Hellenic Pedagogical Cosmos

Hellenic Pedagogical Cosmos, Vol. 10, No 2 November 2013

VOLUME 10, NUMBER 2, NOVEMBER 2013

A Periodic Kaleidoscope on Education and Pedagogy in Hellas

Hellenic Pedagogical Cosmos

A Periodic Kaleidoscope on Education and Pedagogy in Hellas

Editor

Dr Leonidas C. Bombas

Contributors

Bombas, Kleoniki

Gouva, Dimitra

Kolonia, Irene

Koraki, Anna

Kostarelos, Christos

Levaki, Katerina

Palios, Zacharias

Papadimitropoulou, Elly

Pitterou, Efie

Prodromou, Thomai

Assistant to the Editor

Kleoniki Bombas

Hellenic Pedagogical Cosmos ( HPC ) is an informative, rather unusual, periodical on educational and pedagogical issues and developments in contemporary Hellas. It is not an academic review in the traditional sense by which such reviews have become known throughout the international academic community. The format is different, the contents as a whole are presented differently. Notwithstanding this, HPC seeks, primarily, to serve the needs of all those Anglophones whose access to the esoteric educational atmosphere of Greece is limited due to the Greek language barrier. Throughout the contents of the periodical, the non-Greek speaking reader may find a number of highly synoptic presentations of a variety of educational and pedagogical themes from a wide spectrum of ‘originators’ (e.g. academics, researchers, teachers, parents, students, journalists, politicians, etc) that rarely cross Greek borders via the medium of a ‘foreign’ language. In that sense, the heterogeneous panorama of the synchronous Hellenic pedagogy analyzed in this ‘Cosmos’ may always be of both theoretical interest and practical use to all those involved in the field of education.

Editorial correspondence should be addressed to: Dr Leonidas C. Bombas , 24 Efthimiou Papa Street, 17342 Agios Dimitrios, Greece.

Tel: 697-4433234

Fax: 210-9927659

e-mail:

www.hpcosmos.gr

HPC will be published two times a year, in May and November. These two issues constitute one volume.

Athens, Greece: ‘Foloi’ Publications

ISSN 1790-1049

HELLENIC PEDAGOGICAL COSMOS

Volume 10, Number 2, November 2013

Editor’s lexis

…and

- A new program “We learn together”

- Albanian children to learn mother tongue

- World History in Greek education

- An interesting graduate course of studies

- The Greek Orthodox Community of Melbourne & Victoria

- Hellenic schools in the Information Society (The “Odysseia” Program

- Psychometric tests for all Greek teachers?

- The central theme of this issue: “Contemporary Teaching Approaches”

- Some indicative numbers in Greek education

- Democracy and education

- Official holidays for all Greek schools

- On the evaluation of the educational system (again…!)

- Expensive free education

- A new journal on education & pedagogy in Greece

- Prosopography of Dimitris Chatzidimou

- Award for an exchanging books platform

- Dyslexia a la Grec!

- Greek university students in the Netherlands

- Teacher gender-related influences in Greek schools

- Week of environmental education

-The All-Day or Extended schools

-Panorama of Higher education

- A little less than a decade ago

The valuable assistance of “Nea Ekpaideftiria – G. Malliara” in realizing this HPC project is greatly appreciated

Hellenic Society of Counselling and Guidance

ELESYP, the Hellenic Society of Counselling and Guidance is the only scientific society of multiannual activity, high class and indisputable recognition in the wider relevant field in our country. Its successful course is owed the inconspicuous work of many scientists of the field who have worked with success...

The need of coordination and exploitation of all solitary potencies involved in Counselling and Guidance in Greece has led to He.S.Co.G. foundation in November, 1985.

He.S.Co.G. is a scientific, non profitable compant, aiming in:

· Reinforcement, promotion and establishment of Counselling and Guidance.

· Fortification of qualification of the Counsellor - Guide in Greece.

· Knowing, helping, cooperating and communicating with each other of all Members of the He.S.Co.G.

We attempt to implement the above aims with our scientific magazine edition, "Review of Counselling and Guidance", with further education programs, with meetings and seminars, with conferences and research, with the cooperation with other carriers in Greece and abroad etc.

