It was at an educational conference in Patras organized by the Department of Education of Primary Education, where the way to determine the results of education after the completion of compulsory education was commented on, implementing and using the international program PISA (Program for International Student Assessment) I received harsh criticism in the hall from the evergreen professor of Wisconsin, dear colleague Andreas Kazamias, who, if I remember correctly, with his characteristic frankness and honesty, said to me in a harsh tone: “Thanasis, you are naive if you think that the PISA program serves educational purposes, then PISA comes from the economic and political factors that contribute to globalization “. I answered him something like this: “If we do not trust the international PISA, Andreas, then why don’t we make a Greek equivalent that does not depend on the factors you refer to?” And the controversy remained where the colleague rightly emphasized the value of humanistic education and dialogue with Socrates, but insisted on the rejection of positivism in education, which he considered PISA, as if these two concepts were incompatible with each other.

Years have passed since then, and now the Greek Ministry of Education has found it useful for education to introduce a diagnostic process for the 6th primary and 3rd secondary school, through which the state and society – and above all the educational world – can have a reliable picture of what whether and to what extent pupils completing primary and secondary school have achieved the goals set for these classes not by “foreigners” but by the Greek Ministry of Education. In other words, if they have acquired the knowledge and skills that are considered in our time as the basic qualifications of every citizen, the reserves that allow them to monitor the reality around them, as well as adequately participate in it. To such a step, only positive comments can be made on a fundamental level, no matter what the objections may be on the level of the content and suitability of the diagnostic tool (test). It is known worldwide that the grades given by teachers in primary and secondary schools, as well as in the rest of post-compulsory education, reflect not only student achievement, but are also not reliable indicators of learning outcomes.

Nevertheless, the reaction to this initiative already in the first year of the test (2022) on the part of the leadership of the trade union of educators, as well as part of the “anti-systemic” scientists involved in the study of the educational problem. The reactions were not only criticism of the principle or suitability of the diagnostic tool, but went so far as to practically prevent the implementation of the measure by declaring strikes of teachers as well as civil servants on the days of the inspection, according to the “revolutionary” pattern that we cannot prevent in Parliament, we cancel in practice – we cancel “in practice”, as they say in the language of trade unionism.

The barrier failed, the test was conducted on a representative sample of 554 schools (11,411 students), and for the first time in the history of education, we had an independent diagnostic of learning outcomes with its advantages and disadvantages. The noise died down for a while, as the results were not so negative, especially for Primary. Many of us hoped that unionists would finally learn from the events, especially when the test in its first application showed high frequencies in the “excellent” area in both elementary and high school. Something that a smart teacher union could take advantage of by presenting these positive results as evidence that the teachers they represent by definition are doing a good job.

Disappointment set in this year when, with the second application of the measure, last year’s “revolutionary” scenario was repeated: “Announcing a nationwide 4-hour work relief for the first 4 hours of the morning program on May 10, the day of exams, to cancel the categorization and exclusion of exams,” the IOC wrote in in its announcement of May 3, 2023, and OLME issued a similar announcement on May 4, 2023 (“We are announcing a nationwide three-hour shutdown covering exam hours on May 10 and urging our members not to participate in Greek PISA procedures,” seeking through the announcement of a suspension of work to achieve a “concomitant” de facto repeal of the relevant legislation Despite the help of ADEDY and despite the favorable situation for the unions, just two weeks before the national elections, the political price did not stop the leadership of the Ministry of Education, which made the obvious, but politically difficult for Greece: appealed to justice and demand the execution of the law, which she succeeded. And this is where the “originality” of this country manifests itself: the leadership of the teachers’ union, instead of trying to score points from the implementation of the measure and accepting it in principle, perhaps by criticizing its content and making suggestions for improvement, is doing the exact opposite: it is trying abolish it, because supposedly no one can know what forces are behind this test and what the end goal of the Ministry of Education (for example, categorization and exclusion of students) is promoted in the future tense through the application of …

The attitude of education trade unions to the diagnostic test established by the state to identify the knowledge, skills and abilities of primary and secondary school students is incomprehensible and unfair in relation to the education trade union itself. One gets the impression that he is concerned that learning outcomes are achieved through the work of the school, the goals of which are determined not by “foreign centers”, but by the Greek state through its institutions. I repeat that the obstacle is not as a specific test, but in the need for some external independent diagnostics of learning outcomes. The leadership of the trade unions, in fact, claims to interpretive dominance in the field of school learning outcomes. And he fights for it, knowing that he will lose. What does education have to do with this theatrical performance of “revolutionary” impulse? I find, with great sadness, unfortunately not enough.

* Mr. Athanasios Gotovos is a professor at the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Ioannina.