Those taking part included participants invited by the Hungarian UN Youth Delegate Programme, the National Youth Council of Hungary, Fridays for Future, the ADOM Student Movement, the Budapest Student Assembly, the National Student Council, UNICEF Hungary, the Hintalovon Child Rights Foundation, Blue Line, the Budapest Student Self-Government, Amnesty International Hungary and SOS Children’s Villages Hungary. Also present were a youth delegate to the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, along with young people representing eastern and western Hungary. 

Through playful exercises, personal experiences, and conversations shaped by different points of view, the participants explored the issues most on young people’s minds in their immediate and wider communities, and in education. The workshop created an open, safe space where everyone could have their say, and where different experiences could feed into a shared understanding. 

“The aim of today’s session was to start a shared journey,” said Anita Kaderják, an education researcher at the Ministry of Education and Children’s Affairs responsible social dialogue and participation. Her research focuses on student performance, inequalities in educational opportunity, and the evaluation of educational programmes and teachers’ work. “We have begun laying the foundations for a process for young people to also have a role in shaping how we think about the future of education.” 

The workshop was conceived and facilitated by a team of young professionals with members including MOME alumna Borka Moravcsik, now a lecturer at the university, and a service and product designer working in social design. 

The event is the first in a series that will involve young people as co-designers in developing a participation group for children and young people within the Ministry of Education and Children’s Affairs. 

Further sessions and creative methods will follow in the coming months, allowing more young people to join the conversation about education.