Context: The aim of the proposed research is to investigate the impact of the pilot ‘all-day’ school scheme in Greece on teachers’, students’ and parents’ lives. The ‘all-day’ school is considered to be an innovative pedagogical reform in the Greek primary education. It was legislated and initiated in the period 1997-2002 in response to the apparent need for an increased work force. In addition, the growing number of working mothers meant that children needed to be looked after in a safe environment beyond mainstream school hours. Since then the ‘all-day’ school remains a project in progress facing a lot of obstacles with the most recent being the economic crisis in Greece which has badly affected all the sectors, private and public, of the country, and consequently the public schools of all levels. Despite its importance for educational reform, only a few studies attempted to examine some of the aspects of the ‘all-day’ school. It is this study’s contribution to provide, for first time, the key stakeholders of the ‘all-day’ school, namely teachers, parents and students, with the opportunity to raise their voices and express their experience and opinions about the effect of the ‘all-day’ school on their lives. Objective: The aim of this thesis is to provide insights on the perceptions and feelings of teachers, parents and students involved in the operation and expansion of the institutionalization of the ‘all-day’ school. These key stakeholders are called to express their voices about the effect of the ‘all-day’ school on their lives. Methodology: This study follows the interpretivist perspective. It does not examine pre-existing theories; instead it relies on qualitative findings collected from policy documents, questionnaires and semi-structured interviews with the ‘actors’ of the ‘all-day’ school, teachers, students and parents. Findings: This study revealed the huge gap between policy and practice in the operation of the ‘all-day’ school. The ‘all-day’ school aimed to fulfill certain pedagogical and social aims, as described in the official policy documents of the Greek Ministry of Education. Empirical evidence from this study indicated that in practice only few of these aims, mainly related to the social dimension of the ‘all-day’ school have been achieved. The ‘all-day’ school failed to achieve significant pedagogical aims such as the homework completion at school. A number of contradictions and dilemmas.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:607545 |
| Date | January 2014 |
| Creators | Gkoratsa, Ailina |
| Contributors | Evans, R.; Jones, D. |
| Publisher | Brunel University |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/8560 |
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