IO1 - Home | V-UPGRATeS · 2019. 2. 19. · The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reﬂects

IO1 ERASMUS+ KA2 Project

Validating and Upgrading VET

Trainers' and Teachers' Digital Skills

www.vupgrates.eu

National report of Greece

Intellectual Output 1:

SURVEY on the ICT-training provision for

VET teachers and trainers (VTTs)

Copyright:

Creative Commons – Attribution NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Leibniz University Hanover

Institute for Didactics of Democracy

Germany

Cyprus Computer Society

Cyprus

Fundatia CDIMM Maramures

Romania

Educational Institute «Emphasys»

Cyprus

Ingenious Knowledge

Germany

st1 EPAL Peiraia

VET School

Greece

Fundacion Pascual Tomas

Spain

Imprint Partners

2 3The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the

views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

Project Number: 2015-1-DE02-KA202-002412

The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the



Project Leadership:

Prof. Dr. Dirk Lange

Institut für Didaktik der Demokratie

Leibniz Universität Hannover

Institut für Politische Wissenschaft

Authors:

Saratsiotis Georgios

Karaisarlis Thrasyvoulos

Pantoulis Diogenes

Project Coordination:

Meike Jens

Graphic Design:

Mareike Heldt

Copyright:

Creative Commons – Attribution NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Leibniz University Hanover

Institute for Didactics of Democracy

Germany

Cyprus Computer Society

Cyprus

Fundatia CDIMM Maramures

Romania

Educational Institute «Emphasys»

Cyprus

Ingenious Knowledge

Germany

st1 EPAL Peiraia

VET School

Greece

Fundacion Pascual Tomas

Spain

Imprint Partners







Project Leadership:

Prof. Dr. Dirk Lange

Institut für Didaktik der Demokratie

Leibniz Universität Hannover

Institut für Politische Wissenschaft

Authors:

Saratsiotis Georgios

Karaisarlis Thrasyvoulos

Pantoulis Diogenes

Project Coordination:

Meike Jens

Graphic Design:

Mareike Heldt

ContensIntroduction - Overview of the

importance of participation in this project

1 Introduction - Overview of the importance of participation in this project .........................

2 Current ICT scene in Greece (document analysis) ..............................................................

2.1 Provision of training (professional development opportunities) .......................................

2.2 Use of Open Educational Resources (OER) ..........................................................................

2.3 Needs of the labour market in the digital field for a better skills match .............................

3 Survey based analysis: Teachers' needs – labour market needs (empircal research) .....

4 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................

05

06

06

09

10

14

15

It is a commonly held belief that contemporary society is changing rapidly in the 21st century. As a result,

citizens are charged with the task to reach the hectic pace of technological evolution in every aspect of their

life. Furthermore life-long learning is widely accepted to be an inevitable part of modern man's life in order to

survive in an extremely competitive working environment.

ICT plays a significant role in life-long learning as those without digital skills are nowadays considered to be

illiterate. Even those with basic digital skills soon feel inefficient to respond to modern market demands,

while those that manage to follow the technological changes and have advanced digital skills are much in

request and very well-paid.

Educators of all sectors but most importantly VET trainers and teachers (TTs) face many challenges as they

deal with increasingly complex and diverse learning situations and meet competence demands in a

constantly changing work environment with the evolvement of new technologies, a constantly changing

labour market with highly technical skill demands and a challenging socio-economic context.

As a result, there is an urgent need for TTs to enhance the uptake of ICT in teaching and learning, to promote

stronger coherence of the needs of the labour market thus achieving a better skill match for their students

as well as bridging the gap between education and the working world.

Greece has organized ICT training for teachers over the last two decades, but the outcomes are poor, as we

conclude in our research, especially from the empirical part. Our v-UPGRATeS project, which is financed by

the EU, is an ambitious effort to face the lack of TT's digital skills and competences by participating in a

personal professional development programme.

We will create an on-line, dynamic, multi-assessed OER platform, which will provide appealing and effective

high-tech possibilities for level – measuring, training and validating digital skills. This will help VET trainers

and teachers to control skill deficit and update their abilities throughout their career focusing on the current

needs of the labour market and the economy.

The project aims to «enhance digital integration in learning, teaching and training while promoting access

and learning through Open Educational Resources (OER); supporting ICT-based training, learning and

assessment at the educators level».

Our school (1st EPAL of Piraeus) is a VET school, with many different Sectors (ICT, Mechanical Engineers,

Electricians, Food Technology and Beverage, Health and care Section etc.) employing 70 teachers of many

specialties. Most of our teachers need and seek more knowledge and skills concerning ICT. Understanding

and exploiting ICT is an important factor for keeping up with the technologies used in teaching, while they

are also requisite to the labour market, which our graduates will address.

Our aim is to become a multiplier in our country, as we are located in the metropolitan area of the Greek

capital Athens, where over 40% of the population lives. The first step will be to inform and address to our

local territory (Piraeus), which includes over 2500 teachers. Afterwards, step by step we'll widen our target

group.

Finally the European aspect and identity are very important issues for our school. We are participating, over

the years, in many European projects, with great success and very high reception from our students and

supervising authorities.

1







ContensIntroduction - Overview of the

importance of participation in this project

1 Introduction - Overview of the importance of participation in this project .........................

2 Current ICT scene in Greece (document analysis) ..............................................................

2.1 Provision of training (professional development opportunities) .......................................

2.2 Use of Open Educational Resources (OER) ..........................................................................

2.3 Needs of the labour market in the digital field for a better skills match .............................

3 Survey based analysis: Teachers' needs – labour market needs (empircal research) .....

4 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................

05

06

06

09

10

14

15

It is a commonly held belief that contemporary society is changing rapidly in the 21st century. As a result,

citizens are charged with the task to reach the hectic pace of technological evolution in every aspect of their

life. Furthermore life-long learning is widely accepted to be an inevitable part of modern man's life in order to

survive in an extremely competitive working environment.

