Who cares for me? Grandparents, nannies and babysitters caring for children in contemporary Italy

This paper illustrates the factors and features of the revival of paid care and domestic work in Italy. While Italy is experiencing a boom in the recourse to carers for the elderly, there is not a corresponding expansion in paid private childcare, in spite of growing female employment and limited public services for children. One of the reasons for this is the growing involvement of grandparents in childcare. In Italy, a country characterised by a “Mediterranean welfare regime”, people also have recourse to their own mothers (and fathers) to care for their children, in spite of the fact that they can afford to pay for childminding and babysitting. Thus it is not only (migrant) domestic workers who frequently rely on their parents to care for their own children, an issue widely discussed in the literature on global care chains. Their employers, too, may rely on them. Grandparents, however, have turned out to play an important role in childcare not only in Italy but also in Western countries with better childcare services. Focusing on these issues, the paper contributes both to the debate on global care chains and to that on the role of the family within different welfare systems.     

Are Greek school students flourishing?

ABSTRACT

Schools have a key role in promoting student social and emotional development and are encouraged to serve as a primary source of support, especially for those learners in need of special attention for addressing their needs. Young people’s subjective emotional-social well-being is a general indicator of their mental health status. In this article, we present an assessment of the emotional, psychological and social well-being of Greek adolescent students, determine whether they are flourishing or languishing and investigate whether well-being varies by gender, age and year level. Analysis of data from over 500 Greek adolescent students (year levels 6–10) who completed the Mental Health Continuum (MHC) scale indicated that over half of the participants were flourishing, while only a small proportion were languishing and the remainder had moderate mental health. Gender differences were identified with female students reporting more challenges to their well-being than their male peers. Additionally, younger students were more likely to be flourishing than older students.     

Experiencing multiculturalism in Greek‐Cypriot primary schools

Within the context of a monocultural and monolingual education system, this paper seeks to explore and compare the experiences of Cypriot and non‐Cypriot pupils in Greek‐Cypriot primary schools with culturally diverse pupil populations. The concept of multiculturalism has been introduced only very recently in Cyprus and there has been little research on pupils’ experience and understanding of multiculturalism. Using a narrative approach, this inquiry seeks to provide an understanding of the experience of studying in multicultural primary school classrooms. The pupils of two classrooms, aged between 10 and 12, describe their experience through terms such as new knowledge, religion, language, racism and stereotypes.     

Greek Mythology Complex in Byron＇s Poetry

The paper discusses the Greek allusion contained in Byron’s poems from the perspective of myth criticism.He not only touch the inner spirit of Greek mythology but also reflect the eternal beauty in the Greek mythology during the creation.     

Do personality and learning climate predict competence for learning? An investigation in a Greek academic setting

The effects of personal characteristics (e.g. personality, aptitude, gender) on student performance, such as Grade Point Average (GPA) and course grades, have been systematically researched, with the emphasis being mainly on outcomes rather than the processes leading to them. The purpose of this paper is to shift the focus to students' perceived competence for learning and examine how this is affected by personality characteristics and learning climate. Data were collected from students enrolled in an elective economics course at a Greek public university. Results indicated that all Big Five traits, except emotional stability, and learning climate were significantly related to students' perceived learning competence. Finally, only conscientiousness interacted with learning climate to predict learning motivation. Limitations and future research initiatives are discussed in light of these findings.     

All Roads Lead to Rome

I' m a Senior 3student,so I have to take m any exam s.Every tim e I enterone,Ithink “Ican tfailthis tim e”,butIgeta low m ark.Slowly,I find the m ore Iam afraid offailure, the lowerthe scores are.Then one day m y m othersaid to m e, “Don tbe too hard on yourself.So why not throw away this crazy pursuitto getthe best? Justface the problem lying before you with a calm m ind and enjoy the hard work.” M other s words taughtm e a lot.Icom e to understand failure and suc- cess are twin brot…     

Typical Didactical Activities in the Greek Early‐Years Science Classroom: Do they promote science learning?

This paper presents an epistemological analysis of typical didactical activities noted in early‐years science lessons, which was carried out in an attempt to diagnose the extent to which the teaching practices adopted by early‐years educators are successful in supporting young children’s understanding in science. The analysis of didactical activities used a framework that allowed us to discover whether they promoted desired connections between theoretical ideas, evidence and the material world. Theoretical ideas, evidence and the material world are entities internal to scientific inquiry and, in educational contexts, connections between them are considered essential in assisting the development of young children’s scientific thinking. The results indicated that in the early‐years science classroom scientific activity was mainly confined to the representational level. Intervention practices into the material world were limited, and were based on collected evidence. No interventions based on ideas were identified in the science lessons. Missing links between evidence and theory and between ideas and the material world suggest that the didactical activities analysed did not promote scientific understanding.     

