professionals (teachers, principals, school psychologists, social workers) and students as mediators. In addition, the organisation's trainers, as practitioners, are involved as mediators and restorative facilitators in the peaceful resolution of conflicts in schools.

Methods to work successfully in school conflicts:

• Mediation
• Facilitated discussions in parent and staff meetings
• Class teacher lessons on conflict and aggression management, bullying
• Restorative practices
• Parents in school sessions
• Teacher training and workshops

Contact us with confidence and we will tailor the conflict management process to your situation!

What can I do if I am in conflict with a colleague or manager?

• The first thing to do is to look at workplace conflict as an opportunity for development and learning - it's easier to start resolving it straight away. It's important to try to talk it through with the people involved first, in a calm atmosphere, when you have enough time and are not disturbed.
• Try to make an appointment with the people concerned, and not just ask for a few minutes. Under time pressure, we can become more tense and not everyone will have the opportunity to express their point of view. Reassure the other party that you want a common solution that is acceptable to everyone.
• It's worth asking the other person open questions, and it helps if you summarise what you've heard from time to time to show them that you've listened. Summaries also help us to hear not only what differs from our own point of view, but the other person's whole story.
• Instead of judging the other participants, let's talk about how what is happening affects us. This will avoid the other participants experiencing the conversation as an attack, and we will find that if we dare to talk about our feelings and thoughts, the other party will open up more easily.

What can we do if we can't manage?

Workplace communities often speak a professional language, but a common language is also important for cooperation. Even if we disagree in a debate, it is important that we are able to accommodate each other's points of view and communicate our interests and needs clearly. When we are involved in a conflict, it is not easy to do this. Our experienced conflict management specialists can help you to ensure that conflicts between colleagues or departments are discussed effectively and resolved together. Read more about our methods, workplace mediation, restorative practices and facilitated meetings!

If you feel you need the help of an external professional, contact us! With 25 years of experience, we are at your disposal to help you find the best conflict management method for your situation!

How should we look at our conflicts?

• Conflict is therefore not "of the devil", but a natural part of life, and a vehicle for problem-solving, if the conflict parties have the right tools at their disposal. Conflict can also be a means of peaceful change - and thus a key to stability.
• Conflicts are a way of expressing different opinions and interests in a more focused way, which encourages people to express their interdependence and to seek forward-looking solutions, despite the conflict.
  Therefore, conflicts can be the basis for a higher order of balance, resilient, trusting relationships, if managed properly.
• In order to approach conflict constructively, we need to accept it as a difference between behaviours, attitudes, feelings, needs, goals or values that we regularly encounter in our daily lives.

What conflict management techniques exist?

Most conflicts arise between people in contact with each other, around competition and cooperation. Conflicts most often arise because the parties to the conflict are competing with each other, even when cooperation would be beneficial to all. They are unable to take steps towards cooperation, nor do they accept the initiative to cooperate, because they do not recognise that they are interdependent in a common situation and can only achieve their own goals through effective cooperation. In our training courses we impart theoretical and practical conflict management skills. And when clients come to us with their own conflicts, we apply techniques that are appropriate to the situation. Here are some of them to try when you are in conflict with someone.

• Retrieved from open questionsto ask the other person, even if we think we know what the other person will say. It's worth putting aside our prejudices and bad experiences to put the conversation on a new footing.
• It's worth stopping in the conversation from time to time and Summary fromwhere we are now. This is useful because it gives us a chance to look at the situation and see if we have understood the other person, who can clarify what we have said if necessary.
• It is good to discuss in advance what kind of TopicsWe want to find solutions in a transparent and predictable way, because predictability and transparency build trust.
• Instead of strengthening our own position, we should seek common solutions, share important information and recognise that we are interdependent in the solution.
• The very fact that certain rulesat and framesset up at the beginning of a conflict management process, it helps to be able to talk in a different tone. The rules we apply include speaking respectfully to each other, not qualifying each other, listening to each other and keeping the conversation confidential. We also we agree in advance how much time we will spend talking, because the more predictable and clear the framework is, the easier it is to talk constructively about difficult situations.

What is needed for successful conflict resolution?

There is no script or recipe for dealing with our conflicts. Different types of conflict can often be dealt with in different ways, and there may be other, deeper causes behind a conflict, so it is worth exploring these too. What is certain, however, is that if we take a conscious approach to our conflicts, i.e:

• if we are aware of the causes of the conflict
• what stage of the conflict we are at,
• and what strategies, communication tools and experts are available to us,

we will be more likely to be able to work out solutions that are acceptable to all. Competition, accommodation, compromise, consensus building and even temporary avoidance of conflict can all be valid strategies if we are aware of the above components of the conflict process.

How can an external conflict management specialist help?

At Partners Hungary Foundation, we support people who come to us to give them the tools to manage their conflicts.

• We provide conflict management training for individuals and groups
• We train conflict management professionals
• We also help to resolve conflicts between individuals and groups!

Contact us by phone or email to find the conflict management methods that suit your situation!

What happens in a conflict management training session?

Through experiential learning, participants will gain first-hand experience of the methods of mediation, restorative practices and facilitated discussion, as well as an understanding of their own areas for improvement and strengths. We work with real, real-life conflict situations, testing the theory through situational exercises.

If you want to improve your conflict management tools, come and join us for our conflict management training, tailored to your team according to your needs. And if you want to become a conflict management professional, we recommend our mediator training.

What do I get from conflict management training?

• Training of a length and content adapted to the needs and capabilities of the team, whether it is half a day, one day or more.
• Up-to-date theory, with practical examples, followed by exercises where you can try out what you have learned.
• Practice-oriented training that makes everyday social situations more effective and human relations easier, with solutions that can be adapted to everyday situations.
• Negotiation and conflict management tools for daily practice
• Effective ways to reduce the emotional tension associated with conflict.

Opinions on the conflict management trainings of the Partners Hungary Foundation:

"The training gave me professional security. If you are looking for professional development, awareness, collaboration, this is a good opportunity."
by Rita Galambos (DIA)

"It has contributed to a positive change in my outlook. I warmly recommend it to everyone!"
Attila Polgár (Executive Office)

What I have learned, I "use" every day to manage my own conflicts and to support the conflicts of others. First and foremost, I learned awareness: To recognise my own "entrenchment" in my positions; to aim to create some new "platform" with the other party through identifying common interests; to not seek to maintain or let go of my own position; to accept my own and the other party's feelings and emotions and not work against them; to not pass judgement because I am not the champion of truth; to not resolve the conflict but to put cooperation on a new footing.
Gergely Zajkás
(Talent Acquisition Lead Talent Management / Acquisition, L&D MLEMEA, DHL Supply Chain)

In May 2020, with the support of the Partners Hungary Foundation's REYN (Roma Early Years Network) programme, we will be able to provide immediate laptop support to 7 families to enable them to participate in digital education.

All families with at least one child involved in digital education and who meet one of the following conditions are eligible to apply.

1. Grandparents who raise their grandchildren and have no means.
2. Single parents with no assets.
3. Large families with no assets.

Applications must include the following (no format requirements, handwritten applications are also accepted):

1. Name, address and telephone number of the children and the parent/guardian.

2. A statement of disadvantage (in a few sentences).

3. The child applying for support should describe in a few sentences what tasks they could do more easily or what they could improve with the help of a computer.

Address for sending applications:

Elizabeth Nagy: nagye@partnershungary.hu

The application deadline for the Sponsorship Programme is:

29 May 2020.

Applications received after the deadline will not be considered.

Evaluation of the application:

Applications will be assessed by the Foundation's REYN programme staff.

Announcement of the results of the competition:

2 June 2020.

Phone number: 06706232154

E-mail address: nagye@partnershungary.hu

Partners Hungary Foundation

Budapest, 24 April 2020.

The Partners Network is a leading international NGO network in the field of conflict and change management accompanying peaceful democratic transitions, and in the development of effective partnerships. Currently with 19 members on 4 continents and 30 years of experience, it is working with the Peace Nexus Foundation to renew its own forms of cooperation.

For this work seek the help of an experienced adviser, development professional. The working language of the task is English and a detailed description is given in the attached call.

TORs Partners Network consultant

If you think the job is for you, apply! Application deadline: 15 June 2020.

Rosa Parks Foundation, Motivation Workshop, Partners Hungary, April 2020

Teachers of predominantly disadvantaged children say a third of their pupils have failed to engage with digital education, according to a recent survey. The results suggest that the gap in the school-to-work gap is set to widen further, based on children's social status. There are large regional differences: while in Budapest, teachers who filled in the questionnaire estimate that four-fifths of pupils are participating in digital education, the figure is only 65% in large municipalities. In a situation like this, respondents do what they can: they provide a high proportion of telephone assistance, sending photocopies to students when needed. According to the responses, teachers rely most on each other and least on the maintainer. Nearly half of them said they had not received the help they needed to make the changeover.

About the research

The Rosa Parks Foundation, the Motivation Association and Partners Hungary, three organisations working to improve the educational situation of disadvantaged children, asked teachers to fill in an online survey. Of the 425 teachers who responded, two thirds teach in primary schools, the vast majority (83%) work in state schools, 10% in church schools and 7% in foundation schools. A third of them were teachers in municipal schools in all parts of the country. 44% of them estimated the proportion of Roma pupils in the classes they taught at more than 60%, so nearly half of the respondents work in segregated or segregated schools.

Key findings of the research:

• The data shows that the higher the proportion of students with fewer opportunities, the lower the proportion of students participating in digital education: while an average of 84% of students in schools with well-socialised children participate online, one third of children in segregated institutions drop out of digital education. While in Budapest, the teachers surveyed estimated that between four and five fifths of students participate in digital education, this proportion is only 65% in the larger municipalities.
• As for the reasons for dropping out, most people a lack or scarcity of adequate infrastructure, computer, internet connection. One in five teachers cited existential reasons (children also need to be involved in earning a living, household chores, looking after younger children).
• The responses show that teachers are doing what they can: there is a high proportion of telephone help and photocopies are sent to students when needed. In small villages, 70% of respondents said that paper-based delivery of learning materials was "typical" or "somewhat typical".
• The majority of teachers who teach a higher proportion of Roma/disadvantaged children say that the new curriculum new approaches also wishes to: more than half of them did not agree at all with the statement that "they should assess students' performance with the same expectations as before", 70% did not agree at all or hardly at all with the statement that "they should follow a timetable and give students the right amount of learning".
• When asked who they have received and receive specific help from for digital teaching, respondents cited teacher colleagues as the most important (68%) and the provider as the least important (24%).

Nearly half of them (48%) said they had not received the help they needed to make the switch.

"The first indications of transition problems arrived at our Invisible School soon after the introduction of the digital curriculum. We are therefore currently assessing the situation nationwide with a questionnaire sent to the schools and one to be sent to Roma communities soon." - said Adél Kegye, Director of the Rosa Parks Foundation.

The full research is available here:

Segregation and digital education in the age of the coronavirus

It was about us

• from RTL Newsban
• a 444.hu-n
• and the Indexen is

For more information, please contact Ágnes Kende, Research Manager agnes.kende@gmail.com, or Gábor Bernáth, Communications Officer at bernath_g@yahoo.com-or call 70-451-8649.

In the situation created by the Crown virus, we have also made decisions that affect our day-to-day operations and our partners. We have decided to prevent the spread of the virus by suspend all activities that involve face-to-face meetings. It affects the our programmes, our training courses and other our services is. Where possible, we move our activities to the on the web. Our staff will contact you by e-mail or telephone.

The suspension at the moment Until 15 May 2020 plan and adjust them as necessary to reflect changes in events.

Dear Our partners!
We also ask you, until the emergency is over, to refrain from personal encounters. We believe that the cooperation that underpins our work now requires that, by avoiding a face-to-face meeting take care of ourselves and each other.

