FARE - FACILITATING REFLECTIONS ON EQUITY IN LLL STRATEGY

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1 Lifelong Learning Programme Transversal programme: Key Activity 1 Support for European cooperation in Education and Training (ECET-Part B) FARE - FACILITATING REFLECTIONS ON EQUITY IN LLL STRATEGY PROJECT NUMBER: LLP GR-KA1-KA1ECETB REPORT ON THE RESULTS OBTAINED FROM EMPIRICAL RESEARCH IN GREECE Annex 1 to Deliverable 5 With the support of the Lifelong Learning Programme of the European Union

2 Work Package: Authors: Task Responsible: Contributors: Status, Version No. WP5 Dr Andreas Kollias, Dr Kathy Kikis-Papadakis & Dr Anna Anastasopoulou (IACM/FORTH) Final Start Date of Project: 01 March 2010 Duration: 12 Months Dissemination Level: Public Project coordinator: Kathy Kikis-Papadakis, FORTH/IACM Project coordinator address Financing: Project funded by the European Commission, Lifelong Learning Programme This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein LLP GR-KA1-KA1ECETB Page 2 out of 28

3 SUMMARY FARE is a collaborative project aiming at developing an understanding on the complex relations embedded in the transition from VET to adult learning from an equity perspective. The project is concerned with the notion of "learning to learn" and regards it as a determining factor for perspective participation in adult learning. In this report it is documented the empirical research conducted in Greece in the context of FARE s WP5, which was aiming to explore and develop a deeper understanding of the capacity of VET practices on enhancing learning to learn from an equity perspective. This report documents research conducted in the context of the FARE Project in Greece with the participation of VET students, teachers and administrators at various levels. Overall, in Greece s national context, and specifically in the regions of Attica and Piraeus (Petroupolis and Salamina), and in Heraklion, Crete, the FARE research team involved in research activities 1 central level policy maker, 2 regional school advisors, 6 school administrators from four VET schools (two Vocational Lyceums and 2 School Laboratory Centres), 7 VET teachers in one VET school (all formal interviews; 3 of the school administrators were further involved in ethnographic-like research), 15 VET teachers in non-formal interviews and around 100 VET students during ethnographic research in two cooperating VET schools (Lyceum and Centre in Salamina), and 114 VET students from three VET schools in closed questionnaire-based research. This report is focusing on reflective analyses of mainly qualitative data collected during the empirical research, on three topics we identified as of particular relevance to the issues of equity and learning to learn: Equity of access and opportunities at school level, Equity issues arising in the context of everyday school activities, and Gender stereotyping LLP GR-KA1-KA1ECETB Page 3 out of 28

4 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Introduction Issues of equity of access and opportunities regarding school and laboratory structures The business of everyday teaching and learning in EPALs Gender stereotyping, choice of educational paths and everyday teaching and learning Appendix: The students questionnaire LLP GR-KA1-KA1ECETB Page 4 out of 28

5 1. Introduction FARE is a collaborative project aiming at developing an understanding on the complex relations embedded in the transition from VET to adult learning from an equity perspective. The project is concerned with the notion of "learning to learn" and regards it as a determining factor for perspective participation in adult learning. In this report it is documented the empirical research conducted in Greece in the context of FARE s WP5, which was aiming to explore and develop a deeper understanding of the capacity of VET practices on enhancing learning to learn from an equity perspective. The research reported in this document is conceptually building upon, and is organically related to, two earlier reports produced during the life-cycle of the FARE project, namely the Equity Issues in LLL Strategies in Europe from the perspective of VET and adult learning report (WP3 Deliverable) which was accompanied by national reports on VET in Greece, Germany, Turkey, Poland and Spain, and the Reflective Toolset for assessing equity in NLL Strategy implementation report (WP4 Deliverable). In these two documents we present and discuss in extent the FARE s approach to two fundamental concepts with which this project is aiming to study both conceptually and empirically: equity and learning to learn from the perspective of vocational education and training and lifelong learning. The interested reader is therefore advised to read these two reports in order to develop a deeper understanding of how we came to conceptualise these two contracts, how we define them also in view of our wider review of the relevant academic literature and discourse. The major challenge to the FARE project in implementing research on issues of equity and particularly on learning to learn in the VET system of Greece was the lack of substantial prior academic work addressing equity and learning to learn in vocational education and training. Because of the limited life-cycle of the FARE project, that is just one year (March 2010-February 2011), we had to construct a tentative conceptual framework to deal with such issues in a theoretically coherent manner and in parallel, plan our research, outline the major research questions and implement research, networking and dissemination activities. In effect, the FARE s line of reasoning and framework (including analyses of national educational framework conditions) that is documented in Deliverables 3 and 4 was developed in parallel to the implementation of exploratory empirical research, mainly in the form of open ended interviews with what we call informants, that is experienced professionals working in VET Greece. This activity was anticipated to offer us a fish-eye view of possible equity problems in VET systems, and also to contribute to the need of the project to establish links with targeted groups (VET schools, administrators, teachers and students, as well as policy makers) at local and if possible national level. In Greece the role of informants was initially undertaken by two experienced VET teachers working in two VET schools in Athens who were offered to have long discussions, spread over a period of months, with the national research team about their own understanding of how VET actually works in Greece and what are its strengths and failures, particularly regarding the fairness and inclusiveness of the system at ground level and at institutional level. These informants also acted as networking agents; they introduced the project to their colleagues and school administrators and made the first arrangements for school visits. They also led the team to develop contacts with more VET people willing to act as informants. During this phase it became a common understanding to the FARE researchers in Greece that equity issues in VET are both easy and hard to discuss openly with VET practitioners. On the one hand it was easy to discuss for hours with them all the issues of the world of VET regarding its, frequently experienced as unfair, treatment by the central government educational authorities as compared to academic orientation schools and programmes; many discussions also took place regarding the negative image that the public has about VET, a recurring theme in discussions throughout the life-cycle LLP GR-KA1-KA1ECETB Page 5 out of 28

