“I am grateful to my parents for the decision to send me to an experimental school,” mathematician Mary Bobetsi tells K.. This year, her son, 12-year-old Antonis, followed the same path. He is one of the students who, by the middle of last week, had applied to participate in the School of Models or Pilots since September. Applications are expected to hit a record this year with just 17,000 applications for 2022, and while this year’s deadline closes tomorrow at 2:00 p.m., applications are close to 16,500 by the middle of last week.

Admission to experimental kindergartens and primary schools is a lottery, as it is carried out by lottery. However, in standard gymnasiums and secondary schools this is done through language and mathematics examinations, which in practice have evolved into the first “Pan-Greek” examinations taken by 12-year-olds. And for obvious reasons, the competition is very high, as can be seen from the admission bases for 2022 for the schools represented by “K”. There were absolute achievement students in 2022 and the reception bases penthouse was formed at level 84 at Anavrita Model High School. The highest candidate/seat ratio was in the same high school.

There were 13 primary school graduates applying for each position at Anavrita Standard High School. Since the Standard Grammar Schools are affiliated with the Standard High Schools, the ratio is higher in the latter (for example, in the Standard High School of the Evangelical School of Smyrna last year, one place corresponded to 59 candidates), and therefore admission is difficult, since only places left by high school students. In both cases, most parents send their children to tutoring schools, with all the ensuing consequences for the family’s finances. For this reason, although, according to “K”, it was studied to correctly add natural science to the exams of two courses, in the end it was not qualified, since competitive conditions would further strengthen tutoring schools.

In particular, according to the Steering Committee of Two Types of Schools (TSTS), there are 83 experimental both levels and 37 model middle and high schools in the country, totaling 120 schools. There are 9,146 students in the standard courses and 11,092 in the experimental courses. Standards has 1,125 full-time teachers and Experimental has 1,103. The need for teaching staff is larger and is covered by the secondment of advanced teachers or substitutes.

“I came as a teacher in 2005 at the school, when it was still Experimental. In 2011, it became Standard, accepting students with exams. In 2015 it was changed back to Experimental and in 2019 to Standard,” says Ms. Haido Kallitzaki, philologist and director of the 2nd Standard Gymnasium in Athens, “K”. This is the school that Ms. Bobetsi graduated from and where her son will take his exams. “The interest of the teachers was very great, they used the material that they had.

They were ready to work, we were engaged outside the program. The work done was visible in the general Greek examinations, where 32 out of 34 students of my faculty went to the school of our first choice,” says Ms. Bobetsi, emphasizing that “the professor was raised by the faculty with students with good and hardworking minds, and the student the feeling that someone else could be better than him. When there is disrespect on the part of the majority of students in the department, it negatively affects other students and, as a result, the teacher. Also, the parents who are usually interested in these schools know why they do it, it’s not a whim, it’s not a “parking lot”.

“The interest of parents is very high because the permanent teachers have high academic qualifications and they have been assessed in the same way as those who come to us for internships. Only unappreciated substitutes we get. Also, these schools have partnerships with European schools, which expands the horizons of students. A calm atmosphere reigns here without interruptions in the educational process, and among the advantages of schools is autonomy. For example, we increased the number of teaching hours in information technology, and in the second foreign language, we formed classes based on the level of students,” adds Ms. Kallitzaki.

A record number of applications is expected – a few days before the deadline there were about 16,500, in 2022 – 17,000.

“Standard and experimental schools are a good solution because they have students of a different level than neighboring schools, since they were accepted on the basis of exams. But they remain attractive despite their problems, mostly with teaching staff who are no longer motivated, with gaps being filled by substitutes. Teachers are motivated to their difficult work only by their personal enthusiasm,” says Mr. Kostas Kontoyannis, who was the director of a well-known private school in the country, as well as the Model High School in Athens. “TO”.

Students can apply to three schools: two standard and one experimental. In the case of choosing two Standards, the order of preference is declared on the application platform, and in case of simultaneous success in the Standard and the Experiment, the choice must be made by the parent. By midweek, the Standard School had 9,000 first choice applications and the Experimental School had another 7,500. And that’s because until last year, candidates were excluded from the school of their first – and only – choice, even if they had a higher score than the other school’s base,” said Mr. Georgios Tombras, President of Standards and Experimental Steering Committee, speaking before the “K” schools, professor of physics at the University of Athens. “Questions involve multiple choice and evaluate student composition. If he understands the text, if he can write, read, mathematical values. Nothing special. The candidate does not need a textbook. If the student understands the comic and laughs, he can answer correctly. However, it seems that tutoring is in the DNA of Greek parents. Unfortunately, tutoring schools are also responsible for the problems of the Greek education system,” he adds.

Ms. Bobetsi, a mathematician, prepares her son for the exams, while her friend, a philologist, took care of his language training. According to him, “The fact that exams are held in April, two months before the end of the academic year, gives food to tutoring schools. I agree with the word “tutoring mania” used by many. But I answer the other way around. If the school is not working properly, the child will not do as well as the tutor. At school, the child receives the basics. Now the school plays the role of a tutoring school. It is not right”.

Grade

Speaking to K about the progress of the Model and Experimental Schools, Institute for Education Policy (IEP) President Yiannis Antoniou acknowledged the shortage of staff that results in schools being staffed with substitute teachers who have not passed the assessment. On the other hand, starting from September, the teachers of standards and experiments will be the first to be evaluated. As Mr. Antóniou noted, “the reform has had positive effects in some schools. Of course, they need time and, at the same time, support for measures such as teacher assessment and school profiling to convince families and society at large. In education, it takes years for an institution to be effective.”