Filenews 5 May 2022 - by Evangelia Sizopoulou
Those parents and students who believe that the start of the school day due to the very morning time (7:30a.m. for Secondary Education and 7:45a.m. for Primary School) is... barbaric, they can hope for change. Not because it is easy to do as the issue has many and important implications that touch the working hours of the public and private sector, but because the issue was opened to the Education Committee of the House, in an effort to examine seriously and substantially. This aspect was addressed yesterday by MPs and representatives of educational institutions, following a statement by the President of the Commission, Pavlos Mylonas, who opened this chapter in the context of the issue he wrote on the evaluation of timetables and curricula applied at all levels of education.
Mr. Mylonas, referring to this issue, said that despite the difficulties that exist, it should be discussed as in addition to the morning traffic on the streets, especially during the hours when students have to be transferred to their schools, there is also the issue of the assimilation of children, both because of the early morning hours and the duration of the teaching periods. Specifically, he referred to the need to consider the extension from 45 minutes in Secondary Education to 50 minutes each teaching period.
Regarding the hours of the school day, Mr. Mylonas throws on the table the hours of 08:00 a.m. to 14:10 for primary school, and 08:30 a.m. to 14:15 for secondary education. Of course, all these and whether they can be implemented will be discussed in detail in the presence of all stakeholders, including PASYDY. Hence Mr Mylonas said that the debate on these issues will take some time.
In their first statements, the various bodies that attended the Committee yesterday declared their readiness for discussion, referring, however, to a change that, if it occurs, affects the whole socio-economic system in general and not only the school system, as school hours will affect both parents and their work.
Apart from the above issue, however, the Ministry of Education, educational organizations and other stakeholders had the opportunity to make a first placement for the Timetables and Curricula that are now in force in our Education.
WHAT THE EDUCATION DIRECTORS SAID
The Director of Secondary Education, Kyprianos Louis, made it clear that the Timetable concerns the framework of the cognitive areas while the Curriculum concerns the content of the education and its skills, which are necessary per cognitive area. He noted that since 2015 there is a committee to monitor these programs, while referring to the directions of the Lyceums, Mr. Louis said that 84% of them are functioning smoothly, while problems seem to arise in the fifth direction of commercial and services.
The Director of Technical Education, Elias Markatzis, said that Technical Education has new programs from 2016-2017 and several modernized ones, agreeing in the first phase that the start of classes at 07:30a.m. is early.
The Director of Primary Education, Marios Stylianides, pointed out that it is necessary to have mechanisms to monitor procedures and programs, stating that new programs were implemented in Primary School in 2011. He noted that after a survey that followed in 2014, revisions were made mainly by strengthening in hours of courses such as Modern Greek, Mathematics, English and Physical Education. Mr. Stylianides, referring to last year's successful results of students in international research in Mathematics and Natural Sciences, pointed out that this is due to a significant extent to the new Curricula.
The look of teachers
In the context of the meeting of the Education Committee, the first on these issues, the rest of the stakeholders were also placed, with the president of OELMEK, Kostas Hatzisavvas, noting regarding the possibility of changing school hours that if the reason is the traffic on the roads, it will always be there during the transportation of students to and from schools, while if it is a matter of why students are late to enter the classrooms because they are slow to wake up and get ready, then this is not a good reason. Moreover, Mr. Hatzisavvas mentioned that teachers want to teach students in the first hours, as the children are more "fresh" as as time goes by fatigue occurs. On the subject of curricula, Mr. Hatzisavvas mentioned that they should be adapted to the really useful teaching time.
On the part of the OMC, the president, Myria Vassiliou, submitted the need for continuous evaluation, readjustment and improvement of both the Timetables and the Curricula, while at the same time renewing the textbooks, as well as the educational material in general. He also cited the need to produce educational material in various subjects of primary school and auxiliary educational material in Special and Pre-primary Education. With regard to the opening hours of school units, Mrs Vassiliou pointed out that the issue is multifactorial with socio-economic implications, which must be taken into account in the debate on the issue. "In any case, the OMC declares its readiness to submit documented recommendations on issues related to Timetables and Curricula, but also ready to discuss integrated solutions for the improvement of the opening hours of our schools," its head said.
The president of OLTEK, Panagiotis Lysandrou, agreed that a possible change in school hours has significant implications in other areas that affect the whole society and which should be discussed in the context of the dialogue.
The discussion will continue next week, in the presence of other stakeholders.