We trust that you will find the good in the bad, and new forms of cooperation and connection.

We wish you all stamina and good health!

Best regards:

The Partners Hungary Foundation team

The aim of the teachers and staff who choose the programme is to empower children, their learning and the classroom community by finding the value in each child.

Their aim is to help create an honest and accepting atmosphere in kindergartens and schools, to provide an organisational framework and conditions, and to create a pedagogical system that prepares children to

• become active, creative members of a democratic society, recognising and appreciating its values;
• to make decisions and exercise personal responsibility as learners throughout their school lives;
• develop their social and emotional skills, enabling them to be open to each other and to develop positive human and community relations;
• to be open to the world, to recognise the complexity of the world, to ask questions, to pose problems and to seek solutions;
• be able to behave independently and actively, to form their own opinions and to express them in an open and honest atmosphere of communication, typical of the group or institution
• make lifelong learning a natural part of their lives

What happens during development?

A total of 20 teachers from all the teachers of the institution will participate in the programme, and will adapt the elements of the programme by learning the Step by Step methodology.

By the end of May 2020, they will be familiarised with the Step by Step programme, they will acquire the necessary skills to implement cooperative learning, they will receive training in the basics of differentiated teaching and the integration of the programme will be accompanied by a strong mentoring programme, implemented by Mari Zágon at the institution.

During the training, teachers will learn how to create an environment for children that

• where they are actively engaged, living, learning and experiencing the world,
• where they can experience "I am important, my ideas matter, my opinions count"
• experience a sense of belonging to a team and practice teamwork....
• where they can test themselves ... "I can do it..." "I can do it", and "if I fail, I can try again"

The training builds on the strengths of teachers and provides them with support and professional solutions for their everyday situations.

The total cost of the project is HUF 2 516 000, supported by the Evangelical Church.

The National Association of Hungarian Family and Child Welfare Services (MACSGYOE) took place in October 2019 in Siófok, Greece. This year, the conference focused on child welfare services, with a special session on the present and future of the contact centre. Dr. Liliána Urbán, lawyer, mediator, and Gabriella Gergely, social worker, mediator, from the Directorate of Social and Child Welfare Institutions of Ferencváros (FESZGYI), were present as section leaders, and Tünde Bulyáki, professional development officer from the Methodology Department of the Directorate General for Social and Child Protection and Mirna Csillag, child protection expert from the Family and Child Welfare Centre of Újpalota, were present as experts.

On the one hand, the contact case provides a neutral place for the child(ren) and the separating parent(s) during or after the transitional period of the divorce, so that the child can exercise his or her right of contact in safety. This means that not be involved in frequent games and violence between parents during the divorce. The focus should be purely on maintaining contact with the family member who lives separately. Often parents forget in the battle that their joint child loves them both, and it is very painful to experience two parents hurting each other and most children blame themselves for the family breakdown. Therefore, an important goal of the service is for the child to gain his or her own experience of the family member who is separated from him or her, which helps the child and the separating parent to connect and then develop the relationship. On the other hand, the professionals also aim to educate parents to be able to build a new life after the separation, in which the other parent is still seen and relied upon as a parent. So, as a responsible parent, taking into account the best interests of the child, the most a parent can do is cooperation with the other parentaspiration. This approach can help to achieve the ultimate goal, i.e. the so-called discharge from the service, so that the child and the separated parent can later continue regular contact in an outside location and then in the parent's new home. This is the motto of the service they run, which comes from Dr. Ferenc Kardos: "In the midst of the greatest human pain and disappointment, the break-up of marriages or partnerships often does not mean complete separation from the other party. A child in common is a bond between parents that is not easily broken, and whose severance is desirable only in rare cases. The child needs both parents, with few exceptions, and the love, support and example of the separating parent cannot be replaced by the other parent, even if he or she loves him or her."

MACSGYOE annual conference events We asked Dr. Lilián Urbán and Gabriella Gergely from FESZGYI to report on the events of the session, and they answered our questions in an interview.

Partners Hungary Foundation (PHA): First of all, I would like to ask you to briefly introduce yourselves and tell us how you were able to be a session leader at the conference?

Gabriella Gergely (GG): I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the MACSGYOE Board for inviting me to the conference and the Partners Hungary Foundation for their interest and presence. We also have a regular working relationship with Partners Hungary, as we often participate in their trainings and invite their staff as speakers at professional events organised by our institution.

As a Tatabánya resident and a social worker, my first job was at the ESI in Tatabánya (Tatabánya District Unified Social Institutions) I had the opportunity to attend a mediation training course in 2002, which provided the basics for mediation and liaison work. As a member of a very innovative team, I enjoyed the training and understood the essence of the method and technique, which was still new at the time, but I was full of doubts as to how this method could be applied in the social and child protection field.

Many years later, after several mediation training courses, the knowledge acquired was put together, because mediation is a very specialised field, unlike general mediation. It is special in many ways. For example, one of the main aims of contact management work is to build the relationship between the child and the separated family member, so the emotions. And in terms of volunteering, mostly obligated (by court, guardianship office) clients use the contact centre service. Furthermore, the issue of impartiality is also different from the general, classical mediation, as it is openly the best interests of the child must be a primary consideration for the contact mediator. Last but not least, the remuneration of the mediator and the costs to be paid by the parties are also different, because the use of the mandatory special service of the child welfare centre free of charge.

Later, after moving to Budapest, I was asked by the management of the FESZGYI, my workplace in the IXth district, in 2009, together with my colleague Luca Lukács, a social worker-psychologist, to start and run the contact centre of the Child Welfare Centre.

Over the past 10 years, we have provided this service successfully and smoothly, partly because of our commitment and because we have always put the best interests of the child first. We have viewed the work of the contact centre as a process, which we see as a long, drawn-out mediation process with individual developments.

Complex service we aimed to help all family members, so that the child could continue to have regular contact in external settings or in the parent's home (natural environment). In this work the acceptance of situations, family members and the child's need and individual pace in terms of rebuilding and deepening relationships were considered the most important. Now, after 10 years, we have handed over the service to two of our colleagues, László Bázsa-Mosó, who works at our institution, and Dr. Lilián Urbán, who joined us as an external member and with whom we worked in the conference session. So, before me, I was in the position of my successor, Lili and I am glad that we had the opportunity to work together, because I think it is important to continue the professional principles, continuity and transfer of experience in the ongoing operation of a service.

At the national level, the quality of the on-call contact centre service is quite scattered, as confirmed by a national survey conducted by the Ministry of Human Resources (EMMI), the results of which were presented to the session audience by the Methodology Department of the Directorate General for Social Affairs and Child Protection.

Liliána Urbán (UL): Being able to be a session leader at the conference is a great honour and I see it as a special opportunity for a number of personal reasons. One is that Dr. Ferenc Kardos name brings back childhood memories for me, because in the early 90s my mother, Erika Urbán worked as his deputy for a while at the Educational Counselling Centre of District VII, where Dr. Ferenc Kardos established the Contact Foundation. I am currently working full-time as a lawyer at the Budapest University of Economics and Business, and, as Gabi mentioned, I am also a mediator at the contact desk of the Family Support and Child Welfare Centre of the FESZGYI. Behind my professions and my work, I can put the value of having a serious social shaping power. Higher education, mediation and contact centre services also influence the way people think. I believe that the work you put in goes beyond the personal and can make not only your future better, but the future of others. As a closing thought to my introduction, I would like to say that it is a great experience for me to be interviewed by Partners Hungary Foundation, where I sometimes volunteer my time to help the organization. I think it's important to work together, and it's a good feeling to meet organisations in this way, even in the context of an interview like this.

PHA: Why was it necessary to have a separate session on the on-call contact centre service at the conference?

UL: The half-day session focused on the tasks, practical aspects and underlying legal framework of the contact centre, to help professionals working in the field. The aim was to reflect with the participants on formulate proposals to further improve the service, with a particular focus on children's interests. At the end of the conference, when summing up the sessions, the experts called on the EMMI, as the body responsible for management and supervision, to support the development of the service. This requires more financial support and a clearer legal environment.

GG: As mentioned I made a national research, which is one of the mandatory, specific services provided by family and child welfare centres examined the situation of the contact centre. Also in 2018, the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights issued a report following a complaint that a child's right to contact with his grandparent had been violated because the municipality could not provide this service to the child and his relative. As the service is to be provided by family and child welfare service providers from 2004 time to talk openly about the lessons and experiences of the past 15 years. In the interests of children, it is important that they have access to a relatively uniform quality of service across the country, which is why it is necessary to talk about legislative harmonisation the minimum professional standards (clarification of the concepts used, the levels of contact, the expectations regarding the training of professionals) and the material and personal conditions required for the service are standardised by the profession. It would also be important for decision-makers and service providers to have these professional minimum standards be known and, based on the same knowledge base, decisions on contact can be made according to the child's individual needs and interests.

PHA: In relation to what has been said before, can it happen that the best interests of the child are not put first? Does it happen in practice that this is put into the background?

GG: In our experience, in divorce proceedings, judges try to facilitate an agreement between the parents, and if this is successful and there are no child endangering circumstances in the proceedings, judges regulate contact by giving the right to remove the child to the separated parent. This is a welcome development, and so in the vast majority of divorces there is no need for a decision to regulate contact by a contact order. However, in cases where, when the decision-making judge considers that the safety of the child and the history of the case require the involvement of professionals and contact in a neutral place, he or she will order so-called supervised contact. This may occur in cases where children have been traumatised during the divorce, where the parent may have a mental illness, addiction or housing difficulties due to contact, or where the perpetrators and victims of violence are the parents, for example where the presence of domestic violence has been established in the proceedings. Or there has simply been no regular contact between the child and the separated parent for many years, so the presence of a professional can help to rebuild the relationship.

Unfortunately, it can happen that the interests of the contact holder (separated parent) or the contact obligor (custodial parent) prevail in a procedure, instead of or in addition to the interests of the child. Consider that in most cases, parents in litigation are accompanied by a legal representative who represents the interests of the client in the proceedings. Who represents the rights and interests of the child in protracted, contentious proceedings? So my big dream is that we can change this approach together, to redefine the issue so that the rights of the child should be the primary consideration, and that the child does not have to live through the divorce as a victim of games and fights, that it is important for the parents and the professionals involved to keep the child informed of what is happening, that he or she is not in uncertainty during the procedure, etc.

PHA: What can be done with a severely traumatised child?

GG: We have already talked about the purpose of the contact centre, its target group, and obviously these determine the working methods we use in this service. When we find that the help provided in the service is not enough, i.e. assessing the child's condition, understanding his/her relationship with his/her parents, reassuring, informing, helping to rebuild the relationship, mediation, etc., then we will recommend a targeted transfer to another service. As our own institution, the FESZGYI also offers a wide range of services, from psychological counselling to addiction counselling, we try to find the right other professional services, primarily within the institution. This is done in a specific way, primarily by consulting the case manager (family support worker or case manager) in the family and child welfare service, while preparing the parents and the child for the tasks ahead. If necessary, the case manager, with the involvement of the family may also convene a case conference, where, by thinking together, the best decision for the child can be made. The case conference will also be attended by a member of the liaison team, as professional work with families and children is based on teamwork.

PHA: Do children who have experienced domestic violence enter the system?

GG: Yes, because in these cases, the court or guardianship office making the decision wants to keep the child safe, for example in contact with the contact centre. According to the principles of the Child Protection Act if a child witnesses violence or aggression between parents, this is also a risk factor. If the parent commits violence against the child, the judge will decide whether it is in the child's best interests to have regular contact or whether it is limited to some or all of the contact. Obviously, a thorough understanding of each case is required on the part of the decision-maker, including the involvement of a forensic expert, and a detailed exploration of the history.

