Loizos Symeou

Teacher professional development in Cyprus: reflections on current trends and challenges in policy and practices

This article focuses on in‐service teacher training in Cyprus and points to the necessity for reorganisation of existing practices and reformulation of national policies within the framework of continuous professional development. Examination of this issue results from the need of the educational system to respond to the challenges of the European educational area and overcome the identified inefficiency of the current training scheme. On the basis of the gap between emerging challenges and current practices, policy recommendations are proposed with regard to the organisation as well as the content of a possible training scheme that will incorporate a holistic, long‐term approach to ongoing teacher professional development. Such recommendations include, among others, decentralisation of training provision and funds, as well as multiplicity of providers, along with accountability measures, such as legislative frameworks and quality assurance standards. At the same time, it is suggested that in‐service teacher training should combine national priorities with locally perceived needs and extend beyond taught seminars towards personal study, reflection and alternative modes of professional development. Finally, it is recommended that in‐service evaluation mechanisms should be established to maximise effectiveness through links to school improvement.

Roma and their education in Cyprus: reflections on INSETRom teacher training for Roma inclusion

In this paper, the authors report on the results of the implementation of the IN‐SErvice Training for Roma Inclusion (INSETRom) project in Cyprus and discuss conclusions relating to the school inclusion of Roma in the Greek Cypriot educational system. After presenting country‐specific information on Roma and the education of Roma in the Greek Cypriot educational system, the authors describe a needs assessment study which took place in the course of the INSETRom project in Cyprus. The data for this preliminary phase of the project were collected through semi‐structured interviews with Roma pupils and their parents, as well as their teachers, from the three schools attended by the largest numbers of Roma children in the Greek Cypriot educational system. Despite official policies of non‐segregation and employment of supportive measures, the data pointed to the marginalization of Roma children in the school system. On the basis of these findings, the authors then describe the design, implementation and evaluation of the teacher‐training programme that followed. The paper concludes with the discussion of contextual and methodological issues relating to teacher training for educating Roma students in multicultural school settings. The authors also reflect on factors beyond teacher training which need to be addressed if education is to become inclusive for all pupils in general, and Roma children in particular.

Family involvement in the education of potential drop‐out children: a comparative study between Spain and Cyprus

This paper focuses on family involvement in the education of teenagers at risk of dropping out from compulsory secondary school. A questionnaire was completed by 131 Spanish and Cypriot families with children at six schools – three in each country. The questionnaire investigated: (1) parental perceptions of their children’s activities in their free time; (2) academic expectations for their children; (3) parental concern regarding their children’s education; and (4) parent–teacher interactions. Descriptive measures and t‐test comparative analyses between Spain and Cyprus were undertaken. Results show that these families have an encouraging attitude towards their teenagers. Nonetheless, significant statistical differences between Spanish and Cypriot parents suggest that the Spanish families have a more protective parenting style than the Cypriot families. The study points to the lack of support for these families as regards advice and stimulation for their children at home, and to the need to promote school–family partnerships.

Experiencing the same but differently: indigenous minority and immigrant children's experiences in Cyprus

This paper examines the experiences of minority students from two different cultural groups, immigrant children of Pontian background and indigenous minority children of Roma descent, in the Greek-Cypriot educational system. Through a joint re-examination of results from two different qualitative studies, this paper delineates similarities and differences of how life at school is experienced through the eyes of children who are not part of the mainstream, in an effort to gain insight into the nuances of being a minority child in the specific educational system. Comparisons across the two groups of children suggest that although both groups shared a minority status, they nonetheless experienced marginalisation across different dimensions that were linked to their dual multilayered position as both insiders and outsiders. Attention to such complexities enables us to gain deeper understandings of children’s lives, as too often the category of ‘minority child’ seems to be treated as a monolithic and homogeneous one.

Neoliberal versus Social Justice Reforms in Education Policy and Practice: Discourses, Politics and Disability Rights in Education.

ABSTRACT This article uses critical discourse analysis in order to discuss the equity and social justice implications of an envisaged education reform agenda in Cyprus, as articulated by two consultation reports commissioned by the World Bank. The reports highlight, inter alia, the imperative to improve teaching and enhance accountability regimes with regard to students’ learning. Selected extracts from these documents are analyzed in order to highlight the absence of a social justice discourse in the rhetoric of educational reforms, despite the alleged centrality of a social justice discourse in official policy. The reports fail to include issues of social justice and learner diversity in discussing the necessity to strengthen the existing teacher policy framework and to mobilize structural educational reforms. This omission is indicative of the neoliberal imperatives that drive the envisaged education policy reforms as well as the low priority attributed to issues of equity and learner diversity, with particular reference to students designated as having special educational needs and/or disabilities.