6 of the project. On the other side it was always more difficult to discuss with them issues of unfair treatment of some categories of students (for example, of girls, immigrants or students from poorer families) at school and classroom level. A popular answer was that they did not think that negative discrimination is practiced in VET schools and they could not offer evidence from their own experiences that such things do happen. One of the most difficult issues faced to implement research was how to convince one or more VET schools to participate fully in it. With individual VET teachers it was relatively easier to interview or organise group discussions, but with VET students we needed to get into ordinary classrooms, something that was always difficult to achieve. Some school administrators and teachers were negative to get involved because of heavy workload or because of bureaucratic obstacles or because of concerns that were expressed about the impact of deviations in the lessons timetable, or that we needed not only permission by central educational authorities but also written permission by students parents to get them involved in individual interviewing. What specific questions we were going to ask the students often became a topic of negotiation with school administrators. The learning habits of students was not raising any concerns but relatively open-ended discussions with students on equity issues could touch sensitive topics such as experiences of xenophobia and racism in the school, instances of school violence and possible links with students gender or ethnic background. Fears were expressed, directly or indirectly, that such topics, in case they emerge during discussions, may lead to unanticipated outcomes and affect the harmony of inter-personal relations between students and between students and teachers. Furthermore, more general discussions about how the students perceive their school environment were likely to turn to unjustified criticism towards specific teachers or the school administration. Nevertheless, the FARE team in Greece managed to establish a climate of trust with a VET school and its associated Laboratory Centre located in Salamina, a small island close to the Piraeus port, and was allowed to spend several whole school days for a period of two and a half months (Dec 2010-Feb 2011) in the school, participating as silent observers in all kinds of activities and events that took place in the school during these visits. So the school visits included silent participation to more than 20 hours of classroom lessons and 20 hours of laboratory lessons, as well attendance to school events such as theatrical plays and guidance sessions offered to students and parents. In these visits notes were taken by the researchers to be used for further reflection. During our presence in the school several informal discussions took place with individual teachers and groups of students. In three occasions class teachers offered to organise whole classroom discussions with the FARE researchers on issues of equity and students learning practices and motivation. At some point the schools administrators invited the FARE researchers to design and implement a pilot closed-questionnaire survey with a small sample of the students in the school in order to explore students views about their school and their practices as learners. This questionnaire 1 was completed by 28 students in this school. This experience motivated the FARE researchers to administer the questionnaire to students from other VET schools. Through contacts with school administrators it was made possible to collect 86 more questionnaires from 2 other VET schools located in the region of Crete. In total 114 student questionnaires were collected. Overall, in Greece s national context, and specifically in the regions of Attica and Piraeus (Petroupolis and Salamina), and in Heraklion, Crete, the FARE research team involved in research activities 1 central level policy maker, 2 regional school advisors, 6 school administrators from four VET schools (two Vocational Lyceums and 2 School Laboratory Centres), 7 VET teachers in one VET school (all formal interviews; 3 of the school administrators were further involved in ethnographic-like research), 15 VET teachers in non-formal interviews and around 100 VET students during ethnographic research in two cooperating VET schools (Lyceum and Centre in Salamina), and 114 VET students from three VET schools in closed questionnaire-based research. Furthermore, a wider circle of VET teachers and administrators contributed to the consolidation of the FARE framework and results in the workshop organised by the FARE team in Greece 2. This group involved 30 VET regional/school administrators and teachers in Heraklion. 1 See Appendix. 2 See FARE Deliverable LLP GR-KA1-KA1ECETB Page 6 out of 28

7 2. Issues of equity of access and opportunities regarding school and laboratory structures Most of the labs where EPAL students do their specialization practice in vocational courses are administered not by each EPAL separately, but by another administrative unit, called School Laboratory Centre (SEK). Because in some populous regions and localities of Greece there are operating more than one EPAL (for example in large cities such as Athens, Thessaloniki or Patras and Heraklion), the SEKs usually operate in autonomous buildings, serving the needs of several EPALs (and other VET programmes offered by EPAS or IEKs). This arrangement was given political priority based on the rationale that it is more cost effective to have large, fully equipped, labs serving the needs of a wide variety of vocational specialties in a separate structure than having small, less well equipped labs in a narrow range of specialties in each EPAL. In smaller cities and towns around Greece where there is only one EPAL, the SEK is often operating under the same school structure, maintaining, however, its administrative autonomy. The 1 st School Laboratory Centre of Heraklion. The above approach is also supportive of the principle of fairness towards the student population of EPALs in a region, because all students have access to the same quality labs and receive practical training from the same teaching staff. The 1 st School Laboratory Centre of Heraklion 3 in Crete, for example, which we visited in the context of the FARE project, was built in 1995 to undertake the vocational training of upper secondary education students in the region that was until then served by ill-equipped labs scattered in various buildings around the city of Heraklion. This SEK covers around 7,200 sqm of roofed spaces in five independent buildings. It operates 35 labs, serving the needs of around 4,000 students in 7 study sectors offered by EPALs and specifically in 25 vocational specialties (serving the needs of EPALs but also of other types of VET programmes and schools). As we were told by the SEK headteacher and the staff, this SEK is considered as prototype, one of the best around Greece. Understandably enough, the SEKs that have the capacity to serve the laboratory-based training needs in the widest possible variety of vocational specialties are mainly located in densely populated areas of Greece, that is in large cities. Another example is the 5 th SEK of Ilion 4, in the wider region of Athens, which serves the laboratory training needs of the 1 st EPAL of Petroupolis (which we visited several times for conducting 3 See (In Greek). 4 See (in Greek) LLP GR-KA1-KA1ECETB Page 7 out of 28

