Teacher professionalism and education policy in Greece

Author(s):

Eleni Sianou-KyrgiouEleni Zygouri

Conference:

ECER 2008

Network:

23. Policy Studies and Politics of Education

Format:

Paper

Session Information

23 SES 07B, Effects of Reform on Professionalism

Paper Session

Time:

2008-09-11

15:30-17:00

Room:

B1 114

Chair:

Anja Sinikka Heikkinen

Contribution

Professional development has been one of the main education policy issues in EU countries. During the last decades a growing concern exists worldwide among policy makers, researchers and education leaders giving significant attention to teacher quality and effectiveness. Systematic recommendations for enhancing teacher accountability have been presented with the intention of advancing teachers’ professionalism. However, several studies have proved that the promotion of professional development differs between reforms across countries with different cultural, policy and education histories. In Greece, there is evidence that the Ministry of Education promotes the professional quality of teachers after the 1997 reform in order to harmonize with the European educational policies. This study examines the ways in which Greek teachers perceive changes of the education policy and how these have affected their sense of professionalism. Specifically, drawing on a qualitative research on 30 secondary school teachers, it explores the teachers’ perceptions of their profession. Data were collected through interviews with secondary school teachers from five schools. The main research questions addressed were: a) What are the features of their work context according to these teachers? b) Is teaching in fact a profession? As the data emerged from the present study, it appeared that teachers do not perceive their work as a profession but as a job in the public sector that offers them security. The national standards and control in education are accepted only as tools for securing professional knowledge and status. Findings suggest that they adhere to the traditional beliefs about teaching and give emphasis to its social character. They also claimed that they lack the information and training to fulfil the roles and tasks expected from them.

Expected Outcomes

Results show that the educational change in Greece has been unlikely to occur since teachers do not engage with changes but seem to be taken over by them. Teachers’ professionalism as an ideology and practice has not been promoted in Greece, as in other EU countries. There are two reasons for this. Firstly, the education system in Greece after the post-war era has been under the state control and highly centralized. Secondly, the content of teacher training has never included subjects related to professionalism. This leads to the assumption that several key implications for teacher education have to be considered so as teachers can be redefined. They need to understand the nature of the changes and respond to them.

References

Apple, M. W., (1988). Teachers and Texts: A Political Economy of Class and Gender Relations in Education, New York &London: Routledge and Kegan. Apple, M.W., (1993). Official Knowledge. Democratic Education in a Conservative Age, London & New York, Routledge. Barton L., Barret E., Whitty G., Miles S, Furlong T., (1994). ‘Teacher Education and Teacher professionalism in England: some emerging issues’ British Journal the Sociology of Education, 15, 4, 529-543. Bourdieu, E.P., (1982). La distinction. Critique sociale du jugement, Minuit, Paris. Burbules, N.C., Densmore, K., (1991). "The limits of Making Teaching a Profession", Educational Policy, vol. 5 no 1, pp. 44-63. Dale (1997), R. (1997). ‘ The state and the Governance of Education: An Analysis of the Restructuring of the Ste-Education Relationship’, A. H. Halsey, H.Lauder, P. Brown, A.Stuart Wells, Education, Culture, Economy, Society, New York: Oxford University Press. Darling- Hammond L., (Ed.), (1994). Professionals Development Schools: schools for a developing profession, Teachers College Press, New York. Furlong J., Barton L., Miles S.and Whitty G., (2000). Teacher Education in Transition-Reforming Professionalism?, Buckingham : Open University Press. Gordon, P., (ed.), (1983). Is Teaching A Profession?, London: University of London, Institute of Education. E. Hoyle, The Professionalization of Teachers: A paradox, pp. 44-54. Labaree D. F., (1992). ‘Power, Knowledge, and the Rationalization of Teaching: A Genealogy of the Movement to Professionalize Teaching”, Harvard Educational Review, Vol.62, No 2, pp.123-154. Little, J., (1993). ‘Teachers professional development in a climate of education reform”, Educational Evaluation and Policer Analysis, No 15, pp. 129-151. Ozga Z., (2000). “ Education: New Labour, New Teachers’, J. Clarke, S. Gewirtz & E. McLaughlin (eds.), New Managerialism New Welfare?, London: Open University Press and Sage, 224 Sidwick, S., Mahony, P., & Hextall, I., (1993). “Policy and Practice in the Professional Development of Teachers”, International Studies in Sociology of Education, vol. 3, No 1, 91-108. Sykes, G., (1989). “Teaching and Professionalism: A cautionary perspective”, in Weis, L., Altbach, P. G., Kelly, G. P., Pertie, H.G. and Slaughter, S., (Eds), Crisis in Teaching. Perspectives on current reforms, Albany: State University of New York Press. Whitty, G.,(1997). ‘ Marketization, the State, and the Re-formation of the Teaching Profession’ in A. Hasley, H Lauder, P. Brown and A. Wells, (Eds), Education, Culture, Economy and Society, New York: Oxford University Press.

Author Information

Eleni Sianou-Kyrgiou

University of Ioannina

Ioannina

Eleni Zygouri

University of Ioannina

Philosophy, Education and Psychology

Ioannina

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