ICT plays a significant role in life-long learning as those without digital skills are nowadays considered to be

illiterate. Even those with basic digital skills soon feel inefficient to respond to modern market demands,

while those that manage to follow the technological changes and have advanced digital skills are much in

request and very well-paid.

Educators of all sectors but most importantly VET trainers and teachers (TTs) face many challenges as they

deal with increasingly complex and diverse learning situations and meet competence demands in a

constantly changing work environment with the evolvement of new technologies, a constantly changing

labour market with highly technical skill demands and a challenging socio-economic context.

As a result, there is an urgent need for TTs to enhance the uptake of ICT in teaching and learning, to promote

stronger coherence of the needs of the labour market thus achieving a better skill match for their students

as well as bridging the gap between education and the working world.

Greece has organized ICT training for teachers over the last two decades, but the outcomes are poor, as we

conclude in our research, especially from the empirical part. Our v-UPGRATeS project, which is financed by

the EU, is an ambitious effort to face the lack of TT's digital skills and competences by participating in a

personal professional development programme.

We will create an on-line, dynamic, multi-assessed OER platform, which will provide appealing and effective

high-tech possibilities for level – measuring, training and validating digital skills. This will help VET trainers

and teachers to control skill deficit and update their abilities throughout their career focusing on the current

needs of the labour market and the economy.

The project aims to «enhance digital integration in learning, teaching and training while promoting access

and learning through Open Educational Resources (OER); supporting ICT-based training, learning and

assessment at the educators level».

Our school (1st EPAL of Piraeus) is a VET school, with many different Sectors (ICT, Mechanical Engineers,

Electricians, Food Technology and Beverage, Health and care Section etc.) employing 70 teachers of many

specialties. Most of our teachers need and seek more knowledge and skills concerning ICT. Understanding

and exploiting ICT is an important factor for keeping up with the technologies used in teaching, while they

are also requisite to the labour market, which our graduates will address.

Our aim is to become a multiplier in our country, as we are located in the metropolitan area of the Greek

capital Athens, where over 40% of the population lives. The first step will be to inform and address to our

local territory (Piraeus), which includes over 2500 teachers. Afterwards, step by step we'll widen our target

group.

Finally the European aspect and identity are very important issues for our school. We are participating, over

the years, in many European projects, with great success and very high reception from our students and

supervising authorities.

1













Current ICT scene in greece (document analysis) 2

2.1 Provision of training (professional development opportunities)

Teachers' ICT training in Greece followed a two-step approach during the years 2000-2013.

From 2000 to 2006, the Operational Programm “Information Society” was founded by EU. One of it' s aims

was: “Equipping, networking, training teachers and preparing digital material for the creation of an

educational system for the 21st century, using new technologies for the documentation and promotion of 1Greek culture”.

The most relevant action was the A-Level training basic ICT skills program. The liable Ministry of Education

trained 84,360 Primary and Secondary School teachers in the use of computers. By the end of 2005, almost

half of the teachers in Greek schools had been officially certified computer literate for the first time in their

career. Training took place during teachers' spare time and was provided in 2200 Training Centers by

approximately 5500 Trainers certified for this task by the Pedagogical Institute and the Research Academic

Computer Technology Institute. Training Centers were either public or private and the trainees were free to

choose Center, time and trainer of their preference. Most of the teachers did chose a public Training Center.

The training program covered the basics in information technology, word processing, spreadsheets,

presentations, Internet and offered an overview of educational software. The program was mend to allow

teachers to get acquainted with ICT and use it productively in order to improve their teaching methods, to

look for new sources of knowledge and to participate in new educational communities for professional

development. An on line help desk was also available. It was a 48-hour program, in groups of 10 trainees,

spread over 8 consecutive weeks in two 3-hour sessions per week. The trainees were provided with

educational material for home practice and partly funded with up to 600 euros for the purchase or the 2updating of a home computer.

From 2007 – 2013 a new Operational Program was launched, called 'Digital Convergence', taking into

consideration strategic guidelines both at national and European level for the Greek Digital Strategy 2006-

2013. One of the priorities of the OP was: Enhancement of new technologies contribution to the Educational 3

process (Tele-education – Education with digital content – 'Life Long Learning' Digital Programs).

According to national sources, training was provided to 760 teacher trainers and 27500 teachers in Greek

primary and secondary schools. The aim was in-class use of ICT according to the “In-service training of

teachers in the utilisation and application of ICTs in the teaching practice” project of the Operational

Program “Education and Lifelong Learning”, NSRF (2007-2013) which was co-funded by the EU and the ESF.

The teachers training program had a 96 hours duration and took place in addition to the school schedule, in

specially equipped centers – the Training Support Centers- which were schools throughout the country,

using specialized (B-Level) teacher trainers, who had undergone an appropriate training in University

Teacher Training Centers. This training is known also as B-Level training, since it constitutes the normal

continuation of the A-Level training in basic ICT skills carried out in the framework of the previous O.P. In the

“B-Level” training participated literature teachers, math teachers, physical/natural science teachers,

French, English and German language teachers, primary school teachers, kindergarten teachers and

1 Operational Programm “Information Society - Digital Strategy” www.infosoc.gr/infosoc/el-GR/epktp/ (last accessed 2/5/2016)2 An Investigation of an ICT in-service teacher training program in Greece: a case study, Frangkouli Elpiniki (2006), University of Warwick.3 Operational Programm “Information Society - Digital Strategy” http://www.infosoc.gr/infosoc/el-GR/newopis_digital/ (last accessed 2/5/2016)

4 Training of teacher trainers at the University Training Centers (UTC's), http://b-epipedo2.cti.gr/en/ (last Accessed 2/5/2016)

computer science teachers. All participants had to be permanent educators at public or private schools and

actively teach during the training period, in order to immediately put into practice the acquired knowledge

and skills. Except from computer science teachers, all teachers should have been “A-Level basic ICT skills”

certified. Training was carried out in at least four training cycles during this period. Furthermore, 600

teachers, including school advisors, attended teacher trainer programs at University teacher training

centers. The scope of B-Level in-service training involved learning the principles of the pedagogically sound

use of ICTs, the acquisition of skills according to teacher specialization, the pedagogical use and application

of educational software and generic tools and the development of the triptych “knowledge-skills-attitudes”.

