HELLENIC PEDAGOGICAL COSMOS€¦ · Web viewA Periodic Kaleidoscope on Education and Pedagogy in...

‘FOLOI’

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

VOLUME 10, NUMBER 2, NOVEMBER 2013

A Periodic Kaleidoscope on Education and Pedagogy in Hellas

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HellenicPedagogical

Cosmos


Hellenic Pedagogical Cosmos

A Periodic Kaleidoscope on Education and Pedagogy in Hellas

EditorDr Leonidas C. Bombas

ContributorsBombas, KleonikiGouva, DimitraKolonia, Irene

Koraki, AnnaKostarelos, ChristosLevaki, KaterinaPalios, ZachariasPapadimitropoulou, EllyPitterou, EfieProdromou, Thomai

Assistant to the EditorKleoniki 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: 697-4433234Fax: 210-9927659e-mail: [email protected]

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http://www.hpcosmos.gr/

mailto:[email protected]


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

© 2013 Leonidas C. Bombas

All rights reserved. Any part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, provided that the original source (HPC) is mentioned.

Athens, Greece: ‘Foloi’ Publications ISSN 1790-1049

HELLENIC PEDAGOGICAL COSMOSVolume 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

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

Hellenic Society of Counselling and GuidanceELESYP, 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.

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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

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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 2013Comparative EducationalistDirector 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

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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

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http://greece.greekreporter.com/category/uncategorized/

http://greece.greekreporter.com/category/immigration-2/

http://greece.greekreporter.com/category/education-2/


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

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persisting until final success required an economic outlay that strained the resources of many families.

Educational Policy and the Issues RaisedThe 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.

(M. Polydorides, 1978)

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An eclectic autopsy of authentic data at random

An interesting graduate course of studies The Department of Pre-School Education of the University of the Aegean has organized and has been operating for the last few years (since the academic year 2004-05) a graduate program entitled “Models of Planning and Development of Educational Units” which provides all interested students with one of the two following options available: = Management and Evaluation of Educational Units;= Management of Information and Communications Technology. The total duration of the program covers two (six-month) semesters of full time attendance, with the last three months of the program being ‘devoted’ to preparing and completing a graduate (research or theoretical) thesis. The total number of students the program will accommodate is forty qualified individuals, with the possible registration of a small number of additional students who have secured a Greek state scholarship and are pursuing graduate studies in related academic fields. The students of the program will be awarded the Graduate Diploma after having successfully accumulated 75 credits (courses and the thesis). The delivery of individual courses/subjects is organized in consecutive modules which are conducted at weekends and holidays and are categorized as ‘core subjects’ (9) and as ‘elective courses’ (3) of the program. Finally, it should be noted that the 12 individual academic subjects offered fall under the following four ‘ broad thematic axes’: 1) Management and Evaluation of Educational Units; 2) Integration of ICT in the Administrative and Educational Operation; 3) Socio-economic development and educational Units; and, 4) Social Sensitization -Prevention and Educational Units. The final selection of students to attend the program is the task of a special committee of professors from the specific Department of the University of the Aegean which has been appointed by the General Assembly of the Pre-School Department.

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New synergies, new promises and new enthusiasm in the horizon (Summaries)

Word Processing and English as a Foreign Language: Environmental Factors Affecting Revision Quality - A

Qualitative Analysis Olga Kehagia

This study investigates the impact upon quality of revision changes of four specific variables: (a) tiredness, (b) the time of the day, (c) noise, and (d) writers’ psychological situation. The particular context is 46 University students whose first language is Greek and had various experience on word processing. These student writers were interviewed in order the researcher to extract the information necessary for an in-depth analysis. They wrote and revised in English through the medium of word-processors. The analysis has shown that no immediate negative influence is evident in the output and the writers felt an impact of environmental factors considered needing to produce quality revisions. Discussion concludes with the results, implications and the limitations of the findings.

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Teaching Linear Functions in Junior High School with the use of Computers

Athanasios S. Kyriazis Konstantinos E. Korres In this paper we propose the use of computer software programs in the teaching–learning process of Junior High School Mathematics. In particular we propose the use of Mathematica in the teaching of linear functions for the third grade of Junior High School. We present a plan of an experimental course of teaching linear functions with the corresponding programs in

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Mathematica. Moreover we present the results of a case–study concerning the teaching of the course to a group of junior high school students during the schooling year 2000–2001. This paper studies the evaluation of the use of the program in the teaching–learning process by the students that participated in the study and the change in their level of understanding after the completion of the experimental course.

The goals of Mathematics’ Secondary Education, and especially Junior High School Education, have been well documented (Toumasis, 1994). Traditional, purely theoretical, teaching of Mathematics has not succeeded in fulfilling in a satisfactory extent these goals mainly because it uses means and methods (narration, presentation on the board, lack of practical verification of results obtained etc) that barely provoke the interest and draw the attention of students.

The subject of functions and the special difficulties students have in the understanding of the function concept have been thoroughly studied (Markovits, Eylon & Bruckheimer, 1988 and Toumasis, 1994). The subject of linear functions being associated with many applications and everyday situations and the geometric interpretation of solving a 2×2 system, is one of the most important subjects in Junior High School Mathematics. Unfortunately, traditional teaching “forces” students to a mechanic, learning “by heart” of some algebraic techniques, and fails to “convince” them on the necessity and prepare them for dealing with subjects that concern the geometric representation and properties of linear functions.

In this paper we propose the introduction and appropriate use of computer software programs in the teaching–learning process of linear functions for the third grade of Junior High School. We present a plan of an experimental course, in which the computer software Mathematica® is used, that follows the traditional purely theoretical program of teaching. Moreover we present the results of a case–study of the teaching of the experimental course to a group of junior high school students, during the schooling year 2000–2001. Our aim here is to study the evaluation of the use of the program in the teaching–learning process by the students that participated in the study and the change in their level of understanding after the completion of the experimental course.

«ICTs in Education», Volume II, A. Dimitracopoulou (Ed), Proceedings of 3rd Congress HICTE, 26-29/9/2002, University of Aegean, Rhodes, Greece, KASTANIOTIS Editions

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The Use of Technology in Education: Seeking for a Pedagogy

Theodora Papatheodorou

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Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has increasingly gained a place in educational practice. Today, apart from its supportive nature, ICT offers an alternative way of knowing and communicating enabling individuals to be fully engaged in many every day activities. It is becoming mainstream practice. This probably justifies governmental initiatives and funding to increase ICT literacy. Such initiatives, however, have their own problems. Preliminary findings from the paradigm of teacher training in ICT in the United Kingdom have shown that the demand on teachers' time, the infrastracture and resources available, the mode of delivery (face to face vs distance learning) and teachers' existing basic skills and confidence in using ICT play an important role in delivering successful training. In addition, the experience of training providers in delivering ICT training for educational purposes and applications becomes of supreme importance. Clearly, there is a need for the development of a pedagogy that allows the best use and utilisation of ICT in Education. Lessons learnt from the application of the UK paradigm in teacher ICT training may be considered, evaluated and modified in the light of the particular educational, technological and cultural context of Greece in order (i) to avoid some of the pitfalls encountered in the UK training programmes and (ii) to get the best out of the training programmes undertaken in our country. ====================================================

Generating Communities of Practice for Educational Innovation: Experience from an Institutionally Distributed

Integrated Authoring Community

C. Kynigos, E. Trouki, N. Yiannoutsou The paper discusses the experience of generating an institutionally distributed and integrated community of practice within the Greek context and attempts to abstract from this to discuss the main principles and issues in designing methodologies to generate such communities1. Our method for generating such a community is to base it on the principle of complementary expertise, constructionism, mutual accountability, idiosyncratic identity and professional development. The community consists of educational technology researchers, software developers, experienced teachers and teacher educators. The function of the community is to co-develop a set of suggestions for innovative use of technology each one consisting of a carefully thought out activity plan and rationale and the corresponding software. The learning domains which seem to be emerging as preference are, Kinematics, Co-variation, Orientation and concept of space, Programming, Control technology, Language and History. Some of the dynamics emerging from our

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experience as part of this community will be discussed during the presentation, using data from our communications and our constructions.

Sporadic vs cyclical synonyms for a myriad of pedagogical heresies

A new journal on education and pedagogy in GreeceIn September 2013 a new pedagogical/educational journal made its first public appearance in its electronic format. This journal under the eloquent title “New Pedagogue” has been presented via the internet under the editorial responsibility of the “Scientific Association of Primary Education Teachers for the Promotion of ICT in Education”.The first issue of the journal includes 21 theoretical and empirical papers covering a wide range of educational and pedagogical themes focusing on different aspects of ICT. Among those papers included, one finds the following interesting titles:= Discovering the profile of teachers through a special in-service training program dealing with the use of ICT in daily teaching.= Between national identity and cultural diversity; The paradigm of consuming television products for children; Using and capitalizing on the socio-educational network Edmodo with grade four pupils.= Educational intervention by using the Lure of Maze games for the teaching of Mathematics in grade five pupils.= Action research concerning school bullying with the use of web.2.0 tools.= The new era in education.= Sites of primary and secondary education teachers in Greece; Profiles, motives and practices.= Learning based on free interaction digital games.= The contemporary role of the teacher within a globalized learning environment.= Directions for writing a research work/paper.

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= Internet and school bullying.= Welcoming and supporting new teachers.= The use of QR codes in education: A case study.

Bridging the metropolis of Hellenism with the Greeks in diaspora

A Brief Outline of the History of the Greek Orthodox Community of Melbourne and Victoria In 2011 the Greek Orthodox Community of Melbourne and Victoria (GOCMV) becomes 114 years old. The Community was established on 22 August 1897, in Melbourne, at the shop of Grigoris Matorikos, where a number of Greeks gathered to discuss the issue and bring over a priest from the Patriarchate of Jerusalem for the religious needs of themselves and those Arab speaking Orthodox people of Melbourne. Many people at the gathering promised various amounts, together with the promises of others who were unable to attend the meeting. The idea of the Community seems pre-existed since 1895 when a letter with some money was sent to the then Patriarch of Jerusalem Gerassimos, for sending a priest. The Greek born population of Victoria at that time was appr.200 and that of Melbourne, probably less than 150, most of them bachelors. There was no response from the Patriarchate in 1895. In 1897, Dorotheos Bakaliaros, an Archimandrite, visited Melbourne and Sydney and assisted for a while the Greek migrants, with their Church needs. Bakaliaros left at the end of June 1898 from Sydney for America. The members of the Greek Community met again on 7 March 1898. elected a Community Council (CC) and wrote again to the Patriarchate. This time their effort was successful, the Patriarch accepted their appeal and sent Father Athanasios Kantopoulos who arrived in Melbourne on 22 June 1898, whom the members of the Greek community welcomed with “indescribable joy” (Community Minutes). The next task for the Community was the collection of money for the building of a church. In September 1898 a new General Meeting (GM) decided unanimously to collect money to buy an appropriate

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http://www.greekcommunity.com.au/gocmv_public/index.php/en/about-us/history/92-a-brief-outline-of-the-history-of-the-greek-orthodox-community-of-melbourne-and-victoria

http://www.greekcommunity.com.au/gocmv_public/index.php/en/about-us/history/92-a-brief-outline-of-the-history-of-the-greek-orthodox-community-of-melbourne-and-victoria


block of land for erecting a Community church which they should “put it under the protection of the free corner of the Greek nation” (Community minutes). By July 1899 the money collected was £125. The Committee negotiated the present sight of Evangelismos at £600 for which the collection was paid plus a loan provided by the three executive members of the Committee, Grigorios Matorikos, Alexandros Maniakis and Antonios J. J.. Lekatsas, (160 pounds each). The Foundation stone of the church was laid on 19 December 1900 (6 December with the Old Julian Calendar) in the presence of local authorities, and was completed by 1902.