8 interviews with teachers), of the 1 st and 2 nd EPAL of Ilion and of the 1 st EPAL of Kamatero; in other words this SEK serves the training needs of a few thousand vocational education students in the area. Because of this large number of students, almost all specialties included in the national curricula are supported. Map 1: More than 44% of the student population in Greece s VET system at ISCED level 3B & C are enrolled in schools located in the area of Athens/Piraeus and Thessaloniki (Source: Hellenic Statistical Authority, academic year ) 10% 34% In smaller cities/towns or localities SEKs often share the same building with the local EPAL, as well as the local Vocational School (EPAS). This is the case, for example, with the Salamina island, the locality of the 1 st EPAL of Salamina we used as our case study. Such SEKs are operating a smaller number of laboratories because in some EPAL specialties (or specialties offered by the EPAS, which operates in the afternoons), there is not enough demand by the comparatively small student population. In turn, because of the traditionally small demand for some specialties in less populated localities, the education authorities at central and regional level do not invest in developing labs to serve these specialties. As a result, vocational education students living in smaller cities/towns or localities have fewer opportunities as compared to students living in large cities to follow a specialty that is not traditionally in high demand and have to turn to more popular specialties even though they are not really interested in following them. This issue was raised by some students in the 1 st EPAL of Salamina in classroom and individual discussions. For example one female student characteristically said that she followed the Nursery/Kindergarten Assistant specialization because she thought it would be interesting and useful for her in view that she one day would become a mother but she would really prefer to follow another specialization that unfortunately was not included in her school s list of specialties offered. Under these circumstances her plans were after graduation to seek for post-secondary education training in her specialty of preference that is provided by IEKs (ISCED level 4) in Piraeus or Athens. Overall, the high concentration of Greece s population around a few large cities and towns is a facilitating factor to the cause of equity in access and opportunities because it becomes more feasible to operate well equipped SEKs and ordinary VET schools and provide to a large portion of Greece s student population the LLP GR-KA1-KA1ECETB Page 8 out of 28

9 opportunity to choose between a wide range of specializations. On the other side, this high population concentration as well as the high variability of Greece s landscape, with numerous islands and mountainous areas is also affecting negatively the chances of populations living in less populated areas to access schools with infrastructure of comparable quality to this in densely populated areas and more importantly to follow the vocational specialization of their choice LLP GR-KA1-KA1ECETB Page 9 out of 28

10 3. The business of everyday teaching and learning in EPALs Everyday teaching and learning in EPALs as specified by the centrally set school curricula is clearly divided between classroom-based (in ordinary school classrooms and laboratory-based in SEKs). In parallel, they are divided between general and vocational education courses. Picture 1: The school day begins at around 8:15 am (Monday to Friday) with all students and the school staff having a short prayer of the Orthodox Christian religion; for students of other religions it is not obligatory to participate. The first year in EPALs is in essence an orientation and introductory year, with no practice in SEK labs. The everyday school life of those in the Grade A is spent in around six minutes lessons, roughly divided between lessons in general education courses (25 hours weekly; the general education courses are essentially the same with the core courses taught in the Grade A of the General Lyceum) and a set of introductory lessons in courses (9 hours weekly) that are grouped under one of the three study cycles that are offered by EPALs around Greece (predominantly the Technological and the Services cycle; the Nautical- Maritime cycle is offered in only a very small number of EPALs). All lessons in the grade A of EPALs are taught in ordinary classrooms and a common approach is traditional frontal teaching with frequent use of the blackboard and sequences of question-response-evaluation classroom talk, interrupted by explanatory talk and very often by the teacher s effort to control disruptive behavior. It is no less frequent the employment of non-traditional teaching techniques, such as problem solving groupwork. This depends on the class, the teacher, the subject matter to be taught and the circumstances. Because many teachers, particularly the younger ones, have been trained to use various teaching methods, it is within their repertoire to change their teaching style from class to class or from teaching hour to teaching hour to adapt to what they believe is fitting to the needs of a particular class or the demands of a particular lesson. It is also not uncommon that the students are asked by a teacher to rearrange the position of the chairs and the desks in a classroom to accommodate the needs of a particular LLP GR-KA1-KA1ECETB Page 10 out of 28

11 lesson. According to what we have observed during our daily presence in several different classrooms and lessons in the 1 st EPAL of Salamina, the employment of different pedagogic techniques is frequent and is no longer considered as something innovative by either the teachers or the students. Example 1: Working in groups to solve maths problems Οne relatively young mathematics teacher who invited us to observe a maths lesson, frequently uses group-work to help his students learn how to solve maths problems. As he told us, in parallel to his teaching responsibilities he is doing a masters degree in the didactics of mathematics at the University of Athens and is very interested into transferring and adapting socio-cognitive pedagogic approaches into practice. In that particular lesson we participated as silent observers, he arranged the classroom desks into blocks and asked from his students to work in groups in order to solve collaboratively a set of maths problems which were described in a piece of sheet he distributed and further explained on the blackboard. This activity did not require any physical activity on behalf of the students (no real-life measurements for example); it lasted for the whole teaching hour (around 40 minutes), during which the teacher was more or less supervising the group-work, assisted individually some students who seemed that they did not really understand the problems and was trying to keep the students voices at a reasonably low level. At the end of the hour all groups had managed to solve all the problems successfully. Example 2: a traditional science lesson From a pedagogic point of view the approach described in example 1 was very different from others we observed. For example, in a science lesson, characteristic in many ways of what is happening everyday in these classrooms, the teacher started with a brief review of what was the subject matter of the last lesson, and then spent a few minutes asking the students questions to check on what they have learned. The main part of the lesson was devoted into solving science problems related to springs and the Hooke s Law. The science teacher used a chalk to draw springs and attached weights on the blackboard and explained to the students how to calculate the extension of the spring. No real-life springs and measurement instruments were used. The teaching and learning that took place in both examples above, although different in their pedagogic approach, were essentially defined by the wider context of the classroom space and its affordances, which is commonly constructing a very poor learning and teaching environment for the students and the teachers alike. In most, if not all, ordinary classrooms we have visited 5 there were no teaching aids other than the blackboard, the classroom walls were naked of visual learning aids or other objects such as maps, drawings, instruments etc which would make the place more interesting and pleasant to be in there. Reflecting back to our experiences of ordinary lessons in these classrooms it is difficult to see how the teachers and the students could develop a sense of learning community and commitment in spaces which seemed more as dull waiting rooms in a tax agency and less as places for learning and more importantly places where young people can spent their time fruitfully. Picture 2 & 3: The school s interior spaces and the classrooms are often left without decorative elements or visual learning aids and materials. All windows on the ground floor are security grilled. 5 Not only in the 1 st EPAL of Salamina, but also in the 1 st EPAL of Petroupolis LLP GR-KA1-KA1ECETB Page 11 out of 28