PHA: What do you think the legislation in Hungary is like. Is it clear for professionals?

UL: Processing the regulatory background is not an easy task. The provisions relating to the service are found in several pieces of legislation and are often scattered. In recent years, the practice of service provision has undergone significant changes, which the legislative environment has not yet been able to adequately reflect. I would like to highlight the integration of mediation, or mediation as it is called in law, into the procedure, which has also brought significant changes. It raises questions about the qualification requirements for liaison officers, and in what cases, when and how they can be used. The provisions on mediation have not been revised, and there are many contradictions and ambiguities in the legislation, which call into question the applicability of this otherwise highly effective method.

Gabi in the previous, as you mentioned, often there is no consistency in the use of terms for the service. It is not always the case that, for example, when the court sets the level of contact, it will be clear from that what exactly the professional is supposed to do. We have seen examples where the court's decision was not precise in its definitions, leaving the practitioner to guess how strict the rules would be in the process. This can determine the course of contact, time etc., so it has a significant influence on the process. Such misunderstandings can easily occur if the legislation does not clarify the concepts, so a case, for example, may be unnecessarily protracted.

PHA: How can mediation be used in the service? How are the two related?

GG: Our understanding is that the path from entry into the contact centre to exit is itself a protracted mediation process. This process is about empowering parents to listen to and accept the interests and needs of their children. This can be a big burden for adults at a time of divorce, because for some serious reason they have decided that they cannot or do not want to continue their lives together. Divorce is a loss, as no one starts life together with the intention of getting a divorce. During a period of separation, it is common for parents not to want to be in the same room as the other party, and this is entirely justified in cases of domestic abuse, for example. With this in mind, we also initially take this into account in our discussions with parents we use walking mediationduring which parents do not need to be present in the same space or even at the same time, but we mediate between them. This method can also help to prevent the child from experiencing a so-called conflict of loyalties, which the presence of both parents in such a difficult situation can only generatebecause, as we have already discussed, the child, except in a few cases, loves both parents and understandably wants to please both of them. So in the service, we use the walking mediation and then later mediation, where the family members participate in the meeting at the same time, taking their decisions about future relationships into their own hands. If the age and maturity of the child allows, the child may also be involved in this process.

PHA: Can the law provide security and protection for all participants?

UL: In my view law can only perform its function properly if it is as realistic as possible, keeps abreast of changes in practice and sets out clear, yet transparent, requirements. I also believe that practitioners should not be expected to have the legal knowledge that the current confusing and not always clear legal environment requires. Much more I would prefer to see a separate professional protocol for the service. Previously, in 2016, the EMMI issued a professional protocol On the social support work processes in the framework of family and child welfare services entitled. The document covers several services and, although it sets out the professional expectations precisely, it is too broad and it is difficult to pick out the parts on contact management. It would be useful to so, even alongside such a comprehensive material, but in any case separately create a centralised, legally compliant, but non-legally textual, constantly updated contact centre protocol.

PHA: How cooperative are the courts with child welfare and child protection actors?

GG:  A desire for cooperation and consensus-based agreement, as mentioned above, is also necessary on the part of the families involved in the service and the professionals involved in the process. I think that the judges and the guardianship agencies, who are involved as the contact decision makers, and we are involved as the service providers and professionals involved in implementing the decision, We must approach this sensitive issue with responsibility and professionalism, as we are dealing with children. The difficulty often lies in the lack of communication between decision-makers and service providers. There is a misunderstanding of concepts and often a failure to consider what is in the best interests of the child. Communication can be facilitated by the above-mentioned legal harmonisation, the establishment of professional regulators and clarification of issues relating to the financing of the service. However, my own experience has been very positive in this respect, as over the ten years we have succeeded in establishing cooperation between our institution and the decision-making bodies. Sometimes it has only been necessary to hold a meeting to clarify the conditions for access to the service, its professional objectives and to establish a procedure with the decision-making bodies, which has eased communication breakdowns. We were delighted to take part in the round table discussions initiated by the Central District Court of Pest, which have been held traditionally for four years now, where the staff of the guardianship offices and the family and child welfare centres were able to discuss the rules governing contact. It is important that the staff of the relevant bodies see each other as partners and recognise each other's knowledge, professionalism and all involved should be motivated by what is in the best interests of the child in the particular case.

PHA: What do you think is the biggest professional challenge in this job?

GG: It's difficult to answer that, I really loved my job, probably because it was challenging. Communicating with family members in what may seem like the simplest of situations can be a challenge, as it is an emotionally challenging time to meet children and their adult family members in this service. Perhaps the biggest challenge may be synthesizing the diverse knowledge and experience gained over the years as a professional. An incredible variety of knowledge is needed and it has been a realisation over the years that we ourselves have learned from time to time in this process. You need to be aware of the psychology of divorce, the trauma management, the dynamics and background of abuse, parental alienation, the specifics of the games, the basics of child psychology, legal knowledge, and there you need to be able to give appropriate responses and reactions in the given situation and I could go on and on. And obviously, all reactions and communications can only be conveyed authentically and consistently in this work, with a lot of humility. Of course acceptance is one of the keys of this work. Not to judge others, but to give support and points of reference for individual development.

PHA: What do you consider to be the most incompatible legally and humanly?

UL: I do not think it is appropriate that professionals working in the social sector are employed without their contracts specifying the exact duties of their job. I find this worrying from a labour law point of view and also from a human rights point of view. As a result, we can have the regrettably common situation of professionals being forced into multiple roles with minimal pay, which also raises professional difficulties because of the conflict of interest between roles. I would consider it important to remedy these in order to fill the service with motivated professionals, which I see as an obstacle to the above.

PHA: Do you feel that the work in the contact centres is successful, can you talk about results in such a difficult period in the life of broken families?

GG: The many small steps that family members take in this process can lead to success. With the goal, let's say, of keeping the child safe, building a relationship with the parent, and then getting the child out of the service, then our service has achieved its goal and has been successful. There is a raison d'être for this service, as children are also being modeled in this process on how to identify and articulate their emotions, how to manage their conflicts, which goes beyond the primary goals of the service. We have accompanied the children in our service through beautiful and difficult moments. There was also the case of a teenage child who realised after about six months that his parent living abroad was coming to Hungary just for him, for that two-hour contact. In this case, it was a cathartic moment because the child did not dare to believe that he or she could be wanted by his or her separated parent, due to the possible parental alienation. Today the child attends out-of-hours, weekend-long activities with his parent, so the service has achieved its goal of successful discharge.

PHA: How do you rate the conference in Siofok overall?

GG: I am confident that the power of collective thinking and the will to act can spark a professional dialogue and that this session has been a thought-provoking one to shape the vision of this service. For my part, I would have liked to have made the session more informative, but I am also aware that four and a half hours of session work is not enough to cover everything. Basically, it is very it was uplifting to see the very active participation of professionals and professional leaders from all over the country, I thank them for this.

UL: The conference provided a number of useful ideas from the participants. We were able to work in excellent harmony as session leaders and with the experts, which I feel motivated the participants. I was pleased to see in the summary at the end of the conference that we were able to summarise all the issues for the EMMI, which gives us hope for a positive future.

In the meantime, I recommend the publication of the Faculty of Law and Political Sciences of the University of Szeged, compiled by mediators organised by the Partners Hungary Foundation. The handbook is entitled Divorce Mediation from the Children's Perspective. In the publication, the mediators tried to put the child's interests into perspective.

What is the aim of our Early Childhood Matters project?

A Bernar Van Leer Foundation works to create a caring environment through research and practical programmes. Now you can hear the latest research in English, in three themes, Róbert Alföldi in his voice. The aim of our Early Years Matters project is to raise awareness among parents of young children, their professionals and policy makers about important issues such as air pollution, child-friendly urban planning and the role of fathers in the family, in a way that is easy to understand. For the project, we translated the articles from the Bernard van Leer Foundation and asked Robert Alföldi to read them.

Why are these topics important?

We believe that with the right information, we can make good decisions as professionals and as individuals.

Listen to the latest research in a few minutes!

Clean air on prescription: the impact of air pollution on children.

• The link between poorer child health and air pollution is becoming increasingly clear. Research has shown a link between the number of pregnant women living in highly polluted environments and the number of premature and underdeveloped babies and stillbirths.
• Further research has also shown links between air pollution and infant mortality, neurodevelopmental disorders, increased risk of childhood cancers (especially leukaemia), worsening of childhood asthma and other serious respiratory diseases.

(Authors: Julia Gorman, Marie-Noel Bru ne Drisse)

Child-friendly streets - a child-friendly urban environment.

• Research shows that the urban environment can have an impact on children's development and cognitive abilities, and can be a source of great pleasure for both children and the adults who care for them.
• It is increasingly important to think about people, and especially children, when designing the urban environment.
• It is also important that decision-makers and representatives of the professions concerned pay attention to this and give local communities as much say as possible. Because although we see different streets all over the world, the principles of child-friendly street design are the same everywhere and are equally important everywhere.

(Authors: Skye Duncan, Ankita Chachra, Annie Peyton)

Loving fathers, happy children: flexible gender roles. 

• We present one initiative in Uganda and one in Rwanda that focus specifically on fathers. These programmes also show how much it means when fathers are involved in the care of children. The results also show that these methods can be successfully applied to other development programmes for young children.
• Both initiatives are based on the idea of flexible gender roles. Prevailing social expectations often have a strong influence on family life, suggesting that men can control women or discipline children in harsh ways.
• These two initiatives seek to change these standards and thus redress inequalities. On the other hand, it focuses on positive role models and thus seeks to change the male role towards that of a loving father, a supportive and equal partner.
• Some research shows that when fathers play a positive role in parenting, children become more emotionally balanced, integrate more easily into the community and develop more quickly mentally. Other research shows that this approach reduces future violent behaviour.

Download the summaries and share them with your colleagues!

Child-friendly streets

Loving fathers

Clean air on prescription

To receive more content like this, please sign up REYN member!

If you liked this content, EZ may also be of interest to you

The translation of the articles and the videos were made possible thanks to the Bernard Van Leer Foundation and the International Step by Step Association supported by.

Who is involved in the Education Development Programme?

What are we doing in the Education Development Programme?

What are the results of the project so far?

• We trained 66 teachers in 9 kindergartens, who were introduced to 6 new methods.
• The Sunshine Nursery is run entirely using the Step-by-Step method.
• The total number of training hours is 190 and mentoring is 80 hours.

Why is it important to improve access to health care for Roma?

 The fact that life expectancy for Roma is 10 years lower than for non-Roma requires cross-sectoral cooperation, as these social factors (poor housing, low access to health services, inadequate information for patients, limited infrastructure in Roma settlements, poor living conditions, extreme poverty, geographical and social exclusion) are all closely linked to the health status of people living in poverty.

Previous research suggests that municipalities with little social, economic and political capacity are more likely to suffer environmental damage and harm, and therefore less likely to reap environmental benefits. Among the inhabitants of these settlements, those living in excluded settlements are also the most affected. They are predominantly of lower socio-economic status, less educated and disproportionately affected by environmental damage from hazardous waste, incinerators, factories and abandoned industrial sites. They find it difficult to access environmental benefits such as clean drinking water, adequate sewage treatment facilities or utility services. In these settlements, public environmental services are either outside the upper class or are generally concentrated in areas where environmentally controversial practices (e.g. illegal dumping) are concentrated.

For all these reasons:

• Moving from a culture of guilt and fearlessness to a culture of trust and cooperation to generate change.
• Replace social dependency and paternalism with active citizenship, promote respect for human rights, good governance, participatory democracy and inclusive implementation.
• The social determinants of the public health situation and health status of the Roma population living in poverty require active local cooperation between stakeholders, measures including a joint action plan and changes to a more efficient allocation of local resources to promote better health status of Roma settlements.

