Between March 8 and 14, faculty members from the Department of Hungarian Language and Literature (Professors Tamás Lózsi, Zsombor M. Tóth, and Ádám Pölcz) visited Helsinki to familiarize themselves with the Finnish education system, gain insight into Finnish culture, and build European connections. During the one-week, 40-hour Erasmus+ training program (organized by English Matters), they had the opportunity to exchange experiences and collaborate with educators from other European countries (France, Lithuania, Germany, Italy, Ireland, Spain, and the Czech Republic).

The experiences showed that Finnish educational institutions are built on trust and equality: this determines both the professional autonomy of teachers and the progress of students. Schools are well-equipped, new, spacious, and provide ample opportunities for student self-expression through arts programs and spacious communal areas. In a significant number of educational institutions, youth, social, and psychological counseling is also available to students.

However, the myth of the Finnish educational miracle is tempered by the realization that the near-complete digitization of the curriculum should be reversed in favor of textbook-based, analog forms of learning (at least in part), since—although the school provides students with the tools necessary for learning—research and teachers’ experience both show that effective learning requires slowing down and deep concentration, which the use of digital devices makes difficult or impossible. Not to mention handwriting, which has a beneficial effect on memory.

At the same time, the students’ foreign language skills are exemplary: everyone must study English and Swedish. Since learning is strongly communication-centered, it is possible to have a good conversation in English even with very young children.

School visits were interspersed with field trips and fieldwork. This is how our teachers made it outside Helsinki to Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, and also had the opportunity to experience Finnish sauna culture.

The department’s instructors began their European school visit tour in Iceland in the spring of 2024, continued in Sweden in 2025, and—according to plans—will next study Norway’s education system in 2027. The 2026 trip to Finland was made possible with support from the Erasmus+ program.

Photos: Tamás Lózsi, Zsombor M. Tóth, Ádám Pölcz