Education in Greece
Education in Greece is centralized and governed by the Ministry of Education, Religious Affairs, and Sports at all grade levels throughout elementary, middle school, and high school. The Ministry exercises control over public schools, formulates and implements legislation, administers the budget, coordinates national level university entrance examinations, sets up the national curriculum, appoints public school teaching staff, and coordinates other services.
The Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs is also in charge of which classes are necessary for general education. They have implemented mandatory courses such as religion in required grade levels. Students can only be exempt if their guardians fill out a declaration excluding them from religious lessons.
The national supervisory role of the Ministry is exercised through Regional Unit Public Education Offices, which are named Regional Directorates of Primary and Secondary School Education. Public schools and their supply of textbooks are funded by the government. Public schools in Greece are tuition-free and students on a state approved list are provided textbooks at no cost.
About 25% of postgraduate programmes are tuition-fee, while about 30% of students are eligible to attend programmes tuition-free based on individual criteria.
Formal education in Greece consists of three educational stages. The first stage of formal education is the primary stage, which lasts for six years starting aged six and ending at the age of 12, followed by the secondary stage, which is separated into two sub-stages: the compulsory middle school, which lasts three years starting at age 12, and non-compulsory Lyceum, which lasts three years starting at 15. The third stage involves higher education.
School holidays in Greece include Christmas, Greek Independence Day, Easter, National Anniversary Day, a three-month summer holiday, National Public Holidays, and local holidays, which vary by region such as the local patron saint's day.
In addition to schooling, the majority of students attend extracurricular private classes at private tutoring centres called "frontistiria", or one-to-one tuition. These centres prepare students for higher education admissions, like the Pan-Hellenic Examinations, and/or provide foreign language education.
It is forbidden by law for students to use mobile phones while on the school premises. Taking or making phone calls, texting, or the use of other camera, video or other recording devices or medium that have image and audio processing ability like smartwatches is forbidden. Students must switch off their mobile phones or set them to silent mode and keep them in their bags while on the school premises. However, especially at high schools, the use of mobile phones is widespread, especially at breaks and sometimes in the class.
Diagram
Preschool
Most preschools, also known as pre-primary, are attached to and share buildings with a primary school. Preschool is compulsory and lasts 2 years, split into 1 year of Pre-kindergarten and 1 year of Kindergarten. Since the school year 2018–2019, children who would be four years of age by December 31 are required to begin attending preschool on September 11 of the same year. Applications for registration and enrolment are usually carried out annually during fifteen consecutive days in May. After this period expires, students are neither allowed to register nor enroll.- 1st Year / Pre-Kindergarten, age 4 to 5 years old
- 2nd Year / Kindergarten, age 5 to 6
In these school years, students are given descriptive assessments instead of number/letter grades.
Primary education
is compulsory for 6 years. There is also the public Special Primary and public Experimental Primary.The school year starts on September 11 and ends on June 15. The standard school day starts at 08:15 and finishes at 13:15. It comprises six academic years of schooling named τάξεις, numbered 1 through to 6. Enrollment to the next tier of compulsory education, the [|Gymnasium], is automatic. The classes for a subject vary with the teacher who teaches. Students are awarded an "Απολυτήριο Δημοτικού" which gives automatic admission to the lower secondary education.
In Year 1 and Year 2, students are not officially graded. Beginning with years 3 and 4, grades are ranked alphabetically from A to D. From year 5, when written exams are introduced, to year 6 it changes to numbers, going from 4, the lowest, to 10 the highest.
Αges are typical and can vary with the most common ages approximately:
; Grades of Primary School
Grade 1–6
- 1st Year / First grade, age 6 to 7-year-olds
- 2nd Year / Second grade, age 7 to 8
- 3rd Year / Third grade, age 8 to 9
- 4th Year / Fourth grade, age 9 to 10
- 5th Year / Fifth grade, age 10 to 11
- 6th Year / Sixth grade, age 11 to 12
- 1st Year: no grade points
- 2nd Year: no grade points
- 3rd Year: Α–Δ
- 4th Year: Α–Δ
- 5th Year: 1–10
- 6th Year: 1–10
Secondary education
Lower Secondary Education
is compulsory until the age of 15.Article 16, Paragraph 3 of the Constitution of 1975 mandates that compulsory education must be at least nine years in length.
This constitutional provision, which applies to all Greek children, was established in Law 309/1976, which also replaced classical Greek with modern Greek as the official language for teaching at all levels of education, and ceased to be a one-tier non-compulsory six years lower and upper secondary school, middle schools, and was converted to compulsory three-year lower secondary school for students aged 12–15 and three-year non-compulsory upper secondary schools for students aged 15–18.