12 The security grilled classroom windows of the ground floor dominate the classroom atmosphere. This practice of grilled classroom windows is by no means an isolated practice. It is in fact a common practice in most schools in Greece. In our discussions with teachers they did not really question this situation. It was thought to be a necessary measure to prevent vandalism or burglary. This was also the explanation offered why the ordinary classrooms are not equipped with learning materials, computers or digital projectors. We also heard old stories about occasional burglaries which supported the argument in favour of grilled windows. One teacher reflecting on the situation said that there is an informal discussion going on for some time now between the staff to allocate ordinary classrooms to specific sets of related courses. The idea was to equip some classrooms with science instruments and materials and name the science teachers as responsible for managing these classrooms, and do the same for language and humanities courses. This approach would support the development of teachers ownership and sense of responsibility and commitment regarding the learning environment of the ordinary classrooms. One important reason ordinary classrooms are lacking essential learning materials and equipment is scarcity of funds coupled with the priorities of decision makers from national to school level administrators. The Ministry of Education is by far the main funding source, but schools and wider school administrative units can also seek for some extra money from the local and regional state administration, and small-scale fund-raising activities. When it comes to funding for buying learning materials, small priority is given to the needs of ordinary classrooms for non-laboratory lessons. It is characteristic that in Salamina s EPAL school that served as a case study in our research, there was a brand new, 200 seats hall for hosting various events, fully equipped with sound and lighting hardware, created basically through funds raised by the school and a lot of personal extra-time work by some of the teachers. This really good school hall is in stark contrast to the classroom spaces of this school which are empty and dull. This fact is indicative of an approach which says that given the limited budget, it is better to focus the school energy and funds into a small number of quality learning spaces instead of spreading the money to make small improvements to every ordinary classroom in the school. The top priority is of course given to equipping the labs, which is a really expensive endeavor, so ordinary classrooms tend to be really neglected learning spaces. Activities in the new hall of the 1 st EPAL of Salamina Picture 4 & 5: Theatrical play performed in the new school hall by the end of Dec. 2010; the play was written by members of the teaching staff and students of the 1 st EPAL of Salamina LLP GR-KA1-KA1ECETB Page 12 out of 28

13 Picture 6 & 7: Puppet performance by professionals invited by the school, followed by a training session for the students following the Nursery/Kindergarten assistant specialization Because during the whole first year in EPAL, students do not use the labs for training and instead have to spend their mornings in dull classrooms they are really in a disadvantaged position as compared to second and third graders. From grade B, vocational specialization courses start to become more practical for the students, they have to spend some hours during the week into labs (on average 10 hours), working on projects, sometimes lasting for weeks to deliver, and this is when school life becomes really interesting to many of them. In this respect they are in a much better position as compared to their peers in General Lyceums who for the entire three years period in school they spent only few if any time in a lab doing practice in some kind of science experiments. They are also in a much better position regarding the variety of courses they attend to because the General Lyceum curricula are predominantly focused on some academic core subjects with little attention being paid to non-core, also academic, subjects. Overall, the diversity of courses and types of activities involved during second and third EPAL years is surely the widest in the whole primary and secondary education system of Greece, and in this sense (even though many students, parents, or teachers, do not really understand this potential), EPALs have the capacity to offer the most stimulating learning environments in the entire system. The making of a collection of petrol engines manufactured in Greece between 1950 and 1980 Engineering students assisted by their teachers assemble parts of an old petrol engine LLP GR-KA1-KA1ECETB Page 13 out of 28

14 The Salamina island is not more than 10 minutes by ferry to the small mainland city of Perama and essentially their social and economic situation is closely knitted. During the last century, the whole region to the west of the Port of Piraeus was, and still is, hosting small shipyards and other heavy industries as well as fleets of fishing boats. The teaching staff of the Mechanical Engineering and Vehicles Sectors of the 1 st EPAL a couple of years ago started to collect petrol engines manufactured in Greece between 1950 and Such engines are now out-of-use, and they can be found rusting in garages, old boats or fields. The teachers with the assistance of their students repair them, sometimes with parts made by them with the use of machines and tools available in the school s labs. So far they have repaired 2 such engines and more are waiting in the lab s spaces to be fixed. The wider aim is to make a small school museum. When examining the vocational training offered to EPAL students following different specializations, variations which may affect equity of treatment from a systemic point of view do exist. Characteristic is the (centrally defined) curriculum of the Health and Welfare sector in grade B of EPALs. For students in this sector it is pre-defined that out of the 18 weekly teaching hours in specialty courses, only 5 are laboratorybased. In contrast, students in the Electrical Engineering sector have to spend 9 hours weekly in the lab, and those in the Mechanical Engineering sector 10 hours. The underlying reasons why there are such differences in the balance between ordinary classroom and laboratory-based teaching and learning are hardly pedagogogic or subject-matter related. Traditionally, the SEK labs of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering sectors are much better equipped to support training that is close to the conditions and demands of real-life work-places. In the SEK of Salamina, for example, the Mechanical and Vehicle Engineering lab resembles a small vehicle repairs enterprise, with its professional sets of tools, its hydraulic car lift, parts and the rest. The school has contacts with auto and moto dealers who supply the school for free with recent vehicle systems or sometimes whole vehicles for training. Furthermore, the lab staff members with their students occasionally offer, for training purposes, free service to vehicles owned by individuals in the area. Similarly, the cooling installations laboratory offers a teaching and learning environment which resembles this of a work-place. The lab is fully equipped with parts, instruments and tools and the students work in projects that require the performance of work tasks that are similar, if not identical, to those undertaken by a fully competent technician in a real-life work-place. Picture 8: A staff member of the cooling installations laboratory assists a group of students in developing and testing a cooling system LLP GR-KA1-KA1ECETB Page 14 out of 28

