Teachers’ value conflict in a highly centralized system: Evidence from Hungary

This study examined the prevalence and patterning of teacher value conflict in Hungary's highly centralized public education system, interpreting findings through a moral-injury framework. Using latent profile analysis of 1370 Hungarian teachers and thematic coding of 1251 open-ended responses, we identified five educator profiles, including a value conflict with distress profile (18.3%) combining maximum job love with elevated system dissatisfaction and psychological symptoms. Profile distributions differed significantly by educational level (p = .003), though the effect was small (Cramér's V = .081), suggesting that systemic conditions shape value conflict across levels while modest level-specific variation also exists. Qualitative evidence corroborated values–mandate conflicts and child-welfare concerns, providing convergent validation of the quantitative classifications. Taken together, the findings suggest that sustained value conflict may reflect an experience that is not fully captured by traditional burnout models and may be more appropriately interpreted within a moral-injury framework, although the present data do not support diagnostic claims. Hungary's extreme centralization and post-socialist institutional legacy make it a critical test case for international debates on teacher wellbeing, professional agency, and systemic accountability. • Teacher value conflict has been examined from the perspective of moral injury. • Five latent profiles of value conflict have been identified. • The profiles combine system dissatisfaction, job love, and symptoms. • Systemic conditions amplify value conflict in education. • Value conflict arises from the clash of personal and institutional values.