TEACHERS’ ASSESSMENT PRACTICES IN LOWER SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN GREECE

Our article examines policies for Special Vocational Secondary Education in Greece. Emphasis is placed on the presentation of legislation with references to the organization and operation of schools and education structures. The aim is to highlight either the different policies for Special Education compared to previous periods, or the evolution of previous policies. As can be seen from our study, the period 2015 – 2019 is considered to be decisive in the evolution of policies for Special Secondary Education. Gradually, Greece is harmonizing with policies of the European Union and International Organizations for the performance of the policy of the rights of people with disabilities. Especially the organization of Secondary Vocational Education changes the model of Education of people with disabilities with emphasis on the acquisition of skills, in order to integrate into the labour market. Thus, in the expanded study framework, the policies of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (O.E.C.D.) are also examined in order to highlight the particular scientific – economic capital that is being formed and evolving on the role of education in the labour market. The increased attendance of people with disabilities in public educational structures is related to their right to education, quality of life and social integration, so that they can be integrated into social and professional life without discrimination, avoiding social exclusion and marginalization.

The rate at which the ICTs (Information and Communication Technologies) are introduced into the educational process is very slow in spite of the materialized high ICTs investment in the sector. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the factors, which lead to the observed low rate of ICTs adoption in the process of Maths teaching in the secondary education in Greece. The use of ICTs by the Maths teachers is distinguished in two categories: use for the teachers’ own personal needs and use in class.By using an ecosystemic approach, the ICTs are specified as invaders into the school environment – the ecosystem – disturbing the existing balance among its elements – computer applications and teachers. The empirical exercise included the 237 secondary education schools in the Prefecture of Thessaloniki together with the 742 Maths teachers of these schools. Semi-structured interviews and a questionnaire survey were carried out in 2006-07. The collected data were analyzed by using the Latent Variable Models. The LISREL software was used.The results show a strong two-way relationship between Maths-teachers’ use of ICTs for their own needs and their use in class. “Fear” of ICTs use in class, as well as teacher-collaboration, and favorable-to-ICTs school environment are among the factors which affect significantly the ICTs adoption in class.

The establishment of a competitive, meritocratic and engaging culture inside the educational system is one of thecrucial elements that will determine not only its survival but also its evolution as a vault of social progress andcultural elevation. Within this frame, mechanisms that can establish new relationships for excellence and innovationinside educational organizations are examined and therefore these can become future gnomons. A correlation of datafrom a three-year institution award records, provided by the Greek Ministry of Education, is being attempted, inorder to mine information about the specific characteristics of the eminent institutions.The gain of similar practices for the school community is doublefold: at first, it measures accurately enough, on ascientific basis, the impact and progressiveness on the community and secondly it safely sketches its future status byprojecting on the most popular and easily implemented features. In the meantime, there is a growing discussion onhow these radical changes could be assimilated by the majority of schools, if one imposes them in a top-down policyor if one awaits until they emerge from a cooperative and social responsible action of the school unit level.A new parameter in the idea of excellence is the newly established pilot-experimental schools, which operate alreadyin a completely novel institutional environment. Among the objectives of the ministry of education is to confide inthem a major role, that of “locomotives of excellence”, throughout the whole country. The idea of “excellence”,though quite old, has been severely criticized by members of the community. It is the duty of a research to assess thecontemporary role of that notion in education, defining its strengths and weaknesses.

This paper examines the factors that cause the professional stress of teachers in Secondary Education of Greece. It records several factors that are found in recent international literature and focuses on the main factors of Modern Greek education. A research gap emerges from this review of the literature, regarding various factors. Thus, a proposal for a new research is being formulated, focusing on the approach of school performance as a factor of professional anxiety for secondary school teachers, as well as on the inventory of effective ways of limiting this phenomenon.

The purpose of the present thesis is to examine the educational reforms relating to the paradigm of the organization, the administration and the supervision in primary and secondary education in Greece as well as to compare it with those of two other European countries, of Spain and France. The comparative study of those educational systems intends to identify the similarities, the differences and the way of mutual impact or of their influence by the European discourse during the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century. The research focuses on the collection and the systematic presentation, analysis, interpretation and comparison of the legal context in the area of the educational organization, administration and supervision, based not only on official legal documents but also on the discourse of official organizations or actors exercising authority. Through the historical-comparative approach, we will try to find out the tendencies and the evolution of the educational reform discourse, on the paradigm of the organization, the administration and the supervision in education from 1980 to nowadays. In addition, emphasis will be given on elements that characterized the course of its formation and on the interpretation of other social/political discourses that influenced the discourse evolution for the education reforms.