Accessing parental perspectives to inform the development of parent training in autism in south-eastern Europe

Abstract Parent training has been shown to be an important means of supporting families living with autism – but such services are not universally accessible. A multinational project funded by the European Commission has been developed in order to establish such parent training in three south-eastern European countries. To ensure that the training was relevant and appropriate, a survey was carried out in autumn 2015 to ascertain the attitudes of parents of children with autism in Croatia, Cyprus and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia regarding this issue, and to identify the areas of training that they felt most important. Two hundred and fifty-three surveys were distributed, and 148 were returned, a response rate of 58%. Respondents in the three counties were overwhelmingly positive about parent training, with almost 90% stating that they would like to attend such training. Weekend training sessions were preferred by the majority of respondents. There was wide variation between the three countries with regard to what content was felt important to be included, with parents in the FYR of Macedonia seeking information in the greatest number of areas. Five topics were prioritised by parents across all three countries. These were:• Strategies for enhancing my child’s communication• Strategies on facilitating my child’s interaction with other children• Sensory integration and development• General information on behavioural management strategies• Identifying and/or developing socialisation opportunities

Capital cultural y social: ¿qué podemos aprender para investigar y reforzar la colaboración entre familia y escuela?

Resumen Existen crecientes evidencias que revelan una influencia considerable de la familia en el desarrollo escolar infantil y que apuntan a la necesidad de llevar a cabo investigaciones teóricas minuciosas y de explicar cómo el hogar y la escuela influyen en la escolarización de los niños. Con este objetivo se proponen en este artículo modelos teóricos tanto psicológicos como sociológicos, cuyos supuestos comunes son, en primer lugar, que las familias y las escuelas afectan muy directamente al niño, y segundo, que las familias preparan y refuerzan diferencialmente las cualidades de sus hijos requeridas por la escuela, y las escuelas pueden o no aprovechar los recursos que los niños traen de casa. Dos de los conceptos teóricos que tratan de explicar dicho impacto y demostrar la importancia de las relaciones activas familia-escuela son el de “capital cultural”, introducido y desarrollado por Pierre Bourdieu, y el de “capital social”, acuñado por James Coleman. Este artículo presenta ambas perspectivas teóricas con el fin de evaluar su pertinencia como marco explicativo desde el que abordar la colaboración entre familia y escuela y la manera en que aquélla influye en el éxito escolar de los niños.

Has family involvement migrated into higher education? An investigation of how administrative staff document the phenomenon in students’ university experiences in Cyprus

Abstract Families have been getting more and more involved in their children’s education. This paper presents findings of a study investigating family involvement in their members’ undergraduate studies attending a state (non-fee-paying) and a private (fee-paying) university in Cyprus. The data presented in the paper were collected via online logs completed by administrative personnel in the two universities documenting incidents of family involvement. The data analysis demonstrates how similarly the phenomenon manifests in both universities and suggests that where the two universities differ is more in the intensity of the various modes of family involvement. It also projects students’ desires and encouragement of their family’s involvement and their families’ intervention to protect or guide them. The findings of the study are discussed in view of cultural and societal norms and changes about parenthood and the relationship between families and their university age members in a marketized higher education context.

‘All we need is love (and money)’! What do higher education students want from their families?

Abstract Research has shown that consistent family support improves higher education (HE) students’ chances for adjustment and graduation but family over-involvement negatively affects students’ well-being. We theoretically bridge three largely disjointed bodies of literature (namely, family ‘support’, ‘involvement’ and ‘over-involvement’) and show that families of undergraduate students very often engage in roles traditionally reserved for lower levels of education. Through a large-scale, quantitative university student survey in two universities in Cyprus, we empirically show that the three bodies of literature should be unified, because family involvement in HE is better conceptualised and operationalised as a continuum. We further suggest that family involvement in HE can be split into two qualitatively different and empirically not significantly related constructs: rearguard and front line family involvement. In addition, the students seem not only to approve, but also encourage more family involvement (even ‘over-involvement’), and state that they would like their families to provide them not just with more financial help, but with more emotional support as well. The discussion extends to include an analysis of students’ perceptions of university actors’ attitudes towards family involvement.

‘Out of the Box’ leadership: action research towards school improvement

Abstract The contribution of Action Research (AR) to school improvement is well-documented. This study records the accounts of two primary school leaders, involved in AR projects that focused on the development of students’ oral communication skills. Drawing data from diaries with fieldnotes and systematic reflections, the study presents leaders’ experiences, as they translated feedback into modifications and redefinitions to bring about change. Despite difficulties encountered, the leaders acknowledged the value of collaborative school-based enquiry for teachers, students and themselves, mainly reflecting notions of catalytic and democratic validity. The paper highlights that AR as a tool for individual and school improvement, can enhance understandings of school performance and empower participants to focus on school outcomes in an educational context that does not implement accountability measures. AR can certainly help principals in Cyprus reconceptualise and rediscover their pedagogical role as instructional leaders to improve teaching and learning. Yet, to address outcome and process validity, the paper argues about the need for evaluative tools.