Comparative education in Greece,as a European ‘semi-periphery’

ABSTRACT

Comparative education was established in Greek universities in the 1980s, with the creation of pedagogical departments and two laboratories, and the publication of a journal. There was an early emphasis on education policy analysis, in terms of assumptions about the ‘semi-peripherality’ of Greece within Europe. Later, the emphasis shifted to what was also called ‘modernisation’ – framed by entry to the European Economic Community. There was an emphasis on education policies in other European countries, and the educational policy of Europe, in contrast with Greece which had not yet absorbed what was becoming ‘a European discourse’. There was a continuing motif – reflections on methodology – but the changing concepts of modernisation, the more or less permanent anxiety about reforming Greek education, and the theme of education within the European Union dominated academic work in comparative education in Greece – even after 2010 and the major new economic crisis. An optimistic view is that comparative education will continue to develop in the Greek university through teaching and research. There is, however, a question to be asked about the silences within Greek comparative education.     

Communism,anti-communism and education in Greece from the Axis occupation until the early Cold War era (1944–1967)

ABSTRACT

This study aims to examine communist education in occupied Greece (1944–1945) in combination with anti-communist education in Greece in the Cold War era (1950–1967). It discusses, on the one hand, the intentions of the Popular Liberation Front/the Greek Communist Party in establishing Slavic-Macedonian schools and their features and, on the other, it defines the characteristics of the American anti-communist educational model and its impact on the Greek one, as the redefinition of the Greek nation, the constitution of the anti-communist legislative framework, the promotion of educational reform or the need for modernisation and the demand for technological and economic progress. Finally, it evaluates both communist and anti-communist education and their consequences for Greek society.     

Language education of adult immigrants in Greece: current trends and future developments

The increasing number of immigrants living and working in Greece has proven to be a challenge for the social as well as educational policy of this country. In order to help adult immigrants to integrate into society and facilitate their access to the job market, the Greek state has introduced special language education programmes. This paper discusses the current trends in Greece regarding immigrant language education and presents findings of a survey which aimed at exploring immigrants’ language needs and preferences. The results of this survey indicate a high interest by immigrants in learning Greek but a very low level of enrolment on and attendance of language courses. As a knowledge of Greek is necessary to improve immigrants’ socio‐economic and professional status, it is suggested that cooperation between immigrant associations and educational policy‐makers is necessary for the design of successful language programmes and the promotion of Greece’s policy of integration.     

EEC SCHEME OF JOINT STUDY PROGRAMMES ‐ ITS EFFICACY AND FUTURE DEVELOPMENT

The promotion of mobility, while at the same time respecting the academic autonomy of higher education institutions, is the principle of the European Economic Community's policy with regard to co‐operation‐in the field of higher education. (Editor's Note: at the end of this article, on page 31 we present recent statistics on student mobility between the countries of the EEC.)

One type of instrument for the implementation of this policy can be seen in the joint programmes of study which are carried out as a part of the European Community's Scheme of Grants for the Development of Joint Programmes of Study (EEC Scheme). Recently the Institute of Education of the European Cultural Foundation published a report evaluating the EEC Scheme. This report was written by Alan Smith, The following information is based on the chapter of the report concerning the efficacy of the EEC Scheme in 1976/77, and prospects for its future development.     

The Labour Party and Higher Education: The Nature of the Relationship

Higher education policy has rarely been a major concern of the Labour Party in the second half of the twentieth century. This article explores the reasons for this and analyses the ideological coalition of the Labour Party in the context of the Welfare State and the commitments to moderate social democratic reformism. Three strands in particular are explored: the dominance of vocational, technological and professional priorities in HE expansion; the influence of utilitarian thinking, broadly construed; and the various social purpose, equality perspectives of those on the Left of the Party. Alongside these strands, has been Labour's reluctance to adopt interventionist policies especially in relation to the so‐called elite Universities, and the persistent advocacy of ‘modernisation’. Finally, the article considers, within a context of the debate in general political analysis, the potential of the Labour Party within this period to achieve significant reform in the field of higher education, drawing inter alia on the work of Ralph Miliband.     

Cast the net a little wider: Australian aid in the South Pacific

This article examines the development of Australia's bilateral aid programme to higher education in the South Pacific, specifically at the University of the South Pacific (USP). The premise is primarily historical, focusing on the important decades of USP's expansion and Australian aid policy development in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. This article briefly examines current challenges for donor and recipient. Both historical and current perspectives are fundamental to understanding key issues about aid in the South Pacific. Australian aid priorities have ranged from the explicitly political and security focused, to priorities of education and welfare. This article is timely given Australia's continued influence in the South Pacific.     

