Study Guide

Upper secondary degree (6 years of studies). National level examination.

The School of Elementary Education aims at shaping teachers with democratic conscience, teachers who are opposed to any racist or sexist rationale and any kind of social discrimination. It aims at moulding teachers who face positively the transformation of education towards forming a society governed by the principles of Justice, Democracy, Freedom and Equality, teachers who respect the pluralism of various theoretical views and practices in education, teachers who know, understand and are able to use pedagogical, psychological, sociological and philosophical theories daily, as well as the different teaching approaches in order to teach subjects that refer to the aims, content and teaching methods of each subject, teachers with substantial humanitarian culture in the sense of respect for and understanding of nature and the various cultures as well as their constant active participation and intervention in matters of public interest.

The undergraduate program meets the above criteria. The students of our School have to attend 20 compulsory courses (=105 credits), to choose 1 elective - compulsory course (=3 credits), 19 elective courses (= 57 credits) and a foreign language course (= 3 credits). Overall, 168 credits are required for graduation. English and French are the two foreign languages taught at our School.

A great effort is made the courses taught to be relevant to the phenomena and issues of the educational practice and at the same time the students, through the large number of elective courses offered, to be able to choose their own path in order to understand these phenomena and issues developing their own interests.

About the allocation of the courses, during the first two years students attend courses of general phenomena and issues and during the third and the fourth year of their studies they work with the didactics/pedagogy of the courses and the connection of pedagogical theory and practice.

Participation in the Practicum is mandatory. One semester (Z or H) is entirely devoted to the Practicum, which is of great importance at our School. During the Third or Fourth semester our students are required, as the first stage of the Practicum, to attend primary school classes in order to become familiar with teaching through attending and working on projects about teaching. The combination of both the first and the second stages of the Practicum together with the compulsory courses is the result of the Schoolthesis for the need of fertile connection between theory and practice. During the first stage of Practicum(C or D semester), students become familiar with the function of the schools while being taught basic learning theories and their application in teaching. The purpose of this is for the future teachers to acquire the knowledge they need to understand the function of the school and the different factors that facilitate the planning and contribute to teaching so they can take conscious pedagogical decisions and choose appropriate teaching tools for the planning and the assessment of their teaching.

During the second stage of Practicum(Z or H semester), students are taught the theses (aims, content, methods, forms and teaching means) of 5 patterns of pedagogical concept and aspects of assessment (theoretical starting points, pedagogical function, criteria, forms, techniques, results),and at the same time they attend, teach at schools of the city and work on their projects.

A large number of undergraduate courses are lab oriented (educational technology, experimental teaching of sciences, pedagogical use of ICT etc). These courses take place in specific lab areas.

Not applicable

The qualification is a terminal award and allows access to postgraduate studies.

A scale of 1 to 10 applies to the marks of each subject in the Hellenic Higher Education.

Άριστα (Arista) Excellent: 8.50-10.00

Λίαν Καλώς (Lian Kalos) Very Good: 6.50-8.49

Καλώς (Kalos) Good: 5.00-6.49

Ανεπιτυχώς (Anepitychos) Fail: 0.00-4.99

Minimum passing grade: 5

8 SEMESTERS, 240 ECTS

A full academic year is equivalent to 60 ECTS units and each semester to 30 ECTS (European Credit Transfer System) (1 ECTS = 25-30 student work load hours). Compliance with the ECTS (European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System) regulations started in 2007, when the Greek Legislation was harmonized with the relevant European one (Ministerial Decision no Φ5/89656/β3, art. 1-3, Hellenic Government Gazette no 1466/2007/B). Each course is credited with a number of ECTS(>=2) according to the studentworkload (contact hours, laboratory work, examination etc) and accumulation of credits (ECTS) is accomplished after successful completion of course.

Full-time.