What do we want to achieve with the programme?

The main objectives of the project are to gather relevant evidence on the social and environmental determinants of Roma health, to strengthen the need for research-based evidence to influence relevant public policies and to mobilise local Roma communities to engage in public participation, intercultural mediation and advocacy, leading to long-term improvements in their health.

What are we doing to do this?

• Review of local health and environment policies
• We make a tangent map
• We carry out household investigations
• We produce case studies
• We run training courses
• We work with intercultural mediation
• Establish a community action group, map the public health and environmental situation of Roma residents
• Institutional working group set up, mapping the public health and environmental situation, involving the institutions concerned
• Participatory media project activities on health and environmental issues
• Process evaluation
• Developing and implementing a public health mini project together
• We organise local campaigns
• We organise national workshops

In practice, the intercultural mediators in the Mésztelep tell us how they are succeeding in winning more and more people to join the community action:

What results do we expect?

• The studies will influence local and national public policies, raise awareness of health and environmental risks affecting Roma, and propose more effective measures to improve the situation of Roma.
• Strengthening the advocacy potential of Roma communities in the field of public health and environmental justice, developing active citizenship attitudes
• Strengthening cooperation between community members and relevant institutions
• Campaigns will give visibility to the good practices generated by the project, leading to improvements in public health and the environment at local level.

Our partners:

• PAD Foundation for Environmental Justice
• Roma Press Centre

How does an intercultural mediator create a dialogue between Roma and non-Roma parents and teachers in the school?

Find out from Hajnalka Kókai, an intercultural mediator from Nyírbátor.

In Nyírbátor, I have a difficult task as a mediator, because there is a huge community and a huge number of school administrators to work with.

But ever since the school The Community programme matters since then my work has become easier and smoother. This programme was brought to our school by the Partners Hungary Foundation.

The aim of the programme is to improve the relationship between parents, teachers and school leaders, so that they can work together despite cultural differences.

In recent times, we have been working to give parents the opportunity to show themselves in their children's classroom, to try out what it is like to be a teacher. These sessions were also very much enjoyed by the children, as it was a new experience for them too.

The brainstorming sessions with the teachers were also very good, because something started here, a joint discussion and joint work. We made carnival masks, painted eggs, baked gingerbread. I had one of these sessions in my son's class, I really enjoyed it, the children were open, they worked with me, I never felt uncomfortable or embarrassed for a minute. It was like I was born for this! It all went like a well-oiled machine. But it needed the openness and work of the children, as well as the effective organisation and support of our teachers.

The Foundation has brought several programmes to the school to promote dialogue.

• During family visits, parents invite the teacher to visit them, so the teacher can get to know the child's environment and spend informal, non-school time with the parents. I personally liked this very much, because it gave me a new perspective on the teacher that I had never experienced before. Our relationship has also improved a lot since then.
• There was also a parents' group meeting at the school, which is about parents daring to talk about their positive and negative experiences of school matters in front of each other, because sharing experiences is always very important, and this can be used to build a better, more livable school parent community later on, by working together. It is very important that they are able to say what bothers them or what is better for them.
• It's important to say not only the negative things but also the good things, because it can shed a different light on things, give you new perspectives and bring you closer together. Over the years, we have seen that thoughts that are left unsaid can only lead to anger and bad relationships. But if we manage to open up to each other, we can start a common path that will be a path that will be shared in the institution, both for parents and for the management.

These programmes are, I think, very useful for our institution, for the staff, for the students and for the parents. By working together, we can achieve significant results, which will take a lot of time, but it will be worth every minute."

 Today's young people face many dangers: hatred of difference and minority groups, violence, addictions, self-destruction, etc. In order to ensure the stability of society and to protect young people and prevent the development of threats that could lead to extremist behaviour, we must be aware of these dangers and be ready to take appropriate steps to prevent and intervene.

What was the aim of our PreventNet project?

• capacity building for youth workers in education and social work
• helping young people to become resilient to hatred and radicalisation and to develop their capacity to build a peaceful society
• raise awareness of the importance of the issue, initiate inter-organisational dialogue between professionals and other stakeholders and gain more allies, even non-traditional ones, for preventive work
• targeted dissemination of Central and Eastern European perspectives and approaches in international prevention networks

What activities did the project cover? 

• Collecting and publishing good practices on the prevention and management of radicalisation and developing training materials for international knowledge exchange
• International training for youth professionals and implementation of selected good practices with young people
• PreventNet training on preventing radicalisation for professionals working with young people
• Organising round tables to strengthen cooperation between youth organisations, professionals and policy experts

What are the expected results?

• Professionals working in the field will be better equipped to prevent and deal with intolerance and hatred of difference among young people
• Best practices in Central and Eastern Europe on this topic, not yet widely known, are becoming more visible
• Strengthening cooperation between organisations and professionals/experts in the field
• Young people develop their social and cooperation skills and become more resistant to hatred and radicalisation

What have we done so far in Hungary?

• Participation in the collection, selection and evaluation of good practices
• We organised a 2 and a half day PreventNet training for Hungarian youth professionals led by trainers from German Cultures Interactive, which gave them the tools to better identify, prevent and deal with different forms of hate and discrimination against difference
• We held a round table discussion entitled "Anti-radicalism Policy Cafe", with the aim of establishing closer cooperation between professionals working with young people - teachers, social workers, psychologists, etc. - and policy experts to prevent and tackle radicalism.
• The Hungarian team took part in the 5-day PreventNet Summer University in Ruzomberok, Slovakia, where we exchanged good practices on preventing and dealing with hate, discrimination and radicalism against diversity. As part of this, we provided training to our international partners on the use of mediation and restorative methods in the field.
• Trainers from Partners Hungary Foundation, as well as teachers and other professionals working with young people, have been trained to deliver experiential sessions to teenagers to sensitise them to radicalism, prejudice and hate speech. It is important to be able to talk about difficult issues, and we have been given methodological tools to do this.
• We also tested the methods with two groups of secondary school students. We worked for five days with young people aged 14-18
• We have collected the good practices in a booklet, download for free: Preventnet good practices

Claim online a hard copy of your own by 20 December, which we will mail to you for free! 

This was the reason given by a participant in the PreventNet training for giving a maximum score in the evaluation of the event:

"The training has given me a great boost, motivation and success, which will make me more effective and confident in my work."

How did we close the programme?

Partners Hungary Foundation and the Budapest Center for the Prevention of Mass Atrocities, which participated in the project from the Hungarian side, organized a virtual roundtable as a closing event of the project, which provided an opportunity for activists and theoreticians to exchange views on challenges, challenges to be addressed and ways to strengthen cooperation.

• In addition to the exciting presentations, the programme also included lively and meaningful panel discussions. As part of the morning programme, Dániel Berg, Deputy Mayor of the Second District, Zoltán Hegedűs from the National Youth Council, Bálint Jósa from the Subjective Values Foundation and András Nyirati from the Network of Human Rights Educators exchanged views on the roles and cooperation opportunities of politicians and NGOs in the field of preventing radicalism.
  During the exchange of experiences, the panellists made it clear that, despite their naturally different perspectives, the different sectors share the same concern to address the radicalisation of youth, to strengthen prevention and cooperation, and to regularly exchange views, information and experiences between government and civil society. They also expressed their willingness to continue the dialogue that has been initiated.
• In the afternoon, we discussed, among other things, the controversial book Fairyland for All and its reception. We invited Dorottya Rédai from Labrisz Association, the project leader, Annamária Kádár, a fairy tale psychologist, Boglárka Nyúl, a social psychologist, and Mária Vásárhelyi, a sociologist, to the panel to get a clear and accurate picture of the topic. The experts agreed that the book, far from being harmful for young people, is very useful, as it can introduce them to a more diverse world, closer to reality, which can contribute to developing their openness to accepting difference and their social sensitivity. For young people from minority social groups, it is also important to develop a positive self-esteem. The "scandalous" reception of the book has also had a positive effect, as it has increased its popularity and is therefore likely to reach many more people.

" The book confirms that we are not all the same, we can take completely different paths and that's absolutely fine". Annamária Kádár

One participant's opinion on the event:

"I liked the interactivity the most. I got a lot of good ideas and valuable contacts".

 2018 October - 2020 September

Partners

The Anti-discrimination Education Society, PL

Ratolest Brno, CZ

REACH Institute, SK

Partners for Democratic Change Slovakia, SK

Centre for Community Organizing, SK

Partners for Democratic Change Hungary, EN

Budapest Centre for Mass Atrocities Prevention, EN

YMCA Dobrich, BG

Centre for the Study of Democracy, BG

Funding

The project is funded by the European Union Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme (2014-2020) and the Visegrad Fund.

Family visits can be an important element of parent-teacher cooperation.

In some cases it is easier to start teacher-parent cooperation, in other cases it is more difficult - for example when the family lives in a disadvantaged environment. In these cases, cooperation between parent and teacher does not fail not because the parent is not interested in his/her child, but because parent-teacher communication is very rarely based on partnership and may have been shamed in previous situations. 
While teachers have a huge burden, and we are not saying that everyone should take on more, we are showing a good practice where the extra effort has helped to foster a good parent-teacher relationship.

Family visit in Nyírbátor

• We started working with Partners Hungary Foundation in autumn 2016. In Emese Erzsébet Nagy, I met a great person who is trying to build a bridge between Roma and non-Roma people at the cost of enormous efforts. And the bridge provides the possibility of bringing the two "worlds" closer together.
• In my class, in the first grade, 60 % of the children were brought to school by their parents. We were in daily contact with them. Some of them were also at the parents' meeting in September. For those who could not come, I wrote a letter asking them to contact me when they had time and I would be the
  with children. I didn't set any boundaries, so far so good. When it suits them. And it worked.
• We agreed at the beginning that if there were any problems with the children in the class, we would discuss them together in school, not let them argue with each other, because that would not lead to good.

We have managed to do this! We were able to talk about issues that concern the children and they had the opportunity to
to contact us. We started working together based on mutual respect. I'm not saying that it was smooth with everyone, but time has helped in a positive way.

The Parents in School project has also contributed a lot to thinking together.

It is in its third year of successful operation.

• A new element this year was the family visit, aimed mainly at first graders. Nevertheless, I would have liked to have visited some places myself. It was an invitation-only thing, the parent invited me to their home. In our house the response was only positive: Auntie Zsófi is coming to visit us! But when? Everyone was curious. "You are welcome to come anytime, just before, but if she calls us, that would be good, because I can forget", said one mother.
• We made the appointments in advance and I think we were all looking forward to it with excitement. Two weeks ago, I was at school on a Friday afternoon, ran home after 4.30, unpacked my stuff, freshened up a bit and hit the road with my modest gift.

I know the city well enough, I thought, but I only know where the main streets are in the Roma area, where we are going to the beach. The children playing and walking outside greeted me with loud greetings and asked what I was doing here, even though I wasn't teaching them. From them I received confirmation that I was heading in the right direction. Tündi, the mother, was already standing outside the house, in plain sight, with her usual smile on her face and a hint of excitement in her eyes. I felt the same way. Of course, it's quite different after 3 years of knowing each other
go out somewhere, like in the autumn of first grade, when the relationship is still distant.

Family visit: excitement and shared joy

For Emie and me

Tidy little house, tidy yard, laundry on the patio dryer. On entering, I was greeted by a tastefully decorated, bright, beautifully furnished home. I was offered a seat, where my father was waiting, and my little pupil Emi, and we started chatting over cakes and drinks. First they told us about their home, how the house they now live in was built as a result of the extension. Of course, it's a common theme, as I also underwent a major renovation 2 years ago. Then the older daughter came along, and then eating, who likes what, and the problems of adolescence came up. Afterwards we talked about our school years, who went where, who was how old, and it turned out that we have some common experiences when we mentioned Nyírmihálydi, because my parents grew up there, my grandparents were there, I taught at the school for 4 years, and Sanyi, my father, is also a friend of that area. We talked about the gypsy language, the old crafts, the traditions, the possibilities,
about work and learning, and we tried to understand why this mostly mutually dismissive behaviour between Roma and non-Roma has developed. By the time we woke up, a quarter of a week had passed. Of course we couldn't change the world, but I think we had a good time.