The goal for the trainees was to:

Ÿ Understand the conditions and the potential for the pedagogical utilization of ICTs in education in order

to upgrade and transform the educational process,

Ÿ learn and achieve the objectives set out by the curriculum and efficiently use the potential of ICT with

regard to the active participation of teachers and students in learning communities,

Ÿ Understand and take part in the new dimensions of the Internet (Web 2.0), such as social media and the

new role of users as co-creators of digital content

Ÿ Acquire an overall view of existing educational software, generic and specialised tools, web 2.0 services

(blogs, wikis, podcasts, RSS feeds, social networks, 3D Virtual Environments, e-portfolios)

Ÿ Use Learning Management Systems and asynchronous distance learning platforms in their teaching

practice.

Ÿ Be in a position to use suitable educational software package or generic and specific tools, such as those

abovementioned.

Ÿ Realize the necessity and the role of educational activities in the application of ICT in the classroom.

Ÿ Understand the principles of designing an educational activity so that they can incorporate them into the

teaching practice. Specifically, in relation to the case of Web 2.0 technologies, to recognize that it is

necessary to apply them as a means for transforming teaching and to use and apply them for this

purpose.

Ÿ Have the ability to efficiently use the classroom interactive whiteboard for the educational process

Ÿ Acquire knowledge regarding the basic principles for organizing the use of ICT in the classroom

Ÿ Develop the skills for communication and collaboration with their students and their peers with the 4

support of Web 2.0 technologies.

Current ICT scene in greece (document analysis)







Current ICT scene in greece (document analysis) 2

2.1 Provision of training (professional development opportunities)

Teachers' ICT training in Greece followed a two-step approach during the years 2000-2013.

From 2000 to 2006, the Operational Programm “Information Society” was founded by EU. One of it' s aims

was: “Equipping, networking, training teachers and preparing digital material for the creation of an

educational system for the 21st century, using new technologies for the documentation and promotion of 1Greek culture”.

The most relevant action was the A-Level training basic ICT skills program. The liable Ministry of Education

trained 84,360 Primary and Secondary School teachers in the use of computers. By the end of 2005, almost

half of the teachers in Greek schools had been officially certified computer literate for the first time in their

career. Training took place during teachers' spare time and was provided in 2200 Training Centers by

approximately 5500 Trainers certified for this task by the Pedagogical Institute and the Research Academic

Computer Technology Institute. Training Centers were either public or private and the trainees were free to

choose Center, time and trainer of their preference. Most of the teachers did chose a public Training Center.

The training program covered the basics in information technology, word processing, spreadsheets,

presentations, Internet and offered an overview of educational software. The program was mend to allow

teachers to get acquainted with ICT and use it productively in order to improve their teaching methods, to

look for new sources of knowledge and to participate in new educational communities for professional

development. An on line help desk was also available. It was a 48-hour program, in groups of 10 trainees,

spread over 8 consecutive weeks in two 3-hour sessions per week. The trainees were provided with

educational material for home practice and partly funded with up to 600 euros for the purchase or the 2updating of a home computer.

From 2007 – 2013 a new Operational Program was launched, called 'Digital Convergence', taking into

consideration strategic guidelines both at national and European level for the Greek Digital Strategy 2006-

2013. One of the priorities of the OP was: Enhancement of new technologies contribution to the Educational 3

process (Tele-education – Education with digital content – 'Life Long Learning' Digital Programs).

According to national sources, training was provided to 760 teacher trainers and 27500 teachers in Greek

primary and secondary schools. The aim was in-class use of ICT according to the “In-service training of

teachers in the utilisation and application of ICTs in the teaching practice” project of the Operational

Program “Education and Lifelong Learning”, NSRF (2007-2013) which was co-funded by the EU and the ESF.

The teachers training program had a 96 hours duration and took place in addition to the school schedule, in

specially equipped centers – the Training Support Centers- which were schools throughout the country,

using specialized (B-Level) teacher trainers, who had undergone an appropriate training in University

Teacher Training Centers. This training is known also as B-Level training, since it constitutes the normal

continuation of the A-Level training in basic ICT skills carried out in the framework of the previous O.P. In the

“B-Level” training participated literature teachers, math teachers, physical/natural science teachers,

French, English and German language teachers, primary school teachers, kindergarten teachers and

1 Operational Programm “Information Society - Digital Strategy” www.infosoc.gr/infosoc/el-GR/epktp/ (last accessed 2/5/2016)2 An Investigation of an ICT in-service teacher training program in Greece: a case study, Frangkouli Elpiniki (2006), University of Warwick.3 Operational Programm “Information Society - Digital Strategy” http://www.infosoc.gr/infosoc/el-GR/newopis_digital/ (last accessed 2/5/2016)

4 Training of teacher trainers at the University Training Centers (UTC's), http://b-epipedo2.cti.gr/en/ (last Accessed 2/5/2016)

computer science teachers. All participants had to be permanent educators at public or private schools and

actively teach during the training period, in order to immediately put into practice the acquired knowledge

and skills. Except from computer science teachers, all teachers should have been “A-Level basic ICT skills”

certified. Training was carried out in at least four training cycles during this period. Furthermore, 600

teachers, including school advisors, attended teacher trainer programs at University teacher training

centers. The scope of B-Level in-service training involved learning the principles of the pedagogically sound

use of ICTs, the acquisition of skills according to teacher specialization, the pedagogical use and application

of educational software and generic tools and the development of the triptych “knowledge-skills-attitudes”.

