La migración transnacional del Estado de Oaxaca: patrones y actividades transnacionales

The Greek educational system is a highly structured, centralized system where decision making follows a top down pattern (Zoniou-Sideri et al., 2006). Governmental educational resources are ‘traditionally allocated by central authorities based on complex criteria’, while no other sector of public life contributes to the educational expenses as schools operation constitutes the ‘exclusive obligation of the State’ (Agaliotis and Kalyva, 2011, p. 550). The history of Greek special education is characterised by many discontinuities and drawbacks as a number of policies were never actually enacted, whereas some of those that were implemented experienced practical difficulties or had not been appropriately assessed. Nevertheless, the SEN field has been established, developed and diffused into mainstream education within a period of twenty years.

Special education in Greece originated at the beginning of the 20th century with the foundation of private and charitable institutions, whereas in the following years the State’s active involvement in the field of SEN gradually increased (Zoniou-Sideri et al., 2006). In particular, the first law of SEN (Greek Government Gazette, 1981) established the different types of SEN and the range of provision that would be available for them based on the nature and severity of the difficulty/disorder. One of the 10 different types of SEN that were established through this law was the area of Speech Disorders, without though providing any further information and guidance regarding the educational support of this particular area of needs. The next law of SEN (Greek Government Gazette, 1985) aimed to restructure the framework of primary and secondary education with a structural modification that aimed to include the field of special education within the framework of mainstream education. It established the practice of ‘special classes’, as they were called, which were operated on a pilot basis in mainstream settings. However, pupils’ attendance at these settings did not follow formal assessment or further examination of their difficulties. It was not until a decade ago (Greek Government Gazette, 2000) after a time-consuming process of preparation and ‘negotiation’ (Zoniou-Sideri

et al., 2006), when it was legally established that pupils who experience SEN

should attend mainstream education, unless the type and severity of their difficulties require specialist provision within a special school setting or clinic. Measures that concerned the official identification of SEN through diagnostic centres (KDAY68) were also introduced, along with public medical services, while the ‘special or integration classes’ were renamed ‘inclusion classes’. The modification of the terms were not welcomed in the Greek educational context as some considered that this class did not constitute the appropriate educational environment for providing efficient support for children, especially at the secondary level of education, while it contributes to the pupils’ discrimination and stigmatisation (Coutsocostas and Alborz, 2010; Zoniou-Sideri et al., 2005). Nevertheless, the inclusion class became the most commonly applied model of SEN provision in mainstream schooling in Greece despite there not being any

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assessment or research regarding its effectiveness (Agaliotis and Kalyva, 2011; Efstathiou, 2003, 2002; Vlachou, 2006).

The latest Public Law (Greek Government Gazette, 2008) was pro-inclusion, stating that free compulsory education must be offered to all children who experience SEN at every educational level69. It focused on structural issues, offering guidance for the educational placement and additional support of pupils, as well as the operational framework of the diagnostic centres, which are now renamed into Centres for Differential Diagnosis, Diagnosis and Support (KEDDY). This law established the term ‘Speech and Language Disorders’ (article 3), a terminology that is also used in international educational contexts (Martin, 2000; Spanou and Tripodis, 2010; Stott et al., 2002). However, this particular law does not provide any further references for this area of SEN or official guidance regarding the educational support of pupils who experience this type of disorder. On the contrary, the official information concerns the educational placement provided for pupils who experience a range of SEN and refers only briefly to the special educational programmes that may be implemented.

Similar to international policies and practices, the educational placement of pupils who have SLD within the Greek context depends on the nature, complexity and severity of their difficulties. In particular, pupils may attend: (i) a school classroom within a mainstream setting with the support of the classroom teacher (who collaborates with the KEDDY); (ii) a school classroom receiving additional support70 by an SEN teacher (i.e. in-class support71); and (iii) an inclusion class that operates within the mainstream school setting and is equipped with the appropriate resources provided by specialists (in most cases

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Special education is provided to pupils aged from 4 to 22 years old. 70

According to the latest Greek Public Law of SEN (Greek Government Gazette, 2008),

additional support within the mainstream school classroom is provided to the pupils who can follow the curriculum of the classroom if they receive appropriate individual support and guidance, or to the pupils who experience more severe difficulties in the absence of any other provision in their area. However, in some cases the support provided by an SEN teacher might be required on a permanent basis.