15 In contrast, the curriculum of the Nurse Assistant specialty offered to grade C EPAL students in the Health and Welfare sector allocates only 3 teaching hours weekly, out of a total of 23 hours weekly devoted to the 6 specialty courses, to laboratory-based training. It is characteristic that only in the nursing course students have to spend 3 hours weekly doing laboratory-based activities. In the other five vocational courses of the Nurse Assistant specialty, that is surgery techniques, basics in gynaecology, obstetrics and paediatrics, basics in neurology and psychiatry, basics in pathology, and basics in anatomy-physiology the students are not getting any lab-based training. All lessons are done in a classroom, which in the case of the 1 st EPAL of Salamina, has been equipped with lots of learning materials such as human anatomy maps and a human anatomy model. Members of the teaching staff in this EPAL doing these courses are fully trained doctors and nurses, that is the students learn how to become nurse assistants by proper professionals in the field. The huge difference between the students who get training to become nurse assistants and the students following an engineering sector specialty is that the former cannot do any kind of practice in tasks that are even remotely similar to these performed by professional nurse assistants in hospitals or other healthrelated workplaces. In order to do this they would have to get training into real workplaces and deal with real-life situations and patients. However, the EPALs do not provide such kind of on-the-job training; they are not allowed to do so because the laws and regulations governing the operation and curricula of EPALs specify that all students training should be done in SEKs. These centrally-defined conditions limit considerably the quality of the training offered to prospective nurse assistants in EPALs and in effect their professional capacities and future employability. At the level of everyday school teaching and learning this has important implications, because the teachers are struggling to motivate their students who cannot really relate what they learn to a kind of meaningful practice. Discrepancy between the vocational training received by EPAL students and the job demands in real-life work-places is also experienced in other specialties primarily in the services circle of EPALs. In our discussions with the EPAL teachers doing courses to students following the Nursery/Kindergarten assistant specialty it was evident their agony about the quality of the training they can offer to their students given that they are not allowed to organise students practice into real nurseries or kindergartens operating in the area. These teachers have organised a classroom into a place resembling a nursery/kindergarten room, with baby models, lots of coloured papers, pencils, toys and the like. What were missing were the real toddlers and pre-school boys and girls. During one of our visits to the 1 st EPAL of Salamina, we participated as silent observers into a series of small performances involving singing, dancing and story telling that were prepared by groups of students as part of their project-based training. Some groups had even create hand-made story books decorated with drawings and collages, they had coloured their faces or wear funny dresses to support their performances. They did their performances to an imaginary audience of small boys and girls but the real audience was consisted of their teachers and us. Until their graduation from EPAL they will never LLP GR-KA1-KA1ECETB Page 15 out of 28

16 actually have the opportunity to perform in front of children or have any kind of regular practice as assistants in nurseries or kindergartens LLP GR-KA1-KA1ECETB Page 16 out of 28

17 4. Gender stereotyping, choice of educational paths and everyday teaching and learning The student population of EPALs is highly imbalanced regarding gender. Among the 68,500 students enrolled in EPALs at the beginning of the school year , only 33,3% were girls 6. This nation-wide imbalance regarding the share of girls and boys enrolled in EPALs is roughly the same among the student population of the 1 st EPAL of Salamina. From a wider perspective, this imbalance hints to possible inequalities in opportunities arising from the historic evolvement of VET programmes at upper secondary education which were predominantly focused on training to masculine vocations such as vehicle technicians and other skilled blue collar fields. At a macro-level of analysis, widely accepted stereotypes about the male and female roles in the family and at work, as well as stereotypes about gender-specific capabilities (for example, women are better in care and communication while men are better in decision-making and manual work) create the ground for transforming an objectively equal opportunity and access (for example, in Greece all students, irrespective of their gender are free to choose between general and vocational orientation Lyceum and enrol to/follow any specialty/study circle they want to), into a subjectively unequal opportunity to choose between educational paths. On one of the central walls of the Salamina EPAL school building there is a half-torn poster, with the slogan when stereotypes end choices start; there are no male and female occupations, just become what you want! This poster which was developed by the General Secretariat of Gender Equality, under the Ministry of Interior, was distributed to VET schools around Greece some years ago. Was there any systematic effort to combat gender stereotyping in the selection of vocational specialties or was the poster just an isolated reminder of a widely unaddressed problem? Picture 9: Poster on a wall of the 1 st EPAL of Salamina, with the slogan: when stereotypes end choices start; there are no male and female occupations, just become what you want! 6 Source: Hellenic Statistical Authority LLP GR-KA1-KA1ECETB Page 17 out of 28