Matthew

From there we went to the Máté's house, where Tündi accompanied us. The little boy had fallen ill, his mum had posted a message on Messenger, and since I had given out the Mother's Day poems that day, I thought I would post them for him, but I also indicated that I would. Of course Martika, the mother was standing in the gate waiting for me to get there. She also invited me into the house, offered me a place to stay and a drink, while excusing herself for not having had time to clean up thoroughly, because Máté was ill. I must add that I was welcomed here by a neat, tidy, tasteful home. Who on earth cares if the house has been scrubbed from floor to ceiling? That's not the point,
but the love I received, the love I feel when I talk to these parents. She also told me about her social care exam a few weeks ago and how difficult it is for them now that her dad, Attila, is ill and can't go to work. She is proud that 3 of her 5 children have already finished high school and all of them have a profession. However, she also spoke of the things that a child who has gone wrong experiences as a shame, a failure as a mother, and
which is very upsetting for him. Now, this was the point where the crying started. I tried to reassure him that a parent can influence his child to some extent, can show him the right path, but he can't take it instead. He was freeing himself by not wanting to burden me with his problems. Burden? But that's a confidential subject you don't share with just anyone. Only with someone, someone you trust.

The Lizi's

On Saturday afternoon last week, in the pouring rain, I went to Lizi's house for 4 hours. The mother, Margitka, was already waiting at the gate. A harmonious home welcomed me, and even the grandmother came over, who doesn't live with them by the way, but when the parents work, she often comes to pick up the kids at school and take part in the programs. We also talked to them like old acquaintances, about the children, the parents' start in life together, things at home, plans, and my approach to herding the kids around the school. It was really nice to hear that they think I have a slightly different spirit towards children than others. They had delicious pancakes that they made together, refreshments, fruit, and many other little things on the table. I also have a good relationship with them, which this afternoon has only deepened.

Thank you to all three of them for the opportunity to visit them, to see their lives and to get to know them even better! I wish that many teachers have similar experiences, because these moments make the respectful relationship that should work for children everywhere even stronger.

Zsófia Vadon-Zsadányi teacher
Nyírbátor Hungarian-English Bilingual Primary School

Find out more about Parents in School at our mediation conference on 31 May:
https://www.facebook.com/events/357364675075923/

Community based complex school programme

for effective prevention and treatment of aggression and bullying

ASAP - Against School Aggression Partnership is a project implemented from September 2015 until August 2018, funded by the Erasmus Programme of the European Union. The programme was led by Partners Hungary Foundation, in collaboration with SOS Malta, Partners Bulgaria Foundation and Szolnok Centre of Counselling Training.

ASAP aims to contribute to the reduction of school aggression and bullying in schools while establishing and strengthening the cooperation between different institutions that deal with the student community. The project developed a model program taking the form of a whole school approach that offers an accessible and easy to adopt tool, for the reduction of school violence and bullying, which was tested in eight secondary schools: three schools in Hungary, one school in Bulgaria and four schools in Malta. The project contributes to country's efforts to tackle bullying and school aggression, by promoting and providing alternative conflict resolution, management procedures and restorative methods to be used in schools.

You can download the intellectual outputs for free. These documents provide a methodoligical framework as well as practical information for experts working in the school environment.

National Report Malta

National Report Bulgaria

National report Hungary 

ASAP Model Programmes

ASAP_EU Dissemination and Communication Strategy

Bulgaria Research Report

Hungary Research Report

Malta Research Report

ASAP_EU Dissemination and Communication Strategy

Bulgarian Handbook of Implementation

Hungarian Handbook of Implementation

Maltese Handbook of Implementation

Please also look at our project videos

Promo video 

Student video Hungary

Student video Malta

Student video Bulgaria

Training video Malta

Training video Bulgaria

Training video Hungary

 "Come on, Teacher, I was just kidding." Or was I? How can I recognise types of aggression and bullying in school?

How can a complex anti-bullying programme fit into the busy daily life of a school?

On 5 June 2018, we held the closing conference of our Partnership against Aggression in Schools programme, funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union. The programme will run until 31 August, and we will make the most of it: in August, we will organise a training session for teachers from the partner schools in Szolnok, including evaluation and planning meetings, so that they can start the school year with a new impetus and the methods and approach learned in the project can be maintained in the everyday life of the school for as long as possible.

The plenary session of the conference featured the following speakers:

• Flóra Bacsó, the project coordinator, gave a short theoretical summary on the differences between conflict-aggression-disruption/abuse and what the three years of the project have been enough for. The model programme is not a magic wand (although there is a need for it in many cases) and this has to be accepted. Initiating change is a difficult and time-consuming process, but persistent, consistent work will bring results: a strong school community in which all involved - teachers, students, parents - feel safe. The programme has produced a wealth of technical material, which can be downloaded from from the project page.
• Ildikó Zornánszki, Head of Department (Mayor's Office of Szolnok City, Human Resources Directorate, Health and Family Department), told us about the other city and regional programmes for physical and mental health and healthy communities.
• Edit Gratzer-Sövényházy, Head of the Department of the National Crime Prevention Council, told us what makes the restorative approach more effective than the traditional punishment-discipline approach. The NBT is aware of the importance of alternative methods, and its programmes use alternative methods ranging from mediation to solution-focused coaching.
• Dr. Orsolya Zolnai, lawyer, mediator and restorative facilitator of the Szolnok Service Vocational Training Centre, explained how alternative procedures can be integrated into the life of the school, as the Centre's house rules, curriculum and pedagogical programme include elements of a restorative approach, and disciplinary cases can be settled in mediation or restorative conferences before disciplinary proceedings.
• Finally, through personal stories, we heard from teachers at the Centre how the restorative approach works in everyday life. The enthusiasm and credibility of Erika Berényiné Szabó, Dr. Hajnal Bottyánné Fehér, Éva Mészáros, Izabella Munkácsiné Tóth, trained mediators and restorative facilitators convince more and more teachers of the success of restorative methods.

Following the plenary session, parallel interactive workshops allowed participants to deepen their understanding of each programme element.

How can the same programme be adapted for different schools, even across different cultures? International knowledge sharing and exchange of experience with partner organisations in Malta and Bulgaria, in English

Restorative practices and mediation in everyday life - for school professionals. How can the topic of school aggression be dealt with in an interactive way in a classroom teacher's lesson, and through this, positively shape the classroom climate and strengthen class communities? During the session, basic training methods and tools taken from restorative techniques will be used, and the attitude-forming power of the methods will be made tangible through personal experience.

Conflict management techniques for a better atmosphere in the workplace. Concrete ways to make it easier to communicate with students on placements - for practitioners and other interested parties.

 At the end of the conference, We used the World Café method to explore sustainability issues.

 Here is a summary of this in bullet points.

1. What is needed to integrate the methods into school life?

• Parental involvement, parent forums
• Legal background, required by law, should be imposed centrally
• Include discussion groups in the timetable
• Teachers should be able to attend training courses, with the necessary resources
• Grants, such as Erasmus+
• More time for children for the class teacher
• Keep an open mind - both the board and the management are important
• Leader's attuned attitude, belief that it will pay off, transfer of commitment
• A charismatic leader who is not necessarily the leader of the organisation
• Time is needed to experience
• Involve a school psychologist, if available
• Involvement of a school inspector
• Organisation of case meetings
• Working Group
• Communication between colleagues, class visits, transfer of methods, tools, personal experiences
• Sounding out successes
• Less workload, fewer hours
• practice, with expert support
• motivating teachers, team building

2. How can we learn from each other and pass on our good practices?

• Regular, thematic workshops, practice-oriented
• Intra- and inter-institutional hospitalisation
• Dissemination conferences
• Deepening links between institutions with the help of the maintainer
• Professional development days for teachers
• Szolnok pedagogical days
• Information and mediation between the institutions
• Creating a thematic website that is free to access
• Press, TV, internet, local media
• convert monthly workshops into an online forum
• student-student exchanges, visits, gateways
• School forums e.g. child protection officers' meeting, Arany János programme meetings;
• Be in charge
• involvement and sensitisation of practitioners
• City events, Szolnok Day e.g.
• Institutions to publish professional content on their websites

The plenary was led by Wolrd Cafe:

• János Wagner
• Éva Deák
• Bacsó Flóra
• Krisztina Kukity

Although the Partnership Against Aggression in Schools project will soon come to an end, it is very reassuring to see that the methods are gaining more and more teachers.

• According to feedback from teachers, the training courses increased their methodological knowledge; their communication skills have improved; greater empathythey can approach problematic cases with a better understanding and acceptance of the many different points of view.
• As a result of the restorative conference, which was convened instead of disciplinary proceedings, the incident was not brought before the police, as expected, and none of the people involved had to leave the school.
• The effectiveness and durability of mediations and restorative circles vary from school to school and from case to case. However, we can say that in all cases treated, the people concerned experienced an improvement compared to the situation before the intervention.
• The good news is out: our trained educators have been invited to other schools to give a taste of their alternative conflict management methods, and have facilitated a reactionary circle in an external school on a specific case.

Read more about the programme and download free professional materials HERE!

The National Mediation Association's May 2018 conference was about the state and practices of mediation in schools. Representatives of Partners Hungary were present not only as participants, but also as invited guests, as we have been working with mediation in various educational institutions, with school professionals and students since 2009.

A summary of the presentations from the morning of the conference.

1. The experience of school mediation in Italy
   Carmela Cavallo, President of the Italian Section of GEMME (Groupement Européen des Magistrats pour la Médiation)

Motto: "The mediator aims to sew together the fabrics that have been torn along the school conflict."

• School is the place where we learn how to communicate with others, where we can learn how to accept differences, so it is important to set a good example.
• The educational principles of school and family differ, and this often leads to conflict, with families complaining a lot, e.g. of overwork, aggression.
• In often changing circumstances, adults are often uncertain about setting boundaries, which is also a source of conflict.
• In schools, aggression (the abuse of power and force) is felt at an earlier and earlier stage of life.
• In the old days, the teacher was seen as a judge, but today that would no longer be accepted, which is why a mediator is needed.
• Typical mediation is between two students or between groups of students, which may include facilitators from the class. Large groups require a lot of experience on the part of the mediator.

Mediation: how, by what methods?

• At the beginning of the mediation, everyone tells their version of events, and the mediation starts.
• Part of the meeting is a briefing, the rules are laid down, among which confidentiality is highlighted.
• The mediator makes the parties aware that they have skills they may not have known they had because they were so preoccupied with the conflict.
• It is worth focusing on topics that indicate a common position, which will help to start the conversation (e.g. music, sports.)
• After mediation, the parties are usually supported with follow-up.

What is mediation good for?

• Reducing early school leaving,
• The number of harassment cases is falling,
• It can help you to accept difference,
• It boosts self-esteem (if someone is being bullied, it is easy to be a bully elsewhere),
• Self-criticism is an opportunity to practice and accept the opinions of others, which can be learned here,
• Anger can be controlled, it can be taken outside the mediation space,
• Reducing the number of school suspensions.
• Digital bullying is a big problem and teachers are not prepared for it.
• The school venue for mediation: a separate room in the school.
• The school mediator can also act between teachers and in family matters.

The programme referred to by the rapporteur was funded by the Commissioner for Children's Rights (if this is not available in your country, you should apply for EU funding).