The Community Annual General Meeting (AGM) of 30 June 1901 elected a new Community Council (CC) and Alexandros Maniakis as the Community’s first president. In 1902 a conflict had arisen between the CC and the priest Father Kantopoulos who wanted to register the church as property of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, making an alliance with the Orthodox Arabic speaking Syrians. The CC opposed this decisively. It called a Special General Meeting (SGM) on 31 August 1902 attended by 105 members. The meeting passed unanimously a Constitution, named the Church of Greece as the Community’s spiritual head and elected a Board of three trustees, Alexander Maniakis, Antonios J. J. Lekatsas and Grigorios Matorikos, and declared the church as property of the Greek Community of Melbourne. The unanimous passing of the Constitution, the recognition of the Church of Greece as the Community’s spiritual head and the unanimous election of the three trustees, indicate a complete concurrence of the Community’s rank and file against a possible alliance of the priest with the Syrian congregation. In 1906 the new elected president was Antonios Lekatsas who remained in the presidency for ten continuous years. In August 1916 the elected president was Grigorios Matorikos who resigned in December and for the period 1916-18 the presidency was held by Constantinos Mavrokephalos Black. In 1906 the Community, after a series of Bulgarian attacks which caused many Greek victims in Macedonia, organized an appeal, collected the amount of £187 and sent it to the Greek Minister for Finance, with a letter stating “for reorganization and building a well trained army and navy (…) to enable us in the near future to be able to fight effectively against our multiple enemies” (Community minutes). In 1912, after the declaration of the First Balkan war, the Greek Community called a public meeting, collected money and sent to the Greek Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos £2,472 for the assistance of the Greek national struggle. In 1916 the Community started celebrating the Greek National Day of 25th of March and in 1922 decided to take steps to establish a Greek afternoon school which started operating in 1923. At that time there were few married couples, very few Greek women in the Greek community and consequently very few school age children.

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In 2011 the Greek Orthodox Community of Melbourne and Victoria (GOCMV) becomes 114 years old. The Community was established on 22 August 1897, in Melbourne, at the shop of Grigoris Matorikos, where a number of Greeks gathered to discuss the issue and bring over a priest from the Patriarchate of Jerusalem for the religious needs of themselves and those Arab speaking Orthodox people of Melbourne. Many people at the gathering promised various amounts, together with the promises of others who were unable to attend the meeting. The Greek Orthodox Community of Melbourne & Victoria is a non-profit organisation and is recognised as the peak Greek organisation in Melbourne. Christos N. Fifis

Epimorphosis of teachers in a rapidly changing cosmos: emphasis

in school gnosis and praxis

Hellenic Schools in the Information Society Programme

As of 1996, the Ministry of National Education and Religious Affairs, its scientific and administrative services (the Pedagogical Institute and the Directorate for Secondary Education Studies) along with the Academic Research Institute on Computer Technology (CTI) has mobilized a significant social force (53 companies, 57 university units, 18 museums and research institutes, 385 schools, 5.500 teachers and 100.000 students) in a far-sighted program, the Odysseia - Hellenic Schools in the Information Society Programme (under the Operational Programme for Education and Initial Vocational Training funded by the 2nd European Community Support Framework). The Odysseia Programme is firmly founded on a comprehensive approach towards the new technologies. Computer science is addressed in such a way, so that the children perceive it not only as an independent scientific domain, but also as a very handy tool to be used every day in teaching, learning and communicating. Thus, we approach and use computer science in a manner that reflects the true spirit of the Information Society: the new technologies are not to be seen as something detached and exceptional, but as an integral part of daily life.

The Odysseia programme created a critical mass of school communities in Secondary Education, which integrate new educational practices in the

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http://www.cti.gr/

http://www.cti.gr/

http://www.pi-schools.gr/ukindex.html

http://www.ypepth.gr/english/index_en.html


learning process by capitalizing on Information and Communication Technologies. The Odysseia programme involves three basic lines of action:

Training and support for teachers of all specializations : in-school, continuous and directed to the teaching practice. It is provided by specially educated teachers.

Setting up the necessary infrastructure : fully equipped computer labs, connected to the Panhellenic School Network and technical support for the schools.

Development of appropriate educational material: development of new software and the localization or adaptation of existing, international, exploratory and multi-disciplinary educational software.

Teacher training is provided by specially educated teachers, chosen by the Ministry of Education, who receive further education at specifically designated university units, highly specialized in such subject areas. The instruction the selected teachers receive is highly specialized at post-graduate level. In Greece today, there are three post-graduate educational centers at the Universities of Athens, Macedonia and Thessaloniki that provide courses in the educational use of ICTs in school, to 125 expert teacher educators.

Training 5500 secondary school teachers of all school subjects The provision of in-school instruction for 5500 teachers of the 385 Odysseia schools in the direct use of computers as a medium for teaching and learning is the basic goal of the core team of 125 teacher/educators, who undertake the training of their colleagues within the environment of the individual school unit. Unlike the one-dimensional model of seminar type courses, the Odysseia program provides in-school training, adapted to the needs of each school. It is systematic, continuous, without being intensive and it is strictly oriented towards the educational practice. It reaches out to teachers for all subjects and all areas of specialization and it combines the following:

- Issues regarding the educational value of ICTs

- Issues concerning teaching methodology in the use of ICTs

- Technical training in the use of the specialized educational software

- Methods for teaching classes in the Odysseia lab.

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http://odysseia.cti.gr/English/ODYSSEIANEW/e41/e41.htm

http://www.ithaca.uom.gr/

http://odysseia.cti.gr/English/ODYSSEIANEW/action-logismiko/default.htm

http://odysseia.cti.gr/English/ODYSSEIANEW/action-ypodomh/default.htm

http://odysseia.cti.gr/English/ODYSSEIANEW/action-epimorfwsh/default.htm


The educator is considered as a mentor in the use of ICTs in the classroom and not merely as the implement for a predefined curriculum.

Under the prism of a symbolic anathema with sympathy

Psychometric tests for all Greek teachers? It is a well-known and widely accepted phenomenon (even among the Ministry of Education officials) that a large number of primary and secondary education teachers are not to be found in school classrooms due to psychological problems. These teachers as well as many others who have completed graduate and doctoral studies may eventually be selected to serve as school head teachers, school councilors, directors of Regional Directorates of Education, etc. with unforeseen consequences for both classroom teachers and their students. If someone has not personally experienced such consequences he/she cannot understand and appreciate the actual size of the problem in question. Primary and secondary education teachers suffer from mere depression to very serious psychological illnesses, illnesses which, under the ‘appropriate conditions’ may lead those teachers to wrong decisions and behaviors in daily school practices. On the other hand, it should be mentioned in this context that there is also a number of teachers who ‘use/exploit’ this situation and pretend that they have psychological problems in order to avoid being engaged in actual teaching as well as all other daily obligations of a school classroom. Once more -as we have already done in the near past- we express the view that the personality of every teacher ought to be examined through the appropriate psychometric test, like the tests used to select various other ‘sensitive’ jobs/vocations such as army personnel, firemen, public transportation drivers, etc. The interview alone can not serve this purpose. Quite often we read in the press about different cases of school teachers who manifest ‘strange behaviors’ within the school premises and in their daily interactions with their students. Unfortunately, up this very day, no teacher in Greece has been examined through psychometric tests that investigate probable pathology of his/her personality. It should be mentioned that, at an

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international level, different types/forms of psychometric tests have been developed concerning aspects and parameters of leadership, thus responding to the continuously increasing demands on this specific topic. Psychometric tests are valid, reliable and effective ‘tools’ and they should follow every teacher throughout all his/her professional career , from the very beginning of his/her appointment to a teaching post to all professional developments and promotions well until retiring age.

Obviously, the administration of those psychometric tests to teachers in Greece should be the sole responsibility of experts in the field who do know the specific characteristics of the tests used and have the necessary experience in the appropriate application and interpretation of the tests. The results of the tests should always be an integral part of the personal/professional record or file of each teacher, so that an ‘overall picture’ of the psychological ‘make up’ of the teacher in question may be available to those state officials responsible for appointing and evaluating school teaching personnel.

(‘e-Gate of Education’)

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The educational horizon via the dynasty of statistics

Some indicative numbers of Greek education reality According to the most recent figures provided by the Greek Ministry of Education the ‘overall picture’ of teaching personnel across the country presents the following quantitative characteristics:= The grand total of teachers employed in Primary Education (Kindergartens and Primary Schools) is 70,243. This number includes not only the classroom teachers teaching all Greek language school subjects but also the teachers of English, French, German and the teachers teaching Information Technology and Arts. More so, a further ‘intra-primary education’ breakdown of the total number of teachers employed at that level of the Greek education system reveals that 41,458 of them are classroom teachers teaching Greek in all primary schools of the country, whereas another 12,182 are kindergarten teachers (in regular and extended kindergarten programs).= As far as Secondary Education is concerned, it appears that a total of 73,533 secondary school teachers of every specialty/school subject taught are currently employed in all types of lower and upper secondary schools of the country. On the basis of the above mentioned figures, and taking into account the existing needs of the Greek education system for teaching personnel, the Ministry of Education claims it has already been implementing a rather wide ‘rationalized restructuring’ of the entire teaching population in both Primary and Secondary Education. As expected, all Federations and the Unions of teachers hardly agree with those changes and the claimed reforms and restructuring of the system by voicing their opinions and arguments on those crucial issues in the midst of the severe economic crises that Greek society is facing.

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Combining mystery and rhetorical hordes

Democracy and Education The Foundation for the promotion of Parliamentarism and Democracy of the Greek Parliament has developed and is implementing a new educational program entitled “Democracy and Education”, believing that the cultivation of the political and democratic consciousness of our youth -especially nowadays- is a priority of decisive significance. This program:= Is addressed to all primary and secondary teachers who are interested and are deeply concerned with the democratic upbringing and socialization of their students;= Offers original educational material in digital form so that the daily teaching of issues and themes of democratic principles and values may be facilitated;= Assists all interested teachers in enriching their teaching by ‘transforming’ it and making it more effective and more pleasant for their students. The educational material of the program is usually presented in two parts: a) A folder for the teacher containing useful reference and documentation material related to each particular theme under presentation;b) Pedagogical Workshops with creative activities that could very easily be presented in the classroom. The educational material of this program is connected to many different thematic units which are taught in the framework of most school subjects and may be used independently or in conjunction with other teaching material to start or extend the daily school teaching procedure. The program suggests methods of active teaching, co-operative learning an experiential teaching

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Apotheosis of the daily school praxis

Official holidays for all schools in Greece According to the most recent Directives issued by the Greek Ministry of Education all primary and secondary schools in Greece operate on a five-days week (Monday to Friday) and -in addition- all schools across the country “enjoy” the following official holidays per school year:= October 28 (National Holidays);= November 17 (Honoring the 1973 Uprising against the military junta and the Greek National Resistance during the WWII);= From December 24 to January 8 (Christmas Holidays);= January 30 (Honoring the Three Holy Hierarchs considered the ‘protectors of education’);= Shrove Monday;= March 25 (National Holiday);= A two-week period during Easter, starting from Good Monday onwards;= May 1;= The Day celebrating the “Holly Spirit”;= Between June 16 and September 10 for students and between June 22 and August 31 for teachers (Summer Holidays);= the day celebrating the Patron Saint of each municipality and the local National Holiday. On the occasion of recording all these “School Holidays” in Greece, it should be reminded that, time and again, different types of criticisms have been voiced concerning the comparatively fewer “working days” of Greek schools. An issue, of course, which may not be approached and interpreted in a merely simplistic way on the basis of (only) quantitative data of the kind mentioned above.

