A Periodic Kaleidoscope on Education and Pedagogy in Hellas

Hellenic Pedagogical Cosmos, Vol. 6, No. 2, November 2009

VOLUME 6, NUMBER 2, NOVEMBER 2009

A Periodic Kaleidoscope on Education and Pedagogy in Hellas

“Foloi”

HellenicPedagogicalCosmos

A Periodic Kaleidoscope on Education and Pedagogy in Hellas

Editor

Dr Leonidas C. Bombas

Contributors

Bombas Victoria

Kolonia Irene

Koraki, Anna

Levaki Katerina

Pitterou Efie

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:

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

HELLENICPEDAGOGICAL COSMOS

Volume 6 Number 2, NOVEMBER 2009

Editor’s lexis

…and

H.P.C. : Six (full) years, already

Another–new- Minister of Education around the corner

On the evaluation front…again!

The anthology from the press has things to say

Current developments from the Greek higher education

Mistakes and correction in foreign languages teaching

Let us think and let us talk about it:

The educational/Pedagogical value of students’ mistakes

Meet contemporary Greek educationalists

The latest production of articles/papers in journals

Presenting a recently published book

Intercultural education in school praxis

Greek Ministers of Education and their …short life!

Listening to music…in Greek education

Money for the Greek education system is urgently needed

The comparative educationalist Dimitrios Mathaiou

Books on education and pedagogy

A reminder for the Greeks in Diaspora

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

The University of Crete

is a multidisciplinary, research - oriented Institution, situated in the cities of Rethymnon and Heraklion.

It is a University with a well-known reputation both nationally and internationally, with state-of-the art curricula and graduate programmes, considerable research activity and initiatives that reflect its dynamic character.

University of Crete was established in 1973. Today, approximately 10628 students attend the University. The University's staff consists of 580 Teaching and Research Staff members. Its' operation is supported by more than 400 administrative staff.

The University of Crete is developed in two cities and three campuses:

Rethymnon Faculties operate in the recently constructed University Campus, located in the area of Gallos. The buildings cover an area of approximately 30,000 square meters.

At Heraklion the Faculty of Health Sciences and the Departments of Physics and Biology operate in the recently constructed facilities in Voutes, in an area of 49,000 square meters (Voutes Campus).

Faculties of the University of Crete- The following Faculties operate at Rethymnon, which is the seat of the University:

The Faculty of Letters consisting of the Departments: Philology, History-Archaeology, Philosophy and Social Studies.

The Faculty of Social Sciences consisting of the Departments: Sociology, Economics, Psychology and Political Science.

The Faculty of Education consisting of the Departments: Primary Education and pre-School Education.

- The following Faculties operate at Heraklion:

The Faculty of Science consisting of the Departments: Physics, Mathematics, Chemistry, Biology, Computer Sciences, Applied Mathematics and Material Science and Technology.

The Faculty of Health Sciences consisting of the Department of Medicine.

Editor’s Lexis

Upon the completion of the 6th year ofpublication of the Hellenic Pedagogical Cosmos and following the rather commonly adopted tradition of most similar endeavours to look back for a while at ‘our roots’ as a kind of ‘memorabilia’ and, also, as a necessary retrospective processfor future planning and action, this column of the “Editor’s Lexis” makes room for such a reminiscence.In all frankness, it should be stressed that, of course, the reader is in no way obliged to share or to followall this ‘nostalgic’ introductory footnote.Anyway…

When back in 2004 I decided to make ‘praxis’ a long time aspiration within the field of the then existing plethora of educational and pedagogical publications in the form of a rather ‘different periodic presence, the introductory comments recorded in the first issue of the Hellenic Pedagogical Cosmos, among others, were explaining the very ‘raison d’etre’ of this Anglophone publicationin the Greek journalistic arena:

“Editor’s lexis as a prologue

Expectedly, the non-Greek speaking audience world wide, by definition, has limited access (quite often, no access at all due to the obvious language barrier) and direct information as to what really ‘goes on’ in contemporary Greece. Whatever information crosses the Greek borders and becomes available to ‘foreigners’ in the form of another language (of course English predominates by far in such settings) is not only limited but quite selective as well. No one would doubt that the formal ‘Greek voice-case’ presented by the Greek government and other state officials to interested parties outside Greece with regard to a variety of different issues and topics, does not necessarily (always) reflect the entire spectrum of daily life activities and the sense of a specific reality that the so-called man in the street lives through and experiences. And, certainly, this is not an exclusively Greek phenomenon.