The goal for the trainees was to:

Ÿ Understand the conditions and the potential for the pedagogical utilization of ICTs in education in order

to upgrade and transform the educational process,

Ÿ learn and achieve the objectives set out by the curriculum and efficiently use the potential of ICT with

regard to the active participation of teachers and students in learning communities,

Ÿ Understand and take part in the new dimensions of the Internet (Web 2.0), such as social media and the

new role of users as co-creators of digital content

Ÿ Acquire an overall view of existing educational software, generic and specialised tools, web 2.0 services

(blogs, wikis, podcasts, RSS feeds, social networks, 3D Virtual Environments, e-portfolios)

Ÿ Use Learning Management Systems and asynchronous distance learning platforms in their teaching

practice.

Ÿ Be in a position to use suitable educational software package or generic and specific tools, such as those

abovementioned.

Ÿ Realize the necessity and the role of educational activities in the application of ICT in the classroom.

Ÿ Understand the principles of designing an educational activity so that they can incorporate them into the

teaching practice. Specifically, in relation to the case of Web 2.0 technologies, to recognize that it is

necessary to apply them as a means for transforming teaching and to use and apply them for this

purpose.

Ÿ Have the ability to efficiently use the classroom interactive whiteboard for the educational process

Ÿ Acquire knowledge regarding the basic principles for organizing the use of ICT in the classroom

Ÿ Develop the skills for communication and collaboration with their students and their peers with the 4

support of Web 2.0 technologies.








2.2 Use of Open Education Resources (OER)

National OER initiatives

Responding to the need for reform of educational services in Greece and for integration of Information and

Communication Technologies (ICT) in education, the Greek Ministry of Education has advanced the 7planning, growth and operation of the Greek School Network (GSN). The GSN provides pedagogically

informed, certified telematic services aiming to encourage cooperation and collaboration. The GSN

interconnects a large number of stakeholders in the Greek educational system (59.09% of Greek nursery

schools, 99.48% of junior secondary schools, 100% of general and vocational high schools, 20,895 primary

school teachers, 37,932 secondary school teachers, as well as a total of 2595 administrative units).

Nevertheless, there has been little evidence of a collaborative framework that could facilitate the evolution

of the Greek teachers' online community into a networked community of social exchange and practice.8

The "Digital School" initiative by the Ministry of Education, is the official repository of all the textbooks in

the form of e-books for all levels of education (primary, secondary, upper secondary and professional 9education). The same applies to the "Digital learning supportive materials" , also at the initiative of the

10Ministry of Education. The set of materials includes all chapters of textbooks selected for the national

exams of the state examination system. Each unit includes: i) a videoconference, consisting of a set of

videorecordings of the lectures for each unit, ii) course notes, iii) model solutions to the questions and

exercises for understanding the theory organized by degree of difficulty, and iv) set of questions and

exercises to be solved for further practice by the student. These materials are all available under Creative 11

Commons licenses.

Other Internet supported open learning initiatives12The initiative “Mathisi 2.0 plus” fosters knowledge building and collaboration in the area of social media

13and open learning communities in Greece. It has a very strong social media presence, through a blog , a 14 15 16Facebook page , a twitter account and a YouTube channel . An initiative worth mentioning is the call for

good practice in the area of learning through digital technologies, with emphasis on social media and open

communities. Each year the call invites young learners, students, teachers, independent groups and

educational institutions to apply for an award, which is accompanied by a public display of the practice on

the Mathisi 2.0 website. Mathisi 2.0 plus is implemented by the University of Athens (Department of

Communication and Media), with the financial support of the Hellenic General Secretary of Youth, within the 17framework of the European Commission Youth in Action programme.

Training of teacher trainers took place in University Teacher Training Centers (UTTCs). These UTTCs are

Higher Educational Institutions or clusters of Higher Educational Institutions and were selected through an

open competition, so that all of Greece would be geographically covered. The teacher-trainer training

program was a 350 hours program,160 of which were dedicated to general knowledge and skills common to

all participants, while the remaining 190 hours concerned specialized knowledge and skills according to the

specific knowledge domain or teaching classification of the trainees. Training covered 15-20 hours per week

(for roughly 6 months) and took place during the evening, after school hours. Extra hours were also foreseen

for practice teaching by the trainees, both in a school classroom environment and at a Training Support

Centre. Usually about 20 trainees participate in each Training Program.

The particular subjects covered during the training of teacher trainers were:

Ÿ Basic principles in the utilisation of ICT (learning theories with respect to ICT, basic teaching concepts,

creation of educational material, etc.)

Ÿ Teaching specific knowledge domains (according to teaching classification)

Ÿ The Pedagogical use and application of the Internet (theoretical background, educational portals)

Ÿ Adult Education Methodology

Ÿ Blended Learning Methodology

Ÿ Pedagogical use of generic tools

Ÿ Pedagogical utilisation of Web 2.0 tools and services (blogs, wikis, podcasts, RSS Feeds, social networks,

3D Virtual Environments, e-portfolios, etc.)

Ÿ Functional features of interactive teaching systems and their efficient use in the school classroom

Ÿ General issues of educational software (features, categories, general design principles, etc.)

Ÿ General principles for the development of educational activities and teaching scenarios

Ÿ Learning the pedagogical utilisation of specific software (according to teaching classification)

Ÿ Processing multimedia material

Ÿ Development of educational activities using educational software or other digital tools for teaching

school lessons (according to teaching classification)

Ÿ Development of small educational applications (applets)

Ÿ Use and educational utilisation of Learning Management Systems and of Asynchronous Distance

Learning Systems

Ÿ Best Practice Teachings and Practical Exercises

Ÿ Elements for the Technical Support of School Labs

After the successful completion of their training, the teacher trainers were invited to take part in the 5,6certification procedure, in order to be included in the B-Level Teacher Trainer Registry.

