Changes in Educational Science Thesis Topics between 1989 and 2024 at the Intersection of Teacher Education and Adult Education a neveléstudományi szakdolgozati témák változásai 1989–2024 között a tanárképzés és a felnőttképzés metszetében

Abstract

This study is based on a qualitative and quantitative analysis of 2,311 thesis titles produced between 1989 and 2024 at the Teacher Training Centre of the University of Dunaújváros. The aim of the research is to explore changes in educational
science discourses and pedagogical practice through students’ topic choices. Our hypothesis is that thesis titles function as sensitive indicators of paradigm shifts in education, particularly reflecting the growing prominence of competence-based, digital, and reflective pedagogical approaches, as well as the increasing presence of adult education content. The analysis combines qualitative content analysis with descriptive statistical methods. The results identify three distinct periods: the
normative model following the political transition, the learner-centred turn of the
2000s, and the digital and andragogical orientation that has emerged since the 2010s. The latter has been strongly influenced, alongside various levels of technical
teacher education, by the integration of communication and cultural organisation programmes and andragogy programmes into the training structure over relatively short time intervals.