One of the main tasks of the Hungarian Institute for Educational Research and Development is to undertake research, mainly applied, supporting educational policy making and to assess the impact of earlier policy decisions. Hungary has introduced major changes in educational policy since 2010. Behind these changes stand, on the one hand, the social policy goal of strengthening the middle class, and on the other hand, the work-based economic policy that came out of Hungary’s unique way of managing the impact of the 2008 global economic crisis through such means as the bank levy and state support for production capacities. The direction and depth of these changes have been greatly influenced by the fact that Hungary’s school age population has been steadily declining for two decades, and the rate of disadvantaged children within the student population has been increasing.
