Last Wednesday, the Ministry of Education announced the expansion of the network of Experimental and Standard schools throughout the territory, bringing their total number to 138. This is another “bet” by the leadership of the ministry related to upgrading the educational process.

“The strengthening of the institution and the expansion of the network of Model and Experimental schools throughout the country serves a two-fold goal,” said the Minister of Education, Niki Kerameos, to APE-MPE.

“On the one hand, to give students the opportunity to attend innovative, modern public schools, responding to the ever-increasing interest of students, parents and guardians. On the other hand, to upgrade our education system as a whole, given that the Model and Experimental schools function as excellent laboratories of educational innovation and then these innovations and best practices are diffused to all the schools of the country”.

During the current year, 120 schools are operating in the Standard and Experimental network, of which 83 are Experimental and 37 are Standard. After the latest additions, during the 2024-25 school year, 138 schools will operate nationwide, of which 97 are experimental and 41 are standard. In more detail, Experimental schools will operate in 28 of the country’s 51 prefectures and Standard schools in 12 prefectures.

In comparison, in 2019, there were 55 Experimental schools (distributed in 10 prefectures) and 5 Standard schools (4 in Attica and one in Ioannina, Epirus).

The remarkable increase in the number of schools that joined the network of Experimental and Standard schools in recent years is due to the institutional “liberation” of the possibility of converting operating schools into Experimental or Standard schools through Law 4692/2020, which concerns – as it is titled – the “Upgrading school’s”. It is no coincidence that this was one of the first pieces of legislation of the current leadership of the Ministry of Education, with the clear aim of expanding the network, in order to cultivate and spread the best educational methods, practices and tools in all the schools of the country.

Of course, a large part of the success of the institution and the motivation to designate more and more schools as Experimental or Standard is also the steadily increasing interest from students, parents and guardians. It is typical that the number of applications for admission to the Experimental and Standard schools reached 20,000 this year.

The 18 new schools

As announced by the ministry, 13 schools have been added to the network of experimental schools (and will operate from the school year 2024-25): in Attiki (13th Kindergarten and 8th Primary School of St. Barbara), in Chios (3rd Kindergarten, 2nd Primary School ), in Ilia (4th Primary School of Amaliada), in Ierapetra Lasithi (1st Kindergarten, 2nd Primary School, 3rd Middle School and 2nd High School), in Chania (7th Kindergarten and 7th Primary School), in Evosmos (2nd Kindergarten) and in Lamia ( 4th High School). The 1st Kastoria High School and the 2nd Tripoli High School were added to the network of standards.

In addition, the procedures for establishing a Standard High School in Larissa, a Standard High School in Larissa and an Experimental High School in Chania have started and are progressing.

How Standard and Pilot schools are defined

According to Law 4692/2020, Model schools are secondary public education school units, which aim to “cultivate and spread the idea and practices of excellence in the education system”. Experimental are school units of primary and secondary public education, which aim to “support the experimentation and pilot application of educational innovations in the educational system, in a random sample of the student population”. In addition, the aim is to acquaint undergraduate and postgraduate students with the teaching of individual subjects, in collaboration with HEI departments and schools and the Institute of Educational Policy.

Both categories of these schools, based on the specific law, “are established and operate with the aim of contributing to the optimal educational planning and the pilot implementation of the educational policy, in order to cultivate and spread the best educational methods, practices and tools throughout the educational system”.

For the characterization – and transformation – of an operating school as Experimental or Model, criteria such as the qualifications and adequacy of its educational staff, participation in educational programs, innovative actions, cultural and social events, pan-Hellenic and international competitions are taken into account. , its size and location. After relevant applications from schools, the Steering Committee for Model and Experimental Schools (DEPPS) makes the recommendation to the leadership of the ministry, which takes the final decisions, accompanied by an opinion from the IEP.

This year’s proceedings

For the coming school year, the application process has been completed and now there are skills tests for the standards and the lottery for the experimental ones.

The date of the skills test (test) for admission to Standard Schools is Saturday 29 April 2023, and candidates will be tested in Greek language and mathematics. The students will be tested on elements that have already been processed and they know from their schooling and according to the Ministry of Education they are not required to study specific material to prepare for their participation in said test. However, due to the high competition, many students turn to tutoring for better preparation.

The date of the public draw for admission to the Experimental Schools and the allocation of the random Priority Number in case of a tie in the Standard Schools is Friday 28 April 2023.