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Pedagogical analyses of diagnostic interest

On the evaluation of Greek education system Once again –as so many times in the near past- one is coming across news items, extended articles and published opinions of experts about the different aspects/approaches related to the overall evaluation of the education system in Greece –the evaluation of each individual school unit and each state school teacher in particular. The perennial controversy and the heated discussions surrounding this very important and sensitive issue has, over the years, created and maintained both polemics and supporters with their respective arguments. Yet, as quite often argued, mostly, by the Greek Ministry of Education officials, no evaluation whatsoever has been implemented concerning the education system. A specific “Greek peculiarity”, that is, which has no parallel in any other European or developed country world-wide. Nonetheless, one of the latest news item on this issue may be taken as an indicative narration of the strong arguments against the ‘type’ or the ‘kind’ of evaluation proposed by the Ministry of Education: “The Ministry of Education is already in the process of starting this evaluation of the schools and the teachers, a program which includes a budget of 1.5 million Euros for training those experts who are going to monitor the implementation of this system of evaluation. This system is stifling to our education system, all schools are being placed on a hierarchical list, many schools are to be closed altogether and all these ‘measures’ aim at saving money for the education system – money that is not forthcoming. On the other hand, Greek teachers are being forced to enter into a status of authoritarian evaluation conducted by single-person committees. The students and their academic performance will be used as the necessary “tool” to separate individual schools and their respective teachers in the lists of success or failure; A procedure which, undoubtedly, will drive the education system to an even more exam-oriented direction.

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Oxymora schemata in the Greek education mosaic

Expensive free education in Greece

Education in Greece is free so no fees are paid by students. Embodied in the country's constitution is that all Greek citizens (and certain foreigners who live and work in the country) are entitled to free education.Entrance to university is subject to examinations and the process in some respect falsifies free state education. Although education at school is supposed to be available to everyone rich and poor, many parents choose to send their children to private schools which do charge fees.To get into university, students must sit entrance examinations designed to act as a net to catch the weak students and allow the rest to go forward. The weak students who wish to follow an academic career have to attend additional classes in the many private schools that prepare them for the exams. The schools operate outside school hours and parents pay high fees. They therefore indirectly subsidise an inadequately-funded state system which, instead of providing a high quality education, helps push students to 'education middle-men' at a high cost. The absence of a fair and adequate system of grants and scholarships is another reason why "free state education" is so expensive. The centralised place allocation system does not allow students to choose what or where to study and they are often obliged to undertake some irrelevant subject in a far-flung institution far from home. Although Greece is a small country, its 17 universities and more than 30 technological institutes are spread over a huge geographical area (including many islands), often established for local political and economic reasons rather than real academic needs. In such cases, parents are obliged to bear the high cost of maintenance, including rents, living expenses, entertainment and travel. This is substantial and may be less than the cost of sending their offspring to a foreign university in one of the Balkan countries, or Britain, France, Germany and even the US. This is an area where the so-called private colleges score quite heavily. They attract students and parents who prefer their

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children to stay and study at home at a college connected by a franchise to a foreign university. Although they pay fees, these are no higher than the cost of maintaining a student at a state university a long way away. Lack of adequate funding affects the provision of high-quality, free state education and universities are facing increasingly strong challenges from private interests that see higher education as an area for profitable investment. While the universities do their best to provide a high-quality education, they find it difficult with inadequate funding. Introducing fees to defray some of their expenses is a thorny subject and would require a change in the constitution. Nor will public opinion easily accept such a change and no political party, particularly one which likes to call itself socialist even if it is in the government, is ready to confront the huge political cost involved. What the government can do is starve the universities of necessary finance for expansion and essential research while encouraging private sector investment. The academic excellence of the state universities would then sooner or later be undermined and even eventually lost. Many academics would feel frustrated in a diminishing state sector and would leave for a more flourishing private system. The students would follow and state universities will shrink.

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Amalgamation

Award for an exchanging books platform Within the framework of the international competition “World Summit Youth Award” the platform entitled the “book4book.gr” won a distinction among the 2,000 contestants from 147 different country-members of the UN who took part in this year’s competition. Ms K. Papasotiriou, the founder of this internet/digital platform for exchanging books, travelled to Sri Lanka where she was honored during the World Conference WSA Global Congress and she was awarded her prize for the www.book4book.gr platform. It is noted that this particular competition is a world-wide competition under the auspices of the United Nations Organization focusing on innovative ideas and practices. The competition aims at attracting young experts in computer programming and businessmen working via the internet aged up to 30 years who use the new ICT in order to contribute through their work towards achieving the very important goals set by the UN, goals like combating hunger, protecting the environment, education for all, etc. Since its first appearance on the internet, the book4book.gr platform has been used by hundreds of interested individuals (in both Greek and English), while, at the same time, many specific events have been organized though the use of the platform. The platform has also been awarded a prize by the European Projects Association when participating in the European Project Awards Competition. Ultimate goal of this digital initiative is to reach and attract users from all around the globe: even individuals/organizations who do not speak Greek or English. In addition, with a view to bringing ‘book lovers’ closer, enrichment and expansion of the platform is being planned.

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http://www.book4book.gr/


Pragmatism in the abyss of educational un-orthodoxy

Dyslexia á la Grec… Once more the ‘dyslexia issue’, in its negative manifestation as a parental practice for ‘facilitating’ the specific children concerned, has come to the forefront of the Greek educational arena as a result of a thorough investigation by public authorities. The Attorney General of Athens sued three public servants working in two different hospitals in the greater Attiki area accusing them of securing ‘certificates of dyslexia’ on behalf of interested parents so that the senior secondary (Lyceum) education students of those parents could be officially examined only orally in their school’s examinations. And this ‘practice’, of course, had its own price, meaning that the said public servants would receive amounts between 300 and 900 euro from the parents for each such ‘certificate’. It should be added here, that this ‘industry’ of securing ‘fake certificates of dyslexia’ had been in place/operation for quite a long period and the three individuals accused had formed a ‘criminal organization’ always risking the accusation of forgery. More specifically, two psychologists and one speech therapist working at the two hospitals had been ‘practicing’ this ‘lucrative extra-profession’ since 2007, while the exact number of such ‘fake certificates’ is not known. Interested parents and their children were, in effect, ‘buying’ those certificates in order to submit the certificates to their school and, thus, have the benefits of the Law 60/2006 concerning the examination of senior secondary students orally and not in writing.Interestingly enough, this case of ‘fake certificates of dyslexia’ uncovered in 2013 is not the only one of its kind. Three or four years ago, a similar ‘scheme’ had been made public on the island of Mytilini, where most of the ‘protagonists’ there had been parents who were school teachers by profession. The apparent disproportional representation of ‘dyslectic students’ in the island, along with some additional indications around that very issue, had been the ‘stimulus’ for uncovering the specific ‘phenomenon’ at the time.

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Monolithic logic in the framework of an austerity chaos

Education falls victim to Greek debt crisisAs part of Greece's austerity policies, salaries for teachers and educational funding have dropped rapidly. Students who can afford private tutoring may come to depend more heavily on tutors than teachers. Graffiti covers the walls in the classrooms and hallways at the Fifth General Lyceum in Petroupoli, a northwestern district of Athens. A letter "A" for anarchism adorns the back of a classroom, and a tag on another wall reads, "Beat up the fascists" - both reflect the mood in a country ravaged by debt and its political consequences. Children in Greece first attend an elementary school for six years before switching to a secondary school for another three years. After that, they can either choose to continue their education at a classical lyceum, a post-secondary school that allows them to take nationwide entrance exams for college after three years, or a more hands-on lyceum that leads to an apprenticeship.Outdated equipment Many Greek lyceums have changed little in the past 25 years. The furniture and equipment is often straight out of the 1970s. One of the two chemistry labs at the Fifth General Lyceum is equipped with nothing but a work bench, several instruments and apparatuses, Bunsen burners and jars. Students sit on chairs or a work surface while observing experiments."The other lab is more modern," the school's director, Pavlos Perdikakis, points out, adding that the school also has a library, a physics lab, a computer room, a multi-purpose auditorium and basketball and volleyball courts. The principal says with a touch of pride that his lyceum has also planted trees and set up benches on campus - signs that the school is better equipped than other institutions in the working class suburb in which it is located.Perdikakis knows every one of his 240 students by name. With more than 30 years of experience under his belt, he is friendly and easy-going, even when a group of students bursts unannounced into his office during a break. Kindly yet firmly, he shows the teenagers out. Perdikakis has headed the school for 13 years and rarely finds time to teach these days, as he is too busy with school administration. The high school has 30 teachers, and 25 of them are staff - not a bad average, says Nikolaos Papachristos, president of the OLME teachers union

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that represents Greece's 80,000 teachers at high schools and lyceums."We're lacking about 2,000 teachers," Papachristos explained, noting that some smaller towns even need teachers for core subjects such as Greek, physics, chemistry and math.A necessary luxury The Petroupoli lyceum may not lack teachers, but it is affected by the crisis nevertheless. Pavlos Perdikakis laments that the school budget has been cut significantly. Families, too, have less money to spend. Day trips to give the students a break from the Athens urban jungle are a thing of the past. The bus ride out of the city costs three euros ($3.9), a sum that now gives cash-strapped families pause. Students have less money to buy snacks, too, causing revenue at the school's snack shop to slip to a quarter of what it was two years ago. Many Greek schools are outfitted with obsolete equipment A quirk of the Greek school system: Many students take expensive, private tutoring classes after school. The tutoring sessions are offered in schools known as frontistiria. The children are taught individually or in groups, and some frontistiria have built up a network of subsidiary institutions across the country over the past decades. Many families see the schools as essential in getting ready for the country's difficult college entrance exams. In the tutoring sessions, students repeat material learned in previous grades, Papachristos and Perdikakis said - without giving an explanation as to why the regular, cost-free school cannot offer similar preparation.Sinking salaries Teachers at frontistiria have generally not been given positions at regular public schools. They might have taught for years on a remote island, or are not well-connected enough for a job at a regular school - so they find employment in a parallel education system that has prospered in Greece for decades, similar to the country's parallel economy. Papachristos says budget cuts are hurting schools. Thousands of teachers would be out of a job if the costly tutoring system were to be abolished. Despite the teacher shortage in public schools, there's no money to employ the tutors at regular schools, says the OLME president Papachristos. Teachers' salaries have been slashed by about 40 percent: a starting salary today is 629 euros, compared with what was earlier 1,000 euros per month. The maximum salary a teacher can expect at a Greek lyceum equals about 1,500 euros. "Education expenses as a whole have been halved; those are the troika's policies," Papachristos said.

