A general meeting of the Directorates of Secondary General Education and Secondary Technical and Vocational Education and Training and all the Inspectors of Secondary Education with the object of learning frameworks, the development of teaching and the upcoming written evaluation of the first four months, was held yesterday at the Ministry of Education, Sports and Youth.
According to an announcement by the Ministry of Education, the meeting was also attended by the Minister of Education, Sports and Youth, Prodromos Prodromou and the Director General of the Ministry, Neophytos Papadopoulos.
During the meeting, there was a detailed review of the progress of teaching, especially in the examined courses, with reference to the correspondence of the existing learning frameworks and the available teaching time.
The general finding is that the teaching time is sufficient and the teaching during the first four months covers the learning frameworks, as they have been defined since last August, according to the Analytical Program and the targeting of the predicted proficiency indicators.
In some cases, where there are minor discrepancies, inspectorates have been instructed to immediately communicate to teachers and schools the individual amendments and the finalization of the learning frameworks, ahead of the January written assessment. It was emphasized that within the next few days the necessary arrangements should have been made and the students and teachers should know before the interruption of classes for the Christmas holidays what will be included in the written assessment for January.
At the meeting, opinions were exchanged and it was pointed out that the division of the year into two four months facilitates and systematizes teaching planning.
By pointing out that next January, for the first time, a written assessment will be made in the three classes of the high school, it was underlined the need to pay special attention to the entire assessment process in high schools.
Relevant findings and observations were also noted and instructions were given to provide targeted guidance both to teachers regarding the distribution and pace of teaching, as well as to school principals regarding the general planning of work.
The Minister of Education noted that during the last two school years, a consultation process was adopted between the inspectorates and the teachers' specialty liaisons, in order to have a better coordination and that it is useful to take into account the perspective of the teachers at the headquarters, but he underlined that the final determination of learning frameworks and teaching content is the responsibility of the Ministry's directorates and inspectorates.
In particular, he said that this discussion – which seems to be held and repeated on an annual basis about learning frameworks and available time – is not productive and creates a sense of unnecessary confusion that is not justified by’ at the moment the Analytical Program prepared after long study and consultations in the past is a given. He asked for opinions on whether in some places there are exaggerations in the Analytical Program and noted that, accordingly, opinions will also be requested from the public universities.
In addition, it was mentioned and clarified that the first week following the holidays, before the start of the written assessment, as specified by the relevant amendment to the legislation in 2020, is intended for repetitions and consolidation courses and is not meant to be used for further teaching.
Addressing the inspectors, he clarified that if there are some individual cases where teaching does not proceed according to the learning frameworks and available time, corrective measures should be taken immediately because it is neither possible nor acceptable for a few exceptions, where for the for one reason or another there is some delay, to affect the learning frameworks provided.
Referring in particular to the intended oral assessment, he emphasized that it is no coincidence that it is called "oral", as opposed to the written assessment which is basically the four-month assessment, and asked the inspectorates to act as guides so that the school can adapt to this reality and limit at the minimum necessary any written exercises of limited duration and scope are still deemed necessary.
He pointed out that it is not acceptable for some courses and before the four-month written assessment to do three or sometimes more written exercises in the classroom that ultimately resemble an exam. The purpose of introducing a summary written assessment at the end of the four months was, he said, among other things to replace the multitude of competitions in the classroom. explicit recommendations in this regard, but also that the inspections should contribute, so that all teachers make practical use of the alternative assessment methods provided for in the Regulations.
Recalling a legislative proposal that had been submitted to the Parliament to regulate the issue through the Regulations, invited the participants to achieve the same result through instructions, until the legislative proposal is possibly submitted again. the respective inspections.