The main objective of this study is to explore how podcasting can be implemented as a supportive technological tool in teaching English as a Second Language. To this aim, the field experiment research was conducted. The study was carried out in a total of 28 pupils of the first grade of high school at an educational institution on Rhodes, Greece in December 2017. The students were assigned into the experimental group (15 students) and the control group (13 students). A statistically significant difference has arisen regarding the contribution of podcasting to the motivation of the students of the two groups. The students of the experimental group believe that English is a very important school subject which can help them in other subjects. Students found the podcasts interesting and helpful and their content attracted their attention, satisfied their needs and was absolutely relevant to the lesson. All learning styles benefited from the educational podcasts, each one of them in a different way. Finally, the current study proposes specific suggestions for the development of podcasting according to different learning styles.

Translanguaging refers to the communicative practices that go between and beyond defined linguistic systems. In language learning, it can be applied by helping learners access their whole linguistic and semiotic repertoires, thus enhancing language acquisition. This paper draws on quantitative data provided by language teachers of both elementary and secondary education in Greece through an online survey, in order to study their attitudes and practices towards translanguaging in the classroom. A combination of convenience sampling and snowball sampling was applied. The findings indicate that the majority of participants found translanguaging beneficial. Moreover, participants incorporate translanguaging practices quite often, while they encourage students’ translanguaging slightly less often, and there is a small positive correlation between attitudes and practices.

PurposeThis paper reports the findings of a qualitative study on teachers' perspective about school principals' role during the pandemic in the context of Greece. In particular, information is provided on school principals' communication and leadership aspects in tackling the pandemic crisis as well as the obstacles observed in this particular setting.Design/methodology/approachData were collected through the focus group interview tool and included 19 teachers from primary and secondary education in Greece. Due to the circumstances of the pandemic crisis, the interview process was held using the Zoom software environment. The data collection tools included a common semi-structured interview protocol developed specifically for this study based on the current theoretical sources of school principals' role in tackling the pandemic crisis.FindingsThe findings of this study indicated the important aspects of trust, collaboration, and positive climate, together with school principals' external dimension that included the outreach of the local community, parents, private organizations, etc. during the pandemic crisis. Finally, obstacles connected to the students' lack of technological equipment were also observed and addressed by school principals.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings of this study could not be generalized since the study proceeded with convenience sampling. Furthermore, the data were collected while the world was in lockdown during the second pandemic wave.Originality/valueThis piece of research adds to the empirical aspect of school principals' role during the pandemic crisis from a different perspective and reports that researching school principals' role in tackling crises has grown considerably.

During the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic, most schools worldwide were closed and online teaching replaced face-to-face teaching. This study reports the results of a survey among 845 teachers of primary and secondary education in Greece who taught their students fully remotely during the pandemic lockdown. These Greek teachers expressed the difficulties that they faced as well as the opportunities that they gained during this emergency distance teaching (EDT). Through qualitative content analysis this study found that everyone (students, teachers, and state) involved in EDT faced various difficulties due to digital infrastructure’s inadequacy, limited support by the state, limited digital educational material, as well as low digital literacy of students, parents, and even some teachers. On the other hand, there were many opportunities for teachers to experiment and apply their prior training knowledge on distance education to EDT. More concretely, teachers managed not only to improve their teaching and digital skills, to enrich and organise their educational material with more interesting online educational resources, but also to collaborate with colleagues, and to maintain effective communication with students. Similarly, students had opportunities to improve their digital and soft skills and receive personalized teaching. However, some teachers believed that their workload and their available free time increased while other teachers believed the opposite. Also, some teachers believed that students’ participation and engagement increased while other teachers believed the opposite. Finally, the study suggests actions to be taken to support the teachers in EDT such as improvements in digital infrastructure, digital educational material, teachers’ training, as well as support and clear guidelines by the educational authorities.