Admitted students can be up to 16-years-old, and they must have Primary Education School Certificate or its international equivalent. No entry exams are required. Schooling starts on September 11 and ends on early June before the first day of the Pan-Hellenic Examinations. The lessons end on May 31 so that the students will be able to study for their examinations in early June. The gymnasium school-awarded qualification "Απολυτήριο Γυμνασίου" at HQF level 3, gives admission to the upper secondary education. Gymnasium has three academic years of schooling known as "τάξη", numbered 1 through to 3. Ages are typical and can vary with the most common being between:
- 1st Year / First grade, age 12 to 13-year-olds
- 2nd Year / Second grade, age 13 to 14
- 3rd Year / Third grade, age 14 to 15
- Middle school
- Special Middle school
- Evening Middle school
- Ecclesiastical Middle school
- Middle school of Cross-Cultural Education
- Model Middle school
- Experimental Middle school
- Integrated Special Vocational Middle school-High school
- Music Middle school
- Art Middle school
In middle school English is mandatory all three years, while students can choose between French or German as the second foreign language that's required.
Second Chance Adult School
Second Chance Adult School is a Gymnasium level equivalent evening school administered by the Ministry of Education, for adults who did not complete their lower secondary education lasts two years with 25 hours per week.Upper Secondary Education
Upper secondary school is non-compulsory education lasting 3 years.High schools starts on September 11 and ends on June 15. Lessons end in late May so that the students will be able to study for their examinations in June. Admitted students can be up to 20-year-old, while they must have Gymnasium Certificate or Lower Secondary Education School Certificate or its international equivalent. The Evening Lyceum is for both adult students and underage working students lasts 3 years. After having completed the 3rd grade, the graduates of the Lyceum are awarded the "Απολυτήριο Λυκείου" qualification at HQF / EQF level 4, at ISCED level 3. The marking scale on the Apolytirio Lykeiou is set to a 20-point grading system, law 4610/2019. The Lyceum Apolytirio is required for admission to Higher Education and to continue studies, and is an equivalent in level to the GCE Advanced Level.
Students wishing to access study programmes in Higher Education must be both secondary education school graduates holding Apolytirio Lykeiou and must take nationally set examinations officially entitled "Πανελλαδικές Εξετάσεις" which is an externally assessed national standardized test given one time in any given school year, which also accept all adult ages for candidates. Apolytirio certificate grants the right to pursue entry to higher education at a later date by participating at the Pan-Hellenic Examinations. Ministry of Education bears the responsibility for the central organization of these matriculation examinations. Candidates exam in 4 subjects that have selected from the 3rd grade of lyceum, while different numerical value titled "συντελεστής βαρύτητας" has assigned to each of those subjects contributes differently towards the overall score.
Successful admission is determined through the combination of a) "Βαθμός Πρόσβασης", literally "the access score", that is the candidate's weighted average of the grades achieved in examinations, b) the candidate's "Βαθμός Προαγωγής και Απόλυσης" Β.Π.Α. represents the student's sum of all three Grade Point Average earned in 1st, 2nd, 3rd Grade of lyceum each of these is multiplied by a given coefficient weight where the result is divided by two, Β.Π.Α. = the candidate's "μηχανογραφικό δελτίο" the available number of places allocated in each academic department. The number of students that are admitted for each programme is determined annually by the Ministry of Education. As there are usually more applicants than places available in certain fields of study, students with the highest average exam results are selected, e) For admission to programmes requiring specialized knowledge or skills, special admission examinations are require in one or more certain subjects or compulsory preparatory tests. "Βεβαίωση Πρόσβασης" is a document given to students soon after Pan-Hellenic Examinations results are released.
With the Law 2725/15-6-1999, article 34, paragraph 10, Government Gazette 121/A/17-6-1999, high school graduate athletes from 17 to 30-year-old who have specific sport achievements they are admitted without Panhellenic Examinations entrance to anyone of their choice undergraduate department of the public Higher Education Institutions of Greece.
High schools in Greece designate school class levels based on the years of schooling of the student cohort, using 3 academic year levels, known as "τάξη", numbered 1 through to 3. Ages are typical and can vary with the most common being are between:
- 1st Year / First grade, age 15 to 16-year-olds
- 2nd Year / Second grade, age 16 to 17
- 3rd Year / Third grade, age 17 to 18
The grading system in secondary schools is 1 to 20. The score of 20 is the equivalent to an A or 100 in the U.S.
The types of high schools in Greece are:
- Ειδικό Λύκειο
- Μουσικό Λύκειο
- Πρότυπο Λύκειο
- Καλλιτεχνικό Λύκειο
- Γενικό Λύκειο
- Πειραματικό Λύκειο
- Γενικό Λύκειο Διαπολιτισμικής Εκπαίδευσης
- Eπαγγελματικό Λύκειο
- Εσπερινό Επαγγελματικό Λύκειο
- Εσπερινό Γενικό Λύκειο
- Γενικό Εκκλησιαστικό Λύκειο
- Ενιαίο Ειδικό Επαγγελματικό Γυμνάσιο-Λύκειο