5 In-service teacher training in the use of ICT in Education": http://www.pi-schools.gr/programs/ktp/ (last Accessed 2/5/2016)6 Charting Media and Learning in Greece, 8th International Conference in Open & Distance Learning – November 2015

7 School network http://www.sch.gr/ (last accessed 2/5/2016)8 Digital School http://digitalschool.minedu.gov.gr/ (last accessed 2/5/2016)9 Digital Learning Supportive Materials http://www.study4exams.gr/ (last accessed 2/5/2016)10 Operational Programme "Education and Lifelong Learning" http://www.edulll.gr/?page_id=126 (last accessed 2/5/2016)11 POERUP project http://poerup.referata.com/wiki/Greece (last accessed 2/5/2016)12 http://mathisi20.gr/ (last accessed 2/5/2016)13 https://mathisi20.wordpress.com/ (last accessed 2/5/2016)14 https://www.facebook.com/mathisi20 (last accessed 2/5/2016)15 https://mobile.twitter.com/mathisi20 (last accessed 2/5/2016)16 https://www.youtube.com/user/mathisi20 (last accessed 2/5/2016)17 http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/youth/index_en.php (last accessed 2/5/2016)









2.2 Use of Open Education Resources (OER)

National OER initiatives

Responding to the need for reform of educational services in Greece and for integration of Information and

Communication Technologies (ICT) in education, the Greek Ministry of Education has advanced the 7planning, growth and operation of the Greek School Network (GSN). The GSN provides pedagogically

informed, certified telematic services aiming to encourage cooperation and collaboration. The GSN

interconnects a large number of stakeholders in the Greek educational system (59.09% of Greek nursery

schools, 99.48% of junior secondary schools, 100% of general and vocational high schools, 20,895 primary

school teachers, 37,932 secondary school teachers, as well as a total of 2595 administrative units).

Nevertheless, there has been little evidence of a collaborative framework that could facilitate the evolution

of the Greek teachers' online community into a networked community of social exchange and practice.8

The "Digital School" initiative by the Ministry of Education, is the official repository of all the textbooks in

the form of e-books for all levels of education (primary, secondary, upper secondary and professional 9education). The same applies to the "Digital learning supportive materials" , also at the initiative of the

10Ministry of Education. The set of materials includes all chapters of textbooks selected for the national

exams of the state examination system. Each unit includes: i) a videoconference, consisting of a set of

videorecordings of the lectures for each unit, ii) course notes, iii) model solutions to the questions and

exercises for understanding the theory organized by degree of difficulty, and iv) set of questions and

exercises to be solved for further practice by the student. These materials are all available under Creative 11

Commons licenses.

Other Internet supported open learning initiatives12The initiative “Mathisi 2.0 plus” fosters knowledge building and collaboration in the area of social media

13and open learning communities in Greece. It has a very strong social media presence, through a blog , a 14 15 16Facebook page , a twitter account and a YouTube channel . An initiative worth mentioning is the call for

good practice in the area of learning through digital technologies, with emphasis on social media and open

communities. Each year the call invites young learners, students, teachers, independent groups and

educational institutions to apply for an award, which is accompanied by a public display of the practice on

the Mathisi 2.0 website. Mathisi 2.0 plus is implemented by the University of Athens (Department of

Communication and Media), with the financial support of the Hellenic General Secretary of Youth, within the 17framework of the European Commission Youth in Action programme.

Training of teacher trainers took place in University Teacher Training Centers (UTTCs). These UTTCs are

Higher Educational Institutions or clusters of Higher Educational Institutions and were selected through an

open competition, so that all of Greece would be geographically covered. The teacher-trainer training

program was a 350 hours program,160 of which were dedicated to general knowledge and skills common to

all participants, while the remaining 190 hours concerned specialized knowledge and skills according to the

specific knowledge domain or teaching classification of the trainees. Training covered 15-20 hours per week

(for roughly 6 months) and took place during the evening, after school hours. Extra hours were also foreseen

for practice teaching by the trainees, both in a school classroom environment and at a Training Support

Centre. Usually about 20 trainees participate in each Training Program.

The particular subjects covered during the training of teacher trainers were:

Ÿ Basic principles in the utilisation of ICT (learning theories with respect to ICT, basic teaching concepts,

creation of educational material, etc.)

Ÿ Teaching specific knowledge domains (according to teaching classification)

Ÿ The Pedagogical use and application of the Internet (theoretical background, educational portals)

Ÿ Adult Education Methodology

Ÿ Blended Learning Methodology

Ÿ Pedagogical use of generic tools

Ÿ Pedagogical utilisation of Web 2.0 tools and services (blogs, wikis, podcasts, RSS Feeds, social networks,

3D Virtual Environments, e-portfolios, etc.)

Ÿ Functional features of interactive teaching systems and their efficient use in the school classroom

Ÿ General issues of educational software (features, categories, general design principles, etc.)

Ÿ General principles for the development of educational activities and teaching scenarios

Ÿ Learning the pedagogical utilisation of specific software (according to teaching classification)

Ÿ Processing multimedia material

Ÿ Development of educational activities using educational software or other digital tools for teaching

school lessons (according to teaching classification)

Ÿ Development of small educational applications (applets)

Ÿ Use and educational utilisation of Learning Management Systems and of Asynchronous Distance

Learning Systems

Ÿ Best Practice Teachings and Practical Exercises

Ÿ Elements for the Technical Support of School Labs

After the successful completion of their training, the teacher trainers were invited to take part in the 5,6certification procedure, in order to be included in the B-Level Teacher Trainer Registry.

