The ‘Creativity Project': And The Prize Goes To… Naxos Students

First grade students of the all-day elementary school of Vivlos in the Greek island of Naxos starred in an inspiring short film entitled “Let’s imagine the school of our dreams,” winning the first prize during a special ceremony in Crete on Saturday, under the “1st National Creative Expression Contest In Primary Schools” for the University of Crete. Through “experiential learning” – a fruitful teaching method that allows students to be engaged in the learning process – Vivlos’ school teacher Nikos Vintzileos urged his students to let their imagination free and express their ideas for the school of their dreams. In its record of accomplishments, Vivlos’ primary elementary school has also been awarded one more first prize for a music video created for the 2013 European eTwinning Competition. eTwinning promotes school collaboration among European countries through the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) by providing special support, tools and services for schools. You can watch the “Let’s imagine the school of our dreams” video below:

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Greek Govt Presents Omnibus Bill Bringing Sweeping Changes to Education

Sweeping changes in all levels of education are introduced with an omnibus bill the Greek Education Ministry presented on Thursday. Teachers and professors will not be evaluated, the university asylum is brought back, “eternal students” will remain, the state will be regulating teaching material and operating hours of private tutoring and foreign language schools, there will be schools for students with special needs, new requirements for high-school principals’ appointment will be established, poor students will be getting a “food card” for meals and teaching material in private schools will be decided by the state. These are the main points of the new education bill. Instead of an evaluating system for teachers and professors, there will be committees that will be discussing ways of improving education. In universities, deans and rectors will be elected by professors, students and university staff. Students who remain enrolled but do not attend classes or take exams will remain enrolled and their status will not change. The “university asylum” establishes that the police cannot enter university buildings. Schools for exemplary students and experimental schools will be separated since they were merged in the past, but their naming will change. The teaching material of private schools and high schools will be state-regulated. Also the operating hours and the material of private tutoring schools and foreign language schools will be regulated by the Education Ministry. The draft bill also includes several measures that are sports-related, since the Sports Ministry is under the Education Ministry. Additionally, culture-related issues are in the new bill since the Culture Ministry is also under the Education Ministry. Education Minister Aristidis Baltas said the bill has already been presented to SYRIZA’s Parliamentary Group and it will be made public in a few days.

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Facebook Calls Students to Participate in School Sit-ins

The Greek Minister of Education Andreas Loverdos has reacted to the “sit-ins” of secondary school students throughout Greece. As the Greek Minister stated yesterday in his address to the Greek Parliament, he expressed major concerns on how missed school hours will be covered, suggesting that this may mean that the school year may be extended on holidays. He further expressed his dissatisfaction for sit-ins, saying that this development is only making this school year — that began with several difficulties — even harder. It all started on Sunday, when an event invitation on Facebook under the title “Panhellenic Occupation, No to the new System” was posted. This post invited 194,500 students to participate in sit-ins, from which 45,315 replied “yes” and 6,501 said “maybe”. Moreover, a Facebook page has been created through which students are informed on the progress of their sit-ins. There is a long tradition of school occupations in Greece. Since the end of the military dictatorship in the 1970s, students have frequently occupied their educational institutions in protest. There has been significant participation of pupils in these types of movements, culminating with a massive wave of school occupations this past fall. In particular, serious problems, such as the lack of books and  teaching personnel, inhibited everyday school life. Pupils responded through massive mobilizations that took the form of participation in assemblies, voting, demonstrations and school occupations. The spread of school occupations, in particular, was massive (there were over 700 occupied schools), and they lasted almost the entire fall-trimester Hundreds of schools are currently occupied nationwide in protest sit-ins as of Monday morning, by secondary education students who are demonstrating against educational reforms, the exam topics pool, teacher and textbook shortages and problems with the school buildings. According to official data, on the island of Crete, roughly 30 schools are occupied in the prefecture of Iraklio, while another 15 high schools are occupied in the prefecture of Lassithi. A number of schools are also occupied in Rethymno, while 19 of the 50 schools in Hania are also under student occupation. Students in the prefectures of Achaia, Ilia and Aetoloakarnania in southern Greece, occupy roughly 100 schools corresponding to 30 percent of the schools operating in western Greece, while mobilizations are underway in schools in eastern Peloponnese.