SEN teachers). Additionally, in cases of severe SLD72 children and young people may be either placed in special schools or receive programmes of home tuition. By contrast with practices and educational programmes implemented by other European countries, in Greece pupils with SLD may receive systematic intervention programmes (either at pre-school, primary or secondary education), such as speech and language therapy, by the centres of diagnosis and support (KEDDY), special schools or private speech and language centres and SLTs73. Within the frame of the traditional Greek educational system, mainstream schools are required to follow a common policy for the implementation of the national curriculum, involving whole class instruction, providing the same textbooks for all pupils, ensuring a relatively demanding syllabus (especially at the secondary level) and a teacher orientated didactic philosophy, setting thereby obstacles to individualised teaching and learning (Vlachou, 2006). The ‘Cross-curricular Integrated Framework of Programmes of Study’, which was developed by the Greek Pedagogical Institute (2002) aimed to replace the existing national curriculum offering by a more flexible and easily adaptable model of teaching and learning for all pupils. However, it appears not to be adequately implemented.

In the past, the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs, in an attempt to support the pupils who experience SEN, provided the ‘Analytic Programme of SEN’ (1996), which constitutes the first specialised curriculum of primary education for pupils who experience a range of SEN. The area of speech and language development constitutes one of the aims of this framework, as it offers to the teachers a brief outline that concerns the planning of their teaching aims, implementation of learning strategies, monitoring, regular assessment of pupils’ speech and language progress and re-evaluation of the individualised teaching programmes. This framework though, provides only a quite basic profile, while its implementation is limited to the inclusion class teaching context. A few years

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Usually severe SLD occurs in relation to organic causes and cognitive disability. 73

However, in cases where the child receives further support/therapy through a private centre or SLT, the state has the responsibility to offer financial support only when the child is officially diagnosed with SLD by KEDDY or other public medical services (Greek Government Gazette, 2012).

ago, the Greek Pedagogical Institute aiming to support pupils’ learning within the framework of the existing national curriculum for literacy and numeracy, proposed a profile of teaching practices and resources which can be applied within the mainstream classroom for pupils who experience SEN (Karakitsios et

al., 2011). Nevertheless, the provided resources which address various aspects

of pupils’ learning (i.e. speech and language skills, reading, writing, or context understanding), aim to support a broader range of pupils who have Learning Difficulties, without focusing on children with SLD.

Although inclusive provision holds an essential role in the documents related to the Greek educational policy and practices, the daily school practice appears to be quite different (Zoniou-Sideri and Vlachou, 2006). Within the mainstream classroom there is limited guidance to the teachers regarding the identification of SLD, structuring of learning programmes and approaches that support pupils’ cognitive, intellectual and communication skills (Papadopoulos, 2008, 2001). At the secondary level, the weakness of the existing curriculum to meet adequately the pupils’ individualised needs, along with the classroom’s timetable restrictions, do not allow the learning needs of these children to be addressed in a substantial and efficient way.

Within the framework of mainstream education both mainstream classroom teachers and inclusion class teachers (i.e. SEN teachers), are challenged to meet the diverse needs of pupils with SLD. The fact that the role of SENCO has not yet been officially introduced and applied in the Greek educational system, while the SLTs are not entitled to provide their services in mainstream schools influences highly the provision available for pupils who have SLD within the mainstream school setting. As a consequence their duties are provided by mainstream teachers or SEN teachers who are required to support pupils either working with them in mainstream classrooms74 or inclusion classes, while it is often expected from them to offer guidance and specialised help to their colleagues.

Many teachers express their concerns regarding the feasibility of inclusive education arguing that the time shortage, highly demanding curriculum, lack of

specialised knowledge, training, resources, and collaboration with professionals and pupil’s parents constitute some of the main drawbacks that prevent differentiated teaching and learning (Agaliotis, 2002; Koutrouba et al., 2008). Moreover, they are highly concerned and in many cases dissatisfied from their collaboration with the professionals from KEDDY, whereas they often feel unaided and unprepared to provide adequate support to pupils with highly demanding needs (Agaliotis et al., 2009; Vagena, 2009).

Although the latest law encourages the cooperation between professionals from various disciplines, inadequate support from the State, in providing official educational guidelines for the implementation of this policy and insufficient opportunities for educators’ further professional development, not only perpetuate the current situation, but also increase the gaps between the existing policy and the applied practices.