In the field of educational and pedagogical developments of one kind or another, this seems to be the case even more so. Among other things, and for a variety of reasons that do no not concern us here, the perennial Greek educational discourse has traditionally confined itself to views, counterviews and antitheses for esoteric –mainly- consumption. What is being said, discussed, published in both Greek academic journals/books and the daily press and what basically occupies interested scholars, students, parents and the public at large concerning Greek education as whole, for its greatest part, continues to remain within the realm of what is usually called ‘it’s all Greek to me’, whenever non-Greeks are called upon to approach and understand the Greek educational events. Assuming that such developments (or non-developments, for that matter) in the Greek educational and pedagogical scene could be of interest to several groups of Anglophone specialists (e.g. professional educationalists, policy makers, teachers, consultants, researchers, etc.), it would be both useful and instructive to prepare a synoptic selection of related themes and issues and present them in the form of a published anthology in the English language.

Thus, this Anglophone ‘corpus’, including an epigrammatic mosaic of a relatively wide spectrum of educational and pedagogical themes from Greek society -along with all other Anglophone sources on similar issues that already exist- aspires to attract the attention and the interest of the reader everywhere. The very fact that this particular publication combines and merges approximately twenty different educational themes –even if a fragmentary and telegraphic approach seems to characterize the format and the content of these themes- may entitle the publication at hand to legitimately claim to be a contribution in itself. In addition, the periodic nature of the publication (twice per year) ‘Hellenic Pedagogical Cosmos’ recording its parthenic presence in May 2004, is expected to provide some sort of ‘additional value’ to this aspiring initiative. The conscientious ‘interference’ of Greek words into the English texts functions not only as an interesting reminder but as a multidimensional challenge as well.

‘Chronos (time) will tell’, as often said in both Greek and English.

A final lexis about the specific contents-sections of this ‘Cosmos’.

As can be seen in the table of contents of this first issue, among others, the reader may get a rough idea of: the topics of conferences/seminars and of papers published in academic journals, the titles of latest books along with the names of contemporary Greek educationalists and their teaching/research interests, a briefing of press publications concerning education in general and intercultural education issues in particular, indicative statistics, notes from the history of Greek education and informative bits from Greeks abroad, the views of the teachers’ association and the Greek political parties along with an indicative profile of well- known Greek educationalists. Furthermore, particular attention is paid to foreign language teaching and to personal and professional experiences from primary schooling. The synopsis of a selected research and the central theme of this issue focusing on a specific topic for each issue complete this presentation of our ‘Cosmos’.

Dr Leonidas C. Bombas, Athens, May 30 2004”

Oneword about the central theme of this November 2009 issue. In close collaboration with my associate and colleague Anna Koraki we decided that the time is right to ‘open the dialogue’ on the important theme of the educational/pedagogical value of students’ mistakes. A theme that, undoubtedly, as a daily school praxis constitutes integral part of the agenda of each single school classroom. The few pages of the HPC devoted to this rather neglected topic amidst all other developments in the Greek educational arena with the newly elected PASOK government of George Papandreou and the new Minister of Education Life Long Learning & Religious Affairs, Anna Diamantopoulou, may be seen as both as a constructive stimulus and a necessary reminder to the educational community at large. On the optimistic side of this argument, it is comforting and encouraging that, at least, everyone involved in the actual schooling process appears to unequivocally endorse the teaching/learning importance of the “errors” that students make and agrees on the urgent need to explore all related aspects of this multifaceted issue.

Leonidas C. Bombas

Comparative Educationalist

Director of Studies, “Nea Ekpaideftiria-G.Malliaras”

Athens, November 200

Anthology of educational/pedagogical issues as presented via the press

Computers to 126,000 students

Computers (Laptops) take the place of blackboards in first year classes of all Greek junior high schools (gymnasio).Parents of all students are to receive a special 450 euro voucher from the Ministry of Education in order to buy a computer that students may use at both the school and their home. The screen of the computer substitutes the ‘content’ of the school bag, students communicate electronically among themselves and with their teachers, comments and corrections are written on interactive boards and lessons are conducted via internet. This is, of course, the classroom of the future, the first step of which in the Greek case is the specific initiative.

The new school year…without teachers!

Lack of teaching staff, lack of school textbooks and absence of ‘central coordination’ constitute very serious problems with the beginning of the school year 2009-10 according to primary and secondary school teachers’ representatives. The president of Primary Teachers’ Association of Greece (DOE) D. Bratis claims that almost 10,000 teachers (permanently and/or temporarily employed) are needed to fill in the vacancies in primary school across Greece. Furthermore, the president of Secondary Teachers Federation (OLME) D. Pepes stressed that only 70% of all schoolbooks have been received by junior (Gymnasio) and senior (Lyceum) high school. The Teachers’ representatives also asked from the Minister of Education to reduce the number of students per classroom to 25.