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Looking for a catharsis in the Greek educational tragedy

Greek university students in the Netherlands It is a well-known and widely documented fact that a significant number of Greek university students are to be found in many higher education institutions abroad. It is also known – and the respective figures for every academic year constitute the most persuasive testimony for that matter – that Great Britain claims the ‘lion’s share’ of this student population of Greek origin, with all the direct and/or indirect implications stemming from this ‘student migratory phenomenon’ for the sending country. Of course, several other countries like the USA, Canada, Germany, Italy, Bulgaria and Romania have ‘hosted’ their own Greek student populations for many decades now. Traditionally, although the Netherlands and its universities too have ‘attracted’ some Greek students over the years, the total number of those students has not been that great so far. Upon examining existing data, however, concerning the last six academic years, it appears that more and more university students have started to opt for their tertiary education studies in one of the universities operating in the Netherlands. A specific article published in the Greek daily newspaper “Ethnos” a couple months ago is quite clear in this respect. “The total number of Greek university students in the Netherlands over the last six years has reached its highest peak ever. Almost three times more Greek students are to be found in all 14 universities operating in the Netherlands as of the current academic year. For its greatest part, this noticeable increase in numbers is definitely attributed to the increase of the English-speaking programs and courses of study that are offered by those universities as well as due to the comparatively lower tuition fees charged vis-à-vis universities in other Anglophone/European countries”. According to the Embassy of the Netherlands in Athens, the universities there offer more than 1,500 English-speaking programs of study with an average annual cost of only 1,800 euro for both undergraduate and graduate studies. Greek university students in the Netherlands constitute the third most populous group after the German and the Chinese students. As noted, in the academic year 2005-2006 the total number of Greek students was 450, a number that had increased to 1,500 by 2012 –without including in this total number those Greek students pursuing their doctoral studies, or those Greeks who were participating in exchange programs and/or have dual citizenship.

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The alpha hypothesis

“Week of Environmental Education” The Greek Ministry of Education, in its concerted efforts to promote and support the different actions and programs/initiatives of Environmental Education (EE), has recently decided to formally declare the second week of October of each school year as the “Week of Environmental Education”. As explained by the Ministry’s officials in a recent circular sent to all primary and secondary education Directorates of the country, the existing Centers of EE, the teachers responsible for overseeing projects and activities of EE and all primary and secondary schools are called upon and encouraged to organize informative actions and activities aimed at sensitizing the educational community at large on issues and themes of EE.More specifically, according to the detailed directions prescribed by the Ministry of Education, the following actions are to be implemented on a country-wide scale: The Centers of EE located in the different geographical regions of the country will co-operate among themselves and they will organize informative meetings for the teachers working in the respective regions, where specific programs along with the existing networks of the Centers of EE will be presented and discussed. The teachers responsible for EE serving at each single Regional Directorate of Primary and Secondary Education will organize on a daily basis a number of in-service training seminars for the classroom teachers in each area. In addition, all teachers will attend the presentation of good practices when implementing actions and programs of EE that were organized during the previous school year. During the “Week of EE” parents and students will be sensitized on EE issues and priorities via specific activities and meeting in close collaboration with each school’s teaching staff and Head Teacher. Associations of Parents and Guardians may also take active part in all those actions and programs, whereas a special “poster contest” will also be organized as a way of further promoting and sustaining EE themes and actual practices.

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The central theme of this issue

Contemporary Teaching Approaches: Logos and Antilogos Although no one would claim that he is nowadays (re)discovering America or (re)inventing the wheel by turning the attention of his audience to the so-called ‘Contemporary Teaching Approaches’ (CTA), the fact of the matter is that this whole important topic seems to have become of central concern and analysis among the experts in the fields of pedagogy and education world-wide. There is no doubt whatsoever that, along with all the latest developments in all related scientific disciplines directly or indirectly concerned with our present-day educational and pedagogical issues (e.g. Psychology, Sociology, Linguistics, Biology, etc), globalization, multiculturalism and the unprecedented continual developments in contemporary ICT have been playing a catalytic role in the renewed interest and the widely observed momentum along the CTA continuum. Conferences, seminars, in-service training programs, research projects and schemes of all kinds, a multitude of publications and specific graduate and undergraduate university courses constitute a ‘corpus’ of concern and thorough investigation focusing on what conveniently is called CTA. No doubt, today’s multiple technological advances at all fronts are at the very center of this highly interesting and of practical value/use dialogue along the CTA line. Thus, the ‘central theme’ of this issue of the HPC attempts to ‘enter this on-going dialogue’ about and concerning CTA by presenting a number of synoptic personal accounts and thoughts of classroom teachers for whom any kind and any form of CTA constitute an ‘inevitable partner’ and a very practical concern of catalytic value on a daily basis… Having established all the above in a purely descriptive and synoptic format, a number of somewhat introductory comments are in order. First of all, as with virtually all other educational/pedagogical issues and concerns, there is no

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http://www.google.gr/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CCwQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fthesaurus.com%2Fbrowse%2Funprecedented&ei=1euWUpuUB8fA0QXP-4GwBw&usg=AFQjCNFxPH130Qz-9IXwzyILJO0rI8m10g&bvm=bv.57155469,d.d2k


general consensus among the experts as to the very definition of this term of CTA and, more so, as to which (exactly) teaching approaches should be included in this category of CTA. Secondly, all related analyses and discussions about CTA nowadays, the dynamic presence and the ‘inevitable’ multilevel influences of the ICT are always present. In other words -expectedly so- CTA has become synonymous with ICT in virtually all respects. And that seems to be so despite the fact that one may very well ‘find strong voices’ expressing their skepticism or even their legitimate objections to such a seemingly ‘axiomatic’ state of affairs. Thirdly, “cooperative and collaborative teaching/learning, inter-thematic or inter-subject teaching/learning, projects, portfolio, constructivism, learning by doing, team work/learning” appear to constitute the ‘core’ of the so-called CTA (including, of course a number of ‘variations’ and different ‘names’ given to these teaching approaches by each particular theorist or expert -as the case may be). Lastly (but, certainly, far from least, as the common expression goes), the classroom teachers themselves in their actual daily teaching/learning ‘enterprise’ are the ONES who should be -once more- at the very epicenter of this whole ‘business’ of our era called “Contemporary Teaching Approaches”.

L.C.B.

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Choosing a teaching method

“I am indebted to my father for living, but to my teacher for living well” is a quote attributed to Alexander the Great. It can only be assumed that the person he had in mind was his teacher, Aristotle, who taught him ethics, philosophy and the art of dialectics. Hence, the mission of the teacher may be summarized in these words. In a radically changing era, such as ours, the adaptation of the individual to the ever increasing demands of the times requires a constant and intensive struggle. Never before has the role of the teacher been of such paramount importance as it is now. This is because the teacher is now expected to play a many-faceted role. A teacher is an observer, an interpreter of reality, a facilitator, an educator and a shaper of souls. This is an obviously difficult role and brings us face-to-face with the question: What are the main problems presented to the practicing teacher in today’s classroom? Confronted with the guileless eyes of his students the teacher must be a bearer of truth: a Truth which he must constantly adjust to the needs of his audience so that it will be readily acceptable. It is here that the difficulty lies. Each time, the teacher must find the appropriate tools, the appropriate learning incentives and he must present the desired objectives in such a way so as to guide the endeavors of the students. The disclosure of the desired objectives is something that the children need so that they may know at the end of each teaching hour where the finishing line of the race that they have begun with their teacher lies. It is time, though, to involve the children in the whole process. Let us ask them for once what they expect to learn, let them set their goals in each lesson and evaluate their progress towards them at intervals. Another problem that the contemporary educator is called upon to deal with is something which, in my eyes and in those of many others, presents the greatest challenge: How will I manage to capture my students’ interest and attention on a daily basis? This difficulty stems from the fact that children today are exposed to so many stimuli from their environment that they are not easily impressed. Thus, while the teacher is presenting a lesson on the function and formation of verbs, they are looking for a form of escape by playing with some object from their pencil case or, even, by allowing their glance to wonder out of the window, where everything is moving and more interesting. It is then that we must offer the students something that will bring them back into the classroom: something that will upset the standard flow of things. For example, in presenting grammar we say that verbs are words that are always accompanied by pronouns. This is something that, more or less, they

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will all have heard before. However, if we breathe life into the words so that they are transformed into pictures and representations then surely we will have taken a major step towards attaining our goal. “Once upon a time, in the city of Grammar there lived some lively children who often got into mischief, often found themselves in difficult situations and often suffered many losses. These children always had with them some kindly fairies - their personal pronouns - who never left their side.” Simple tools are those that will redefine the role of the teacher in the classroom and will make the student follow the lesson with undiminished interest. In conclusion, in order to deal with the problems and the difficulties which arise daily, we must envision an education system outside the narrow limits of professionalism geared towards the contemporary needs of our children,

Elly Papadimitropoulou (in Greek)

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The “cooperative teaching method” in the teaching praxis

The modern teaching approaches refer mainly to the teaching choices of the educator during the educational process in order to reach the student goals that are imposed by the philosophy of the current Educational Curricula. The term “approaches” implies the recognition of a certain degree of freedom of the teacher in terms of choosing the content, the goals, the method and the evaluation of the educational process always in the frame of the current Educational Curricula. A basic prerequisite of the Educational Curriculum of Primary Education that apply in our country since 2003 is the “cultivation of a co-operative spirit and collectivity”. The necessity of these qualities/values is dictated, first by the need to form an energetic and democratic citizen in the future, and second by the scientific admission that learning is socially determined and therefore it is a result of social interaction and communication. Specifically, in the critical times that we are going through, collectivity, solidarity and co-operation for the common good, are qualities/values that are connected to the school’s goals acting as a balancing factor in the unstable social background. The method that is suggested by the bibliography for the systematic cultivation of team spirit is the “cooperative/collaborative learning teaching method”. There have been numerous discussions with regards to whether the method is realistic or not, balancing out the positives and the negative characteristics. As a supporter of the method, I would like to focus on the difficulties of the application of the method in the educational process since it is certain that it is not an easy task. Therefore, citing my experience in the classroom so far, I will refer briefly to the parameters that constitute this approach difficult to apply, and usually act a discouraging for the teacher to use it: 1) Firstly, the teacher needs to know the theoretical frame of the method. This is an important help in a) the binding and configuration of the team on the basis of specific criteria that support the educational goals, b) the recognition of the different phases from which the different members of the group come until the team is able to have its own characteristics that adapt to its requirements, c) the design and implementation of educational activities for the building up of relations between the members of the team and between the different teams. On the basis of the theoretical understanding, the teacher evaluates his role in the team and improves it. 2) The results of the “cooperative teaching method” are not immediately visible and measurable. It is important to give the appropriate time to the members in order to set themselves in the whole functioning of the team, to take their place in it and feel safety that can be provided by the team. The teaching hour, however,

