School social work in Hungary

The first steps towards the formation of school social work in Hungary were taken after World War I. At the dawn of the history of Hungarian school social work school nurses (referred to as green cross nurses by Emőke Bányai) were working at schools in the late 1930s [1].Their work was very similar to that of a present-day social worker. It consisted of individual case work and working with families in the field and at school. The nurses had a college/university degree in education. They belonged to the staff of the school and their scope of duties was shaped according to the needs of the certain school. The nurses offered family care services mainly for families residing in the slums of Budapest in order to prevent academic failure and school dropout [2].After World War II, the Hungarian political elite declared that child protection above all means education. The first significant change in child protection took place in 1964, when teachers were appointed child protection workers in the kindergartens and schools of Budapest. Elements similar to those in the work of school social workers appeared in the scope of activities of family care workers employed by educational advisory services, which were launched in 1967. In 1975 child protection supervisors were appointed to advise child protection workers at schools. Such child protection supervision functioned until 1985. Employees of family-care centres established in the mid 1980s have developed a committed social worker identity. They made regular contacts with local schools, kindergartens, and offered various services to the children, parents and teachers they reached there. As a form of youth protection a so-called afternoon-care system was functioning in the 1970s and 1980s with elements resembling present-day social work. Social and economic changes taking place in the late 1980s and the consequent increase in the rate of unemployment, declassing and dramatic impoverishment of certain social groups, changes in social norms and values and the related emergence and extension of deviant behaviour challenged schools a lot as well. It became obvious that the problems arising suddenly and intensely prevented schools from fulfilling their basic tasks. It was visible that the difficulties mentioned could not have been handled by traditional educational tools. Child protection workers, whose positions were filled by teachers in return for a modest allowance and a one-hour weekly reduction in working hours (Annex 1 Act LXXIX/1993), were not able to cope with the task, since they did not have either the qualification or the time necessary for the management of complicated cases. Finally schools stated their claim to employ professionals who provide personal social services for pupils, parents and staff members. [4]