18 The specific anti-stereotyping policies and student counselling at VET school level was, until the academic year , undertaken by the Labour Market Liaison & Vocational Guidance Offices, which were operating mainly within EPALs and EPASs around Greece. These Offices were staffed by teachers of various specialties who had received some kind of intensive training to fulfil the role of students counsellors. At the beginning of the academic year , the Ministry of Education decided to stop the operation of these Offices in VET schools without any prior public consultation or formal evaluation of their performance and effectiveness. The only explicitly stated justification offered was that the Ministry is preparing some new policies for upgrading the system of school-based vocational orientation. Unofficially, the basic reason offered was that many of these Offices were not fulfilling their role but no evidence-based argument could be produced on behalf of the Ministry. Our visits to the 1 st EPAL of Salamina and lengthy discussions with the staff responsible for running the Labour Market Liaison & Vocational Guidance Office, helped us develop an understanding of the situation which was overall very positive. The school Office was equipped with a large collection of professional counselling books and learning materials, games, quizzes, tests etc that were used during organised classroom-based interventions and information days regarding the vocational options of students. In one instance we also participated as silent observers to an hour-long guidance session with a mother who wanted to understand what are the study programme and future career options of the second of her three daughters, now in Gymnasium. Her main concern was that her older daughter chose to enrol to a General Lyceum and the family could not afford to have its second child following an academic path with a view to get access to tertiary education, because this requires spending a few thousand euros in private tutoring. The counsellor was very analytic abut the study options offered by EPALs and the future study and career options after graduation from an EPAL. He was also very encouraging to this mother to enrol her daughter to the EPAL instead of the local General Lyceum highlighting the fact that she could also go to a tertiary vocationally oriented education institution (ATEI) after graduation through national exams under a specific status which is very beneficial for EPAL students as compared to General Lyceum students. This path means that the family would not have to pay extra money for private tutoring. The bottom line is that in Greece the choice of educational path is not only dependent on student inclination and academic effort but is also based on the economic situation of the families. Therefore, the economic factor introduces a high level of inequality of opportunity to education, LLL and future career options LLP GR-KA1-KA1ECETB Page 18 out of 28

19 As pointed out, it is a given for the system of education in Greece that families need to spent thousands of euros to private tutoring in order for their children to get this extra push to succeed to the very competitive national exams leading to a tertiary education institution, particularly to those university departments which are in high demand. The main educational path to achieve this is through the General Lyceum. Every year only a minority of EPAL students manage to have high enough grades in the national exams. Therefore, for most parents who want their child to go to a university, sending their children to an EPAL is not an option. A university degree is very desirable for Greece s families because, among others, it offers to the graduates the opportunity to participate in nation-wide exams for the selection of new public servants in a wide variety of posts which require a tertiary education degree. Becoming a public servant in Greece is something very desirable particularly among lower middle class and generally poorer families as well as among many in the younger generations because this guarantees life-long employment and overall better social-security services. The public sector is particularly attractive to families who have girls because becoming a public servant means that they will not face the risk of loosing their job in case they become mothers or the risk of not finding a job because they are likely to start a family. Unfortunately, despite the existence of a legislative framework which protects women who get pregnant to be fired from their private sector employers, in practice many young women face difficulties in the labour market. Employers do not prefer to employ women who are planning to get pregnant in the foreseeable future or are aged roughly between 25 and 35, are married and do not as yet have children. Furthermore, in case an employee gets pregnant there are always some legal side paths for employers to follow. The above realities in the labour market contribute to the establishment of a wider disposition among families that it is better for girls to follow an academic path instead of a vocational path which basically leads to employment in the private sector. Overall, therefore, the choice of educational paths, broadly divided between an academic path offered by the General Lyceum and a vocational path offered by EPAL and EPAS is not only affected by gender-related stereotypes regarding social roles and capabilities but also by concerns regarding future risks in employment and unemployment of women as compared to men which are centred around the prospect of motherhood. In the context of our research, one question that we sought to answer was the following: are their any implications affecting equity of opportunities, access, treatment or outcomes arising from the fact that considerably more boys than girls are enrolled in a VET school? In our whole-day visits to the 1 st EPAL of Salamina we sought to identify indications and hints emerging out of our discussions with teachers and students and observation of school-life activities. The first thing to find out was that in the engineering sectors there were only a handful of girls enrolled while in the Health and Welfare sector there were no boys enrolled. The most gender-balanced specialties had to do with computers. The members of the staff when asked about this reality commonly said that from academic year to academic year there is some small variation in students choices of programmes of study but in general during the last years very few boys enrolled to a Health and Welfare specialty. On the other side, every year there are some girls who choose an engineering specialty. In all classroom and laboratory lessons we participated in, one of the focus was how girls and boys as well as teachers use to deal with students of the other gender, particularly in lessons were girls, but normally boys, constituted the large majority. In one of the classroom science lessons, for example, there was only one girl among around 10 boys. During the whole lesson this girl remained relatively silent as compared to the overpowering behaviour of boys. The latter used to occupy the talk between themselves and the teacher, competing between them to answer the teacher s questions or open up a new discussion topic, ask for explanations or make an occasional joke. It was only once that the girl participated actively in the talk answering to a question made by the teacher and addressed directly to this girl with the aim to involve her to the classroom talk LLP GR-KA1-KA1ECETB Page 19 out of 28

