Talent management in Kossuth Demonstration School
“A good school cannot perform miracles; all it can do is to help everyone become what they can become. Nobody can be given talent by education: missing talent cannot just be injected into us. However, the different kinds of talents inherent in us must be supported and helped to develop.” (Ernő Rubik)
Lajos Kossuth Demonstration Grammar School and Primary School of the University of Debrecen had joined into the talent management activities of the university long before it became a consolidated institution, at a time when it was still an independent grammar school popularly known across the city as “Nagykossuth” (i.e. “Big Kossuth”). Therefore the first 2 stages of the talent management efforts of the school apply to the Lajos Kossuth Demonstration Grammar School of the University of Debrecen only.
Stage 1: until 2010 (the period of “traditional” talent management)
As a result of being the demonstration school of Lajos Kossuth University and later the University of Debrecen, talent management in the school has always been twofold: we strive to support and help, on the one hand, the secondary school pupils put in our charge, on the other hand, the talented university students who come to our school for their teaching practices.
Stage 2: 2010-2015
(MATEHETSZ: Association of Hungarian Talent Support Organizations).
The establishment of MATEHETSZ resulted in the joining of forces and the coordination of the activities of talent supporting organisations that had previously worked in an organised, but isolated way. The University of Debrecen has played a major role in the national network of MATEHETSZ: both in the areas of research and programme creation, and in the practical application of the European and Hungarian results. In 2010, the school became an accredited Talent Point. In 2011 and then in 2014, we received the title of Accredited Talent Point of Excellence. According to our credo, as published on the web page of the Talent Point, “the school participates in the work of the Talent Support Council; we strive to satisfy new challenges and expectations by way of constant innovation. The school's Quality and Local Pedagogical Programme also assigns high priority to talent management. As the demonstration school of the University of Debrecen, we have a constant and live relationship with the university, including its Department of Pedagogical Psychology, which plays a pioneering role in the field of talent management. In terms of its composition, the teaching staff of the school is perfectly suited to perform the tasks of talent management: all teachers are well prepared in their respective subjects, they actively participate in and also organised in-service trainings, and six teachers have successfully completed the training titled “Talent and its development.” […] In this work, we can also count on the institutions of the University of Debrecen, as well as other academic, research, and cultural institutions (e.g. the Institute for Nuclear Research, libraries, ”
Stage 3: Since 2015
This stage started with a significant change in the history of the school: a consolidated institution entailing major opportunities from the perspectives of talent management and teacher training was created (from Kossuth Grammar School, Kossuth Primary School and Arany Primary School): the Lajos Kossuth Demonstration Grammar School and Primary School of the University of Debrecen.
The new institution is striving to combine and realise 3, closely related approaches to talent management.
- Within the institution: the identification and management of talents, whereby the development of children is monitored and facilitated from primary school up to their matriculation examination.
- We would like to channel into the talent management efforts of the University of Debrecen by combining the structurally still separate talent management programmes of public and higher education. This means that we can receive professional assistance in our efforts to identify talents, and at the same time also lay the foundations for career orientation, the assistance of researcher pupils, and their commitment to scientific work, from primary school up to the point of entering higher education and the commencement of independent work.
- Our intention is to be the talent management centre of the entire region. Therefore, we also wish to utilise the possibilities of networked learning, as well as the talent management inherent in networked learning and teaching, on the basis of the principle of docendo discimus.
In the spirit of the above, in 2016, the grammar school unit of the school applied for the title of Base Institution of the Educational Authority, which we won in 2017.
The base institution of the Educational Authority: “an educational institution recognised on the county, district or possibly the national level, with established professional traditions, properly equipped in terms of infrastructure for the performance of its tasks, having such unique, coherent, inclusive, child-centred pedagogical practice, professional methodological and organisational culture and innovation that are exemplary also for other institutions, and which is capable of sharing its know-how in the given area in a high quality and efficiently. An institution where the good practices related to the given area of service operate well, with the participation of master teachers, master teacher advisers or teachers appointed by the head of the institution.”
Currently, our school has elaborated 22 good practices. Further we have been organising demonstration classes for teachers and the region, and will also continue this in the future.
In 2017, as a result of our successful application, we – the entire institution, i.e. all three units of the school – have been awarded the prestigious Accredited Talent Management Workshop title.
Accredited Talent Management Workshops (MTM) are “demonstration institutions of talent management created as part of a nationwide network providing an evenly distributed territorial coverage, which are engaged in talent management and development activities aimed at children/pupils of outstanding talent, supporting the teachers and other professionals playing a role in the talent management activities, and provide services aimed at their geographical district, by establishing a network with each other and with institutions of public education in their respective districts.”
On 27 October 2018, we organised a talent identification conference and workshop in the grammar school, and we also attended the conferences and workshops of other MTMs.
Naturally, we also continue our “traditional talent management work”: this year, there are a total of 163 extracurricular clubs and groups operating in the institution, preparing pupils for competitions, helping them catch up; self-educating groups, hiking, sports clubs, etc.
We presented our talent management work in 2016 and 2017 at the Talent Day held in the school.
We participate in talent management grant programmes (National Talent Points, Association of Hungarian Talent Support Organizations, Erasmus)
We cultivate international relations (Finland, Germany, Italy)
Furthermore, in order to be able to perform these talent management activities (reaching far beyond the confines of this brief description) in a professional and effective manner, our teachers also continuously develop themselves.