Phonological awareness and reading speed deficits in reading disabled Greek‐speaking children

There is evidence that phonological awareness skills secure decoding ability and that phonological deficits underlie failure to acquire adequate word recognition. Slow word‐reading rate may be an additional defining characteristic of reading disability. The present study aimed to investigate whether: (1) reading disabled (RD) Greek‐speaking children showed reading accuracy and reading speed deficits relative to chronological age‐matched controls (CAC) and reading age‐matched controls (RAC); (2) they showed phonological deficits relative to the two control groups who do not present reading difficulties; and (3) they showed reading comprehension deficits over and above any word reading deficits.

Results suggested that the reading accuracy of the RD group was predictably weaker than that of the CAC group but equivalent to that of the RAC group. However, the reading speed of the RD group was significantly slower than the RAC group, who showed the same single word reading speed as the CAC group.

Slow and laboured decoding was found to compromise the reading comprehension of the RD group, whose listening comprehension performance was as good as the two other groups. The RD children performed poorly on phonological awareness tasks and naming speed. Naming speed was not an independent core feature of reading difficulties in the Greek language but was associated with a general phonological deficit.

It is recommended that diagnostic assessments for children with reading difficulties in Greek should include phonological awareness, single word reading and pseudoword reading tasks that measure both accuracy and speed.     

Are comic books appropriate for teaching History? Three suggestions for Greek Primary Education

The tremendous impact of comics to young people at the beginning and the middle of the twentieth century drew the attention of educators, thus the debate concerning the use of comics at school began very early. Some studies revealed that Greek pupils think of History as an extremely boring lesson, full of names and dates. Therefore, there is a need for an alternative approach that can render the lesson interesting and pleasant. This paper presents three didactic suggestions regarding the use of comics in teaching History. The first suggestion presents a single unit, the second is a two-hour revision of a textbook's entire unit and the last suggestion is a four-month project on what Asterix can teach us about History.     

Religious capital in relation to teachers’ views of RE. A comparative study in the Greek educational context

In this article, we attempt to conduct a comparative study of two different groups. The first group consists of Greek student teachers (1009) while the second comprises Greek in-service teachers (432) of primary education, namely current teachers with several years of experience. These teachers do not have training in theological studies, but they do have some knowledge of religious education (RE; With the term RE, we refer to the ‘subject of RE’ and not an everyday lesson of RE. In Greece, there is a debate on the teaching methodology of the course, i.e. utilising catechistic manners of teaching or teaching Christianity and different religions under historical/cultural criteria) after attending the Greek pedagogical faculties and receiving other forms of special training in the teaching of RE, especially the teaching of different religions from a historical/cultural point of view. Our aim in this paper is to offer a better understanding of how teachers aim to reproduce and change religious capital and examine if religious capital is tailored to the needs of schools or whether it operates independently. The paper will also examine how teachers themselves assess the effectiveness of their practices when teaching RE.     

Integrated Science Education in Primary Schools in Rome: the Research Project of the ‘University‐School’ Group

In response to global climate change, loss of biodiversity, and the immense human impact on the carrying capacity of the earth systems, attention has been given to sustainable development worldwide. In this paper, we explore the emerging field of sustainability science within the context of the socio‐cultural milieu of Malawi, a sub‐Saharan African country. Through interviews in vernacular languages and observations in the field, our research explores how traditional agriculture practices of African elders may contribute to the sustainability of the environment and culture in Africa. Findings indicate that traditional farmers and food preservationists choose to practice indigenous ways of living with nature to live sustainably in a globalized economy. Further discussion elucidates how merging worldviews and hybridized knowledge and languages can be leveraged to create a third space for dialogue and curriculum development by connecting indigenous ways of living with Eurocentric science.     

University and the Entrance Examinations in a Greek Provincial Town: a bottom‐up perspective

The study, carried out in a Greek provincial town, focuses on the cultural meaning of university education and of participation in the extremely competitive entrance examinations to university. In spite of graduate unemployment, in relation to the labour market a university degree is seen as giving more possibilities. Also, the transition to university and the degree that follows are rewarded by the community with prestige and status. Moreover, gaining admission is also important in itself in relation to the individual's wish to achieve something with herlhis own strength. Finally, taking part in the examinations is seen as being of the utmost importance in relation to the local values. Regardless of the outcome, it allows the participants to realize a particular set of values among which the ‘duty to struggle’ seems to occupy, for historical reasons, a central place.     