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seems to function as a restrain to the teacher, especially under the pressure of the amount of teaching material. In that case, it seems that more traditional educational methods are chosen in order for the time to be controlled by the teacher in a more linear way without the risk of unpredictable delineations/deviations from the program that would require his/her adaptive manipulation. 3) The application of the method requires a very good preparation from the part of the teacher. The change of the desk alignment does not necessarily imply group work. The teacher will have to know the content and the goals of the material to be taught, the way and the mediums that he/she will use (i.e. exercise sheets for projects, web-pages etc.). The assignment of a group project should be done taking into consideration the age of the children as well as their experience in working in a team. Therefore, initially the teacher should guide and intervene more often and gradually remove him/herself (fading scaffolding). 4) The experience of the students of each grade in group work is important. It is especially difficult for a sixth grade to function in a group when they have been used to working on their own for the previous years of school. The induction in a team should be held gradually from the very first years of school, starting from the dyadic relationship, in order for the student to gradually and effortlessly learn how to interact in larger groups. This realization brings to light the problem of fragmentation in the public school from one grade to the other. 5) The school climate and the school culture, that cultivate or not the co-operation between teachers themselves, contributes importantly to the effectiveness of the “team co-operation” method. It is at least contradictory to ask from a teacher to teach about co-operation and teamwork when the teacher him/herself is not in a position, or is not given the chance to function as part of a broader school team. The role of the headmaster of the school in this case is critical. 6) Usually the teacher is faced with preconceptions of the parents that disagree with the induction of their child in a team because they think the child is prejudiced either by the pace of the team, or because of the structure of the team, that is usually heterogeneous in terms of school performance, cultural and social class, gender etc. From the above, it has become clear that the choice of the “cooperative/collaborative learning teaching method” requires the thorough training of the teacher, abilities of manipulation of the team and its members as well as the manipulation of teaching time, but also the sensitization of the entire school community in order to enhance its participation in the cultivation of these qualities that are necessary for the school as well as the adult life of individuals. Anna Koraki

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Difficulties and obstacles in applying contemporary teaching methods

Having in mind contemporary teaching methods, I cannot but wonder at how in previous years teachers would discuss the contemporary teaching methods of their times. This is a thought which is consistent with the opinion that the quest for new teaching methods is continual and adapts itself to the educational demands of a society that is in constant flux. Some examples of these teaching approaches are discernable in school texts where the teacher, along with his students, is guided towards a constant quest for knowledge. An additional example of a contemporary teaching approach is the use of technology. With a closer look through the analytical programs of our educational system it would be easy for one to identify the relevant terms: experiential learning, a love of reading, new technologies, the ‘open’ creative school, and so on. All these and many more could be considered as contemporary teaching approaches which are consistent with the spirit of the times and the demands of society. Moreover, every time period with its accompanying changes in the leadership of the Ministry of Education dictates it own policies, directives and suggested teaching methods. Each time, the teacher must be informed so as to be able to follow the analytical program and the teaching methods which are suggested. He must be trained, ready and receptive of anything new. However, to follow them he must realize that new teaching methods do not exist only to provide the ‘feeling’ of innovation, of different, of modern. The teaching method must be consistent with pedagogical theories and approaches. That, after all, is the aim of contemporary teaching methods. At this point of course, as a practicing teacher, one realizes that this exactly is the difficulty of the teacher’s undertaking. How readily may a teacher fulfill his educational aims through a new teaching method? In this undertaking of his, time will certainly be an opponent. There is never enough time – numerous teachers have often pointed this out – thus, the completion of the curriculum of each specific subject must be adapted so as to accommodate it. Therefore, while the teacher has at his disposal various means, alternative methods of teaching and new programs, most often he is hard-pressed to use them. When the teacher, seeking to escape from his daily routine, finally decides to try something new, he finds that he must surpass his own abilities. When he deliberately makes it his choice to go down this road, it means that it is truly his desire; his approach is above all pedagogical as is his goal. He accepts that he must facilitate the effort his students make; he must discover each student’s interests, their needs and their individual strengths. Thus, it is

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imperative that the teacher keeps the lesson from becoming boring. On the contrary, it should be a spring board for constantly developing knowledge.

Another obstacle a teacher may meet in his endeavors is the school environment, colleagues and directors, as they may consider certain contemporary teaching methods non-applicable or redundant in the reality of school life. Quite often it is the case that people believe that the teacher’s prestige is at stake if he deviates from the framework of familiar teaching practices. This is especially so when the said practices have been tried and proven over the years. The greatest obstacle that the teacher is likely to meet, though, is his own self: this referring to a lack of interest in discovering new teaching methods on his part. When his only aim is to cover the requirements of the curriculum he will surely manage to do so without setting out on any exploratory paths. Moreover, he will not have to face any confrontations with his colleagues in order to convince them of the effectiveness of his methods. He will move within the framework of “legitimacy” as it is defined by the school in which he is working. He will justify this choice of his by claiming that he is simply doing his job. A further obstacle in preventing the teacher from experimenting with contemporary teaching methods could conceivably be the parents. It is intentionally that I have left making reference to them at the end of this article since I consider their opinion to be the weakest influence on the teacher. More often than not, parents trust the teacher, especially so when they see that their children are satisfied: they are affected by their children’s opinion and they are content with it. In conclusion, the fore-mentioned difficulties, problems and hurdles are not sufficient to definitively discourage the teacher who has decided to adopt a specific teaching approach. The teacher must feel sure and confident in his teaching and pedagogical goals. It is imperative that he keep in mind that he is playing the major role in the educational process. Perhaps in his quest for new teaching approaches he will discover interests, hidden talents and knowledge that will help him improve his work, prevent him from becoming bored, and above all, develop a deeper pedagogical relationship with his students. Dimitra Gouva (in Greek)

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What is considered (or, do I consider) today ‘a contemporary teaching approach’ and why?

Indicatively: some of the difficulties, problems and/or obstacles which a practicing teacher meets or must face, in following and applying on a daily basis one or more of these approaches. Many of the teaching methods today being called contemporary (especially so in Greece, given that they have appeared in international bibliography and foreign school systems for a number of years now) can be applied quite satisfactorily with the assistance of ICT, that is to say, the use of ICT is conducive to their realization. Cross subject approaches, projects, group work, problem solving can be listed among contemporary teaching approaches. In practice, the very existence of ICT, by offering new methods and possibilities which may not be ignored, in effect invalidates some more traditional teaching methods. Thus, for example, access to the internet makes access to a huge store of information on practically every topic included in the school curriculum very easy. New channels are now being offered through which young people can approach knowledge. That is to say, through digital technology, through the Internet…. Perhaps the most significant and characteristic aspect of education today is the easy access even young children have to innumerable sources of knowledge, a phenomenon which renders them intellectually much more independent than they could have ever been in the past. Children have always found way of learning things independent of school, but today this ability has taken on a much greater extent. The experiences of children outside the school have become so important that it has become impossible for them to bear what is offered within the school. Perhaps for the first time in the history of education the students themselves have become that great force which will press in the direction of change in the system. Thus, throughout the world, ways are being sought in which to integrate ICT into education. Modern technology has entered our life to stay and it is to be expected that the people planning the school analytical programs are endeavoring to initiate the children into them. Until here all is well and good. What concerns me, however, is that in the minds of some people pedagogical innovation is identical to the use of computers. At least, that is what I have concluded from the increasing number of conferences and from the stand of the ministry itself. The goal of the discipline of Pedagogy, however, is learning, something which can be achieved through various means, many of which do not include digital technology. A look at the past proves this argument.

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For example, in antiquity children learned to read over a period of 4-5 years. Pedagogy managed to reduce time to a few months. Another innovation, independent of computers, was Annie Sullivan’s success at educating Helen Keller, a person who was both blind and deaf. Furthermore, consider for an instant the achievements in the area of learning difficulties. After thousands of years we have finally understood why some otherwise intelligent students fail at school. Moreover, we now know how to help them. In no way do any of my preceding observations indicate an aversion towards technology. To the contrary: I worship it. The integration of digital means into the teaching process is not a necessity: it is a natural outcome. Interactive whiteboards, electronic books, mobile phones, tablet PCs, ipad, netbook, notebook and their descendents will enter schools without asking us for permission. This fact, however, does not give anyone the right to reward, whether silently or not, only those efforts that put computers to use. It is pedagogical innovations we need and not technological ones. The latter, in any case, are made by others and not by us, teachers. And now, back to our daily reality! I remember how curious and intimidated I was in my initial encounters with MS DOS. Self-taught, I drove everyone to distraction with my questions. And how can I forget my enthusiasm at the functionality of WINDOWS? As a result, I fully understand my colleagues who do not exploit ICT in the classroom; it is not so simple. Ridding yourself of the fear is difficult. Furthermore, no matter how much some may claim that the use of educational programs is easy, I maintain that it is anything but. Each piece of software demands time: time to find it; time to learn how to use it. Knowledge of English is usually a pre-requisite, and, of course, a thorough knowledge of the use of computers so as to be able to deal with the unforeseen, such as computers that reboot without having been instructed to and software that runs perfectly at home, but does not run where you want it to most: at school. On the other hand, computers do not change your teaching style; you must change so that you may seek to introduce them into your classroom. Much of the existing software assumes a teaching style different from the one we have grown up with. If you have espoused this new teaching style, fine! If you also have the required knowledge, you can now bring ICT into your lessons. However, if you have not adopted this new teaching style, is it computers that you have to involve yourself with now? And why must you change your teaching style? Is there any reason to? What is that reason? Is it the parents? There are practicing teachers who are doing an exceptional job without computers. Let alone the fact that I have met teachers who go to school completely unprepared, make a shambles of the lesson, yet are deified by the parents!! Finally, are parents knowledgeable in alternative teaching methods, so that they may demands them? Who is it that will motivate you to change your teaching? Colleagues? To begin with, they must have espoused a new teaching style themselves, and

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then, there will have to be communication among colleagues, working groups, something that is unusual in the daily functioning of the school. It might also be the voices of the colleagues who have dared and failed with contemporary teaching approaches: the size of the groups, how to form them and how they interact, the type of expected and unexpected results, time management and dealing with ‘teaching noise’. Who else, can motivate you? Teaching consultants? Why, does anyone ever listen to them? I have often heard consultants presenting valid arguments only to be giggled at by their audiences. To some extent, though, I must admit that the giggling was justified. There must be some justifiable cause for you to change the way you work. You must detect an impasse; shortcomings. Then you must find convincing and applicable solutions. Most suggestions coming from teaching consultants do not possess these traits. The majority of consultants try to impose rather than to support. It is my belief, though, that gradually and noiselessly, the picture is changing. School is not what it was 20 years ago. It is improved. Our expectations of education are greater, though. And here lies a huge problem: our expectations always exceed the rate of progress. On the one hand, the existence of new goals, new visions, is good, but, on the other hand, it gives rise to quibbling. Clearly, the situation in Greece, and especially so in the use of ICT, lags behind other countries; however, this is not to say that there has been no progress in Greek schools, be they public or private.

Christos Kostarelos (in Greek)

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Flexibility: The most modern of teaching methods?

