Where does our mind go when we hear a friend say his baby is about to school; “We talk about school, but we think about elementary, middle school, high school. Think less about kindergarten. says kindergarten teacher Ioann Antoniou “K”.. Many think of kindergarten as a creative activity for toddlers, but it has a structured curriculum. In fact, the introduction of two years of preschool education for children from 4 years of age across the country from the 2020-2021 school year has dramatically increased the number of students in kindergartens. It has 174,000 students in the current academic year, up from 164,716 in 2019-2020. Kindergarten from the age of 4 is of great value and importance for the future of children. According to the OECD, children who participated in pre-primary education programs for at least one year show 30.3% better math skills at age 15.

Kindergarten, in particular, is the level of education that most closely resembles a laboratory of play and learning. That is why the focus of the program is learning through play. Usually, the beginning of the day in Greek kindergarten is done with “free play in the corners”, so that children learn to play together with their peers, and not alone. There is also a “talk time” where activities are presented to help toddlers gain basic knowledge. As Ms. Antóniou, director of Dimon Dionysos Spring Kindergarten, says, “We organize a class calendar and through it we approach arithmetic. For example, students count how many of their classmates are absent and thus become familiar with numbers and actions. We also deal with reading and phonological perception. For example, today is Friday, a day that begins with the letter P, whose name begins with the same letter?

Children at this age want to explore, learn and play with all the physical and digital media available in schools. “In this regard, master classes are now mandatory included in the schedule. The laboratory section provides an inquisitive look at the course, while class work is done methodically, encouraging students to learn and apply knowledge and skills through real-life experiences such as gardening. A key element of the workshops is the diversity of the IEP programs, and synergy with various agencies such as the World Wildlife Fund or the Athens Observatory adds a new dimension to the course. It has been proven that the sections with science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics, as well as environmental topics, are of the greatest interest to children, as they like these topics very much.” emphasizes “K” a competent official of the Ministry of Education.

At the same time, the introduction of English language teaching through creative and experimental activities into the compulsory program from the 2021-2022 academic year creates the conditions for cooperation and intersubjectivity between the kindergarten teacher and the English teacher.

Increasing the number of students through compulsory education, given that the necessary building infrastructure has also been established in the country’s municipalities, will improve Greece’s position in relation to other EU countries. Characteristically, according to the Education and Learning Monitoring Report 2022, in 2020 only 71.3% of children aged 3 to 6 attended preschool education, well below the EU average. which is 93% and the target is 96% for the EU. by 2030. Slovakia is in second place with the worst results, and Romania is third.