Greece faces significant challenges to its education system. To address these challenges, Greece has sought advice from an international task force. This report provides the outcomes of the work of the task force, presenting a roadmap for implementing reforms.

After a decade of severe fiscal crisis also impacting education, Greece is looking ahead. Now is the time to invest effectively in education and define a forward-looking path for Greece.

Exploring Childhood in a Comparative Context meets an increasing need for students focusing on early childhood to be familiar with alternative practices in other countries. Providing a ready-made source of information about a wide range of countries including Finland, the Netherlands, the United States, New Zealand, Japan, South Africa and many more, the book clearly describes the way each country understands and conceptualises childhood. Each chapter includes contextual information about the country, an introduction to the theory that has shaped practice and describes the curriculum for pre-school and primary education. Including vignettes from practitioners working in each country to illustrate practice, the chapters explore key themes such as: Child development Parental involvement Teaching and learning Professionalism Assessment Pupil experience. Accessibly written and including opportunities for reflection, this timely new book will give students a valuable insight into alternative education systems that is essential if they are to become practitioners with a current and global approach.

This book explores the phenomenon and process of Europeanisation in the field of teacher education. Drawing on comparative case studies in Austria, Greece and Hungary, it examines empirical data and analyses key themes around the continuum of teacher education, the development of teacher competence frameworks, and the support to teacher educators. The book is the first of its kind to systematically research the landscape of European teacher education, exploring the interactions between national and European influences in the trajectory of teacher education policy and practice. Chapters offer an original and in-depth understanding of European influences that draw on evidence from policy documents and interviews with relevant stakeholders. It argues that teacher education systems are being Europeanised, although at different speeds and directions for each country. Factors such as the socio-political and economic contexts, historical traits and policy actors’ preferences at both national and institutional levels determine the translation process. This book will be of great interest for academics, educational researchers, practitioners and policymakers in Europe and beyond, informing wider discussions about the emerging European context in teacher education, education policy and what it means to be a European teacher.

This book presents the reader with tools to challenge accepted ideas about the standardising forces transforming educational reality, by discussing standards and standardisation from a range of different theoretical perspectives and contexts.

Inclusive education is complex, multi-faceted and ever-changing and to date there has been no fixed definition of what is meant by the term ‘inclusion’, leading to confusion about what inclusive education actually means in practice. This key text introduces readers to the underlying knowledge and wider complexities of inclusion and explores how this can relate to practice. Considering inclusion as referring to all learners, it surveys the concept of inclusive practice in its broadest sense and examines its implementation in a variety of educational institutions. Throughout the book, international contributors consider this broader concept to critically evaluate the realities of practically implementing inclusive objectives. Each chapter assesses key theories and concepts alongside a range of examples to encourage students to think critically and reappraise their own experience as learners. Key topics covered include: • studying the definition of inclusion • the relevance of pedagogy in inclusive practice • how to lead and manage for inclusion • the issue of inclusion in early years, primary, secondary and post-16 settings • inclusive practice for families • international perspectives on inclusive practice. Fully illustrated with tasks, case studies, discussion questions and recommended reading, Inclusive Education is essential reading for second and third year students looking to extend their research and writing, and to develop their critical and reflective thinking.

Austerity and the Remaking of European Education offers historically and empirically grounded accounts of national educational formations in Europe, at a specific time in their reshaping through encounters with global policy frameworks, and social and economic developments. The authors explore these issues in the context of different pressures that impact on European education systems - from the constraints established by the European Central Bank and the European Commission across Southern Europe, to the 2008 financial crisis and the increased migration. The book provides a rigorous theoretical approach to European and national policies, combined with detailed analyses of national educational contexts in England, France, Greece, Hungary and Sweden. These in-depth studies identify major issues of national education policymaking, and explore the complexities of global/national relationships. The economic crisis, the rise of the Left in Greece and of the populist Right in many countries in Europe, questions of cultural and religious diversity, tensions between marketization and inclusion are all brought into focus, offering findings that are of great interest to researchers of education policy, politics and sociology of education alike. In the final section of the book, the authors explore policy alternatives, as embodied in the activities of both governments and non-state actors, such as trade unions and social movements.