论高职教育的“中国模式”

二战后,在新技术革命、经济发展和教育需求等因素驱动下,发达国家职业技术教育获得了快速发展。在这种背景下,20世纪80年代中国产生了以短期职业大学为代表的高职院校。经过试点、扩大办学规模和教育教学改革,一条适合中国国情的、具有中国特色的高职教育发展新模式逐步清晰,这就是高职教育的“中国模式”。它既是一种教育教学模式,又是一种动态的发展模式。文章对其形成过程进行了梳理,并分析总结了其发展规律和特点。     

Classical Political Economy and the Role of Universities in the New Knowledge Economy

Higher education has become the new star ship in the policy fleet for governments around the world. The public policy focus on higher education, in part, reflects a growing consensus in macroeconomics of 'new growth' or 'endogenous growth' theory, based on the work of Solow, Lucas and Romer that argues that the driving force behind economic growth is technological change (i.e. improvements in knowledge about how we transform inputs into outputs in the production process). Knowledge about technology and levels of information flow are now considered critical for economic development and can account for differential growth patterns. In short, universities are seen to be a key driver towards the knowledge economy. Accordingly, higher education institutions have been encouraged to develop links with industry and business in a series of new venture partnerships. This emphasis in higher education policy also accords with initiatives to promote greater entrepreneurial skills and activity within so-called national systems of innovation. This paper focuses upon the economic importance of higher education as a key component of the knowledge economy. It discusses the genealogy and contributing strands to the newly emerging discourse and considers universities in the knowledge-driven economy by reference to the UK White Paper Our Competitive Future. It also considers the arguments advanced by Joseph Stiglitz (ex-Chief Economist of the World Bank) for the 'analytics of the knowledge economy' and discusses universities in terms of 'knowledge cultures'. Finally, the paper provides a critique of the policy discourse of the knowledge economy as a basis of the new challenges facing universities under knowledge capitalism.     

Publication Names and Terms

As we analyze our country's social and economic development, the following sets of contradictions stand out in the picture of this development. These include: (1) the contradiction between the expansion of population and the growth of per capita income, (2) the contradiction between a high employment rate and a low rate of production efficiency, (3) the contradiction between a sense of common wealth and well-being and the expansion of the gaps between people's incomes, and (4) the contradiction between the policy of opening up to the outside world and the construction of spiritual culture. There are many ways to solve these contradictions, but, under the system of socialism, in addition to organizing production and the people's lives in a reasonable way, the fundamental way out of the potential impasses seems to be nothing more than strengthening the education system and developing the cause of education. When education is done well, and our people's quality is enhanced generally, then the expansion of the population would not just be an explosion in consumption; rather, it would mean an expansion in technique and skill, and an enhancement in the labor productivity and efficiency rate. Our common wealth and well-being will then also be based on ability and contribution. Then, too, we will be able, under the conditions of opening up to the outside, to absorb truly and correctly the essence of foreign cultures to help us in building up the spiritual culture of socialism in our country. Therefore, we believe that it is a mark of true foresight and acumen that the party center designated the development of education as a strategic focal point for our country's growth in the current period and for some time into the future. The "Resolution of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Reforming the Education System" pointed out that we must give the enterprise of education a tremendous boost in its development as the foundation of the nation's overall economic development. Furthermore, this resolution stipulated that the growth of the state's annual expenditure in the area of education must be kept at a higher level than the growth of the normal and regular fiscal income of the state. It also stipulated that there should be a year-to-year increase in the per-student annual average educational expenses. These very important decisions will propel with great force the development of our nation's enterprise of education and will allow it to have a greater and greater impact on our country's economic revival and recovery, its social growth, and its scientific and technological progress.     

A quiet revolution – International influence,domestic elites and the transformation of higher technical education in Ireland 1959–72

The upgrading of higher technical education which began in the 1960s marked the most influential intervention by the Irish government in the third-level sector since the establishment of the independent Irish state. A series of reforming initiatives extended educational opportunity and transformed the status of technical education at higher level. International pressures undoubtedly proved influential in stimulating policy change. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) encouraged far-reaching reforms through its critical evaluation of educational facilities for technical training in Ireland. But educational reform was not imposed by international agencies on a reluctant corps of national politicians and officials. International influences dovetailed with changing attitudes toward technical education within the Irish political and official elite. Leading politicians and public officials showed an increasing awareness that the previous neglect of technical education was untenable in an era of economic development and educational expansion. It was a timely combination of international scrutiny and domestic political re-appraisal, which triggered a radical restructuring and expansion of higher technical education in Ireland.     