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Teachers' salaries start to increase in Europe

by  KG/EUROPA In 2013/2014, teachers saw their salaries increase in 16 European countries (BE, DK, DE, EE, FR, HR, LU, HU, MT, AT, SK, FI, UK, NO, MK, TR) compared with the previous school year, according to a Eurydice report carried out for the European Commission. The rises were chiefly due to salary reforms and adjustments to the cost of living. The survey covers teachers and school heads at pre-primary, primary, lower secondary and upper secondary level. In about half of the 33 European countries featured in the report, teachers' purchasing power1 in 2014 is still below the 2009 level. In a few countries - BE(nl), DK (primary and lower secondary education), LT, LU, AT, FI (primary and lower secondary education) and IT (upper secondary education) – the decrease in purchasing power is relatively small at below 3%, while CY, IT (primary and lower secondary education), NL, PT, RO (primary education) and the UK saw a decrease of 5 to 10%. In IE, ES, RO (secondary education), SI and IS teachers saw a fall in purchasing power of 13% to 17%. The biggest decrease was in Greece with a fall of around 40%. "Raising the attractiveness of the teaching profession is crucial in order to develop a strong pool of teachers equipped with the skills needed in the 21stcentury," said Androulla Vassiliou, European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth. "The quality of education and skills which they impart to our young generation will have a long-lasting impact on future jobs and growth. As the European Union recovers from the economic crisis, Member States should carefully reflect on the role of remuneration and working conditions in attracting and retaining the best candidates into the teaching profession." The report, Teachers' and School Heads' Salaries and Allowances in Europe (2013/2014), shows that the basic salaries for teachers entering the profession in primary and lower secondary education are lower than GDP per capita2 in around three quarters of the countries surveyed (except in DE, ES, CY, MT, PT, the UK-Scotland, ME, and TR). For the majority of countries, this also applies to teachers' salaries in upper secondary education. The report also shows that in a large majority of the countries, teachers' salaries increase in line with length of service. However, the level of salary increases and the speed at which they progress differs. In some cases, increases are relatively low but the top pay scale is reached fairly quickly (DK, EE, LV, MT, FI, UK-Scotland) while in other countries high increases are only achieved at the end of a long service period (EL, HU, AT, PT, RO). Teachers' basic salaries can also increase due to allowances to reflect extra qualifications, performance evaluation, or for teaching children with special needs. Such incentives can contribute to making the profession more attractive, by shifting from career progression based on length of service to a more development- and performance-oriented approach. Linking the acquisition of new skills and better teaching practices to career progression is likely to serve as an incentive for the entire teaching population, and particularly new teachers, including those attracted into the profession after a career elsewhere. Background This annual Eurydice report is published to coincide with World Teachers' Day (5 October); it contains a comparative overview of salaries for full time, fully qualified teachers and school heads at pre-primary, primary, lower secondary and upper secondary education levels. It covers 33 European countries (EU Member States apart from Bulgaria, as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein, Montenegro, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Norway and Turkey). Separate country-specific details cover issues as: Decision-making bodies responsible for setting teachers’/school heads’ salaries; Salaries arrangements in the private sector; Minimum and maximum annual gross statutory salaries of full-time fully qualified teachers/school heads in public schools; Salary progression in relation to experience; Information on salary increase/decrease in the last year; Different types of allowances and the decision-making bodies responsible for their allocation. Eurydice The European Commission's Eurydice Network provides information on and analyses of European education systems and policies. It consists of 40 national units based in 36 countries participating in the EU's Erasmus+ programme (EU Member States, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Montenegro, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Norway, Serbia and Turkey). It is co-ordinated and managed by the EU Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency in Brussels, which drafts its studies and provides a range of online resources.

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School Year Starts Today in Greece

The school year for primary and secondary students starts today across Greece. Priests and politicians visit schools for the ceremonious first-day holy blessing event. Students will receive their books and meet their teachers. However, this school year starts with a shortage of teachers. According to elementary school teacher unions, there is a shortage of approximately 12,000 teachers. The Education Ministry announced that 4,900 substitute teachers have been hired in addition to a total of 127,033 teachers who started work on September 1. Another 10,000 substitute teachers will be hired by the end of the month and 1,000 will be on standby. Greek Police announced an integrated security program to be implemented in schools across the country. The program includes 24-hour surveillance by undercover law enforcement agents as well as regular patrols by the DIAS motorcycle squad. Traffic police will also be checking regularly on the safety of school buses. For the first time this year, a road safety program titled “I Travel Safely, I Win Life” will also be in effect at select schools across the country. The initiative aims to educate young students and their parents on traffic awareness and prevent accidents. Furthermore, the Health Ministry will intensify checks in school canteens for compliance with health regulations.

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