The Quality of Early Childhood Educators: Children’s Interaction in Greek Child Care Centers

Though quality in early childhood education and care has attracted last decades enormous research interest there is still not a unanimous agreement about its definition. Yet, almost all definitions attempted include interaction, group size, adult:child ratio and early childhood educators’ level of education, as important indices of quality. Relationships are key resources for young children. There is agreement among researchers that the quality of caregiving by professional caregivers in child care centres has been established as an important influence on various aspects of child development. Thus, structural characteristics have been proven to affect programs’ quality of services provided. The purpose of this research study was twofold: (1) to explore the quality of interaction between Greek early childhood educators and children; and (2) to record the structural characteristics of Greek child care centres. Correlations among structural characteristics and type of interaction were also examined. Research data indicate that Greek early childhood educators are positive but at the same time detached and permissive during their interaction with children, a finding that disputes their positive interaction. Thus, Greek child care centres have been found to adopt, based on Greek legislation, high ratios and group sizes, a finding which raises questions about the effects on children’s well being and development. Limited correlations have been found between the type of interaction and the structural characteristics. Research data highlight the need for further research to undergone and for changes in Greek legislation, concerning the operation of Greek child care centres.     

Student-teachers’ verbal communication patterns during their teaching practice in ‘Studies for the Environment’ subject in early Greek primary classes

This study explores the quality of student–teachers’ (STs’) verbal communication during their teaching practice on the ‘Studies for the Environment’ subject, and identifies potential factors affecting it. Forty-one teaching sessions were analysed revealing that STs dominate classroom talking by having almost an equal number of utterances with their students. Moreover, only about one-third of STs’ sentences are questions, with the majority of them being factual (38%), while probing (18%), higher order (18%) or divergent (6%) questions were much less frequent. In addition, although teaching sessions were addressed to very young children (6–9 years old), only a minor percentage of questions were stimulating their emotions (5%). STs’ questioning seems to be independent from the class size, grade level and topic of instruction, while STs’ expressed utterances are significantly higher in smaller classes. A classroom verbal communication pattern was also developed from the available data; however, it is confined within the Greek context.     

Burnout,Job Satisfaction and Instructional Assignment‐related Sources of Stress in Greek Special Education Teachers

In the literature concerning Greek special education teachers, there is little evidence regarding the perceived levels of burnout, job satisfaction, and job‐related stress factors. The present study focused on the above issues. A sample of 127 Greek special education teachers at the primary school level was tested with the Maslach Burnout Inventory, the Employee Satisfaction Inventory, and the Inventory of Job‐related Stress Factors (an instrument created for this study). Results indicated that Greek special education teachers reported average to low levels of burnout. They reported moderately high levels of satisfaction with their job, the principal, and the school organisation as a whole; they also reported average satisfaction with work conditions and low satisfaction with prospects of promotion and pay. Four factors were identified on the job‐related stress factors: teaching in a multi‐category classroom, programme organisation and implementation, assessment of students, and collaborations with other special education experts and parents. The special education teachers perceived none of these issues as particularly overwhelming. Moreover, few significant effects of age, gender, and family status were identified. The above results are consistent with other studies that have focused on Greek regular education teachers, which have indicated that, in general, this group do not experience high levels of occupational stress.     

What fills the gap between discrete and dense? Greek and Flemish students’ understanding of density

It is widely documented that the density property of rational numbers is challenging for students. The framework theory approach to conceptual change places this observation in the more general frame of problems faced by learners in the transition from natural to rational numbers. As students enrich, but do not restructure, their natural number based prior knowledge, certain intermediate states of understanding emerge. This paper presents a study of Greek and Flemish 9th grade students who solved a test about the infinity of numbers in an interval. The Flemish students outperformed the Greek ones. More importantly, the intermediate levels of understanding—where the type of the interval endpoints (i.e., natural numbers, decimals, or fractions) affects students’ judgments—were very similar in both groups. These results point to specific conceptual difficulties involved in the shift from natural to rational numbers and raise some questions regarding instruction in both countries.     

Baseball in Heaven?

Two old men were sitting on a beach （长椅） in a park （公园）.