The policy reassembly of Afghanistan's higher education system

ABSTRACT

This paper explores how a national higher education sector can be assembled upon a relatively narrow ideological foundation during and in the aftermath of violent conflict. It analyses the case of Afghanistan's higher education system, and argues that the violent disintegration of this system during the 1980s and 1990s created the conditions for a neoliberal reassembly and subsequent expansion of higher education from 2001. This paper draws on data gathered from document analysis, and semi-structured interviews with key policy actors. It identifies an ideological grounding in neoliberalism within higher education policies which are responsible for directing the sector's growth since 2010. I argue that this neoliberal agenda, largely driven by globalised influences, has exploited Afghanistan's conflict-affected context to position higher education primarily as a driver of economic growth, thus limiting policy emphasis on higher education's non-economic dividends. The paper concludes by critiquing the underlying assumption that this role is sufficient if higher education is to serve as a key institution in Afghanistan's ongoing national development.     

Democratic education and the ‘strategy of material obstacles’: a pedagogical approach to the enforcement of traffic rules in a Greek town

This paper is about people's relationship to laws, rules and regulations in a Greek town. The aim is to describe specific traffic policies, point out the underlying pedagogical assumptions and assess their potential effect in relation to the goals of a democratic education. The study springs from the author's experience as a non-native inhabitant of Greece. It is the result of daily, 15-year-long participant observation. Faced with drivers who disregard most rules of the Highway Code, especially concerning parking, the authorities in a Greek town have screwed traffic devices to the ground. Functioning like obstacles, such devices are designed to make violations materially impossible. I argue that this policy eventually teaches people not to respect traffic regulations and rules in general, thus being in conflict with the goals of a democratic education.     

La femme Ingénieur francaise de 1986

Prior to the First World War many obstacles stood in the way of French Women who wished to pursue studies in technical fields. Largely due to the shortage of suitable male candidates, a considerable number of higher technological institutes opened their doors to women students during or after the First World War. However, women engineers working in France before the 1930's were a very small pioneering band. Between the two World Wars the number of women engineers grew slowly, but it was only after 1945 that opportunities opened up more swiftly. By the early 1970's even the most prestigious of the Grandes Ecoles were beginning to take in women students

As a result of these changes the number of qualified women engineers grew from around 3000 in 1960 to more than 20,000 in 1985. The article discusses the changes in the school level education system which aided this development. Also discussed are the career prospects and achievements of French Women Engineers with special reference to the establishment of a study circle of women engineers in 1958 and its development through the 1960's and 1970's. The Association of French Women Engineers was founded in 1982 and symbolises the secure position of women engineers in France in the 1980's. The work of the Association is outlined with special reference to its educational role and the development of a slide-based information package about women in engineering aimed at school girls.     

美国联邦政府国际学生教育政策的价值取向评析

二战后,美国联邦政府的国际学生教育政策在美国例外论、多元文化主义和实用主义价值观影响下,呈现出注重文化输出与国防安全、倡导技术移民、坚持国家利益至上的价值取向。后“9·11”时代,美国又确立了将国际学生教育作为保护国家安全和知识产权的重要屏障、吸纳海外科技创新人才的主要手段和提高经济效益的关键途径的政策理念。美国经验表明,国际学生教育政策可以与国家安全、经济贸易、文化外交、全球竞争力等多方面利益相融合,有效支撑国家发展战略。在全球学生流动受阻与大国博弈的背景下,美国的国际学生教育政策也暴露出深受外部环境牵制、吸引高科技人才政策缺乏稳定性、难以抵御高等教育财政风险的弊端。     

中国素质教育发展中的得与失

中国教育在70年的发展历程中，坚持以培养全面发展的人才为教育目标，取得了令人瞩目的成就。如今，中国正从教育大国逐渐走向教育强国，足见其教育方针的基本内容和方向是好的、正确的。针对改革开放以来的中国教育状况，从泰国华人的视角，对中国素质教育在实施过程中的得与失进行了分析和思考，探讨了中国在素质教育改革与发展中存在的问题及解决对策，并得出结论：中国素质教育要有全局的考虑，要适应中国和全球经济、社会发展的需要。只有对文化科学知识教育和品德修养教育给以同等重视，中国的素质教育才能培养出更多品学兼优且适应社会发展的人才，才能满足中国经济高速发展和树立良好国际形象的需要。     

