By Alex Colombos, MA, MPS
I''ve spent my whole life in Greece, as I and my family moved there only a few months after I was born in 1976 and stayed there until I was 19. Right after I graduated from Lykeion, the Greek High School, I moved to the United States for my college education.
My first career class was in the third year of Gymnasion (Junior High School/Intermediate/Middle School) , which is like the American eight grade. My second career education was in the third year of Lykeion, which is like the American twelve grade. My gymansion school was private, while my Lykeion school was public. School counselors do not exist in Greece and that is why they have those classes which are not even regular classes. There are no school psychologists working at schools either except a few expensive private schools for the elite depsite there are university graduate programs in school psychology (masters programs). Counseling in Greece is not an independent field unlike USA. It is rather an inderdisciplinary area usually monopolized by psychologists, mos of holding undergraduate degrees from Greece and masters from other countries, including USA which is the leading country in counseling. Teachers usually are trained in a major that is their content subject they teach and only a few may had 1-3 undergraduate classes in education. Some years ago, there were not teachers exams, no they have to take the so called ASEP, exams for government employers. Those exams include education and behavioral content, but as candidates usually have no background in those areas, they resort to learning centers that prepare them for those exams.
Thus, teachers in Greece are not really prepared not only for teaching career education, but not even for acquiring the behavioral and teaching skills to teach their own subjects! Not to mention knowledge of special education or speech pathology in order to be able to understand and teach effectively their mainstreamed students, those who have disabilities, but attend general education classes. Therefore, it is not an accident that SEP, the Career Guidance or Career Education class in Greece, is rather a classroom seminar that takes place in the last quarter of the Spring Semester, the Third Trimester (Τρίτο Τρίμηνο) as it is called and it does not count towards students' grades. That's why for most students and teachers, it's like doing doing chores and it is not an accident it's literally nicknamed "kid's hour" ('η ώρα του παιδιού"), when students just waste their time and fool around...
The reason the system wanted us to take those mandatory classes at those grades was because in Greece mandatory education is until Gymansion. Lykeion is not mandatory, though the vast majority of students go not only to Lykeion, but also to university. At the last grade of those levels of education, middle school and high school, students needed to be prepared for the world of work, but also to get informed about academic options after middle school and after high school. Besides, the educational system is so complicated both for academic, technical and vocational education and preparation for university and higher education school is so long, tight and demanding that a good inquiry is important for the Greek youth. Also, the problem of unemployment necessitates the existence of career education.
Thus, teachers in Greece are not really prepared not only for teaching career education, but not even for acquiring the behavioral and teaching skills to teach their own subjects! Not to mention knowledge of special education or speech pathology in order to be able to understand and teach effectively their mainstreamed students, those who have disabilities, but attend general education classes. Therefore, it is not an accident that SEP, the Career Guidance or Career Education class in Greece, is rather a classroom seminar that takes place in the last quarter of the Spring Semester, the Third Trimester (Τρίτο Τρίμηνο) as it is called and it does not count towards students' grades. That's why for most students and teachers, it's like doing doing chores and it is not an accident it's literally nicknamed "kid's hour" ('η ώρα του παιδιού"), when students just waste their time and fool around...
The reason the system wanted us to take those mandatory classes at those grades was because in Greece mandatory education is until Gymansion. Lykeion is not mandatory, though the vast majority of students go not only to Lykeion, but also to university. At the last grade of those levels of education, middle school and high school, students needed to be prepared for the world of work, but also to get informed about academic options after middle school and after high school. Besides, the educational system is so complicated both for academic, technical and vocational education and preparation for university and higher education school is so long, tight and demanding that a good inquiry is important for the Greek youth. Also, the problem of unemployment necessitates the existence of career education.
At eight grade, I remember, my home economics teacher taught that class. The class was taught only in the second quarter of the school year and we met once a week. Her course organization was very flexible and she focused a lot on the students' interests, needs and skills. Because that middle school was private, many students went there just to graduate and enter the job market or go first to technical and vocational schools. However, there were students like me who went there, because their parents thought that private schools were better organized, equipped and had better teachers. Indeed, there were courses offered in private schools that were not offered in public schools (intensive computer classes, many different foreign languages, variety of sports, intensive courses in art, dance and music, a lot of competitive extra-curricular activities and so on).
I remember we did not use a particular textbook, but various reference books. We took notes from the board, but mostly the teacher dictated. We wrote down about the levels of education, the system of technical and vocational schools and the programs they offered. There was dialogue between the teacher and the students and the students asked many questions about the options they had, what programs were in the same field and which was the most suitable for them in order to get prepared for the profession of their choice. The nature, education/training, advantages and disadvantages, earnings, personality traits and popularity or the future of the occupations were discussed.
