ACADEMIC
AND PROFESSIONAL UPGRADING OF PRIMARY
TEACHERS
Athina A. Sipitanou, Eleni I. Samara, Graduate
of the Department of Educational and Social
Policy
(University of Macedonia, Greece)
A. Introduction, background and environment
settings
In 1990, the Greek Ministry of Education launched
a program about the teachers’ of Primary
Education training, the so-called “Assimilation” program,
which is continued until nowadays. It is a degree-oriented
education and it is given by the Pedagogical
Departments of the Greek Universities. We talk
about 18 Departments of 8 Universities which,
on the base of their establishment’ s year,
are: the National and Kapodistrian University
of Athens (1837), the Aristotle University of
Thessaloniki (1925), the University of Ioannina
(1964), the University of Patras (1964), the
Demokritos University of Thrace (1973), the University
of Crete (1973), the University of Thessaly (1984)
and the University of the Aegean (1984). These
Departments have offered continuing education
to more than 20.000 teachers of Primary Education
during the period 1990-2001.
In Greece, the most teachers of Primary Education were graduates of the two-years
attendance Pedagogical Schools, which were offering an education that was characterized
by an absence of academic culture and was undermining teachers’ educational
act and their social profile. So, there came up the need for the teachers’ education
upgrading which was accomplished by the establishment of the four-years attendance
Pedagogical Departments of the Universities in 1982.
However, this legislation regarded only to future teachers and it didn’ t
provide any regulation for the already serving teachers’ upgrading of
their scientific, pedagogical and professional qualifications, something that
would make them more effective to their act. This ascertainment drove the Ministry
of Education to legislate the teachers’ academic and professional upgrading
(Law 1566/1985 and Presidential Order 130/1990) so as to be succeeded the “assimilation” of
those who had graduated of the two-years attendance Pedagogic Schools to the
graduates of the Pedagogical Departments of the Universities.
Nevertheless, for many reasons reffering to Pedagogical Departments’ possibilities,
the fulfillment of the “Assimilation” programs was very restricted.
In fact, from 1990 to 1997, only 7 Pedagogical Departments put into practice
the “Assimilation” programs and there had been trained 3.159 teachers
of Primary Education.
The “Assimilation” programs were put in practice widely in 1997,
when the European Community Support Framework (KPS) program financed education
and training that were linked to development. In Greece, the Ministry of Education
launched the Operational Program for Education and Initial Training (EPEAEK)
and the subprogram 3 regarded the launching of university postgraduate courses
to upgrade and modernize Greek higher education and improve its competitiveness
at the international level. In this context, the programs of “Academic
and Professional upgrading of Primary teachers” succeed in fact the “Assimilation” programs.
These programs are offered by all Pedagogical Departments and there have been
trained 18.214 teachers of Primary Education during the period 1997-2001.
Thus, the goal from the beginning was that the target group for the degree-oriented
educational program would be those people who, via approximately two-years
of additional study, would be able to graduate with a degree in a discipline
for which the educational system has need.
B. Outcomes
B.1 Goals, objectives
The rapid developments in the scientific and
technological field and the internationalization
of the economic, social and cultural relationships
influence very much the educational system. The
school has to correspond to the contemporary
demands for adaptation and variation in the way
of its organisation and operation, in the content
of educational knowledge, in the use and application
of educational methods and practices and in the
evaluation of educational act.
The teacher consists the basic factor for the accomplishment of this goal.
For this reason, the teacher must have the demanding scientific profile, the
contemporary communicative skills, the familiarization with the pedagogical
currents and the methological approaches, and in general, the professional
sufficiency which can be acquired in the best way into the Universities.
In order to be attained these objectives, the program of “Academic and
Professional upgrading of Primary teachers” aims at:
a. The completion and extension of Primary teachers’ first education
to scientific, pedagogical and professional subjects.
b. The acquirement of knowledge and skills reffering to new fields such as
informatics in education, european subjects, subjects relevant to environment,
health and consumption, intercultural education e.t.c.
c. The cultivation of positive postures, the undertaking of initiatives and
the adoption of behaviours which correspond to contemporary demands of schools’ cultural
and social role such as: innovations’ acceptance in curriculum, evaluation,
schools’ management, cofrontation with learning difficulties and intercultural
problems, adoption of new istructive approaches during the teaching of language,
maths, physics, informatics e.t.c.
B.2 Benefits
For many decades, the greek teachers of Primary
Education had been excluded from the possibility
to continue their studies or post-graduate studies
in Universities, since the two-years attendance
Pedagogical Schools’ degree wasn’ t
recognized as a sufficient presumption for this.
Consequently, the most important benefit which
comes up is that the program of “Academic
and Professional upgrading of Primary teachers” not
only offers to teachers a university degree but
it also allows them to continue their studies.
Moreover, this educational program gives teachers the opportunity for further
education through an approach of new pedagogical theories, new ways of communication
and behaviour, and new scientific fields. It also makes teachers realize that
the first education isn’ t sufficient enough in order to come up with
effectiveness to their teaching act, but there is a need for a continuous awareness
and adaptation to the new data of our days and to the demands of new generation.
Finally, the acquirement of a university degree contributes to the teachers’ profile
upgrading and mostly to the increase of teachers’ self-confidence, since
they are now considered to be in the same level as the teachers of Secondary
education.
So, we can easily understand that the program of “Academic and Professional
upgrading of Primary teachers” has offered a lot not only to teachers
as personalities but also to the educational system in general.
