Curricula, public education and neoliberal politics in Greece
Keywords:
Neoliberalism, Greece, public education, curricula, critical pedagogyAbstract
The state of public education in Greece can be seen through the legislation implemented by the neoliberal government which continues unabated the policy opposed to public education. This article contains the enumeration of the main points of the Laws and aims to reveal their meaning in the field of public education: L. 4623/2019, L. 4692/2020, L. 4777/2021, L. 4823/2021, L. 4957/2022, L. 5094/2024. The choice of methodological analysis tool was based on content analysis and the study was conducted within the framework of critical pedagogy. From the analysis of the Laws, it appears that the innovations promoted as a panacea in the context of education are reflected by the terms that are used. The targeted changes, as they are called "innovations", in schools, in vocational education and training (VET) and in universities are made for: "merit", "excellence", "professionalism", "assessment", "reward", "improvement", and "quality". The Minimum Admission Base for General High School Graduates, it turns out, is a measure imposed on public education to promote graduates to private colleges and universities with high tuition fees. In addition, in schools the curricula of primary and secondary education are organized with skill toolkits and in VET are organized with skills for the labor market as promoted by the European Commission (2011). The Greek government is trying to privatize the activity of the public sector and from the above Laws it appears that the public nature of education is targeted. From kindergarten to university the public nature of education has come under attack across the board. The strategic choice to align with the choices of the European Union and the OECD for education is clear, the "commercialization" of education and the preparation for the wholesale privatization of schools, vocational training and universities. As a consequence, this affects the school, the curriculum and the lives of teachers and students. The economy of education in recent decades has seen citizen formation subordinated to a new economic mission. The conclusions show how the demands of the neoliberal policy and the scope of the European Union have affected public education in Greece and it is examined what the alternative goals could be.
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