20 In a car engineering laboratory lesson it was again one girl among a group of 10 or so boys. During the lab lesson there was a lot of practical activity going on in groups. The girl was in one of these groups and from what we observed she was actively involved in the group-talk regarding planning and discussing the tasks to be performed. However, when it was something that had to be performed by hand, for example when the students had to use tools or assemble the pieces of a machine together, it was almost exclusively that boys did it. Overall, the boys seemed very welcoming to the contributions made by the girl and happy to have her among them, and most probably they tried to make her life easier by not involving her in dirty manual work. It is also very likely that it never occurred to the boys that they may not be really helping the girl to develop practical skills that are necessary to become a car mechanic. After this laboratory lesson we organised a discussion with the students in order to directly explore their views about the place of girls in the masculine vocational specialty of car mechanic. Regarding the presence of girls in engineering specialties, the boys expressed their concern for not having more girls between them. Understandably enough, they wanted more girls among them because this would make school-life more interesting. Apart from the relatively shared among the boys view that girls cannot be involved in some tasks requiring a lot of physical strength, such as lifting heavy machine parts by hand, all students appeared to agree that girls do not differ from boys in their mental and physical abilities to develop and use the skills required by a competent car mechanic working in a modern workplace. Given that the boys did not feel superior to girls in their individual abilities and skills to become car mechanics, concern was expressed about the employability of girls in the labour market of car mechanics. What was raised was that future employers may still hire new mechanics on the basis of the traditional stereotype that this is not a vocation for women, that women are less productive because they may not be strong enough to perform some demanding manual tasks or that they will not fit in well into an all-male workplace. In another lesson, this time in the small classroom next to the laboratory of car engineers, there were three girls among seven boys. The students had to present a small individual project about different types of car systems which they prepared with materials and information obtained from sources in the WWW. Another thing about this class was that the teacher was female, the only one in the school with a specialty in engineering. In this lesson the classroom interaction was indicative of a wider shared understanding that it is not something exceptional or strange to have girls in engineering courses. The teacher was not using a different tone in her voice when addressing girls or boys, and she was equally demanding and challenging to boys and girls regarding their projects. At the U shaped arrangement of classroom desks the students sat in groups according to their gender. The girls were sitting next to each other and so did the boys. The girls appeared to form a separate group of friends who supported each other in their everyday school activities to become engineers. During our discussion at the end of the lesson, all three girls said that it was their personal decision to follow this specialty. It may be the case that girls who choose to follow a predominantly male vocation are deeply interested and motivated enough to deal with all those, first of all the people in their immediate social environment such as family and friends, who find their choice as questionable on the grounds of their gender. The boys were not really challenged on the grounds of their gender in following an engineer specialty but this also implies that some of the boys choosing a predominantly masculine specialty may not be as motivated and deeply interested as their female peers in following such a career. It may be the case that they chose such a specialty just because it was unthinkable for them to choose something else, particularly a specialty which is female-dominated, such as the nurse assistant specialty or the nursery assistant specialty. Overall, reflecting back on our experiences during school visits and what we discussed with boys and girls in group meetings and individual discussions, a hypothesis was gradually formed that maybe it is more difficult for boys to overcome negative stereotyping that averts them from following a traditionally feminine vocational specialty than for girls following a masculine specialty. As already pointed out, in the nursery/kindergarten and nurse assistant specialties offered by the 1 st EPAL of Salamina there were no boys enrolled but on the other side there were a few girls enrolled in engineering specialties; however, no girls LLP GR-KA1-KA1ECETB Page 20 out of 28

21 were enrolled to the cooling and air-conditioning specialty. Given the lack of nation-wide data on the student population by EPAL specialty and gender it is difficult to get a wider picture that would help us elaborate further on the above hypothesis. For this reason we turned to data regarding the student population in vocationally oriented tertiary education institutions (ATEIs) in Greece. What we found was that in some specialties related to health and welfare there is extreme gender segregation with male students representing only a small minority of the student population (see Table below). In 13 ATEI Departments in Greece, the female student population is around 90% or more; in 7 of them the male student population is 3% or less. Table 1: Extreme student segregation in favour of females in vocationally oriented tertiary education institutions (ATEIs) in Greece (Source: Hellenic Statistical Authority, academic year ) Department Total student population Female student population % of female students Early childhood care-thessaloniki ATEI ,4 Preschool education-athens ATEI ,2 Obstetrics-Athens ATEI ,3 Aesthetics and cosmetology-athens ATEI ,8 Aesthetics and cosmetology- Thessaloniki ATEI ,6 Obstetrics- Thessaloniki ATEI ,5 Early childhood care-epirus ATEI Speech and language therapy- Ionian ATEI ,4 Clothes design and production- Thessaloniki ATEI Social work-athens ATEI ,3 Social work-crete ATEI Social work-ionian ATEI ,8 Speech and language therapy- Epirus ATEI ,7 TOTAL On the other side, we identified 16 ATEI Departments where the female student population is around 10% or less of the total student population in these institutions (see Table below). The vocational specialties offered in these Departments have to do with engineering, mostly electrical but also electronics and mechanical engineering. Even however in conditions of extreme student segregation in favour of males, the female student population was found to be around 3% or less in just one ATEI Department, the Vehicles Department of the Thessaloniki ATEI (2,7%). Table 2: Extreme student segregation in favour of males in vocationally oriented tertiary education institutions (ATEIs) in Greece (Source: Hellenic Statistical Authority, academic year ) Department Total student population Female student population % of female students Automatisms - Thessaloniki ATEI ,3 Electronics -Mainland Greece ATEI/Lamia ,4 Electronics-Athens ATEI ,2 Electrical engineering - Mainland Greece ATEI/Lamia Electrical engineering -Crete ATEI ,7 Electrical engineering - Western Macedonia ATEI ,7 Electrical engineering - Ionian ATEI ,5 Electrical engineering - Thessaloniki ATEI , LLP GR-KA1-KA1ECETB Page 21 out of 28