Members of the He.S.Co.G., today counting about 1050, are Counsellors of Vocational Guidance, Psychologists, Sociologists, Social Workers, and - in majority - Teachers-Counsellors on Vocational Guidance and Heads in charge on School Vocational Guidance. Members of the He.S.Co.G. can be all persons involved or interested in Counselling and Guidance, according to Association Memorandum.

Editor’s lexis

Once more, higher education – along, of course, with the severe economic crisis which continues to permeate every single aspect of Greek society and its people as a whole - appears to occupy the central stage of public/political ‘logos – antilogos’ in Greece. More specifically, the administrative staff of all Greek universities and the decision of the Ministry of Education to reduce the total number of that particular segment of public servants by implementing a so-called program of ‘availability’ and ‘mobility’ among the different institutions of the country, have created intense tensions and controversies within the tertiary educational community at large - Greek political parties included. Despite the fact that most universities in the Greek periphery – more than less - seem to have found a rather ‘operational modus vivendi” concerning this latest policy of the Ministry vis-à-vis those employed in the different administrative posts of the respective institutions, the problems and the ‘quarreling’ has become the order the day and has been intensified between the two opposing camps in the case of the University of Athens and the Metsovian Polytechnic in Athens. Indicative of this fierce conflict is the very fact that the administrative personnel through their continual striking has kept those two large and historic institutions closed for nearly three months, thus jeopardizing the current semester. As one might have expected, all students concerned have been caught in the middle of this peculiar “brand d’ affaire’ of the Ministry and the university administrative personnel -university rectors and a noticeable number of university professors siding with the striking employees while arguing that their institution cannot function if this ‘availability-mobility’ scheme of the Ministry is implemented.

It should be noted in this context that, these ‘structural reforms’ pursued by the Ministry of Education (by the Government, for that matter) constitute an integral part and obligation of the numerous and highly painful (economic, political and social) ‘reforms’ and ‘adjustments’ all over the country dictated by the “Troica” (EU and IMF,) within the framework of the consistently austere policies implemented in the course of the last four years. Expectedly (?) this intense ‘struggling’ at the tertiary education level has left very little room - if any - for primary and secondary education issues and developments to attract the public attention needed/deserved. This is not to say that primary and secondary teachers have not staged their ‘occasional strikes’ since the beginning of the current school year, protesting against the “availability/mobility’ scheme of the Ministry directly affecting several thousands of their colleagues. Yet, the media, the politicians and virtually all ‘public discussion panels’ only rarely and sporadically seem to deal (care about?) with the daily crucial issues of primary and secondary schools. This is something, of course, which does not come as a surprise (unfortunately…again!) to anyone familiar with Greek society and its attitudes towards the so-called “lower or basic education”.

Leonidas C. Bombas Athens, November 2013

Comparative Educationalist

Director of Studies, “Nea Ekpaideftiria – G. Malliara”

Chronic searching for classroom catalysts in the Hellenic pedagogical arena

A new Program called “We Learn Together”

The non-profit S. Latsis Foundation, wishing to support all types and forms of creativity which are being developed during the learning and the educational process within the framework of primary education in Greece, invites primary education teachers to submit proposals of original and innovative educational activities/projects which will be implemented during the school year 2013-14. It is stressed that this ‘open invitation’ and the ensuing proposals concern only kindergartens and primary schools located on the different Greek islands. The principal goal of this action is the promotion of those school-related initiatives through which knowledge is developed and enriched, as well as the dissemination of relevant information within the school and the societal environment at large about the experiences and the skills of those Greek pupils concerned. At the same time, teachers serving in those schools have the opportunity to try out innovative educational ideas and practices.

The basic pre-conditions for participating in this Program of “Learning Together” are:

= All proposals that are to be submitted should concern the integration into the daily school praxis of school and out-of-school activities of different forms and content aimed at upgrading the work and the role of the school concerned as a whole;

= Only teachers from island-located kindergartens and primary schools are eligible to submit proposals. These proposals may be submitted either by individual teachers or by relatively small groups of teachers having assigned a teacher-coordinator in such cases;

= The exact amount of financial support that will be granted to each particular proposal/activity will depend on the total budget of the proposal in question and that financial support may reach up to the total amount of 3,000 euro per proposal. All expenses incurred during and for the implementation of the activity are eligible, except salaries or payment of the participants.

