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I want to say something about institutional issues in primary and secondary education. I think that the difference, or the main problem in primary or in secondary education is that schools tend to be very traditional. They are not flexible to changes, there are not flexible to innovation and this is the most common problem that we face. However in the society in which we are living and facing the changes that we face, there are several things that should be taken into consideration. School should be the open institution of the society. The way schools are working today, they are not open to the society, they have a specific curriculum and teachers have to follow this curriculum. Students have to take examinations in order to enter the university etc. But in this way there is no interaction between school and society and this is big problem, because in this way school has no interest for students. I can think at many influences, from internet, television etc. So if school stays such a traditional institution it is not interesting. This is a very important institutional issue that should be taken in consideration for primary and secondary education. The second is technology and the use of technology. Most of the times, as I said before, the students are familiar with technology. They are familiar using the pc and using the internet. However most of the times in school, technology stays within the framework of a specific lesson like computer lesson, and we have this other curricula’s, history, maths , science, languages that has to do nothing with technology. And this is mainly because teachers are not ready to use technologies for the proposes of their lessons. So technology plays an important role and students are familiar with these. We have to find a way to make teachers more familiar with technology and of course to make educational technology more attractive for students. Because students play games that they are extremely attractive and then we end up with CD-ROMs or educational material and things that are not attractive at all. It seems that they compare that, because they know that technology can be attractive and what we present them is not attractive.

The third issue is the European dimension of education. The way Europe is organised, all the discussion we had about project Europe etc. It seems that this idea should get into the school life. Children and student have to understand that they belong not only to a country but to Europe in general, and they have to learn to communicate and collaborate with other students. They have to learn to understand and appreciate other cultures. And this is also something very important. In the school we have performed several education activities, most of them funded by the European Commission in the framework of Minerva or IST projects for language learning, and we experienced big differences.
All this issues can be held and encased in traditional projects, because they give students the possibility to communicate with other students from other European countries, they use technology in a different way, not only in the framework of a specific curriculum. And of course we even have projects that open up school to society. One of this projects, to give you an example, is the AGRO web project. It was a Minerva project and the main aim of this project was to make students talk like businessmen. So we developed a web-space and children had to do a sell with traditional products from their country. They selected the products, they performed a business plan, how should they market products, what culture it presents, what the prices will be etc. and then we had an online shop and children had to buy and sell products. Of course they learned not only to use technology but also money. It was actually the time the euro was entering the European market and so they had to realise this as well. They also got to communicate and collaborate. Just an example and I don’t know if I can give you some more, but this are my main concerns and thoughts. Concerning what kinds of institutional changes should be considered in secondary and primary school.