The project involved 2 mediation organisations, GEMME and an organisation dealing with criminal mediation. They trained their own mediators. Schools were invited to apply to participate in the programme.

• The aim was to have a mediator in each school who could be contacted in case of conflict. As a consequence, there is a mediator in the school 1 time a week, when you can turn to him/her. At the beginning, an external mediator was used, but since the training, an internal mediator has been used.
• They spread the word about mediation with leaflets. The reality of having a mediator in every county, school by school, may not be feasible today.
• At the end of the programme, after a year, an impact assessment is planned, after which it will be a question of who will finance the mediation: the municipality, the region or an EU grant.

In the Rome Court: a mediation window was introduced in child custody cases, 30% of clients used it and 25% of clients reached an agreement.

2. The education dispute system and its management, the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) framework

Presentation by András Krémer

Topic

• The diversity of cases in education
• How can we build a system where clients can find mediation?
• How are such systems created?
• Social traditions
• Policy developments
• Organisational cultures

In education disputes, there are conflicts of interest, fights, exclusion, mobbing, conflict between different stakeholders. It is still the case that in serious conflicts in schools, it is still not evident that the parties involved should go to a mediator.

Human rights and justice are important, and mediation could play a role in this.

Where do we start in the educational arena, what is the current situation?

• authoritarian social, institutional, leadership traditions
• Prussian educational traditions
• lack of trust in the formal resolution of disputes
• lack of capacity, "we don't have time"
• AVR is considered high risk (cost, time)
• lack of skills, experience
• gaps in training of professionals (no AVR training in teacher training, law, management training)

Social traditions, patterns

• the child is the "property of the family" (domestic violence - Istanbul Convention)
• workplace patterns, strong vulnerabilities - metoo, diminishing rights to strike
• education regulation - institutional centralisation
• AVR: retiring state involvement (MKDSZ, OKSZ, EC mediation, Authority mediation)
• workplace characteristics - servilism, dependencies

Note: EMMI - Implementation of the Digital Strategy for Child Protection from 2017: there is a regulation - professionals are scarce - information is scarce for teachers and managers.

The National Crime Prevention Council has been training mediation teachers since 2014, with the aim of having a mediator in every school.

For the purposes of school alternatives question

• do leaders have room for manoeuvre?
• is the alternative route included in the policy?
• is there a willingness to negotiate?
• making it difficult to advocate (non-response, depression, crowding out of civilians)

Possible reasons for the lack of AVR

• lack of knowledge
• personal attitude
• suggesting legislation - methods are not named
• policy intentions
• institutional weaknesses
• lack of distraction mechanisms

Elements (gaps or requirements) for building the system

• little research, case analysis
• lack of documentation of cases
• mapping of actors would be necessary
• selecting model sites - launching pilot projects
• Design
• communication inside and outside the system

Institutional level

• case level - find case, transfer to AVR, service
• case handling - lessons learned, protocol, routine
• institutional processing level - organisational development, culture change, documentation, management feedback
• system level - professional network, coordinated development, policy feedback

Mediators in the organisation - mediation in schools, challenges

• the mediator must demonstrate success
• independence in question
• can professionalism be guaranteed in the job description?
• work accounting, measurement, sharing
• capacity, conditions
• confidentiality, hierarchy
• special rules
• external mediators, mentors

In regulation

• full coverage at once

Go to

• networking mediators
• strengthening the professional framework (membership of internal mediators?)
• the need for pilot programmes

3. The child as a stakeholder in the mediation process

Dr. Márta Gyengéné Nagy - European Association of Judges for Mediation (GEMME)

A broader and narrower understanding of participation in court proceedings.

Child protection approach: prevention - protection - child participation

Legal approach: place, voice, listening, impact - Lundy model

The child's participation is ensured if there is a guarantee of a safe environment:

• if we know what to look for when we listen, as professionals,
• we can decode what it says,
• the extent to which your opinion has been taken into account in the decision-making process should be given to you as feedback (Lundy model)
• ET's guidelines for practitioners strictly stipulate that it is not enough to provide a right (the technical part), but that due weight must be given to the opinion (New York Convention, within human rights there are + rights.)
• It is the child's best interest and need that must be met. Age should not be the only criterion.
• In court proceedings, the hearing can be direct or indirect.
• Judicial guidelines on how to be heard/participate.

The judge may decide not to hear the child if it would harm him or her:

• abuse
• defencelessness
• counter-nutrition
• physical, psychological abuse
• restrictions on freedom of expression.

Child-centred justice has become a principle. The court may appoint a child protection specialist, a case manager. The OBH website has interactive materials for children.

The way the child is heard is different for a judge and for mediation.

In neither case does the child decide, this should be stressed to the child, but their opinion can be listened to and their needs are important.

Confidentiality is important to give the child guarantees about how what they say is used.

In mediation, the parents' consent is required for the child to be heard.

14. a child over the age of 18 must be involved, below which the mediator can exercise discretion.

In mediation, after listening to the child's views, the mediator can draw the parents' attention to the child's needs, but cannot interfere with the parents' decision.

In cross-border cases, it is compulsory to hear the child in mediation, with different age limits for each country. Hague Convention on the benefits and difficulties of mediation. The child must always know that it is not his/her responsibility to decide.

On the issue of child involvement, Márta referred to the draft professional recommendation "And whose interest is it?", which she recommends reading. It is the product of an informal working group set up by the Partners Hungary Foundation. If you are interested, please contact kukityk@partnershungary.hu and we will send you the material.A 60-page technical paper is expected to be published in October 2018.

Other points concerned, comments

European Parliament Study 2014 - European Union Mediation Paradox - 2008/52/EP

György Gajduschek MTA TK JTK on legal culture transformation research.

Silent workshops for democracy - mediation in kindergartens.

www.ideachildrights.ucc.ie

Agnes Lux - best interest of the child, not best interest.

Family law 2018.1. no. How to say it so you understand it article. Informing the child about a judge's decision at the end of the trial, about the judgment, so that the child understands the judge's decision.

Informing children before and after the trial is important, and this should also be considered.

The presentation ended with a short film on child information.

In the afternoon panel discussion we talked about the experiences of mediation in schools in Hungary. Partners Hungary first trained teacher and student mediators in 2009 at the Polytechnic, and over the years we have trained around 250 school professionals (teachers, psychologists, social workers) in mediation.Since 2015, we have been running an Erasmus+ programme in 3 secondary schools in Szolnok, the details and professional materials of which are available at here you can read.

Budapest, 30 May 2018.

Kriszta Kukity

Partners Hungary Foundation

What do children need for a lighter, happier everyday life?

First and foremost, the love, care and attention you give them as parents. The school, where children spend most of their day, is mostly concerned with developing children's language, maths and logic, while we already know how much else they need to thrive: social and emotional skills, critical thinking, assertiveness, experiential learning, and LOTS OF PLAY.

What are our summer camps about?

In our five-day camp, children learn through hands-on games:

• how to harness the resources of the community,
• how to turn conflict into a better way of working together
• what conflict management styles and tools they have at their disposal to help them find real, shared solutions, taking into account individual feelings and perspectives

Who are we waiting for?

children aged 8-12 years old, who can learn through play the most important conflict management and cooperation skills that will make their everyday life easier and their social relationships better

Who are we?

At Partners Hungary Foundation, she has been working in alternative conflict resolution for 25 years. Our trainers are practitioners in mediation, restorative practices, community planning and inclusive education.

When is the camp?

Tours will start on the following dates:

8-12 July 2019

15-19 July 2019.

Where will the camp be?

We will have a final location by the end of April

Where can I apply?

On this link

Who should I contact if I have a question?

If you call or email, Flóra Bacsó will answer your questions:

bacsof@partnershungary.hu

06204483737

Read our detailed information for parents!

Attuned for Life Camp Parent Information 2019We look forward to welcoming you!

The latest volume of Apple on the Tree, which addresses the challenges of professional development for teachers in the 21st century, has been published.

An interview with Mari Zágon, professional manager of the Step by Step programme, starting on page 72.

"Teachers who are more open, more flexible, who think for themselves, who
their professional role or practice, they are moving towards modernity."

How can the changes of the 21st century affect teachers and the role of teachers?

I believe that the challenges of our time are creating a crisis situation in the domestic teaching profession. While the socio-economic development of the 21st century is creating new expectations for teachers in education, which require a new approach, a large part of the teaching profession has received a completely different preparation and is working with traditional tools and methods in a system based on a 20th century approach. This puts teachers under great strain in interpreting their own role.

What does the new approach require of teachers?

• Firstly, respect for individuality, i.e. starting from the individuality, personality and real developmental needs of children. Teachers are not equipped to shape the learning-teaching process accordingly and to respond accordingly, and the education system does not focus on individual needs. On the other hand, the new approach also requires a response to changes in the way the world is evolving, including the growth of information, the way information is accessed and processed, and the various complex challenges it faces. It would be essential to reconcile these two needs with pedagogical practice. Since the early 2000s, with the HEFOP1 and TÁMOP2 programmes and the development of competence-based education packages, there has been a move towards a modern pedagogical approach in Europe and the world. Unfortunately, there has also been some backsliding
  in the last period.
• In my view, it is mainly alternative schools that are moving towards education that meets current needs, and it is mainly individual and small community initiatives that are making efforts to give space to the outside world in schools. So the positive shift is mainly along personal lines: teachers who are more open, more flexible, who reflect on their own professional role and teaching practice are moving towards modernity. In other words, they are trying to move beyond the textbook and the traditional, now outdated "I am the source of knowledge" approach.
• But often, even trained teachers do not receive the right quality and quantity of support, or the tools to make real change happen. The various self-organising groups on the internet and social networking sites are also making a big contribution to progress, but I feel that their spread and impact is not yet at the rate it should be at the beginning of the 21st century.

What are the challenges for schools at organisational level?

• Despite the slow progress in pedagogical renewal, I see an increasing number of schools that are striving to adapt to today's needs and are taking on the challenge of the many new tasks and learning processes and changes.
• On the other hand, the institutions are faced with new challenges in dealing with the tensions arising from changing expectations. Tensions can arise, for example, from the presence of teachers with modern methods in many institutions with traditional pedagogical principles, who are often marginalised because of their small numbers in the teaching staff and without the support of school management.
• Tension can be caused by several different expectations of the school at the same time. Whether the institution can reconcile these different demands, and whether it has a mission, a vision, a vision of what it wants to meet most, is a crucial question for the school leadership.

In other words, the development of the school is vulnerable to the management of the institution on the one hand, and to the orientation of the whole education system on the other. In addition, there is a strong expectation from, for example, middle-class parents, who are more able to assert their own interests than disadvantaged families. We also see tensions arising between institutions, in that schools that are traditionally more prestigious or that start out on a more modern path tend to be more attractive to families who are open to the world. In many cases this leads to institutional competition for children within a locality and can soon create huge disparities between schools. Of course, smaller
or among institutions teaching and educating disadvantaged children, there are also forward-looking solutions where, due to the need, school leaders are stepping forward and are able to turn the disadvantaged situation into a positive one. This is obviously helped by the various tendering opportunities, open to all, which encourage schools to modernise in a real way, although unfortunately these have diminished.

What are the new paths that an institution can take towards development and modernity?

The search for solutions leads schools down many different paths. Some, for example, are trying to broaden their horizons, their ideas about subjects or even their broader pedagogical approach. There are many different pedagogical initiatives in the world of education, which are open to institutions or teachers to join. There are not only newly launched but also long-established pedagogical programmes and networks, such as the Step by Step programme, for which I have been able to follow the learning process as a professional leader. In addition to the positive results and progress, my overall view is that, without support, communication of this type of programme reaches very few people, and is not systemic.
and their spread and persistence become possible. Yet these initiatives can have a major impact on the modernisation of the pedagogical culture of schools, the professional development of teachers and the shaping of attitudes.

