Hier finden Sie den Beitrag „Contrast and Community – One last impression before a time of change“ von Péter Márián in der CORAX-Ausgabe 2/2026, um ihn bei Bedarf übersetzen zu können.

Contrast and Community – One last impression before a time of change¹

If you’ve heard news about Hungary and its political happenings lately, there might be a few words that come to your mind, and ‘intense’ or ‘chaotic’ might be among them. I’d like to take a moment to talk about how it feels to work as a social worker in schools these days and, through that, explore the interaction between day-to-day politics and social work theory and practice. I’ll start with the bad news and eventually arrive at the good news.

So, I’m a school social worker in Budapest. I’ve been working in the field for a little over two years at this point, so while I can’t claim to speak for the majority of us or provide a very wide-scale overview of events, I can definitely attest to the constant, never-ending learning process that I’ve been a part of since I began my university studies five years ago and the way politics and public discussion factors into it, to the benefit or detriment of the learning process itself. I think at this particular point in time I can name the next step or next direction I’d like to deepen my knowledge in: systematic thinking and, stemming from that, teamwork among colleagues and organizations. Since this is one of the most prevalent things on my mind these days, I’ll focus a bit more on this specific aspect.

I’ll try to summarize what I mean by systematic thinking as the ability to treat the locality you work in (and, ultimately, the society you function in) as a system of interconnected and interacting parts - basically, having a ready-to-go mental map of institutions, healthcare and well-being services, community spaces etc. to pull from when confronting the issues you encounter during your work with youth, families and (in my case) school staff. It is at this point that the bad news starts rolling in. I feel like the relationship between day-to-day politics and the theory and practice of social work and youth work here can be described as a stark contrast of ideas that go against each other on a fundamental level. In recent governmental communication regarding social policy, you’ll find a complete lack of the values, ideas and terminology that we learned about and used in university - in fact, you’ll find a lack of mention of the term ‘social policy’ at all and will instead find words like ‘care policy’ and ‘family policy’. It feels like the term social work itself is getting ready to be erased and replaced. These new terms and the ideas that stem from them have never been a part of the theoretical and practical framework of social work in Hungary and, you guessed it, they serve as a means of redefining how public services should work. With no separate ministry of education and a healthcare system in shambles (including mental health services), it’s up to us to uphold the values of social work, like empowerment, autonomy and mobility to the best of our ability in an unpredictable and lacking environment.

This, obviously, serves the unprofessionalization of social work and youth work and hinders system-based thinking – how can you talk about a system of youth work based on empowerment and a holistic approach when there’s no reinforcement for those ideas in your environment? It feels like the idea that systems of child care and youth work should ideally function as parts of an organic whole has simply been left off the priority list. These processes are, of course, also detrimental to the public image of social work - the majority of people still aren't really aware of what we do apart from being ‘the people who deal with the most vulnerable of the most vulnerable’.

I believe the tendency of policy-makers to disregard the previously-established theory and terminology of social work also hinders teamwork among colleagues. When it comes to teams of social workers working and problem-solving together, we need a common view of our profession’s basic principles or a common lexicon of the most important terms, and I’m concerned about all the colleagues out there who don’t have a good team to rely on.

So when the society and system you function in doesn’t reinforce the values you’ve taken on and developed through practice, where do you turn? That, for me personally, is where the good news comes in, because throughout these past five years and through all the changes, I’ve honestly always felt like I had somewhere to turn. Even the fact that I know I want to focus on systematic thinking stems from the uncountable conversations I have every day with colleagues and friends in the field who are open to sharing experiences and viewpoints. Everything depends on teamwork, and if you’re in an environment where you don’t have that, I believe you should try finding at least one other person who sees the point of it and work with them.
That piece of advice is actually one I heard during an international learning opportunity, which is the second greatest pillar of reinforcement I recommend to everyone. The youth exchanges and other opportunities I’ve participated in have been extremely refreshing and I get regular flashbacks of them which speaks to their relevance.
I also got extremely lucky with the institutions where I did my university internships. My first memories of working with youth include, among other things, rap classes and D&D sessions for the sake of socialization and skill development. These are only the best-sounding examples but they just give you a taste of the innovation and openness that defines many work environments here.

All of these varied experiences coalesce into the following conclusion: You need to make sure you’re in a constructive community of colleagues. If you have that, your chances of learning and progressing skyrocket. Even with social work not being represented in politics and the public eye, I’m confident to say these constructive environments are very much still out there even if it sometimes feels like they exist as oases in the desert, and being a social worker gives you something you can’t get anywhere else. All of us working in the field have a unique perspective on society. To any fellow colleagues reading this, please keep that perspective at the forefront of your mind.

Péter Márián – school social worker in Budapest

“The vibe in the workplace is a little tense. I think a lot of people need a few months to breathe out the propaganda. But it does feel like a time of healing overall.”²

¹ Hinweis: Dieser Artikel wurde vor der Parlamentswahl in Ungarn verfasst.

² Das Zitat entstand unter dem Eindruck der Stimmungsänderung nach der Parlamentswahl.