Even in European comparison, the number of kindergarten places in Hungary has increased by 80 percent in recent years, said the State Secretary responsible for families at the professional conference entitled "Child Development Questionnaire in the Service of Monitoring the Development of Young Children" in the capital.

Ágnes Hornung stated that the number of nursery places increased from 32,000 to more than 59,000 between 2010 and 2022.

"Nursery services are now available in three times as many settlements as in 2010. There are almost four times as many institutions and services," he said, adding: in the spirit of family-friendly governance, the professional appreciation of educators should not be forgotten, which is why the government implemented a comprehensive and significant wage increase in the sector in recent years.

"The future is written by our children, and their well-being is the common interest of the nation," said Ágnes Hornung, who called it important to continuously develop professional methods in addition to the expansion of places.

To this end, a new measuring device is being developed, with the help of which nursery teachers and kindergarten teachers can monitor the development of children and filter out possible developmental delays and abnormalities in time, added the state secretary.

According to the background material of the conference, the presented methodological development is based on the observation of children's everyday activities. The questionnaires, which can be completed in 15-20 minutes and are in line with international trends, examine, among other things, cognitive skills, language development, fine and gross movements, as well as social and emotional development.

Ágnes Hornung reminded that until now there was no uniformly accepted, standardized measurement tool available in nurseries and kindergartens that could be used to characterize all areas of development. However, according to him, the new methodological tool is suitable for this task and makes the education of young children more effective, that is, it means additional help to families.

The state secretary indicated that among the government's objectives is the digitization of daycare administration, and the newly developed questionnaire will also be connected to this innovation.

He also spoke about the fact that, for more and more children, the nursery provides their first socialization experience outside the family, moreover, the experiences of the first years are extremely decisive in terms of their later physical, mental and spiritual development, therefore it is very important that the nursery teachers create suitable conditions and safety for the for little ones and to pay attention to suspected signs of atypical development as soon as possible.

Judit Kereki, the professional manager of the Family-Friendly Hungary Center, spoke about how the earlier you intervene, the better results can be achieved in the development of children. From this point of view, the age under three years is decisive, he stated.

The specialist pointed out that the new child development questionnaire was specially designed for nursery school teachers and kindergarten teachers, it can be easily evaluated and does not cause difficulties in carrying out everyday work.

"Thanks to the development, educators will also receive help in what to do in case of differences observed in children, where they should send the child," he added.

Source: vasarnap.hu

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