5 In-service teacher training in the use of ICT in Education": http://www.pi-schools.gr/programs/ktp/ (last Accessed 2/5/2016)6 Charting Media and Learning in Greece, 8th International Conference in Open & Distance Learning – November 2015

7 School network http://www.sch.gr/ (last accessed 2/5/2016)8 Digital School http://digitalschool.minedu.gov.gr/ (last accessed 2/5/2016)9 Digital Learning Supportive Materials http://www.study4exams.gr/ (last accessed 2/5/2016)10 Operational Programme "Education and Lifelong Learning" http://www.edulll.gr/?page_id=126 (last accessed 2/5/2016)11 POERUP project http://poerup.referata.com/wiki/Greece (last accessed 2/5/2016)12 http://mathisi20.gr/ (last accessed 2/5/2016)13 https://mathisi20.wordpress.com/ (last accessed 2/5/2016)14 https://www.facebook.com/mathisi20 (last accessed 2/5/2016)15 https://mobile.twitter.com/mathisi20 (last accessed 2/5/2016)16 https://www.youtube.com/user/mathisi20 (last accessed 2/5/2016)17 http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/youth/index_en.php (last accessed 2/5/2016)









Regional OER initiatives18More of an Open Access initiative than an OER initiative,Veria Central Public Library gives access to a large

digital repository comprising the library's collection, including the collections of the Monastery of St John

the Baptist, Skete Veria, and the Lyceum of Greek Women, annex of Veria. The initiative is financially

supported by the "Public Libraries digitization" action of the Information Society Operational Programme

(80% contribution by the European Social Fund). Through a set of metadata mechanisms, the Central Public 19

Library of Veria provides its digital content to the European culture portal Europeana.

Institutional OER initiatives

To our knowledge there is no formal institutional OER initiative, presumably due to the novelty of the OER

field. However, forthcoming developments are expected from institutions, including the Hellenic Open 20

University, through the Educational Content, Methodology and Technology Laboratory which is involved in

two European Commission funded projects:

Ÿ Innovative OER in European Higher Education - (OER-HE), aimed at extending the achievements on Open

Educational Resources (OER) as initially launched under the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

Grants.

Ÿ Multilingual Open Resources for Independent Learning (MORIL) project, targeting OER strategies in

lifelong open and flexible learning.

2.3 Needs of the labour market in the digital field for a better skills match

Despite the efforts to train the vast majority of teachers in ICT that lasted more than a decade, the adoption

and dissemination of ICT was below expectations according to the European's Commission final study 21

report on ICT in schools (figure 1, figure 2). Teachers in vocational schools in Greece believe that this is due

to lack of equipment (figure 3), lack of experience (figure 4) and the existence of pedagogical inhibitors 22,23,24

(figure 5).

18 Veria Central Public Library http://medusa.libver.gr/jspui/ (last accessed 2/5/2016)19 http://www.europeana.eu/portal/ (last accessed 2/5/2016)20 http://eeyem.eap.gr/en (last accessed 2/5/2016)21 Survey of Schools: ICT in Education Benchmarking Access, Use and attitudes to Technology in Europe's Schools. European Union (2013), Belgium

https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/sites/digital-agenda/files/KK-31-13-401-EN-N.pdf (last accessed 2/5/2016)22 Barriers to ICT use in high schools: Greek teachers' perceptions, Kleopatra Nikolopoulou, Vasilis Gialamas (2015), Computers in Education Journal 23 National case studies on ICT in schools – Greece results OECD,

http://www.oecd.org/greece/nationalcasestudiesoninformationcommunicationstechnologyictinschools-greeceresults.htm (last accessed 2/5/2016)25 The Project Method e-course: the use of tools towards the evolution of the Greek teachers' online community, , Marianna Vivitsou, Niki

Lambropoulos, Dimitris Konetas, Michael Paraskevas, Evangelos Grigoropoulos. International J Cont. Engineering Education and Lifelong Learning,

Vol. 18, No 1, 2008 (http://users.sch.gr/mparask/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/The_project_method.pdf) (last accessed 2/5/2016)









Regional OER initiatives18More of an Open Access initiative than an OER initiative,Veria Central Public Library gives access to a large

digital repository comprising the library's collection, including the collections of the Monastery of St John

the Baptist, Skete Veria, and the Lyceum of Greek Women, annex of Veria. The initiative is financially

supported by the "Public Libraries digitization" action of the Information Society Operational Programme

(80% contribution by the European Social Fund). Through a set of metadata mechanisms, the Central Public 19

Library of Veria provides its digital content to the European culture portal Europeana.

Institutional OER initiatives

To our knowledge there is no formal institutional OER initiative, presumably due to the novelty of the OER

field. However, forthcoming developments are expected from institutions, including the Hellenic Open 20

University, through the Educational Content, Methodology and Technology Laboratory which is involved in

two European Commission funded projects:

Ÿ Innovative OER in European Higher Education - (OER-HE), aimed at extending the achievements on Open

Educational Resources (OER) as initially launched under the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

Grants.

Ÿ Multilingual Open Resources for Independent Learning (MORIL) project, targeting OER strategies in

lifelong open and flexible learning.

2.3 Needs of the labour market in the digital field for a better skills match

Despite the efforts to train the vast majority of teachers in ICT that lasted more than a decade, the adoption

and dissemination of ICT was below expectations according to the European's Commission final study 21

report on ICT in schools (figure 1, figure 2). Teachers in vocational schools in Greece believe that this is due

to lack of equipment (figure 3), lack of experience (figure 4) and the existence of pedagogical inhibitors 22,23,24

(figure 5).

