Our first special educators studied and practiced in the field of teaching deaf children in Vienna, the institute for deaf-mute people operating since 1799. The first special education institutions in Hungary were established in the 1800s, called „philanthropic” institutions.
Facilities were set up in 1825 for the blind, in 1875 for the mentally and multiply disabled, in 1891 for the stutterer and others with speech impairments. Special teacher training has become increasingly urgent, so special training courses were organized in the 1890s for the helper of deaf, stuttering, blind, and low-minded. Later, in 1900 the trainings were merged and included in a decree. This is how the two-year Special Education Teacher Training Course started in Vác (from 1904 in Budapest) as the legal predecessor of the Gusztáv Bárczi Faculty of Special Education. We keep in our archives the minutes of the school’s first teachers’ meeting.