This paper aims to present the selection process of school heads in primary and secondary education in Greece for the period of 2011-2015 with reference to the law (3848/2010). In interviews with heads, their opinions and suggestions for improving the system were recorded. Seventy-eight people from almost all the Greek regional directorates took part in the research. Potential heads were evaluated on the basis of a number of criteria including an interview. The research drew some interesting comments. Almost all the participants agreed on the necessity for an interview in the evaluation of a candidate's personality, and if possible, for the candidate's psychological profile to be identified. Nevertheless, they expressed their concerns regarding the way in which interviews are currently conducted. Respondents also emphasised the importance of ongoing training for heads in educational organisation and administration as part of their continuous improvement process.

The evaluation of students’ progression in lower secondary education in Brazil: Exploring the path for equity

This article presents 12 regression equatiwns, in which rates of participation in seeondary and university education are related to: income per head (1), distance to neighbouring school (R) and pressure of demand for technically trained personnel in neighbouring industry (D). It appears that participation in general education (general educational schools of secondary level and niversity) is highly correlated with income. Moreover, the higher the level of education, the stronger the linkage with income. The effect of distance to school is significant at the secondary but not at the higher level. Correlation with D is insignificant. The relationships of participation in technical (lower secondary, higher secondary and higher) education with I, 1 and D are more complex. The effect of distance is significant, except in the case of lower secondary education for girls, for which schools exist all over the area. The demand factor has considerable effect on participation of boys in technical education of secondary, but not of higher level; in the case of girls, D affects only participation in higher secondary level. Correlation of participation with income is only significant for girls in lower secondary education: the higher the incomne level, the lower the participation. Regression equations of the type presented in the article could be used as tools of forecasting school population. To mention only some of the advantages in using such regression equations: they are relatively simple to apply and they directly incorporate the effect of inereasing or diminishing pressures of demand for technically trained personnel on the part of industry.

U Hrvatskoj u okviru migracijskih tema dominira pitanje emigracije, posebno mladih i obrazovanih, podjednako u literaturi i raspravama u siroj javnos

The study tried to analyze the implication of one year of online education in the Romanian education system. To achieve this goal, the authors of this study analyzed all the levels of education, primary education, lower secondary education, upper secondary education, and even the early childhood system, but also one of the smallest Romanian universities, considered representative for grade 1 universities representing 60% of the Romanian universities. The study is based on four online questionnaires for investigation, first with more than 2500 respondents from the primary and secondary Romanian education system, and the other three applied to more than 800 students and professors from the University of Petroșani. The investigation took place during 29 January 2021 and 11 February 2021. The authors had investigated the main feature of a standard online or a classical e-learning solution, such as the meeting solution or the video conference software, the collaborative work, such as homework or projects, and the testing method or the quizzes from both perspectives of the students and of the professors. The study results could influence the expected future hybrid educational system because these results were not covered in the previous literature but proved to be necessary for relevant knowledge strategies to be implemented in the new pandemic and also in the future context.

Type II diabetes is a recognized risk factor of declining cognitive function in high-income countries. However, there is limited research on this association across low- and middle-income countries. We aimed to examine and compare the relationship between type II diabetes and cognition amongst adults aged 60 years and older for two of the largest LMICs: India and China. Cross-sectional data was analyzed from population-based Harmonized Cognitive Assessment Protocols studies in India (n = 4,062) and China (n = 9,741). Multivariable-adjusted linear regression models examined the relationship between diabetes (self-reported or biomarker HbA1c ≥6.5%) and general cognition. Interaction testing assessed effect modification based on urban versus rural residence and educational attainment. Type II diabetes was not associated with general cognitive scores in India or China in fully adjusted models. Interaction testing revealed a positive association in rural but not urban residences in India, however this was not seen in China. Both countries showed effect modification by education attainment. In India, diabetes was associated with higher average cognitive scores among those with none or early childhood education, while the relationship was null among those with at least an upper secondary education. In China, diabetes was inversely related to average cognitive scores among those with less than lower secondary education, while the relationship was null among the remainder of the study sample. The type II diabetes and cognitive function association in India and China differs from that observed in high-income countries. These findings suggest epidemiologic and nutrition transition variations. In India, health care access, urbanization and social differences between urban and rural areas may influence this relationship. In both countries, epidemiologic and nutrition patterns may adversely impact individuals from socially and financially vulnerable populations with less than lower secondary education. Longitudinal research using harmonized cognitive scores is encouraged to further investigate these findings.