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Teaching Greek
Associations of Teachers of Greek
Modern Greek Teachers' Association of Victoria (MGTAV)
The modern Greek Teachers' Association of Victoria, with the collaboration of the Greek Ministry of Education and the department of Education, Employment and Training, has been undertaken a range of initiatives to improve and promote the teaching of Greek in Victoria. These activities include:
Seconded teachers from Greece:
There are currently 25 Greek teachers who have been seconded by the Greek Ministry of Education to support the maintenance and promotion of Greek in Victoria. These teachers teach up to 20 periods a week and participate in staff meetings and other school activities, including the organisation of cultural events. They are placed across the education sectors to support Greek, including in Greek independent schools, in after hours ethnic schools, university Greek departments and in government schools. In 2001, seconded teachers from Greece are providing support to eighteen government schools.
Greek Consultant and Adviser:
DEET hosts the Greek Language Adviser funded by the Greek Ministry of Education (since 1990), and employs a local Greek Consultant to provide support to teachers of Greek across the State.
Professional development:
A range of professional development programs are provided by the Greek Adviser and Consultant. These are open to teachers of Greek across all sectors of education.
he Greek Ministry of Education and the University of Crete under the Greek Education Abroad Project, funds annual educational visits for 25 teachers from Australia (a number of whom are from Victoria) for three weeks, in Rethymno, Crete.
The International Teaching Fellowship program with Greece which commenced in 1984 enables the exchange of a teacher between Greece and Victoria, for a year.
Joint Association of Classical Teachers
JACT was founded in 1963 to improve and maintain the quality of the teaching of classics, and for this purpose to provide means by which teachers of classics may help one another and enabling them to reinterpret the traditional discipline in terms appropriate to the present day. The Association has a special program focused on Greek language of culture and among its activities it offers:
Summer camps:
Bryanston had a record 290 pupils (studying Greek for two weeks), including seventy-three who had been before, twenty-nine already at university, and over 25% from maintained schools. The Sunderland/Newcastle & JACT summer school at Durham was also the largest ever, with sixty-six students of all ages (studying Greek and/or Latin for a week). Both summer schools were again highly successful.
Open University:
Greek language courses continue to thrive, with currently about 400 beginners, and a particularly high retention rate among the 200+ students doing the intermediate-level course.
In addition to these programs, JACT counts with a Greek Committee which
meets twice yearly (March and October) at Senate House, University of London. Membership is drawn from a wide range of schools and universities. The committee has a brief to support the teaching and learning of Greek in any way possible.
The recent 'Greek in Schools' initiative has been building up a picture of Greek teaching in schools and investigating ways of helping to increase pupil numbers. Various projects are under way to provide new teaching materials, and a collection of resources is being built up.