Hungary

Shaking hands with stars!

As a part of the Hungarian project team of the "Sowing Learning Seeds" project I had the chance to attend the Adult Learners' Week in 2011 in Ireland. In previous years I worked together with the Hungarian Folk High School Society and I had the chance to learn about this campaign and I found their main goals - putting adult education and adult learners in focus and make their voices louder with interesting and fun programs - engaged me immediately. During the Hungarian Adult Learners' Week I also gained a general overview of program types and organizers, and also how poorly this idea is supported by stakeholders at national level and the kind of financial frameworks the programs have to work within. Seeing a festival in Ireland both inspired and disappointed me. The attention that they managed to build for their programs is really impressive and in it shine a light on the democratic society in Hungary, showing how young it and how relatively naïve and inexperienced the stakeholders in the field of adult education are.
 
The design of the study visit offered us a quick view of different program types and also included a workshop on volunteering with the participation of local experts and practitioners. Media plays a very important role in the Learning Festival concept and as with the Hungarian experience, local media waves the banner for advertising AL programs. During the visit at NEAR FM radio station, I discovered how the media itself can profit from cooperation with local volunteers bringing general topics closer to their audience.
Without question, the highlight of the whole visit was the Star Award Ceremony and not just because it was very well organized and had a "red carpet" event sensation. The STAR Awards is an awards initiative that acknowledge the fantastic work undertaken by adult learning projects throughout Ireland. The awards celebrate the positive contribution that these projects make to society and generally empower adults to re-join learning. During the sparkling event the presence and the speech of the Minister for Lifelong Learning, Sean Haughey highlighted how recognized this festival is and how appreciated the organizers and more importantly, the learners are. The fact that the country holds such a high position for adult educational issues is also a very clear sign of their responsible social approach.
 
As a part of the Star Awards Ceremony all the shortlisted candidates made short introductions to their projects, and we also met them during the informal parts of the program. During dinner we shared a table with one of the winners, one of the representatives of the Newmarket Car Maintenance Project. It was amazing to see how much it meant for them to receive their prizes and also how enthusiastic they were to share this pride with their learners. This motor vehicle project was initiated by staff at the Obair local development company who recognized how car and motorbike maintenance could be used to successfully encourage local unemployed men to take up training and education. The goal was for the young men to secure employment and increase their social capacity in the local community.
 
Even being only an observer of the event and tasting the essence of the Irish Adult Learners' Week, I returned home with full of enthusiasm to open my eyes for the small achievements and consider them as life changing good practices.

Zsuzsanna Balogh, Hungary