22 Electrical engineering - Thessaly ATEI ,1 Airplane technology - Mainland Greece ATEI/ Chalkida Electrical engineering - Kavala ATEI Electronics-Piraeus ATEI ,8 Electrical engineering -Piraeus ATEI ,6 Mechanical engineering- Mainland Greece ATEI/Chalkida ,3 Electrical engineering - Mainland Greece ATEI/ Chalkida ,8 Vehicles - Thessaloniki ATEI ,7 TOTAL ,1 The above findings seem to offer some ground to support the argument that in specialties where extreme gender segregation is established, it is more difficult for boys to follow a feminine vocational specialty than for girls to follow a masculine vocational specialty. Overall, the student population in ATEI Departments around Greece who studies in conditions of extreme gender segregation (around 90% or more being either male or female) is around 18 thousand, which represents around 14,4% of the total ATEI student population in Greece. The student population in ATEI Departments with less than around 20% of their students belonging to one or the other gender was found to be around 44 thousand, which represents around 35,6% of the total student population. On the other side, 52 thousand students of the ATEI population (42%), study in ATEI Departments where the variation of gender balance is between 40% and 60% for either gender. Among those, around 22 thousand students (42,6%) are enrolled in an accountancy or business administration specialty. In other words, relative gender balance in vocational studies at tertiary education level in Greece is evidenced mainly in skilled clerk fields. The soft evidence of classroom observations and discussions with students and teachers from the 1 st EPAL of Salamina as well as hard evidence from data on the student population of vocationally oriented tertiary education institutions in Greece all tend to support the argument that a relatively wide range of vocational specialties related on the one side to health and other caring fields and on the other side to engineering fields are highly gender-segregated LLP GR-KA1-KA1ECETB Page 22 out of 28

23 5. Appendix: The students questionnaire ΔΙΕΤΚΟΛΤΝΟΝΣΑ ΣΟΝ ΑΝΑΣΟΧΑΜΟ Ε ΘΕΜΑΣΑ ΙΟΣΗΣΑ ΣΙ ΣΡΑΣΗΓΙΚΕ ΔΙΑ ΒΙΟΤ ΜΑΘΗΗ Αγαπθτζσ κυρίεσ/κφριοι Το ερωτθματολόγιο που ακολουκεί αποτελεί ζνα από τα ερευνθτικά εργαλεία μιασ ευρφτερθσ ζρευνασ που διεξάγεται ςτα πλαίςια του διεκνοφσ ζργου FARE. Το ζργο αυτό οποίο ςυντονίηεται από τθν Ομάδα Εκπαιδευτικισ Ζρευνασ & Αξιολόγθςθσ, Ινςτιτοφτο Υπολογιςτικϊν Μακθματικϊν, Κδρυμα Τεχνολογίασ & Ζρευνασ (ΙΤΕ) και ςυμμετζχουν φορείσ από τθν Γερμανία, τθν Πολωνία, τθν Τουρκία και τθν Ιςπανία. Στόχοσ του ερωτθματολογίου είναι να διερευνιςει τισ αντιλιψεισ των μακθτϊν ΕΠΑΛ γφρω από: τουσ λόγουσ για τουσ οποίουσ επζλεξαν να ακολουκιςουν επαγγελματικι εκπαίδευςθ και τθν ιδιαίτερθ βαρφτθτα που αποδίδουν ςε αυτοφσ το πϊσ βιϊνουν και αξιολογοφν τισ ςπουδζσ τουσ ςτο ΕΠΑΛ τθν μακθςιακι προςπάκεια που κεωροφν ότι καταβάλλουν και τθ βαρφτθτα που αποδίδουν ςτον εαυτό τουσ, τουσ κακθγθτζσ και το οικογενειακό τουσ περιβάλλον για το αποτζλεςμα τθσ προςπάκειασ αυτισ τθν ενδεχόμενεσ εμπειρίεσ μερολθπτικισ αντιμετϊπιςισ τουσ από ςυμμακθτζσ και κακθγθτζσ τα ιδιαίτερα χαρακτθριςτικά τθσ προςωπικότθτάσ τουσ ωσ μακθτζσ Σκοπόσ τθσ ςυγκεκριμζνθσ ζρευνασ είναι ςε ζνα πρϊτο επίπεδο να αποτυπϊςει τισ αντιλιψεισ των μακθτϊν ςτα παραπάνω ςθμεία και διερευνιςει ενδεχόμενουσ υποκείμενουσ παράγοντεσ που μπορεί να ςυμβάλλουν ςτθ διαμόρφωςι τουσ, όπωσ για παράδειγμα εςωτερικά-εξωτερικά κίνθτρα, και ο ρόλοσ του ςχολικοφ και οικογενειακοφ περιβάλλοντοσ. Το ερωτθματολόγιο αυτό ζχει ςυνδιαμορφωκεί με τθ ςυμμετοχι εκπαιδευτικϊν των ΕΠΑΛ και ζχει χρθςιμοποιθκεί ςε μια πιλοτικι φάςθ με τθ ςυμμετοχι 30 περίπου μακθτϊν ΕΠΑΛ όλων των τάξεων ϊςτε να διαπιςτωκοφν ελλείψεισ και προβλιματα διατυπϊςεων. Το ερωτθματολόγιο είναι αυςτθρά ανϊνυμο και ςε επίπεδο μακθτι και ςε επίπεδο ςχολείου, όπου αυτό επιδοκεί. Εφόςον ζνα ςχολείο αποφαςίςει να το διανείμει ςε μεγάλο αρικμό μακθτϊν του, τα αποτελζςματα για το ςυγκεκριμζνο ςχολείο μποροφν να γίνουν αντικείμενο παρουςίαςθσ και ςυηιτθςθσ με τουσ εκπαιδευτικοφσ του ςχολείου αυτοφ φςτερα από πρόςκλθςθ προσ το ΙΤΕ. Σασ ευχαριςτοφμε εκ των προτζρων για το ενδιαφζρον και τθν ενδεχόμενθ ςυνεργαςία μασ Εκ μζρουσ του ζργου FARE Δρ. Κατερίνα Κικι-Παπαδάκθ και Δρ. Ανδρζασ Κόλλιασ Ομάδα Εκπαιδευτικισ Ζρευνασ & Αξιολόγθςθσ, Ινςτιτοφτο Υπολογιςτικϊν Μακθματικϊν, Κδρυμα Τεχνολογίασ & Ζρευνασ (ΙΤΕ) LLP GR-KA1-KA1ECETB Page 23 out of 28