Inclusion and education

BOX 8.1: 
Hungary involves parents in the transition of the 
poorest children into education
In Hungary, the Sure Start Children’s Houses programme, which 
drew on its counterpart in the United Kingdom, supports poor 
families in ensuring that children not otherwise reached by 
institutional care can make a smooth transition into pre-primary 
education at the compulsory age of 3. Introduced in 2003 and 
expanded with European Union support, it has been co-funded by 
the government since 2012 and was recognized in the country’s 
2013 child protection law. Today, 180 Children’s Houses serve 
about 2,500 children per year (Hungary Government, 2020).
In addition to day care and skills development, which parents can 
attend, the Children’s Houses offer meals, parental education 
and community events. The programme establishes partnerships 
among parents, children, and health, social and early childhood 
care workers, but also with local communities in the most 
disadvantaged micro-regions and settlements with segregated 
neighbourhoods and ghettos, often inhabited by Roma 
(Havasi, 2019).
A key challenge was selecting appropriate locations. Some of 
the Children’s Houses were too far from settlements, and the 
poorest beneficiaries, who had to be transported in buses, would 
not participate. But when houses were located in settlements, 
better-off beneficiaries would avoid them. Only a fifth of the 
Children’s Houses had the right mix to facilitate the programme 
aims (Balás et al., 2016). A good practice was the involvement 
of Roma communities in the appointment of staff, mentors and 
social workers (Lukács, 2017).
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One concern is the predominance of paper-based 
communication methods, leaving opportunities offered 
by technology untapped. Some countries are innovating 
in that direction. Estonia uses social media channels in 
addition to local newspapers. In Latvia, parents of learners 
with additional support needs are informed by entries 
in an online journal and a learner’s diary. Montenegro 
has established a portal allowing parents to monitor 
their children’s grades, absences and behaviour, to 
communicate with the homeroom teacher and to obtain 
information on scheduled parent meetings as well as other 
notifications. In addition, it publishes general information 
such as the dates of parental meetings and excursions.
Teachers and parents can receive training to support 
communication and collaboration and enable genuine 
involvement. In Belarus, the Czech Republic and 
Slovakia, as part of inclusive education legislation 
implementation, teachers and school leaders are trained 
in parental involvement, communication with parents 
of learners with special education needs and parent–
school cooperation.
Some countries offer parent education programmes.
In Belarus, schools organize quarterly parent academies 
offering education and exchanges. Parents can specify 
a topic of interest and the type of specialist with whom 
they want to talk, such as a psychologist on parent–child 
relationships, suicide prevention or working with children 
at risk. Mongolia also offers parent education to support 
children’s development and lifelong opportunities.
In much of the world, parents build networks or 
associations outside schools to press for inclusive 
education policy and practice reform, often through 
the court system (Stubbs, 2008). Within the region, 
however, there is relatively little evidence of involvement 
in such national alliances and parent associations. 
In Georgia, Hungary, the Russian Federation and 
Turkey, associations have been formed to develop 
parental involvement capabilities. A group of parents 
in Petrozavodsk, the Russian Federation, sued the 
government and subsequently protested for access 
to mainstream schools for children with cerebral palsy 
(Meresman, 2014).
Involvement in school governance can make parents 
agents of change
Parents and other community members should be 
involved in school management committees.
As mentioned above, 25 education systems in the region 
have policies supporting parental participation in school 
governing boards and parent councils at the municipal, 
regional or national level.
The shape, focus and formal influence of these bodies 
vary. In Bulgaria, public councils are tasked with fostering 
inclusion by facilitating equal access to education, 
promoting motivation of ethnic minority children and 
encouraging parents to participate in the education 
process. Parental involvement in governance has helped 
provide feedback on curriculum and annual programme 
plans in Croatia and manage additional financial 
resources in the Russian Federation. In North Macedonia, 
parents are involved in governance through a school 
inclusion team, which addresses inclusive policies and 
practices at the school level, and an inclusive student 
team, which works on an individualized education plan 
or modified curriculum. In the Republic of Moldova, 
where national legislation contains explicit rules for 
parental engagement, school collaboration with parents 
has improved.
However, structures for parental influence in governance 
still face challenges in the region. In the Czech Republic 
and Hungary, parents’ influence is low in processes such 
as school development and school evaluations. Municipal 
education councils in Lithuania scrutinize how municipal 
authorities implement national education policy, approve 
long-term education goals and mobilize society to reach 
them, but doubts have been expressed about their 
effectiveness (Smalskys et al., 2019). Ineffective parental