How has the Step by Step programme contributed to this? What brought it to life?

The Step-by-Step programme is a system of support for the development of an autonomous personality, independent critical thinking, self-development, moral and ethical behaviour based on democratic principles and supporting individual development. Its main principles are diversity, an attitude and tools to support multiculturalism, including individual development needs and personal development. 3 The child-centred pedagogical programme Step by Step is highlighted in an interview with Terézia Radicsné Szerencsés (former head of the Kiskőrösi EGYMI) on pages 52-62 of our volume "Apples on the tree - School leaders in equitable education". www.tka.hu > Publications > 2015; www.issuu.com/tka_konyvtar/docs/iskolavezetok-meltanyos-oktatas
The website of the Step by Step programme is available at www.lepesrollepesre.eoldal.hu.

The programme focuses on the relationship with the family, the high level of continuous training and support for teachers, the creation of a learner-friendly learning environment conducive to successful learning, and the use of modern learning management methods in line with the principles: cooperative learning, project-based learning, differentiated learning management. The programme has been developed by the Open Society Institute (OSI) in the USA, with a focus on improving the situation in Eastern Europe after the change of regime, not only in education but also in a much wider context of cultural, social and health development. In Hungary, the pre-school programme was introduced in 1994, followed by the school programme in the 1996/97 school year. In the initial period, our basic aim was to make the Step by Step programme as widely known as possible to schools and teachers. The introduction of the programme received considerable financial and professional support, which enabled us to involve a large number of nursery schools and schools (most of which have continued to operate with a similar mindset and spirit) and to train a large number of teachers. The dynamics of the development of the programme or the use of tools to promote its widespread dissemination have always depended to a large extent on the educational policies of the time, the opportunities they provided, the direction of public education and the external support system and financial resources. In the early years, until the launch of the TAMOP programmes, the programme was practically on the increase. We could reflect on how to reach more people while maintaining or improving the high professional quality in the long term. The fact that it is no longer possible to obtain funding to involve teachers in the programme makes the situation more difficult. The transfer of the Step by Step approach and the provision of methodological support are, of course, still an important objective, with 250 institutions having been involved from 1998 to 2013 and nearly 100 in the last four years.
We estimate that around 450 teachers have used the programme or one of its components (based on the number of participants in the training sessions), and in the last four years, nearly 600 teachers have participated in the various professional sessions linked to the programme.

What has been the learning process over the last two decades of the programme's participants, experts and trainers?
among?

The continuous maintenance and development of high professional standards and the professional support of teachers are among the core objectives and values of Step by Step. At the start of the programme, following the initial training, we were able to attend in-house training sessions run by the trainer team, meeting regularly two or three times a year. The induction, the joint preparation for the training and the experience of the training were all important lessons learned. We decided together on new professional directions, i.e. which of the problems in education to reflect more on and which professional areas to deepen, and our international organisation, ISSA, played a major role in this. There were always prominent, central themes, such as
such as prejudice management, different skills development programmes, parental involvement in the learning process. These training programmes were developed with the participation of 10 to 15 countries and were the result of collaborative learning. Professional progress was also facilitated by the involvement of most of the programme's trainers in the development of the HEFOP methodological programmes5 and in the delivery of the training courses. This has enabled us to apply the basic learning management methods that were originally only tangentially covered in the Step-by-Step programme. The overall goal of ISSA (International Step by Step Association) is to create an inclusive, quality education and learning environment in which all children can become active members of a knowledge-based, democratic society. See more at: www.lepesrollepesre.eu/rolunk/nemzetkozi-lepesrol-lepesre-egyesulet 5 Methodological materials developed under HEFOP 2.1.A and HEFOP 2.1.B:
Lesson differentiation: www.hiszem.hu/sites/default/files/tanorai_differencialas.pdf
Shaded pupil evaluation: www.hiszem.hu/sites/default/files/arnyalt_tanuloertekeles_hallgatoi.pdf
Activity-based pedagogies: www.hiszem.hu/sites/default/files/tevekenyseg_kozpontu_pedagogiak.pdf

These topics have been developed in much more depth and awareness through the methodological packages,
essential for modern learning. It is also a huge achievement in our learning process,
that nearly ten years of work have resulted in a quality assurance system that is available to all countries.
and guarantees the high professional quality of the programme's implementation. Another essential element is the way in which the American trainers conducted the training courses during the period of the programme's introduction in Hungary,
was still completely new or only marginally present in national practice, and in teacher training at all
was not observed. From the very beginning, experiential learning has distinguished our programme's training from traditional forms of continuing training. We have selected a very wide range of tools, we have constantly expanded them, and we have regularly shared and continue to share what we have learnt in training. In this sense, the Step-by-Step programme is a constantly evolving, renewing, mutually reinforcing and supportive system, where learning and development are continuous. The basis for the programme and its professional development are also the teachers who, during the first period of its implementation, received a very wide-ranging and in-depth professional and methodological training of around 300 hours over a period of three to four years. Over time, they became our trainers, on whom we based further training, and around whom small groups of teachers mostly gathered in their own schools. In fact, these school
the later methodological centres were established in Pécs, Kiskőrös and Miskolc.

How has the creation of the centres supported and helped the learning process, the continuous professional
renewal?

The centres were set up in 2002 with the aim of providing in-service training that would include direct classroom experience, as these sessions reveal much more about the essence of the Step by Step programme than anything else. In other words, we advertised our trainer-led foundation courses in the methodological centres, as well as the accompanying demonstration lessons and workshops, which were given by teachers from the school in question. The centres were set up where there were teachers with the necessary professional background, similar pedagogical attitudes, open-minded and trained teachers working with the same methods, so that we were sure that the principles and the approach of the programme were being properly transmitted and communicated, and where there was cooperation and mutual support between teachers. There was a period of nearly ten years when the interruption of funding led to the termination of the formal operation of the Foundation and the Centres which provided the operational framework for the programme, but despite this, the programme continued to thrive in practice thanks to a strong professional base and knowledge sharing. In 2014, the Partners Hungary Foundation took over the coordination of the Step-by-Step programme, and a major grant has given a new impetus to the operation. We have further developed the work of the methodological centres by organising thematic mini-conferences open to all.
The Partners Hungary Foundation has been building relationships between people and communities since 1994.
through projects and training in mediation, cooperation development and education development. Although there is a very mixed picture of the depth and quality of the application of the programme by schools and teachers, I think it is very important that colleagues regularly participate in these knowledge-sharing forums. The professional
our development is also supported by our participation in international programmes such as the Creative Partnership, an ongoing OECD pilot programme for artists (e.g. performers, visual artists, architects,
multimedia professionals, painters) are creative ways to help teachers and students learn effectively. Several classes from one of our methodological centres in Pécs are involved in the measurements, while our centre in Miskolc and a school in Kaposvár also participate in the control measurements. The exciting results of the project will serve as a reference for us in the future. We are also planning to develop the mini professional networks that have been established in the vicinity of the centres into real, sustainable networks and collaborative learning groups, drawing on the experience of our participation in the Tempus Public Foundation's EFFeCT pilot programme. Although it does not involve financial support, the fact that all three of our methodological centres have become Education Office base institutions in the new education system may also contribute to sustainability.

What is the motivation for teachers or schools to join the Step by Step programme?

Sometimes, it is the achievement of institutional objectives that motivates the participation in the programme, because the school leader wants to improve and modernise the institution and support his/her colleagues to participate in workshops, open days and training. At the same time, I believe that the spread of the programme is mostly shaped by personal motivations: open-minded teachers who are aware of the changing world, the change in children's interests, attention and motivation, who know that it is very difficult to achieve results or work without tension using traditional means, since learning difficulties are often accompanied by behavioural and socialisation problems. These are the main drivers for teachers who come to us to find solutions. I find that many of my colleagues have the same approach as the programme, but are not available. The Creative Partnership methodology was developed in the UK and has since been used in several countries, currently in Lithuania, Norway, Germany and the Czech Republic. In Hungary, in the 2013/14 academic year, the programme was launched on a pilot basis in seven member institutions of the Budai Városkapu Primary School, Vocational School, Special Vocational School and Primary Art School in Pécs, in cooperation with the Faculty of Arts of the University of Pécs, T-Tudok Knowledge Management and Educational Research Centre Ltd. and the UK-based Creativity, Culture and Education organisation. For more information, see www.t-tudok.hu/?hu/kreativ-partnerseg-magyarorszag 8 See the summary of the EFFeCT international project coordinated by the Tempus Public Foundation's Knowledge Management Unit on page 43 of this volume. 9 The Education Office's base institution is an education and training institution with a recognised professional tradition at county, district or national level, with an infrastructure equipped to fulfil its tasks, with a unique and exemplary infrastructure, with a coherent, inclusive, child-centred pedagogical practice, a professional methodological and organisational culture and innovation, which is capable of sharing knowledge effectively and to a high standard in its field. The base institutions will be selected through a competitive selection process from different types of institutions.

Of course, the Step-by-Step programme does not solve all these problems, but it helps to create a harmonious coexistence and a positive atmosphere in the classroom, which is beneficial for teachers and children alike. The focus on individual interest, creativity and creativity leads to a state of emotional well-being which I believe is highly motivating and very professionally stimulating.

How can teachers bring this knowledge back to their own institutions? Is it necessary
to take over the whole programme?

Step by Step is a very open programme, where the principles are the most important and the tools are adapted to them at different levels. It is therefore conceivable that, without taking on board the full toolkit, teachers will take only a simple element of the programme back to school. For example, some basic rituals can be easily adopted and integrated into daily practice, such as the morning or end-of-day discussion group, whose positive impact is almost immediate because it loosens traditional roles and one-way communication.

As I have already mentioned, the involvement of parents is an extremely important element of the programme, unlike the subordinate-above-par relationship that is common in the Hungarian school system. The Step by Step programme sees parents not just as a client, but as an educational partner who knows the child best. We don't just invite the parent into the school to sand the table or paint the wall, but through a series of activities and collaborations we also try to bring in the parents' knowledge, skills and emotions. Linked to this, each class - being lower school - has a class ball that is taken home by a family for a weekend visit. A diary is also kept of the visit, which is incredibly educational for families: it is amazing to see how such a very simple element - reading each other's entries - can have a positive impact on the functioning of a family and how it can develop the parent. Evaluation is also an essential part of the programme. Grading is a centuries-old tradition in the Hungarian public education system today, which contradicts all the principles that the programme represents. The Step by Step programme, similar to the practice in reform pedagogy or alternative schools, seeks to place grading in its proper place in the assessment process, i.e. a final assessment where it has a function, and in addition or alongside it, a continuous, reinforcing, developmental feedback. The assessment is linked to a so-called dossier system in the programme, the adoption and use of which is also very helpful: it leads the teacher to collect the different student work instead of marking everything with a mark. So, we believe that it is not necessarily the whole programme that is needed to initiate change, but that the adoption of one element by colleagues can have a big impact on the state of the class, the children or the teacher.

Do you have feedback on what teachers get from the programme?

I think the most important thing that a teacher can get, apart from the attitude formation, is a set of tools that they don't get to this depth in teacher training or in the in-service training system. The quality assurance system mentioned earlier provides them with additional tools for professional development and reflection. Self-development based on self-reflection and the use of tools and methods related to the organisation of learning are very important. An open and flexible approach is often a solution to problems that depend mainly on external factors, such as the learning environment, which requires financial resources. It is not just a question of rearranging the desks, but also of providing the learning process with the necessary tools: from books to teaching aids, from paper to glue. In one municipality, for example, where 4-5 teachers started the programme, one class had only fixed benches. Old desks discovered by one teacher in the school storeroom were refurbished with the help of parents,
and because of the lack of chairs, each child brought one from home - now there are all kinds of chairs, the classroom is colourful. This also shows that constraint often breeds creativity and openness to the outside world, which also contributes to the
contributes to development.