Why are we so concerned about how to teach children? Are they not naturally curious? Is the desire to decode the world around them not innate? Ask any parent about the curiosity of their children and they will tell you about endless questions that leave them wondering at where those ideas come from. Parents will also often talk about how easily their younger children were able to learn to read and enter school. They do often put this down to jealousy, to a desire to do what the older sibling did, but isn’t it more likely that the younger child was intrigued by something new that appeared in their lives. Children do have this natural tendency to want to learn: Why is it then that we are so concerned with teaching methods? Could it be that we as teachers do not always see our efforts coming to fruition? It is true that once children enter the classroom we see their natural curiosity being stifled. Is it the chosen teaching method or something else that is to blame for this? As we can observe children learning in a variety of situations, I would say that the classroom and the chosen teaching method in themselves have nothing to do with a student’s dampened curiosity. I would not hesitate to say, right from the beginning that it is most likely the teacher’s inexperience, lack of resources and simply lack of understanding and interest which have resulted in a fixed, rigid, thus autocratic, thus boring and daunting way of teaching. Furthermore, in the case of the Greek private language centers (frontistiria), where it has been documented that about 98% of all Greek students do their ‘serious’ learning of the foreign language, it is also the pressure of exams that does its fair share of damage. On making their choice of teaching methods, it seems that at a certain point in their careers, perhaps it is at the beginning or it may be because at some point a method was persuasively presented, some teachers ‘adopt’ a certain method and doggedly adhere to it no matter how much evidence exists that this method is not producing the desired results. Specifically, in the field of the teaching of English here in Greece, about 25 years or so ago, classes were very rigidly structured around a teacher armed with a grammar book full of written drills. The closest one ever came to witnessing active student participation was when students did choral repetitions as in the case of the declension of verbs: I am, you are, he is, she is…. Most probably, it had been suggested to the new teacher, either by fellow teachers or the director of studies and/or owner of the language center, that this was the most efficient way to produce the desired results. Any project, pair work or group activity that was suggested in the chosen course book should, it was believed, be the first to be cut out of the curriculum because, of

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course, we were pressed for time, as our children were being prepared for very demanding exams designed to be sat by much older, thus more mature candidates. Thus, it was argued, we should help them by getting straight to the ‘serious work’ and not waste valuable time with ‘games’ designed for use in classrooms where there was really no pressure to bring students up to a certain level by a specific date. Over the years, however, teachers came to accept the fact that though our students were not complete failures at these exams, they were not performing as well as they might. Gradually, and due to various reasons – not all necessarily pedagogical - , our ‘frontistirio’ classes became smaller and smaller and teachers began to feel that they might experiment with different methods. Project work, drama, cooperative learning (group work, pair work) and eventually ICT became more widespread, as teachers were also taking different learning styles into consideration. However, with the certification exams looming large and threatening over every ‘frontistirio’ owner and teacher, we sooner or later heard grumbling about how time-consuming and inefficient these methods were. Once again, the question arose: Is there a ‘best’ method by which to teach the foreign language? Having taught in various language schools, both as a teacher and an owner at all levels – from juniors to advanced; having taught all ages from pre-school to adult professionals; having worried about how satisfied my students and their parents were with my work; I can only arrive at one conclusion: The method one uses comes as a distant second or third to the quality of the teacher-student and teacher-teacher relationships within a school. Unquestionably, teachers must be well-trained and prepared for their work. They must be thoroughly familiar with everything that is available on the ‘market’ to facilitate their work. However, that is only the beginning. It cannot be stressed enough that teachers must know their students as people and be able to understand, ‘decode’ one might say, their learning styles. Furthermore, they must pass this knowledge on to their colleagues who will take over the teaching of these students if they are not teaching them the following year. Also, once a teacher takes over a certain class and has received a report about these students from his/her colleague, it should not mean that this teacher can now relax and proceed to teach from there as if nothing has changed. He/she must make allowances for what the students have experienced over the previous year, both inside and out of the class. This last point is also true in cases where a teacher continues on to the next level with a particular group of students. Once a teacher knows his/her students and has made allowances for changing moods and experiences, choosing the appropriate teaching method is only a matter of course. For example, let’s take my own initial teaching experience, which I must admit was quite disconcerting, into account. Being

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new to the specific educational setting, as part of my ‘training’ for the job, I was asked to observe the director of studies teaching my class. I was shocked by the whole-class choral repetition going on. Though in that school it was a given that rote learning, reinforced by choral repetition led to acquisition of knowledge, I saw it as a useless waste of time which surely discouraged rather that taught. I vowed never to use this method and, of course, I never did. However, as a great proponent of singing to reinforce pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar, I soon realized that what in fact my students were doing was a form of choral repetition. Furthermore, always vigilant and sensitive towards how my students are experiencing the lesson I soon realized that I sometimes ‘lost’ some of them as soon as the novelty of each song wore off. To counteract this boredom – or shyness, in some cases – I found that transforming the song into a chant or tongue-twister appropriate to the situation, led to an exercise resembling traditional choral repetition, but which was both effective and efficient. Another favored teaching method of mine, is what has been termed as cooperative learning, i.e. group and pair work. Carefully planning the composition of groups and pairs, taking into consideration the students personalities, abilities and knowledge often produces the desired results. Of course, the key word in this case is ‘often’ because what has worked once may not always do so, and this failure virtually never has anything to do with the students’ abilities. Group and pair work offer many advantages: First and foremost, they bring variety into the classroom. They also help cultivate independence and confidence in the foreign language as they are less stressful to the student than being forced to speak in front of the class as it is with responding to the teachers’ questions. Furthermore, the students may become more emotionally involved in the task as they can now express their own ideas while they have recourse to using the task-appropriate language which has been pre-taught. This surely leads to consolidation and, eventually, to fluency. A gem of a method one may think…until this method is systematically put to use in the classroom. It would not be an exaggeration to say that each positive point of this method engenders its own negative counterpart. For example, the emotional excitement created by the stress-free nature of the exercise may lead to over-excitement and use of the mother tongue due to the students’ inability to express themselves fully and satisfactorily in the new language. Appointing a good student to each group or pair to compensate for this deficiency may, and often does, lead to disappointment and resentment in the weaker students thus wiping out the benefit of a cooperative rather than competitive spirit. Finally, despite the code of conduct that may have been clearly laid out and agreed upon at the beginning of the course, students still tend to become unruly in their excitement or even as a defense mechanism when they feel incapable of performing equally well or on a par with some of their classmates.

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In an effort to correct any of the above-mentioned difficulties and to compensate for any missed opportunity at consolidating vocabulary and improving fluency during such activities the teacher must vigilantly observe the students during the activity and must then be prepared with some sort of back-up - and perhaps more traditional - exercises which can take the form of eliciting information from the students in a less exciting teacher-centered situation during the class presentation phase of the group/pair activity. In concluding this brief and far from exhaustive discussion of modern teaching methods, let us consider what has been hailed by many as the state-of-the-art of teaching methods: modern technology. Can computers alone constitute the bulk of a truly effective teaching method; the ultimate method that will replace all others, as some claim? Today, computers are ubiquitous: they are even in the daily use of some of our youngest learners. However, if they truly were the ultimate teaching tool, wouldn’t our students be coming to class already in possession of the knowledge and skills we wish to impart to them? Obviously, this is not the case. Left on their own with technology, students do what they have always done with extra-school learning: they pick out in a haphazard fashion only the information that readily impresses them at that particular moment in time. Clearly, a knowledgeable teacher is needed to guide them and open new doors of thought and insight for them. Computer technology offers too many possibilities and can end up confusing students more than benefitting them. On the other hand, it can be turned into a very sophisticated toy. Does this mean that ICT has no place in the classroom? Far from it! Computers offer exciting possibilities and invaluable assistance to the well-trained teacher, especially so in the language classroom. Consider, as a minor example, the time-saving effectiveness of power-point. Prepared in advance, a variety of lessons using this software with its bullet-points, which appear only when needed, can be tailor-made to meet the specific needs of any class and lesson. Nevertheless, to make use of this and any other program, the teacher must be fully aware of his/her objectives and of the limitations of his/her tools. Teachers must be aware of the fact that impressive graphics, and the enthusiastic response of the students to them, does not necessarily mean that their learning objectives are being met. Simply stated, the teachers must be in complete control of what is done on computers in the classroom. They must be very specific about which tasks are to be done using modern digital technology. Furthermore, this technology should be used sparingly for two main reasons. The first reason is to avoid bombarding the students with too much information that they may not be ready to absorb. The second reason is that overuse of this medium, as of any other, will lead to boredom with it. Finally, it must be stressed that all teaching methods have their strengths and weakness. It is only the knowledgeable, insightful and caring teacher who can put each one to proper use in order to facilitate his/her students learning

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and enable them to arrive unencumbered and free of stress and insecurity at their set learning destinations.

Kleoniki Bombas

Agonies and ecstasies within the educational liturgy

The World history in the Greek primary and secondary educationAbstract This article deals with the almost total absence of the World history, as a portion of the school History subject, in the Greek Primary and Secondary Education, despite the r en ew e d in t e r e s t i n G lo ba l H i s t o ry no wa d ays . The wr i t e r s ha v e r e ach ed th i s conclusion after examining the syllabus of the subject of History with the method of Content Analysis. The reasons for this absence relate, basically, to the ethno-centric and partly euro-centric values, which predominate in: a) the selection of the teaching material and b) the editing of the teaching instructions by the Pedagogical Institute, an institution supervised by the Greek Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs. They also relate to a number of presuppositions, which reproduce the dominant, traditional model of the Greek school historical learning. The situation does not alter essentially in relation to the provisions of the new Cross-curricula Integrated Context of Studies (C.I.C.S.) for Primary School and High School. Therefore, according to the writers’ view, the Greek school history, in its current state, is neither connected with the wider que s t s o f H i s to ry on a g l oba l l e ve l no r wi th t he mode rn e p i s t emo log ic a l a nd pedagogical orientations, as needed.Conclusions Taking into account all the elements mentioned above, we should underline the fact that the concept of universality in the syllabus, the curricula and the History books used in the Greek Primary and Secondary Education, is either absent or inadequately approached. The centralism of the Greek educational system works effectively in order to shrink the time used for the study of the non-nation-centered and the non-West- centered history. This is achieved, since the Pedagogical Institute (P.I.) is legislatively capable –through the curricula, the Teaching Instructions and other special circulars– of defining in detail, that is strictly, 1st) the issues connected to the production of a school history textbook (content, basic principles), 2nd) the didactic aims of the units, 3rd) t he s y l l abus and the a s s igned top i c s

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fo r t he e xami na t ions ,4 th) the indicated “teaching improvements” on each occasion. Therefore, even if there are numerous pages concerning issues of World –or simply non-Greek and West-centered– interestingly the available school textbooks –which is not the case in most of the times–, they remain unutilized in the teaching procedure. Consequently, we are faced with an anti-reform movement. The formula is already known: The innovative elements –so far as they exist, like, for example, in the new book o f t he S ix t h C la s s o f t he E le men t a ry S choo l o f t he co l l eague M ar i a Repoussi and her collaborators (2006), which was nevertheless finally “withdrawn”– are not always categorically turned down. Instead, in some cases, they are either indirectly excluded, since they are not utilized in the teaching procedure, or deprived o f t he i r o r ig ina l a i ms and mea n ing . The l a t en t i deo l og ica l -po l i t i c a l p r io r i t i e s combined with the utilitarian approach of the school historical learning –or of the sc hoo l educa t ion i n ge ne ra l– ac t s e l e c t i ve ly and de c i s ive ly by r e p roduc ing the dominant model of historical learning, irrespectively of the quality of what and how is being learned. The traditional subject of History in the Primary and Secondary Education, despite the launched criticism, is characterized by cohesion and handiness. It connects the teacher-centered narration or the guided dialogue –the alternative c h o i c e o f t h e s y s t e m – w i t h t h e o n e a n d o n l y t e x t b o o k , w h i c h i s h a n d l e d a s a “Gospel”. In addition, it combines the strictly limited syllabus and the assigned units for examinations so as to be easily memorized with the usual ways and the applied evaluation techniques; as a result, the instructor is directed to commonplace questions of a limited range and is, at the same time, released from further investigations, w o r r i e s o r d e m a n d s , w h i c h m i g h t p o s s i b l y c a u s e d i f f i c u l t i e s , f r i c t i o n s a n d embarrassing reactions. The una n imous app rova l o f K . K a t s i man i s ’ s ugges t i on by t he m embe r s o f t he P . I . i s characteristic and revealing of the blatantly interventional role of the said sector. According to his proposal, a committee’s duty (of the P.I.) in order to evaluate school textbooks is to examine: “1) which chapters or parts of chapters are ailing so as not to be taught, 2) which points are diminished or hushed up in the textbook in order to be observed and underlined, 3)which points are characterized by scientific inaccurateness or partiality so as not to be brought up , 4 ) wh i ch po in t s ( o r pages e t c . ) a r e s ign i f i can t bu t vague in o rde r t o be ma de c l e a r ” (decision 34/16-10-1990, see Mavroskoufis, 1997: 290). The removal of significant material from the syllabus having to do with issues of global interest and being included in the Skoulatos–Dimakopoulos–Kondis’ books for the third class of Lyceum constitutes a typical example.