18 Veria Central Public Library http://medusa.libver.gr/jspui/ (last accessed 2/5/2016)19 http://www.europeana.eu/portal/ (last accessed 2/5/2016)20 http://eeyem.eap.gr/en (last accessed 2/5/2016)21 Survey of Schools: ICT in Education Benchmarking Access, Use and attitudes to Technology in Europe's Schools. European Union (2013), Belgium

https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/sites/digital-agenda/files/KK-31-13-401-EN-N.pdf (last accessed 2/5/2016)22 Barriers to ICT use in high schools: Greek teachers' perceptions, Kleopatra Nikolopoulou, Vasilis Gialamas (2015), Computers in Education Journal 23 National case studies on ICT in schools – Greece results OECD,

http://www.oecd.org/greece/nationalcasestudiesoninformationcommunicationstechnologyictinschools-greeceresults.htm (last accessed 2/5/2016)25 The Project Method e-course: the use of tools towards the evolution of the Greek teachers' online community, , Marianna Vivitsou, Niki

Lambropoulos, Dimitris Konetas, Michael Paraskevas, Evangelos Grigoropoulos. International J Cont. Engineering Education and Lifelong Learning,

Vol. 18, No 1, 2008 (http://users.sch.gr/mparask/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/The_project_method.pdf) (last accessed 2/5/2016)









On December 2014 the Foundation for Economic & Industrial Research published a survey entitled “ICT

Adoption and Digital Growth in Greece''. In the executive summary of this report it is stated that

<<Greece has not yet captured the benefits of ICT adoption since it still falls below EU average in 65 out

of 84 ICT indicators (77%) based on the European Digital Agenda (Digital Agenda Scoreboard, 2013).

Greece has low performance in broadband penetration, the frequency of internet use, the use of

electronic transactions and electronic procurement>>. In order for the country to address the problem,

the survey identifies four key policy areas:

Ÿ The enhancement of e-skills

Ÿ The development and use of digital solutions regarding transactions between public administration

and citizens/businesses

Ÿ The development of open data

Ÿ The creation of new opportunities for innovative SME's and start-ups

The expected benefits of more active policies in these areas should be:

Ÿ A cost reduction of about 380 million euros (1st year) by the adoption of digital signature solution in

the Greek public administration

Ÿ An improvement of the country's ranking position in terms of competitiveness by 25 positions (from

56th to the 31st ) and in terms of transparency by 33 positions from (80th to the 47th ) due to the

increase in the diffusion of open data

Ÿ The creation of 6332 new business each time the percentage of the diffusion of open data doubles

Ÿ The increase of Greece's export by 13,9 million euros and the creation of 72 new businesses for

every 1000 individuals obtaining adequate e-skills

Ÿ An increase by about 4-9 percentage points of the probability to innovate for the Greek SME's25

Ÿ An increase in likelihood to export by about 1.5-4 percentage for the Greek SME's

According to the pledge tracker of the European Commission: «Women are under-represented at all

levels in the ICT sector, especially in decision-making positions. Hence, it is essential to ensure a more

balanced representation of women and men in the digital economy. To this goal, the Women & Girls Go

Digital in Greece (WGGD - G) coalition under the leadership of the Hellenic General Secretariat for

Gender Equality and in collaboration with the European Centre for Women and Technology have set off

to develop a functional ecosystem of entrepreneurs, business people, policy makers, the academia in

order to assist women in pursuing ICT careers and help the best and brightest talents shine among

Greek women and girls.» The program was launched in Greece on 4 April 2014 at a dedicated Greek

Presidency Conference. A detailed National Action Plan, along with impact indicators, benchmarking 26

and monitoring of relevant targets by 2020 was presented.

25 ICT Adoption and Digital Growth in Greece, Foundation for Economic and Digital Growth in Greece (2014), Athens

http://iobe.gr/docs/research/RES_03_10062015_REP_ENG.pdf (last accessed 2/5/2016)26 Grand Coalition-Pledge of Women & Girls Go Digital in Greece.

https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/grand-coalition-pledge-women-girls-go-digital-greece (last accessed 2/5/2016)









On December 2014 the Foundation for Economic & Industrial Research published a survey entitled “ICT

Adoption and Digital Growth in Greece''. In the executive summary of this report it is stated that

<<Greece has not yet captured the benefits of ICT adoption since it still falls below EU average in 65 out

of 84 ICT indicators (77%) based on the European Digital Agenda (Digital Agenda Scoreboard, 2013).

Greece has low performance in broadband penetration, the frequency of internet use, the use of

electronic transactions and electronic procurement>>. In order for the country to address the problem,

the survey identifies four key policy areas:

Ÿ The enhancement of e-skills

Ÿ The development and use of digital solutions regarding transactions between public administration

and citizens/businesses

Ÿ The development of open data

Ÿ The creation of new opportunities for innovative SME's and start-ups

The expected benefits of more active policies in these areas should be:

Ÿ A cost reduction of about 380 million euros (1st year) by the adoption of digital signature solution in

the Greek public administration

Ÿ An improvement of the country's ranking position in terms of competitiveness by 25 positions (from

56th to the 31st ) and in terms of transparency by 33 positions from (80th to the 47th ) due to the

increase in the diffusion of open data

Ÿ The creation of 6332 new business each time the percentage of the diffusion of open data doubles

Ÿ The increase of Greece's export by 13,9 million euros and the creation of 72 new businesses for

every 1000 individuals obtaining adequate e-skills

Ÿ An increase by about 4-9 percentage points of the probability to innovate for the Greek SME's25

Ÿ An increase in likelihood to export by about 1.5-4 percentage for the Greek SME's

According to the pledge tracker of the European Commission: «Women are under-represented at all

levels in the ICT sector, especially in decision-making positions. Hence, it is essential to ensure a more

balanced representation of women and men in the digital economy. To this goal, the Women & Girls Go

Digital in Greece (WGGD - G) coalition under the leadership of the Hellenic General Secretariat for

Gender Equality and in collaboration with the European Centre for Women and Technology have set off

to develop a functional ecosystem of entrepreneurs, business people, policy makers, the academia in

order to assist women in pursuing ICT careers and help the best and brightest talents shine among

Greek women and girls.» The program was launched in Greece on 4 April 2014 at a dedicated Greek

Presidency Conference. A detailed National Action Plan, along with impact indicators, benchmarking 26

and monitoring of relevant targets by 2020 was presented.