At twelve grade, my career education teacher was my math teacher. He looked less knowledgeable than my middle school career teacher whose subject was home economics and thus she was trained in economics, labor studies and vocational education (if you visit the websites of Greek home economics college programs, such as that of Harokopeion University, you may notice that). The first day, he looked totally embarrassed and unprepared. He ended up talking about his own experience after high school and how he majored in math, the college students' lifestyle, his expectations prior to his college entrance and what he experienced after his admission to college. He used a reference book almost like a catalogue of Greek college programs ,Roads after High School, published by the Ministry of Education that exclusively focused on university and community college programs, police & military academies and other post-secondary programs that are all public, since higher education is constitutionally defined as public. The class was taught only in the second quarter of the school year and we met once a week. There was no assessment of students and no grading policy. Since students did not receive any grade for this class, it was regarded both by students and teachers as of lesser in comparison to the rest of the curriculum. Many hours though were spent for other intensive subjects important for the college admission examinations or irrelevant discussion. Since my school was a General High School (academic curriculum) and not a Technical & Vocational High School most emphasis was given on how to get informed about higher education. We also spent valuable hours in how to fill out the application forms for higher education programs. That was very important for us, since we learnt all rules and regulations as well as secrets, tips and tricks for successfully completing that complicated bureaucratic procedure that could affect our entire future and it was extremely anxiety-provoking for all students. Students also had the chance to ask the teacher questions, especially those who liked programs close to what the teacher attended (math), so he had more information for them. For the others, both teacher and students looked at the book and tried to find information or the teacher wrote down the questions and came up next session with answers.
Career education was introduced in Greece due to the following reasons: 1) pressure form EEC which funded Greece for those programs; 2) because of the complicated educational system; 3)the legal barriers for college education (public and with tough entrance examinations); 4) the obsession of Greek students, and especially their demanding parents, with successful admission to college and prestigious professions that require long and demanding higher education; 5) chaotic conditions of unemployment and fast changing business cycles.
Those classes are something that is missing from the United States. Here in the States, this gap is supposed to be fulfilled by the individual sessions of the school counselor and the student, but that is not good enough. In addition to that (individual career counseling) which is missing in Greece, a less occasional, more knowledge-oriented, more systematic, generalized and academic set of classroom sessions is needed. That is also because discussion, exchange of information, dialogue, support, group work, sharing creative ideas and brainstorming shared with others are highly needed for the students. In Greece, however, there was not a systematic and organized curriculum, but it rather reminded me the level of function that we see in the States in other courses, such as advisory or homemaking and on, though the career class was more practical and more important and that too much flexibility at least ensured a personal communication with teacher and students in exchanging personal information and experiences about the world of work and education. However, especially in high school, it was mostly about how higher education functions, including admission requirements, structure and type of college programs, rather than the world of work, though for middle school it was mostly about the technical & vocational schools and training programs that awaited the students who did not want to continue to Higher School after middle school, since only Elementary and Middle school are mandatory in Greece. Very few was taught about what really happens after you finish training or college and what you really do when you become a professional. Less was told about what a working person really needs to go through. However, as a part of home economics in combination with the career class, we visited with my school a textile factory and we discussed about the occupations needed there and had the chance to talk to some professionals and workers.
I hope in the future, the US educational system mandates a course in career education to be taken in every American middle and high school, like in Greece. However, the entire philosophy and delivery of instruction as well as curriculum design should be done in the American way. Also the role of school counselors is very important and it should also be established in Greece. There is no time and no reason for teachers to do the work of school counselors in terms of advising and informing, students on careers and post-secondary academic programs and processing their applications. Teachers do not have proper training for the above carrying out the above tasks and it is not part of their job anyway. Also, a very important function of school counseling totally missing in Greece is career assessment and structured or semi-structured interviewing and motivational interviewing, very important techniques for helping the student understand their interests, skills, aptitudes, lifestyles and values as well as their strengths and weaknesses and their underlying unexplored aspects of their personality that may interfere with academic progress or career choices. This work cannot be done by teaching. This is the job of a school counselor or career counselor, trained in psychology, human development, psychology, and behavioral sciences/mental health, especially learning & cognition in adolescence, transition from school to work, developmental psychopathology (learning disabilities, developmental disabilities, behavioral problems & emotional disturbance, etc.) disabilities and assistive technology. These are important areas of knowledge and skill that should be provided in Greece for the future school professionals who can help students in making informed choices for their future academic and career development.
