Greek under a microscope

Alexandros Logothetis and Catherine Kladakis tackle the issue of the state of Greek language teaching in Victorian Government schools.


THE teaching of languages in Victorian schools has been assigned as one of the priorities in the upcoming Victorian Government education reforms.

The Government has drafted two blueprints for school reform and early childhood development, as NKEE reported last week. The state of Greek education in Australia will be featured in a series of reports starting with languages in government schools.

In the most recent figures available from 2006, there were 4,781 students studying Modern Greek in government schools. The figure includes primary and secondary education as well as Victorian

Schools of Language (VSL). Specifically, 3,169 students were enrolled at the primary level with an additional 719 students in the VSL primary level. VSL are government run programs for the teaching of languages that operate on Saturdays.

Greek programs are divided into three types, bilingual immersion, which is a concentrated program featuring the teaching of various subjects in Greek such as, maths and arts. The second type is language and cultural awareness a more general program, and the third is learning other than English (LOTE), the standard teaching of Modern Greek. Of the 3,169 students at primary level, 52 were taking part in the bilingual immersion (in Lalor North Primary School), 1,174 in language and cultural awareness and 1943 in LOTE.

Seventeen primary schools were providing Greek language teaching in 2006, down from 21 schools in 1998. However, 2,902 students were enrolled in Greek language programs at the primary level in 1998.

At the secondary level compared to the primary, a significant disparity in enrolments is evident relating to Greek teaching. In total, 1,065 students were enrolled in Greek language programs in 2006 of which 192 students were pursuing a secondary VSL program.

This constitutes an enrolment drop of 338 students compared to 1998. The linear decline culminates in year 12 where only 21 students are learning Greek. Eleven secondary education schools had Greek language programs available in 2006 compared to 19 in 1998.

Overall, Greek was the eighth most studied language in Victorian government schools in 2006 with Italian topping the list. Statistics show that there is a slight resurgence of Greek teaching, at least at the primary level.

As more Greek Australian parents are going back to rediscover their roots, impetus is created for Greek teaching. But statistics at the secondary level also prove that there is an uphill road ahead.

According to Greek teacher James Politis who runs the bilingual immersion program in Lalor North Primary School, there are many challenges facing Greek language teaching. It does not have the appeal it once enjoyed, as there is a shift of attention towards the teaching of more "commercially viable" languages.

Greek language teaching has been solely associated with the children of Greek migrants.

There is also a tendency to cut back hours for LOTE teaching and Greek has suffered accordingly. After 30 years of devotion to government run programs he feels betrayed.

"May be the future of Greek teaching should be in the hands of the community," says Politis.

Matthew Kokkinakis, President of the Modern Greek Teacher's Association of Victoria (MGATV) points out. "One of the biggest problems is the lack of teachers to teach Greek,is that not many are studying to be Greek teachers and schools do not have enough financial incentives to employ them."

Although the MGATV has not provided feedback to the blueprint, Kokkinakis plans to suggest two approaches with LOTE teaching.

Either give schools financial incentives for each student that undertakes LOTE, or make LOTE compulsory throughout primary and secondary schools.

Even if LOTE were to be made compulsory, that does not provide incentives for students to take up Modern Greek, particularly due to the popularity of other languages. It also may be fairer that other languages are given a priority due to their economic relevance in Australia.

According to RMIT University lecturer Matina Demiraki, the argument for teaching a language must relate to the usefulness that language has for a student's future. "Greek can work on that level as well but most importantly for Australian students, Greek is one of the most spoken languages in this country. It is an official language of the European Union and is a significant world language. Like Greek civilisation it has influenced Western society. To increase the numbers of students studying Greek, we must make these links more obvious," she says.

Demiraki and Kokkinakis believe that the future of Modern Greek is not just in the hands of the State Government but also in the hands of the Greek community, especially the parents. Kokkinakis argues there is strong support in the Greek community for the teaching of Greek in primary schools but the support thins out at the secondary level.

"Parents are rediscovering their Greek identity and send their children to Greek school. But once they reach Year 7 and 8 they quit. Instead of telling the kids; you've done seven years, continue; the parents give in," says Kokkinakis.

Another issue according to Kokkinakis is that Greek parents are sending their children to private Greek schools instead of supporting the State Education sector.

"Unless the principals, parents and teachers are prepared to support the language, it is very hard to introduce Greek within a school," he says.

"Within the Victorian education system, it is up to the school councils to select the language(s) they want taught. Thus, it is of great importance that Greek parents put themselves forward to become members of school councils and support the Greek programs that we have in place." Demiraki says.

So, when circumstances change and favour the teaching of languages more than before, we are in a position to capitalise on and extend our programs," adds Demiraki.