Ministry, teachers’ unions clash over assessment plans
Neither the Ministry of Education nor primary and secondary school teachers’ unions are backing down from their clash over the ministry’s plans to reintroduce performance assessments for individual teachers and school units after 40 years.
Education Minister Niki Kerameus on Thursday sued the different teachers’ unions – two representing public school teachers and one representing private school ones – over their plans to strike, asking for the strike to be labeled illegal and abusive.
Teachers at each of the country’s 14,000 schools were supposed to submit annual plans to the Education Policy Institute by October 20, but very few have done so. The law provides for principals to submit the plans, on the basis of which assessment will take place, and even calls for sanctions if they don’t, but at least some principals plan to resist.
Even though assessments are not punitive – underperforming teachers will be directed to attend seminars rather than be fired – unions are vehemently against any reintroduction of assessments that were terminated by Greece’s first socialist government in 1982.