Giorgos Kokkinos, Panagiotis Gatsotis, Vassiliki Sakka, Charalabos Kourgiantakis

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Syndromes of lethargy and apocalypses of our schooling in Greece today

Teacher gender-related influences in Greek schools Although there is a wealth of empirical studies examining the effects and the correlates of student gender in school, teacher gender has rarely been a research focus. Since Greece is one of the few Western countries with an about equal percentage of male and female teachers at primary and secondary levels of public education, it offers itself as a well-suited context for exploring teacher gender-related influences. The aim of the study was to examine gender-related differences in Greek classrooms focusing on teacher gender. It was hypothesised that due to the societal context clear gender effects could be detected. It was also assumed that teacher-student interaction patterns would be influenced by teacher gender not so much as a main effect but as interaction effects involving variables such as student gender, student achievement, grade, and teacher specialisation.The samples consisted of 1041 elementary school (mean age = 11.4 years) and 862 secondary school (mean age = 14.3 years) students in public schools in Greece. A multi-informant and multiperspective approach to academic and psychosocial competence was used, involving teacher, peer, and self-ratings. Achievement data were also obtained. Several significant teacher gender differences were found in teachers' assessment of students' competence at both age groups. Furthermore, various domains of children's self-concept were found to be different in classes of female and male teachers.Conclusions. The findings indicate the need to use teacher gender as a relevant variable in future research.In the last decades, efforts have been made to remove gender discrimination in education, which included the abolition of single-sex secondary schools, the abolition of a school pinafore for girls, the removal of gender stereotypic images from textbooks, and the possibility for males to enter pre-school (kindergarten) teacher education.Nevertheless, there is still a clear distinction of the specific stereotypic roles of males and females in the various family and work roles in the textbooks (Kantartzi, 1991). On the other hand, Greece is one of the countries where the percentage of the age group graduating from secondary schools was

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higher for girls than boys at an earlier time period than in many other industrialised countries. This is further reflected in the corresponding almost equal percentages of male and female university students (female university students: 48.7%, female university graduates: 51.1%,( Statistical Yearbook of Greece, 1988). Greek parents put a lot of emphasis on the education of their children. Thus, much pressure for school achievement is exerted on children and academic success is connected to social elevation aspirations of the family (Katakis, 1984). Concerning students in primary and secondary schools, the gender issue is a complex matter characterised on the one hand by still prevailing traditional sex stereotypes and at the same time by optimal educational chances for girls. A special feature of the Greek educational system is the relatively high percentage of male teachers in contrast to the world-wide trend of feminisation of the teaching profession, especially at the primary education level. In fact, Greece has the lowest percentage of female teachers in primary education (49.3%) in comparison with all European countries and with Canada, Japan and USA as well (Schümer, 1992). The percentages of female teachers are 56.5% at the secondary level of general education - both levels included - (62.8% at junior high school level and 47.7% at high school level) and 34.2% in the secondary technical and vocational schools. Similar to other countries there are significant variations depending on the subject matter. The percentage of female educators drops significantly at the university level (26.8%), with a further drop when tenure-track faculty positions are considered.The nearly equal percentages of male and female teachers in primary and secondary education are related to the fact that the majority of teachers come from rural and semi-urban areas (contrary to many other countries).They regard university education and teacher profession as means for socio-economic elevation and secure future employment.Diether HopfUniversity of Potsdam, GermanyChryse HatzichristouUniversity of Thessaly, Greece

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Prosopography of a synchronous hellenic educationalist

Dimitrios Chatzidimou Dimitrios Christou Chatzidimou was born in New Psathades of Didimoteicho town in 1947. He attended the public Primary School of New Psathades and completed his schooling in the six-grade High School of Didimoteicho. He graduated from the Department of Education of the University of Frankfurt, in the Federal Republic of Germany, where he studied German, History, Pedagogy and Sociology. He consecutively fulfilled his postgraduate studies in Pedagogy and received his Ph.D. in Philosophy from the same Department and University on 29th January, 1980. The following year, he was appointed a tenured professor of Pedagogy in the Technical & Vocational Teacher Training Institute SELETE (now the School of Pedagogical & Technological Education ASPAITE), and afterwards a tenured assistant professor and a first grade professor at the Early Childhood Care & Education Department of the Technological Educational Institute (TEI) of Thessaloniki. In 1986, he was elected initially as adjunct assistant professor and later on (1990) as associate professor at the Primary Level Education Department of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. In December 1993, he was elected associate professor and in December 1997, a tenured professor in the Department of Philosophy and Education of the Faculty of Philosophy in Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTh), where he still teaches. He was President of the Social Welfare Foundation “Saint Panteleimon” in Thessaloniki and the Selection Board of Secondary Education School Consultants during the years 1998-2000. He has also been a Vice President of the Philosophy and Education Department of the Faculty of Philosophy in AUTh, Director of the Sector of Pedagogy of the same Department and Director of the 1 st Peripheral Training Center of Thessaloniki. Furthermore, he has held memberships in the Service Council of the Special Educational Academy of Thessaloniki, the Senate of AUTh, the Provisory General Assembly of the Department of Primary & Pre-School Education of the University of Western Macedonia (previously under the name of AUTh), the Central Electoral Body for the judgment of Higher Technological Educational Institute (ATEI) professors, the Selection Board for Primary Education Directors and the Scientific Committee of the All-Day Elementary School.

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Professor Chatzidimou has also been coordinator of the CPD Programs for the project “Teachers in-service training to Use Information and Communication Technologies in Education” (the project was part of the Operational Program “Information Society of the Third Community Support Framework”). Moreover, he has been a member of the scientific committee of the Project “Eurydice - Positive action for women”, a scientific officer of Action III, “Traineeship” in the above Project, a member of the scientific committee of the Program “Equal” and of the scientific committee of the “Major in-service Teacher-Training Programme”. Finally, he was a member of the Directing Board of the Department of Macedonia, which belongs to the Pedagogical Society of Greece, as well as a member and afterwards the director (for two incumbencies) of the Directing Board of the Pedagogical Society of Greece itself. In March 1999, on his own initiative, he established the Microteaching Laboratory in the Department of Philosophy and Education in AUTh. Today, he serves as a Director of the above mentioned Department and since September 2008, he has also been the Director of the postgraduate Master’s degree Program in the Sector of Pedagogy of the same Department. Since September 2009, he has been the President of the Philosophy and Education Department and since July 2010, Director of the 1st

Peripheral Training Center of Thessaloniki. D. Chatzidimou has written so far, either in collaboration or on his own, ten books in Greek, four in German and numerous articles. He has made many presentations and announcements in national and international conferences and has translated two books by Professor H.M. Elzer from German to Greek. His scientific and research activity focuses mainly on theories of Education and School Pedagogy, and more specifically on Educational Policy, Education Management, Teacher Education and Continuous Professional Development, Students’ Homework and Microteaching.

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A current informative panorama of higher education

The dream of studies abroad The severe and multifaceted economic crisis that has hit Greece over the last four years has already made – as would be expected - its overall negative impact felt in the education field of the country as a whole. Among many other aspects and related ‘territories’, one may point to the dramatic decrease of Greek tertiary education students opting to pursue (or further) their university studies abroad. Greek families can no longer afford to pay for their children’s studies abroad as they used to do for many years in the recent past: A well-known phenomenon with the tens of thousands of Greek origin youth attending a plethora of undergraduate and graduate course of studies in many universities across Europe and overseas. The comparative data provided by the OECD Report (2012) under the eloquent name “Education at a Glance” is quite illuminating in that respect. The decrease in the number of Greek university students studying abroad appears to be ‘steady’. In the academic year 2006-2007, a total number of 51,138 Greek university students were studying abroad, a number that was reduced to 34,196 in 2009-2010, went further down to 33,500 in 2010-2011, reaching the figure of only 22,000 in the academic year 2011-2012. An additional note for those of the readers who are mesmerized with statistics: In terms of percentages, this total decrease in the number of Greek students abroad over the last six years amounts to a figure of 57%. Interestingly, the number of Greek students attending different graduate programs abroad seems to have been comparatively affected much less that those attending undergraduate programs, since most (if not all) of those attending graduate programs intend to stay and work abroad after having completed their studies. On the other hand, it should be noted that these figures also present some fluctuations from country to country hosting - welcoming? - Greek university students. Germany, for example, is one the countries that appears to have attracted many more Greek students than in the past. There seems to be ‘a wave’ of Greek students towards Germany over the last couple of academic years. Notwithstanding this dramatic increase due to the economic crisis, Greece continues to be among the “largest exporters of university students” among the OECD countries. The total number of Greek students abroad

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constitutes 5.8% of the entire Greek university population. Comparatively speaking, this is the highest percentage in all of Europe.

University studies in Europe New trends and new developments may be observed with regard to the so-called anthropogeography of university studies in Europe, as far as Greek tertiary education students are concerned. And this appears to be so mainly due to the severe economic crisis of the last 3-4 years which has been deeply felt by the vast majority of Greek families. Yet, despite all these economic difficulties and the daily problems, Greek parents have not abandoned their dream concerning the education of their children. “There seems to be a 30% increase of Greek youngsters and their families who are deciding to pursue their university studies in Bulgaria and Romania, opting for the faculties of Medicine, Polytechnic and Education in those two countries’ according to A. Grigoriou who is responsible for preparing future university students for their entrance and registration to several universities located in the Balkans and Cyprus. In those specific countries the tuition fees required range from 800 to 5,000 Euros per year and are definitely considerably lower than those in other European countries. At the same time the cost of living in those Balkan countries is much more affordable for the Greek families opting to send their children to study abroad. As a matter of fact the cost of living in those foreign (Balkan) countries is much lower than living in one of the Greek cities that offer tertiary education studies. It is also noted in this context that the number of Greek students attending university programs in Slovakia and the Czech Republic has now fallen by a percentage of 50% due to the fact that the difference in terms of tuition fees with other countries is minimal. Furthermore, one may be surprised to know that the graduate program in Special Education at the ‘Saint Klimis’ University of Sofia (Bulgaria) can be said to be virtually “occupied’ by Greek students – of the total number of 200 students enrolled in this graduate program, 190 are Greek and the rest 10 students are Turks. The ‘flight’ of Greek university students towards those Balkan countries was also recorded during the decades of the 1980’s and the 1990’s., but the ‘target’ at the time was exclusively a university degree in Medicine since it was extremely difficult to secure a place in the Faculty of Medicine in Greek universities.