An analysis of teachers' rating scales as sources of evidence for a standardised Greek reading test

Until recently there has been no nationally acceptable test for assessing reading for the higher grades (Five and Six) of the elementary schools in Greece. As part of an effort to validate such a test, evidence was gathered from teachers' rating scales. Seventy‐two teachers from Fifth and Sixth Grades all over Greece evaluated their 1377 students' reading ability prior to the administration of a standardised reading test. The teachers were instructed to rate each student's reading achievement, disregarding effort, intelligence, behaviour and attendance. Within class correlation coefficients were computed to determine whether teachers' personal judgement (ratings) and students' actual performance on the reading test were correlated. The standardised reading test and the teachers' ratings were found to have a strong correlation. The match between Greek teachers' assessments of student reading levels and the scores obtained using a newly standardised reading test is reported, in order to examine the extent to which teacher ratings and standardised test results of students yield the same information. The rationale of this study is to investigate whether a new standardised Greek reading test can provide an alternative tool for the assessment of Greek primary education.     

高校扩招对我国居民收入分配差距的影响研究——基于1999—2018年省际面板数据的实证分析

本研究围绕高校扩招对居民收入分配差距的影响进行实证研究,选取1999—2018年我国31个省份(不含我国港、澳、台地区)的面板数据进行门槛回归估计。本研究发现,样本期间内高校扩招对于缩小收入分配差距具有显著作用,且表现出鲜明的门槛特征。高校扩招对收入分配差距的影响还存在经济门槛效应和技术门槛效应:经济发展水平越高,高校扩招缩小收入分配差距的作用越强;随着技术水平的提升,高校扩招缩小收入分配差距的作用先增强后减弱。据此,为更好地推动高等教育与社会经济发展,发挥高等教育人力资本促进居民收入分配公平的作用,我国可以实施因地制宜的分地区高校扩招政策;强化经济发达地区对经济欠发达地区的带动作用;加快培养高层次应用型人才以适应技术进步对高层次人才的需求。     

Education,Teacher Training and Prospects for Economic Recovery in Cambodia

With the conclusion of 1994, Cambodia will have ended its first year of rehabilitation under a freely elected government. Since the 1993 elections, Cambodia has moved cautiously towards a modern era and there has been considerable international effort to ensure that all sectors of the economy achieve the improvements required to achieve political and economic stability towards 2000. The education sector has been a major focus. Cambodia is ready to move into the next stage of development of the education sector-reconstruction. With the non-governmental organisations (NGOs) having provided support in this sector for over 10 years, the restoration of bilateral and multilateral aid will see a growing involvement of foreign governments and donor organisations in the restoration of the sector. This activity will need to be coordinated. Cambodia had a rapidly expanding education system before Pol Pot's Year Zero. Largely based on French colonial models and structures that system served a society very much in transition - a transition from colonial dependency to a possible so-called 'new tiger'. The current period will see a different 'system' emerge; one that is neither French nor Western nor indeed 'modern'. The transition of the education system will be predicated on an overhaul of the existing bureaucracy, training regimes and school curricula before modernisation processes are installed. This paper provides a historical backdrop for the current situation. It also examines current policy priority areas in education in Cambodia and the level of international assistance.     

自定“一流学科”政策分析与优化

第二轮“双一流”建设工程中出台了赋予个别高校自主遴选建设学科权的政策,这一政策在当前我国高等教育不断深化改革过程中具有丰富的内涵。基于政策分析的基本框架,从事实、价值、规范和可行性四个维度做了全面剖析。从政策事实维度看,这是高等教育强国建设新阶段对政策创新能力的必然要求,是世界一流大学建设新阶段不断提高政策创新能力的现实需要,是高等教育深化改革新阶段所做出的实质性探索和举措。从政策价值维度看,能提振我国世界一流大学发展的制度自信,是对政策实施对象办学主体性的价值承认,能对其他办学主体产生示范价值。从政策规范维度看,自定建设学科是在世界一流大学建设新阶段的重大政策创新,需要在充分尊重办学主体决定权基础上加强宏观政策指导。从政策可行性维度看,该政策的试点具备技术和经济可行性。在全面建设高等教育强国新阶段,需要进一步优化这一政策举措,具体包括：进一步提升政府的高等教育宏观政策创新能力,进一步完善高校内部治理体系以提升自治能力,进一步探索和凝练中国特色世界一流大学发展模式。