What kind of cooperation will be established between the teachers participating in the programme? How
can you support this programme?

There has always been a lively and close relationship between the three large bases of the methodological centres, through the workshops, sessions and mini-conferences mentioned above, which provide an opportunity for colleagues to exchange personal experiences and initiate small collaborations. The need to exploit the potential of online community spaces has not been addressed before, neither at a theoretical nor at a practical level, but has recently become more urgent. Our participation in the pilot programme of the EFFeCT project has also provided us with a lot of inspiration in this respect. In the summer of 2016, 39 teachers from Mezőfalva, Mohács and Kiskőrös took part in the Step by Step Methodology Centre in Kiskőrös, who later participated in a pilot project of the EFFeCT project.
have become members of a collaborative learning group. In order to teach more effectively using the Step-by-Step method, they visited each other, observed and evaluated each other's work. It was not an easy learning process, but it served an important purpose to facilitate knowledge sharing and the transfer of ideas and thoughts through these online platforms, in addition to offline meetings or exchanges between school teams/workgroups. The implementation of the pilot programme has shown us the incredible impact that online collaboration - even just in the form of a Facebook group - can have between teachers who want to learn and develop.
They are now uploading a mass of different exercises and descriptions to the common platform. I think the potential for further progress in this area is huge. Of course, there is much more than pedagogical expertise that is needed to succeed, but we definitely plan to launch online professional networks in the future, both large and small. We would like to organise a support system around the programme to support the efforts and work of the methodological centres.

What would you highlight as one of the values and achievements of the programme?

I think that the most important achievement of the programme is its ambition - in theory and in practice - to synthesise the so-called child-centred pedagogical elements that are emerging across the world of education. Quality development is a great help in this respect, as it also provides guidance on how to integrate these elements, methods and tools in a way that is appropriate to the teacher's personality, situation and circumstances. The second point I would like to emphasise is that the programme does not provide the teacher with a ready-made solution, it does not say
how this and that should be done, but it also leads the teacher to evaluate his/her own situation, to formulate his/her goals and to choose the tools. Of course, change and professional development are not necessarily the result of the programme alone, as gaps and needs also force some teachers to become open and open-minded. The programme itself and the teachers working in it provide a very good model for this. The third thing I would like to highlight from the point of view of the participants in the programme is continuous self-development,
continuous professional development. We need to find all the tools that can support this, both individually and through learning together.

Discipline problems, peer abuse, ostracism.

Child aggression and peer abuse present themselves in different ways in different institutions and are a growing challenge for teachers, students, parents and professionals working in the school environment. Today, almost all schools are affected in some way. Without the right tools, tensions increase and helplessness can turn into aggression. Even decades later, those affected still carry the consequences. In the long term, it affects their well-being and quality of life.

Our national and international experience shows that the best way to tackle aggression in preschool and school is prevention. And the key to prevention is a strong community, where individual and collective responsibility is based on commonly agreed rules. Partners Hungary Foundation has been working since 2015 to address and prevent conflicts, aggressive behaviour and peer abuse in educational institutions (kindergarten, primary and secondary schools). Currently running, our secondary school programme experiences were shared with the public at our conference in March 2017.

Our common interest to repair the damage to the community

• Negrea Vidia, a trainer and board member of the International Institute for Restorative Practices, shared her decades of professional experience on the positive effects of restorative approaches to school incidents.
• Basically, you don't become a criminal, but you live in a relational system, and you are driven by the need to belong, so you allow yourself to function in this way because of others. This also means that if nothing is done about the community, the people involved, following an incident, then no meaningful change can be expected.
• Very short, structured spaces are sufficient to create the necessary framework for connection and collaboration, and a restorative proactive circle that can be integrated into the lesson is a great help. In restorative justice, from which the school methodology is derived, all participants come together and decide together on the impact of the act committed and take responsibility for their future roles and responsibilities.
• No matter how just the judge decides, the story always continues in the corridor, because it is not those who own the conflict who decide. Restorative procedures, like mediation, return the conflict to the parties involved. Very often, the heightened emotional state of those involved blocks the possibility of moving forward, so community support is needed to resolve an incident.
• Generally speaking, those who become perpetrators in the school environment are unlikely to have been given the support to become cooperative. Often we ourselves, as adults and educators, become victims in school incidents, so it is very important that we can give ourselves what we need emotionally, and only then is it worth looking at who owns the conflict and who is involved.
• Restorative models aim to create a supportive community and strengthen relationships so that there is space and opportunity for community members to signal if a member is about to make an unwise decision before the incident occurs. If that space and openness is created, then there is an opportunity to focus on repairing the damage and making amends in the event of a disaster.

As a mediator, educator and in many other roles, it can help us a lot if we ask the right questions. Corrective questions:

• What happened? What was your part in it?
• Who is affected?
• How has it affected you?
• What needs to be done to put things right?
• How do we prevent it next time?

It is important that neither shame nor blame remain in the situation, which inhibits communication. Emotionally based statements are very helpful in this regard, i.e. being able to talk about what worries you, what gives you pleasure, how you feel about the situation.

For a good school climate, the 80% of our day should be about giving attention, regular feedback on individual choices, the impact of actions, and our emotions.

Proactive circles are about getting in the right mood, setting the groundwork for good vibes or working together, and working out the rules.

In the event of a problem, reactive circles serve to restore security, redress grievances and take joint responsibility.

A restorative conference involves those affected by an act with negative consequences in a collective discussion. It is a structured, scripted process in which individual conversations are followed by a collective discussion. Those affected can talk about how they have been affected by the act and what they should do to put things right.

Family Decision Making Conferencing is used when a child becomes vulnerable or the family needs to be supported to make the necessary changes and they themselves develop the plan to provide a solution.

For a school to work in this way, all the actors must speak the same language and have a common motivation.

The legal framework for alternative conflict resolution procedures in schools

From In our Erasmus+ programme the legal adviser of the Szolnok Service Vocational Training Centre, Dr. Orsolya Zolnai Zolnai, spoke about the integration of mediation and restorative procedures into the life of the school.

The legal background to the procedures is set out below:

• Act CXC of 2011 on National Public Education (hereinafter: Nkt.)
• EMMI Decree No. 20/2012 (VIII. 31.) on the operation of educational institutions and the naming of public educational institutions (hereinafter: EMMI Decree)

Its institutional background is governed by the organisational and operational rules of the public education institution and the school's house rules.

The Partnership against Aggression in Schools programme was introduced in the schools of Szolnok from 1 September 2017, following the training of teachers as mediators and restorative facilitators:

"Based on the EMMI Decree 20/2012 (VIII. 31.) on the operation of educational institutions and the naming of public educational institutions, our school also has the possibility to the disciplinary procedure conciliation procedure (mediation or a procedure using restorative methods) precede, which aims to process and evaluate the conflict, and on the basis of this, to reach an agreement between the parties to the conflict in order to remedy the grievance and prevent further similar conflicts."

• According to Orsolya Zolnai, schools are on a bumpy road in disseminating alternative methods, but it helps that the Partners Hungary Foundation trainers mentor the trained mediators and restorative facilitators in the programme. There are colleagues who do not believe in the method because they are not familiar with it and lack confidence in it, so they do not steer the case towards alternative solutions, so we are currently looking for a structured way of bringing disciplinary cases in. It is a success that in one school, one of the trained teachers has managed to get on the disciplinary committee, so that she can advocate more emphatically for the importance of mediation and restorative practices. In addition, working groups have been set up in each school to report on their work during the board meetings, thus promoting new practices and encouraging colleagues to dare to ask each other for help.
• According to Dr. Orsolya Zolnai, the most difficult thing is to reassess the concept of success within ourselves, which can help us overcome deadlocks. "We have cases that we are proud of and we confess that we are increasingly using mediation and restorative methods to resolve situations and conflicts."

In the afternoon session, Flóra Bacsó talked to teachers Eva Mészáros and Izabella Munkácsiné Tóth about how they can integrate alternative methods into everyday life. According to the teachers, the children welcomed the restorative circles with joy and curiosity, and by the second lesson they had already arranged the chairs themselves. In acute cases, mediation or reactive circles are solved by changing lessons, which requires flexibility and support from the leader.

This was followed by a series of classroom teacher lesson plans, which included conflict prevention, restorative and mediation methods, to give participants a first-hand taste of the experience.

Mediation in harassment and abuse cases?

Krisztina Kukity and Flóra Bacsó gave a thought-provoking presentation outlining the differences between aggression and bullying

The presentation was followed by small group discussions to gather participants' perspectives and information along the following questions.

1.Ki should be the process manager, what skills should he or she have? What to look out for before intervening in a harassment case?

The focus group came to the conclusion that it is good not to approach a situation with a specific set of tools, but with as broad a view and as many options as possible. Pair leadership helps a lot. In mediation, impartiality is a key factor, as it is not advisable to mediate in one's own school with people one knows. When working in a team, there should be room for reflection. It is important to recognise the hierarchy in relationships and to seek to balance power. Detecting and managing game situations: reality checks. In facilitative processes, we need to see where we want to and can get to with the participants (relationship repair? coexistence?).

2.Kik who should be involved in the process? What to look out for before intervening in a harassment case?

It depends on the case: how serious it is, who is involved. In addition to the specific actors involved, the facilitator/mediator, school psychologist, teacher, peer supporter, children's rights representative may be involved in the process. However, if there are many stakeholders (e.g. a whole class), it may not be possible to involve everyone and appropriate representation should be ensured by the facilitator/mediator.

3.To does the adult become aware of the abuse? How to we can make sure that reporting abuse is not perceived as a betrayal signal. What to look out for before intervening in a harassment case?

Often the affected child will tell the parent or teacher, or the unaffected child may pass it on to an adult. A warning sign to the adult may be a bruise, a tear in clothing, a change in behaviour. An idea was to have an anonymous reporting system at school: a box in the corridor or on the internet to pass on to an adult. A good atmosphere of trust is important at school and at home. It is worth creating community spaces at school where this can be a forum: this could be a presentation by a crime prevention adviser or internet safety specialist, or perhaps a class teacher lesson with experiential exercises, drama. It's also good if adults dare to raise the issue and can talk about the problems without blame.

4.What should we communicate to stakeholders that once we are aware of the Case, what will happen? What to look out for before intervening in a harassment case?

• It's important to tailor your communication to your target group (directness and clarity)
• Empathy
• It is worth finding out about the motivations of the people involved and whether they are really volunteering to participate in the process
• Non-directive support to boost adoption
• Consideration should be given to whether we talk to stakeholders separately and how we communicate with the community as a whole
• It is worth involving external support (mental health professional, school psychologist, teacher other than the class teacher)
• When starting an intervention, a process, it is important to communicate openly about its framework.

5.How should take place the preparation? What to look out for before intervening in a harassment case?

The following points have been made, but are not exhaustive:

• Who are the stakeholders?
• Who should lead the intervention?
• Which method of intervention should be used (facilitative interview, mediation, restorative method, other)
• Identification of other competent persons who can assist with the agreement
• To specify the problem: what exactly is the case in which we are planning to intervene?
• As a member of the Child Protection Signposting System, is there anything about the case that the facilitator is obliged to report?
• In the event of abuse, whatever the intervention, the role of volunteering is paramount
• Where and when can the intervention take place?

It is important to bear in mind that each case is unique, so the above points can serve as food for thought and a guide for professionals before intervening.

Thank you for a busy day, we will continue. The professional materials of our school programme HERE to download.

Our professional recommendation, presented on 31 March 2017, developed in the framework of intersectoral cooperation, is available in our office every weekday from 9 am to 5 pm:

1072 Budapest, Rákóczi út 22, 4/24.