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Analgesic paradigms for educational amnesty

Studying away from their hometown It is reminded that while in theory all state education in Greece is ‘constitutionally’ provided to every Greek student at no cost whatsoever, we note that Greek families have to spend the colossal amount of 1.4 billion Euros every academic year for their children’s tertiary education. This is so due to the fact that every academic year a sizeable number of Greek youngsters –every academic year- have to move and live for a number of years away from their hometown while attending one of the higher education institutions located either in the periphery or in the big cities of Athens and Thessaloniki (depending on the particular hometown of each individual concerned). In addition, as it is known and has been well-documented through all pertinent statistics over the years, another highly noticeable segment of Greek youngsters pursue their tertiary education studies abroad, a ‘trend’ or a ‘Greek educational characteristic’ that costs Greek families 233 million Euros per year. Thus, seen from that particular perspective, the so-called “free” tertiary education in Greece and the completion of a course of studies to securing a ‘university degree” cost a grand total of approximately 38,000 euro to each family concerned. An amount that, as pointed out in a relatively recent survey conducted by the General Federation of Greek Laborers, invokes “economic hemorrhage” to the Greek families concerned –especially so nowadays with the severe economic crisis and the ever accruing austerity measures affecting the entire Greek society. In the same survey one finds interesting figures concerning the amount of money spent every year for privately offered “educational services”. As estimated, a total amount of 5.2 billion Euros is spent in Greece every year by Greek families to “buy” the so-much needed private or “shadow” educational services, whereas formal education in Greece continues to “be free” at all educational levels…

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Amorphous pedagogical enigmas…with school neophytes

The All-Day or the Extended Schools in Greece The so-called “All-Day” or the “Extended” School was firstly institutionalized and became an integral part of the Greek educational system in the school year 1997-98. The basic aim of this relatively new ‘educational arrangement’ was to serve high pedagogical and social goals by adopting a highly supportive role, while at the same aimed at offering a multifaceted education to Greek children attending the school and at functioning as a concrete supportive mechanism for the working family. This new educational arrangement as part of the state school system continues not only to exist and operate since its first appearance in the Greek formal educational arena, but is also constantly in a process of being upgraded and enriched in both format and content. Within this prism, over the last three school years the Greek Ministry of Education has already inaugurated a grand total of 966 All-Day primary schools operating with a ‘Common Revised Educational Program (EAEP), whereas another 321 such All Day schools have already began their operation since September 2013. As stressed in a very recent letter (Sept. 27, 2013) of the Ministry of Education addressed to a group of concerned parents, these 1287 All Day schools with EAEP follow improved programs of studies which are enriched with innovative teaching subjects and a wide range of very interesting, child-centered activities. Thus, by implementing and practicing contemporary didactic and pedagogical methods, these ‘extra-regular school arrangements’ in today’s Greece aim at responding to present-day educational and social needs of the Greek children attending those schools and the Greek society at large. As a kind of footnote to this informative item on the most recent developments with regard to the All Day schools in Greece, one should definitely add the intense criticisms and the plethora of negative comments/feedback that over the years have been publicly and repeatedly voiced by both the teachers themselves and most of the parents involved via their children in this ‘highly aspiring and well-intending’ (but profoundly

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‘problematic’ in its actual implementation in the daily school praxis) educational arrangement..

Almost a decade ago: Polychromatic symbols in the pedagogical

marathon

On the new school textbooks in Greek primary education: Some preliminary thoughts, concerns and critique

After almost a quarter of a century (early 1980’s), starting this September of 2006, all textbooks in Greek primary education have been changed. With the exception of the language textbooks for second and fourth grades which are scheduled to appear at a later stage, all other textbooks used in primary schooling from grade one to six, are completely new. New in format, in appearance, in the individual units/lessons included and entirely new and different in the teaching/learning philosophy and school praxis. As explained in the introduction section of the “New Curriculum” and also by the authors themselves in the “Teacher’s Book”, these new textbooks for primary (and secondary, for that matter) education constitute an entirely ‘new proposal’ for the Greek education system since its establishment in the 1830’s. Group and cooperative inter-curriculum/thematic learning is at the very centre of this new approach, while the student is perceived more and more as an active participant and partner in the daily learning process. Particular emphasis is placed on the communicative method in teaching the Greek language as well as all other school subjects, while, at the same time, critical understanding/thinking on the part of the students lies at the very core of the entire curriculum. The way these textbooks have been conceived and developed, allow for comparatively much greater freedom and flexibility. Thus, the teacher may (he is, in fact, encouraged) take concrete initiatives along the general guidelines prescribed by the authors and to, a large extent, he is asked to make choices and even develop his own teaching material –something that has been heralded with joy and satisfaction by many teachers as a significant step forward, but also with apprehension and nervousness as to how such initiatives may actually be implemented in the daily school routine.

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No doubt, this massive change of all schoolbooks, by and in itself alone, constitutes a major educational and pedagogical initiative on the part of the Ministry of Education and the Greek government as a whole. To all fairness, it should be reminded that this whole project for developing and producing new schoolbooks was initiated a few years ago by the previous (2000-2004) government and was ‘finalized’ by today’s central administration. On the other hand, the importance of the co-funding of the European Union concerning this entire project, should not be overlooked or neglected in any informative discussion of this type. Among other considerations, money or the lack of it, has traditionally been (and continues to be) a highly ‘thorny issue’ in the Greek education sector which, admittedly, is characterized by pronounced under-funding when compared to the rest of the EU membership. As a first point of interest in this context, one has to mention the ‘diabolic coincidence’ of the primary school teachers’ strike right after the very beginning of the current school year, which, as mentioned above, signalled the introduction of these entirely new schoolbooks. The strike that lasted for a month and a half, an unusually long period during which the vast majority of primary school teachers were on the streets demanding –basically- more money for primary education and for themselves, school lessons were quite often suspended and cancelled. Those of the teachers who did not take part in the general strike, along with those who occasionally joined their striking colleagues, did in fact carry out their school lessons in a, more or less, ‘normal’ way. For most public primary school pupils, however, the new school year 2006-2207 has been marked by the inevitable ‘losses’ of classes and teaching due to the prolonged strike of their teachers. Their age-mates attending private schools had no such problems, since all classes and lessons in these schools were held on a regular basis. Expectedly, this comparatively long strike of the teachers -irrespective of their concrete demands- has brought to the forefront the many voices of worried parents and other interested individuals expressing real concern for the ‘overall damage’ inflicted upon the young children. The issue of the new books and the effective handling/managing of these highly demanding textbooks made the entire picture even more worrisome and more frustrating, especially so for those children starting primary school (grade one) in September 2006. The (additional)“teaching hours lost” in a school system that, in several ways, is considered by many as a ‘problematic one’ in many respects, did create additional apprehension and intense criticisms among different individuals and groups of people related, one way or another, to the public school sector.L.C. Bombas

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Pedagogues and their ‘academic themes’

Xohellis, Panagiotis “School Pedagogy and Didactic Research, Education and In-Service Training of Teachers, Educational Reform”Kosmopoulos, Alexandros “Pedagogy (based on the dynamics of relationships), Child and Adolescent Psychology, Counseling, Philosophy of Education, Educational Policy”Pyrgiotakis, Ioannis “Sociology of Education, Sociology of the Teaching Profession, Educational Policy”Terzis, Nikolaos “History of Education, Educational Policy, Comparative Education, Sociology of Education, Adult Education”Danassis-Afentakis, Antonios “Pedagogy”Kassotakis, Michael “School/Vocational Guidance, Assessment“Flouris, George “Teaching Methodology, Curricula”Markou, George “Comparative Education, Intercultural Education”Dellassoudas, Lavrentios “Special Education/Vocational Training, Education of Immigrants”Spanos, George “Teaching Methodology”Exarhakos, Theodoros “Mathematics, Teaching Methodology for Mathematics”Koliadis, Emmanouil “General Pedagogy, Educational Psychology, Theories of Learning”Papas, Athanassios “Pedagogy, Teaching Methodology, Intercultural Education”Haralambakis, Christoforos “Linguistics, Language Teaching”Manos. Constantinos “Educational Psychology, Counseling”Vrettos, Ioannis “Curricula, Education of Teachers”Tzani, Maria “Sociology of Education”Mathaiou, Dimitrios “Comparative/International Education, Development of Higher Education”

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Kelpanidis, Michael “Methodology of Educational Research, Sociology of Education”Papanaoum, Zoi “School Pedagogy, Continuous Education”Hontolidou, Helen “Pedagogy, The Teaching of Literature”Tsolakis, Christos “Teaching Neo-Hellenic Language”Tsiakalos, George “Pedagogy, Education of Migrants/Minorities”Anthogalidou, Theopoula “Educational Policy”Tzouriadou, Maria “Special Education, Learning Disabilities”Agelis, Leonidas “Comparative Education”Vrizas, Constantinos “Sociology of the Mass Media”Gotovos, Athanassios “General Pedagogy”Mavrogiorgos, George “Teaching Methodology, Assessment, Educational Policy”Noutsos, Charalambos “Sociology of Education”Kossyvaki, Fotini “General Pedagogy, General Teaching”Pleios, George “Sociology of Education”Kanavakis, Michael “Social Education”Bouzakis, Sifis “History of Neo-Hellenic Education, Comparative Education”Mylonas, Theodoros “Sociology of Education” Vergidis, Dimitrios “In-Service Training, Educational Policy”Georgogiannis, Pantelis “Intercultural Communication/Education”Lambropoulos Haris “Economics of Education”Vamvoukas, Michael “Teaching/Learning of Mother Tongue”Damanakis, Michael “Intercultural Education”Kaloganniaki, Pella “Comparative Education”

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Λεωνίδας Χ. Μπόμπας

Me Δάσκαλος,

You Μαθητής...

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Αθήνα 2013

Me Teacher, You Student: The latest publication (in Greek) by Dr Leonidas C. Bombas dealing with the daily and multifaceted interactions of

the classroom teacher and his/her students in an unpredictable and highly challenging school environment, where (overt and/or covert) tensions, conflicts, negotiations and cooperation constitute the order of the day –along, of course,

with the formally prescribed school curriculum/syllabus.

The central theme of this issue

Contemporary Teaching Approaches

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Although no one would claim that he is –nowadays- (re)discovering America or (re)inventing the wheel by turning the attention of his audience to the so-called ‘Contemporary Teaching Approaches’ (CTA), the fact of the matter is that this whole important topic seems to have become of central concern and analysis by the experts in the fields of pedagogy and education world-wide. There is no doubt whatsoever that, along with all the latest developments in all related scientific disciplines directly or indirectly concerned with our present-day educational and pedagogical issues (e.g. Psychology, Sociology, Linguistics, Biology, etc), globalization, multiculturalism and the unprecedented continuous developments in contemporary ICT have played (and, of course, continue to do so) a catalytic role in the renewed interest and the widely observed momentum along the CTA continuum. Conferences, seminars, in-service training programs, research projects and schemes of all kinds, a multitude of publications and specific graduate and undergraduate university courses constitute a ‘corpus’ of concern and thorough investigation focusing on what conveniently is called CTA. No doubt, today’s multiple technological advancements at all fronts are at the very center of this highly interesting and of practical value/use dialogue along the CTA line. Thus, the ‘central theme’ of this issue of the HPC attempts to ‘enter this on-going dialogue’ about and for CTA by presenting a number of synoptic personal accounts and thoughts of classroom teachers for whom any kind and any form of CTA constitute a daily ‘ inescapable partner’ and a very practical concern of catalytic value…

L.C.B.

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