27-07-16 Education ministry omnibus bill including refugee education measures tabled
The education ministry today submitted to the permanent parliamentary committee on educational affairs a bill entitled, “Measures on Greek language education, intercultural education and other provisions”. The bill also includes measures on tertiary education and primary and secondary school education.
Measures regarding private schools
For private primary and secondary schools, the bill regulates the terms and preconditions for firing permanent and limited term teachers at private schools. Owners of private schools cannot engage in unlimited firings or firings without a clear justification of private school teachers, because offering teachers stable employment is linked to the quality of their teaching performance, to the benefit of both the educational community and society more generally. Private schools award - with the responsibility of private school teachers who conduct year end and matriculation exams, and other school procedures that they sign - diplomas equivalent to those of state-run schools.
Another new regulation states that any diversion whatsoever from the hourly teaching programme is subject to a review of its legality by the competent directorates of the Ministry of Education, Research and Religious Affairs. In the event that the number of teaching hours stated in a teacher’s appointed schedule, then the teacher is assigned additional tasks to complete their schedule. The arbitrary reduction of teaching hours is considered a harmful change in the contract terms.
Refugee education
Legislative authorisation is provided in order to regulate, by ministerial decision, all issues pertaining to refugee education, such as the creation and operation of structures and branches at existing schools, the coordination of teachers at such schools, as well as the curriculum. Such programmes will, be staffed by teachers whose qualifications will be approved by ministerial decision.
Vocational education
The bill has a provision for the smooth transfer of teachers to equivalent permanent slots in cases of merger or transfer of subject areas between vocational high schools. Teachers’ seniority will be maintained in the transfer to the new or merged school.
Along with the merger or transfer, the tenured positions of teachers with equivalent specialisation will also be transferred, to allow educators to teach vocational and technological courses equivalent to those they taught at the previous school. To protect teachers, along with the transfer of their tenured teaching slot, they will retain their seniority in the vocational high school system. Exceptionally, these teachers may remain at their school, as long as they teach other courses that fall within their primary course load responsibility.
The bill also includes a provision that the Institute of Educational Policy will offer a consultative opinion for the issuance of delegative decisions of the Education, Research and Religious Affairs Ministry (as foreseen in Article 43, paragraph 2 of law 4186/2013, Government Gazette Volume A’ 193), which is required only for paedagogical issues, as for issues of an administrative or regulative nature regarding the operation of vocational high schools such a consultative opinion is not required.
Another paragraph in the bill states that Division A’ on Studies and Implementation of Secondary School Vocational programmes of the Education Ministry has authority over assigning courses (in general education, by section and specialisation) in all classes to teachers of vocational high schools. This is considered necessary so as to assign the task to the competent ministry division, to ensure the smooth operation of vocational schools.
The bill also resolves the issue of the existence of bureaus on vocational education issues at very few secondary education directorates, with the simultaneous lack of procedures for the selection of division supervisors, especially after the abolition of vocational education bureaus under Article 32 of law 4024/2011.
Provisions for student registration at a different type of high school
Students are allowed only one transfer per academic year from a general high school to a vocational high school and vice versa, as long as the original school or the transfer school is an evening school. Students in the second year of a day or evening vocational school transfer to the second year of studies at a general high school.
According to the report outlining the rationale of the bill, the proposed regulation ensures four-year study at evening high schools (general and vocational). Because of differences between day and evening general high schools and day and evening vocational high schools – as the first year of day general high schools corresponds to the combined first and second year of evening general high schools, and the third year of day vocational high schools corresponds to the third and fourth years combined of evening vocational high schools – it happen that certain students have made successive transfers to different high schools in a short time span , thus violating the law requiring four years of study at evening high schools. This bill remedies that injustice, by limiting transfers that could lead to reducing to three the number of years of study at evening school, thus sleighting other students.
For the text of the bill and more information in Greek see the links below.
Η αιτιολογική έκθεση σε μορφή pdf
Οι καταργούμενες και τροποποιούμενες διατάξεις σε μορφή pdf
Η αξιολόγηση των συνεπειών σε μορφή pdf
