An explicit indicator of the programme’s success is the further employment rate of former students, which in the first instance appears in tender obligations, and it provides comparative figures when the programme is later evaluated. Normally the school contracts in the application to achieve a 70-80% employment rate, and they usually manage to reach it, but there were cases when they were able to exceed their commitment.
The leaders of the school pointed out other success indicators as well, which assess the programme from the point of view of students. One of these is the rate of students who successfully passed their professional trade exams (and so became skilled workers), but there are many "unofficial" indicators, which cannot really be expressed with statistical figures, because they are not very easy to measure. The programme director for example said " that would be a real failure if it turned out after a year that they had sunk back again to the level, they came from."
To assess the official success indicator, there is a follow-up system, which we mentioned before. When students complete their studies, they are given six envelopes with stamps, and the address on, so they just have to tick the boxes in the form which concerns them. The most important questions are
whether they are working, whether they work in the same place or somewhere else, and where, whether they need some help/guidance. Anyone who fails to send the questionnaire back (and there are quite a few) is visited.
Common programmes and community institutes are in part designed to provide a follow-up system, and which are also to keep up the sense of belonging and of union and community after finishing the programme. One of them is, for example, the Productive School students’ club, but it is always emphasised that should students have any problems, they should not hesitate to come back to the school. Many of them use the opportunity, because partially it substitutes the safety of a family.
It is planned to extend the follow-up system with the involvement of the existing network of the local civil society and their volunteers (altruistic locals with a lot of solidarity), who would be so-called social guides to help to ease the youngsters’ lives, and monitor them.
Future
Because transit programmes used to be supported by the OFA, at the moment it is a very big question for the Productive School in Pécs (as with all the other transit programmes), when the Foundation is not any longer able to provide this support.
Gradually the school has grown into a giant, complex institute, and it has a stopgap function in the city, and organically it has been built into the social-educational systems of the county. However, because the activities are project based, it endangers the safe operation of the institute, because from time to time, complex tender invitation packages disappear completely or are changed in Hungary, endangering everything which was originally the foundation. The director of the school thinks that the programme should be either integrated into the supply system of the employment system, or alternatively into the structure of the local authorities, and at the same time institutionalised. She thinks financing should provide the basics for their continuous operation, and it would also provide a safe background (hinterland) from where they could also apply for tenders. When data were collected, it was not possible to see clearly what chances they have to achieve that.
Conclusions
The key to success, observing the content of the programme from a professional point of view, is not only how elaborated the certain elements of
the programme with their continuous development are, but also how these cleverly invented, innovative elements of the programme are put together into a complex, logical chain.
We could refer to the innovation they introduced into educational methodology, or to the presence of well trained, experienced, committed staff who are willing and able to work flexibly (in unsocial hours), or in connection with professional training, to the proportion between theoretical and practical element, the latter which, unlike the traditional school education, overweighs the first.
But if we are to evaluate the programme not only from strictly professional points of view, but from other points of view as well, we can see how well this innovative initiative became embedded into the social welfare supplying system, and then we should highlight all the strategies and programme elements which enabled this organic embedment.
• The professional history of the management, specially the programme director’s (whose idea the school was) is very important, and as a result of this her authenticity and reputation in both professional and civil circles.
• Strong and active civil sector, and the supportive attitude of the local authorities, furthermore their willingness and ability to co-operate, which is not a very common phenomenon in Hungary.
• Potential opportunities can only be activated, mobilised through the network of social connections, using social capital, but for recognising and consciously using this phenomenon a person is needed, who should be a good strategist, and also lucky, and far-sighted enough.
• The mother organisation behind the school seems indispensable, because besides providing the initial capital it could continuously ensure the liquidity of the programme, so with their help they were able to survive a difficult period (which was the result of the after financing system) when they temporarily, but regularly had to face lack of resources.
• The fact that the school is alternative and innovative is similarly important to financing, because they have resource tracking activities (including even bartering), which is partially based on using social capital (good agreements with the local authorities), and partially moving to a direction of self-reliance, to a social enterprise.
• Getting involved with local civic organisations is a key element in the success of the programme.
• Abilities of flexibility and adaptation to any kind of circumstances are present on both personal and institutional levels, which significantly contributed to its success (It is quite a big achievement if one knows that in Hungary the background facilities and systems – social, institutional etc.- are continuously changing.)
• Finally we should mention at how high a level the institutional communication is organised, and how clear task management is, which both enable efficient work in all aspects.
Sources
Györgyi Zoltán – Mártonfi György: Vissza a munkaerőpiacra. A tranzitfoglalkoztatási program tapasztalatai. (Back to the labour market. Experiences of the Transit Employment Program) Oktatáskutató Intézet (Hungarian Institute for Educational Research), 2001. Kutatás közben 232.
Interviews:
Attila BAUM, János SZABÓ, Ilona SZŐKE, Production School of Pécs Géza BALOGH, Pécs-Gép Ltd.
Csaba FÁBIÁN, Fábián Ltd