Cultural pluralism in our xenophobic cosmos: contemporary philanthropists and stoics… in action

Albanian children to learn mother tongue

The Mayor of Kavala, Kostis Simitsis received the general consulate of Albania, Riza Ponta on a ceremonial visit and responded to his request, which also expresses the desire of the Albanian community of the city of Kavala.

The mayor agreed to provide a classroom at the central primary school, where children of Albanian immigrants born in Greece will now be given the opportunity to also be taught their mother tongue with the assistance of the municipality of Kavala. The Albanian language courses are every Saturday, for children aged from 6 to 14, and are based on the same curriculum in force in Albania. Simitsis stated to ANAMPA that, “the integration of migrants is an important issue for the Greek society and for that the municipality of Kavala took this innovative initiative. With the help of the Directorate of Primary Education as well as the cooperation of the 10th Primary School, we are initiating Albanian language courses believing that the children of Albanian immigrants who live and work in our town will learn the language of their home country. We believe that similar initiatives, like this one, facilitate the coexistence of people while promoting at the same time the idea of cooperation and peace in the Balkans.”

Education, Immigration, News

From the history of the neo-Hellenic education system: a didactic nostalgia

Background of the Problem

In Greece, the issue (of equality of opportunity of access in higher education) appeared for the first time in 1964, when the government introduced a comprehensive set of reform policies geared to promote a more democratic system of higher education. Until 1964 the basic characteristics of the Greek system of higher education, in relation to the issues discussed here, were: a) the concentration of institutions of higher education in the two major cities of Athens and Thessaloniki; b) the increasing demand for higher education; c) the geographical centralization of the entrance examinations system (in the locus of the schools of higher education); and d) decentralized decision making on the content of the entrance examinations by professors in the corresponding schools of higher education.

The direct results of these characteristics were: a) the concentration of frontistiria (a kind of private prep school) in the two major cities; b) countrywide migration of applicants for universities places to the two major cities to attend the frontistiria and participate in the entranc e examinations; c) continuous increase in the ‘difficulty’ of the entrance examination questions, an easy answer to the increasing number of applicants; d) attendance in the frontistiria lengthened from two to four years as a result of increasingly difficult exams; e) a tendency among university applicants to participate twice or more in the entrance examinations.

These developments resulted before 1964 in an obvious inequality in student access to higher education depending on socioeconomic background. For one thing, access in the exams, directly associated with frontistiria attendance, required many students to live in the Athens or Thessaloniki area for almost two years before finishing high school. Furthermore, in the case of failure in the first try, this meant another year or more of full-time frontistiria attendance. The direct costs involved and the income forgone by those persisting until final success required an economic outlay that strained the resources of many families.

Educational Policy and the Issues Raised

The educational reform of 1964 included specific policies focusing on the

democratization of the higher education system. They were: a) the ‘free education for all’ measure which meant the abolition of all university fees for students; b) increase in the number of students; c) change in the system of the entrance examinations, that is, centralized design of exams by field of study (at the high school level) and decentralized administration of exams by small geographical regions; and d) decentralization of new schools and new universities throughout the country. The main focus of the reform policies was to make higher education more accessible to students of wider socioeconomic groups coming from all regions of the country.

…It is clear that the impact of the reform very definitely reduced the inequality of access to higher education immediately after the reform. However, it has failed to promote sustained change by keeping the equality of opportunity at the 1969 levels. It rather tends to regress to the situation before the reform when one considers the whole country.

…The conclusion, therefore, is that the specific reforms have not been sufficient to achieve a large-scale sustained change toward more equality of opportunity. They have succeeded, however, in introducing a considerable change, concerning the school (National Technical University) and the field of study (technology) which used to discriminate the most. The introduction of reforms, not the specific reforms themselves, has affected the whole higher education system for a short period of time. On the other hand, the lack of overall sustained change in the opportunity of access of diverse socioeconomic groups of students leads me to conclude that the entrance examination reform needs to be completed.