25 ICT Adoption and Digital Growth in Greece, Foundation for Economic and Digital Growth in Greece (2014), Athens

http://iobe.gr/docs/research/RES_03_10062015_REP_ENG.pdf (last accessed 2/5/2016)26 Grand Coalition-Pledge of Women & Girls Go Digital in Greece.

https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/grand-coalition-pledge-women-girls-go-digital-greece (last accessed 2/5/2016)









Conclusion4Survey based analysis: Teachers' needs – labour market needs (Empirical research) 3

These are the results of the empirical survey we went through for our survey in March – April 2016. The

questionnaires were distributed on hard copy and filled in anonymous. We collected 30 questionnaires,

a satisfying number, as it represents over 1% of the total teachers of our directorate. Exactly half of the

teachers, who answered our questionnaires, were women, and the other half men. The majority of them

had the representative 41-60 age (because of the crisis, no new teachers were hired in the last years -

older ones preferred to get their pension, as they were afraid that the situation will worsen).

Almost all of them were VET teachers, as this category is our target group, and active teachers (not

principals etc.), as we wanted to know the opinion of people involved in the educational process. Most of

them are science teachers (as they are the majority in the VET schools), but we also got the opinion of

language and literature teachers.

Over 50% think that the ministry/ authorities don't offer any continuous professional development

(CPD) training. Those who know they do (40%), think that this CPD is voluntary and it's offered in the

form of In-service training for a large number of teachers.

70% of the teachers did take part in a in-service training/ seminar for the acquisition of the essential

digital skills and/or use of technology tools for educators, most of them voluntarily. A very large number

of them participate in such seminars for personal development.

Almost everyone thinks that digital literacy is an important skill for their teaching and should be given a

higher priority in their training. All of them think that utilizing technology in teaching can contribute

positively in delivering lessons in their class.

Most of them are confident in using 'classical' hardware devices, like computers, printers, scanners,

projectors, or devices they use in their daily life, like tablet, smart phone, television etc. But they don't

know how to use an interactive board (as they aren't introduced in the majority of Greek schools), or

expensive technology devices like smart watches. But all of them are willing to learn how to use an

interactive board or a wifi router, which indicates their need for teach supporting technology.

The majority of the teachers know how to handle a computer (file management etc.) and software

useful for preparing a lesson (word processing, presentations etc.). They are familiar with the internet

and its services, but only half of them are comfortable with internet security. What they aren't capable of

is creating a website, editing a video and producing an animation.

Despite of the implementation of two major digital training programmes, co-financed by the EU, the

level of the digital competences of the Greek educators remains below EU's average. Greece has also

low performance in broadband penetration, the frequency of internet use, the use of electronic

transactions and electronic procurement.

Obviously this doesn't get along with the EU Digital Agenda and apparently is far from the needs for

digital competences of the labour market.

As we noted in our empirical research, educators understand the urgent need of upgrading their digital

skills and consequently provide modern and high quality education to their students. They are of the

opinion that digital literacy is an important skill for their teaching career and that it should be of high

priority in their training. They also think that utilizing technology in teaching can contribute positively in

delivering lessons in their class.

Our v-UPGRATeS project, is an ambitious effort to help educators in their digital skills improvement,

offering an on-line personal professional development programme.







Conclusion4Survey based analysis: Teachers' needs – labour market needs (Empirical research) 3

These are the results of the empirical survey we went through for our survey in March – April 2016. The

questionnaires were distributed on hard copy and filled in anonymous. We collected 30 questionnaires,

a satisfying number, as it represents over 1% of the total teachers of our directorate. Exactly half of the

teachers, who answered our questionnaires, were women, and the other half men. The majority of them

had the representative 41-60 age (because of the crisis, no new teachers were hired in the last years -

older ones preferred to get their pension, as they were afraid that the situation will worsen).

Almost all of them were VET teachers, as this category is our target group, and active teachers (not

principals etc.), as we wanted to know the opinion of people involved in the educational process. Most of

them are science teachers (as they are the majority in the VET schools), but we also got the opinion of

language and literature teachers.

Over 50% think that the ministry/ authorities don't offer any continuous professional development

(CPD) training. Those who know they do (40%), think that this CPD is voluntary and it's offered in the

form of In-service training for a large number of teachers.

70% of the teachers did take part in a in-service training/ seminar for the acquisition of the essential

digital skills and/or use of technology tools for educators, most of them voluntarily. A very large number

of them participate in such seminars for personal development.

Almost everyone thinks that digital literacy is an important skill for their teaching and should be given a

higher priority in their training. All of them think that utilizing technology in teaching can contribute

positively in delivering lessons in their class.

Most of them are confident in using 'classical' hardware devices, like computers, printers, scanners,

projectors, or devices they use in their daily life, like tablet, smart phone, television etc. But they don't

know how to use an interactive board (as they aren't introduced in the majority of Greek schools), or

expensive technology devices like smart watches. But all of them are willing to learn how to use an

interactive board or a wifi router, which indicates their need for teach supporting technology.

The majority of the teachers know how to handle a computer (file management etc.) and software

useful for preparing a lesson (word processing, presentations etc.). They are familiar with the internet

and its services, but only half of them are comfortable with internet security. What they aren't capable of

is creating a website, editing a video and producing an animation.

Despite of the implementation of two major digital training programmes, co-financed by the EU, the

level of the digital competences of the Greek educators remains below EU's average. Greece has also

low performance in broadband penetration, the frequency of internet use, the use of electronic

transactions and electronic procurement.

Obviously this doesn't get along with the EU Digital Agenda and apparently is far from the needs for

digital competences of the labour market.

As we noted in our empirical research, educators understand the urgent need of upgrading their digital

skills and consequently provide modern and high quality education to their students. They are of the

opinion that digital literacy is an important skill for their teaching career and that it should be of high

priority in their training. They also think that utilizing technology in teaching can contribute positively in

delivering lessons in their class.

Our v-UPGRATeS project, is an ambitious effort to help educators in their digital skills improvement,

offering an on-line personal professional development programme.

Documents

IO1 - Home | V-UPGRATeS · 2019. 2. 19. · The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reﬂects