In 2019 the Government in the VET 4.0 strategy expressed in connection with the transfor-mation of the VET system its commitment to the introduction of a quality management sys-tem that is aligned with and based on the European Quality Assurance Reference Frame-work for Vocational Education and Training (EQAVET). The rules governing the intro-duction of quality management in VET have been enshrined in various pieces of legislation; the Parliament adopted the Act LXXX of 2019, the new act on vocational education and training (VET), and the Government published the Government Decree 12/2020 of 7 Febru-ary 2020 on the implementation of the Act on VET.

The figure below presents the structure of the comprehensive institutional quality management system (QMS). The QMS will be fully developed in two years.

The basis of the QMS to be introduced is the self-evaluation of institutions to be carried out every two years, accompanied by an external evaluation conducted according to the same criteria. The external evaluation will be performed by the technical support institution of sectoral governance every four years. The set of criteria – expectations – and measuring tools to be applied for self-evaluation, external evaluation and teacher-trainer evaluation incorporate the EQAVET indicative descriptors and the EQAVET indicators. VET institutions will develop their QMS by 31 August 2022 for which they will be given methodological support from the sectoral governance.

The QMS in VET consists of the following elements:

• Quality policy: it contains the institution’s mission and vision, its set of strategic goals, defines the organisational framework of the QMS, the way the QMS is operated, the regulated processes of the institution in the areas of leadership and management, education-teaching-training, support functions and providing resources.
• Self-evaluation: the self-evaluation handbook to be published by the minister contains the set of criteria – expectations – to be applied, the indicators to be measured, the measuring tools of partner satisfaction measurements, and a proposal for the methodology of self-evaluation.
• External evaluation: the handbook to be published by the minister contains the same set of criteria – expectations – to be applied for self-evaluation, and the description of the methodology of external evaluation. External evaluation is used to assess the work of the VET institution and its head.
• Teacher-trainer evaluation: the performance of VET teachers and trainers is evaluated by the head of the VET institution every three years based on the methodology proposed by the minister. Assessment of the work of teachers and trainers falls outside the scope of external evaluation, nonetheless it examines how the institution’s system of teacher-trainer evaluation functions.

As the very first step of the QMS introduction the criteria for assessing teachers’-trainers’ performance have been established which will serve as the basis for the wage increase effected as a result of the change of status of VET teachers on 1 July 2020 (instead of the Public Employees Act they will be covered by the Labour Code). The evaluation tasks will be performed by the head of the institution using the data collected and relying on the work of their colleagues in the school management – if necessary, involving experts in the process. Teacher-trainer performance and its objective, differentiated evaluation are the responsibility of the heads of institutions. The criteria for the new mode of teacher-trainer evaluation have been developed in consideration of the EQAVET Framework and the Hay system.

The Hay system is a job evaluation method invented by Edward N. Hay (USA) and has been used in Hungary by large corporations since the early 90’s. The organisational value of a job is measured in the context of job profiles using a scoring system to enable comparability.

Application of the teacher evaluation system

Pursuant to the VET 4.0 strategy “One of the key endeavours is to have teachers of theory and practice who are familiar with the latest technologies of their area of specialisation.” The new set of evaluation criteria is the cornerstone of the teacher-trainer evaluation system implemented in VET that is to replace the former mode of qualification of teachers. The VET sectoral governance is committed to the adoption of quality criteria in the evaluation of teachers and trainers. The areas and criteria of evaluation defined are formulated as requirements – expectations – for VET teachers and trainers. No high-quality training system can be operated without dedicated and well-prepared teachers and trainers.

Because of the quality requirements of the renewed VET system, it is important that teachers and trainers are rated according to these rules during the change of their status; the performance evaluation to be carried out now must be based on the currently available data and results. The wage increase following the change of status should be founded on the evaluation of teacher-trainer performance. Wages are set in consideration of the results of performance evaluation; however, the specific evaluation areas are given different weight. Weight coefficients will be defined uniformly within the institution according to the sectoral policy objectives of VET development, regional VET goals, and the situation in the local labour market.

The teacher-trainer evaluation system can be applied to all teaching jobs of VET institutions (teachers of general and vocational subjects, psychologist, librarian teacher, developmental teacher, dormitory teacher). A separate leadership evaluation system regarding leadership competences and management tasks will be devised to assess the heads of VET institutions.

Teacher performance is assessed in ten evaluation areas:

• Evaluation areas 1–3 concern the evaluation of the given job.
• Evaluation areas 4–10 represent the assessment of the professional competences and performance of the job holder.

The evaluation criteria are a breakdown of the evaluation areas, so all areas together with the criteria within cover the entire teaching activity. Evaluation is not performed by criterion; rather, teacher-trainer performance and competences are assessed in consideration of the criteria by awarding 1–6 points for the whole evaluation area. Not all criteria are relevant to all teaching jobs, the entire evaluation area needs to be scored without taking such criteria into account.

The Explanatory notes based on the criteria of the evaluation areas help VET institutions in interpreting the given evaluation criterion.

The Indicators column provides sources of information by criterion on which teacher-trainer performance evaluation is based. For the first evaluation, those which are available of these sources of information must be used.

A score of 1 to 6 points can be awarded for an evaluation area which represents the competence and performance level achieved by a teacher / trainer.

Continuously employed teachers and trainers and their job must be assessed in all evaluation areas. For newly hired teachers and trainers only the job can be evaluated, but not their professional competences, so in their case only evaluation areas 1–3 need to be considered and only the assessment of the respective job is taken into account when determining their wage.

Teachers and trainers are entitled to see the results of their evaluation and to consult the head of the VET institution about them.

The teacher-trainer evaluation system (in Hungarian) can be accessed on the website of the Centre for Innovative Training Support.