(‘To Vima’, 9/9/2009)

90% graduating from secondary education

As the most recent OECD Report notes more and more Greek students complete their secondary schooling. From 78% in 1995 the percentage of secondary education graduates has already reached the 90% figure. Thus Greece is presently at the third place of the list with the OECD countries (Germany being at the first place of the list followed by Finland). However the whole picture changes when examining the corresponding percentages at the tertiary level of education. Although 65% of the Greek secondary graduates enter tertiary education, a great number of those university/TEI students are forced to “delay” their graduation or even to quit and abandon their studies. Greece is at the very last place of the OECD countries with the fewest graduates as a percentage of the total university student population.

Not a single primary school teacher unemployed

From the graduation ceremony directly to the school classroom to teach for all graduates of the Greek University Primary Education Departments. According to existing data the number of teaching places in primary schools(Dimotiko) are considerably more than the teachers available/appointed and the Ministry of Education has called all this year’s graduates to submit their applications in order to be appointed to specific schools. Thus, being a primary school teacher in Greece today is considered as the most ‘wanted” profession given the fact of the rather high unemployment rate –especially among the youth- and the apparent “easiness” of securing a job in a problematic labour market.

(‘Ta Nea’, 03/09/2009)

Ministry of Education: Looking (in vain) for the lists…

The newly appointed Minister of Education, Life Long Learning and Religious Affairs Mrs Anna Diamantopoulou, upon entering the building housing the Ministry, was confronted with a ‘liquidation picture’, without internet in any of the offices of the Ministry and all hard disks of the computers erased by the previous administration. It is very characteristic the comment made by Mrs Diamantopoulou that they could not even locate the catalogues with the local (internal) telephone numbers of the public servants employed there.

(‘To Vima’, 19/10/2009)

The cleaning staff of public schools

Thousands of women who work as cleaners in Greek primary and secondary public schools have not received their salary for almost a year now. The president of the Association Mrs Stella Gerasimatou voiced her concern for all those very low paid workers who most often than become ‘victims’ of partisan politics at both than national and the local levels of government. The grand total number of cleaning women employed is far below the actual number needed to maintain all public schools clean, especially nowadays that the so-called ‘new flew’ seems to be at the doorsteps of our schools. It is noted that these permanent or seasonal workers (all of them women) have a monthly salary of only 150-300 Euro, often without any social security benefits and they receive their salary after several months that this salary is due…

(‘Kathimerini’, 05/09/2009)

Family spending for (state) kindergarten to university

Approximately 4,4 million euros are spent by the Greek families for the education of their children starting from kindergarten all the way up to university studies. More specifically, according to GSEE (General Confederation of Workers in Greece), this total spending of 4,371.3 million euros are ‘allocated’ as follows: a) For primary education the total amount spent reaches 804 million euros. The comparatively largest amount from this money goes for learning foreign languages (248.7 million), whereas another 167.7 million are spent for private schooling; b) For secondary education students (both junior and senior schooling) Greek parents spent 1.345.9 million euros, of which a total 503.6 million are paid to ‘Frontistiria’ (out of school ‘regular’ classes for virtually all students) and to private-tutorial lessons; and c) For university studies the respective amount is 1.441.8 million euros, 342.1 of which are spent for tertiary studies abroad.

(‘Kathimerini’, 19/08/2009)

One foreign language for Greek students

Nine out ten Greek students learn one foreign language, whereas a percentage of 43% of all Greek adults do not speak any foreign language. Up to their junior secondary studying, 91.8% of Greek students are taught one foreign language. Only a percentage of 6.9% learn two languages and another 1.4% no foreign language at all, according to the data provided by Eurostat on the European Day of Languages (September 26). Greece is at the very top of the list with countries where students learn only one foreign language with a percentage of 92%, followed by Italy (74%, Ireland (73%) and by Spain (68%). In Great Britain more than half of the students (51%) there do not learn any foreign language.

(‘Eleftherotypia’, 25/09/2009)

They want their schools like ‘frontistiria’

A recent survey conducted by the Greek Ministry of Education concerning the perceptions/viewpoints of secondary students and their demands/request from the Ministry, revealed a rather interesting picture: Greek students want a noticeable change in the way they are taught, more attention on the part of their teachers, new-modern school textbooks, less teaching material and more educational activities. It is worth mentioning the fact that a large number of the students surveyed described the ‘Frontistiria’ (out of school tutorial classes for three or four hours a day –after school paid by their families) as the ‘model’ for their state school. Furthermore, 23% of those questioned said that they do not remember any pleasant moment in their school during the teaching of ‘demanding’ school subjects, whereas 7% of the students find all school moments unpleasant. As a whole, students characterize the subjects of Physics and that of the Ancient Greek as the most difficult, something that seems to find in complete agreement both their parents and their teachers.