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Do not fill this in! === Education === {{Main|Education in Greece}} {{Update|part=section|date=January 2024|reason=The description of the secondary, post-secondary and tertiary education does not reflect the current situation}} [[File:Akademie von Athen.jpg|alt=|thumb|The [[Academy of Athens (modern)|Academy of Athens]] is Greece's [[national academy]] and the highest research establishment in the country.]] [[File:Ιόνιος Ακαδημία.jpeg|thumb|upright=0.8|The [[Ionian Academy]] in [[Corfu]], the first [[academic institution]] of modern Greece]] [[File:National Library of Greece at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Centre 12.jpg|thumb|The new National Library of Greece at the [[Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center|Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Centre]]]] Greeks have a long tradition of valuing and investing in ''[[paideia]]'' (education), which was upheld as one of the highest societal values in the Greek and Hellenistic world. The first European institution described as a university was founded in fifth-century Constantinople and continued operating in various incarnations until the [[Fall of Constantinople|city's fall]] to the Ottomans in 1453.<ref name="texor">{{cite web|url= http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~bump/OriginUniversities.html|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090220164836/http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~bump/OriginUniversities.html|archive-date= 20 February 2009 |title=Jerome Bump, University of Constantinople|access-date=19 December 2008|website= The Origin of Universities |publisher= University of Texas at Austin }}</ref> The [[University of Constantinople]] was Christian Europe's first secular institution of higher learning,<ref>{{cite book |last=Tatakes |first=Vasileios N. |author2=Moutafakis, Nicholas J. |title=Byzantine Philosophy |year=2003 |publisher=Hackett Publishing|isbn=978-0-87220-563-5|page=189}}</ref> and by some measures was the world's first university.<ref name="texor" /> Compulsory education in Greece comprises primary schools (Δημοτικό Σχολείο, ''Dimotikó Scholeio'') and [[Gymnasium (school)|gymnasium]] (Γυμνάσιο). Nursery schools (Παιδικός σταθμός, ''Paidikós Stathmós'') are popular but not compulsory. [[Kindergarten]]s (Νηπιαγωγείο, ''Nipiagogeío'') are now compulsory for any child above four years of age. Children start primary school aged six and remain there for six years. Attendance at gymnasia starts at age 12 and lasts for three years. Greece's post-compulsory secondary education consists of two school types: unified upper secondary schools (Γενικό Λύκειο, ''Genikό Lykeiό'') and [[technical school|technical]]–[[vocational school|vocational]] educational schools (Τεχνικά και Επαγγελματικά Εκπαιδευτήρια, "TEE"). Post-compulsory secondary education also includes vocational training institutes (Ινστιτούτα Επαγγελματικής Κατάρτισης, "IEK") which provide a formal but unclassified level of education. As they can accept both ''Gymnasio'' (lower secondary school) and ''Lykeio'' (upper secondary school) graduates, these institutes are not classified as offering a particular level of education. According to the Framework Law (3549/2007), Public higher education "Highest Educational Institutions" (Ανώτατα Εκπαιδευτικά Ιδρύματα, ''Anótata Ekpaideytiká Idrýmata'', "ΑΕΙ") consists of two parallel sectors:the university sector (Universities, Polytechnics, Fine Arts Schools, the Open University) and the Technological sector (Technological Education Institutions (TEI) and the School of Pedagogic and Technological Education). There are also State Non-University Tertiary Institutes offering vocationally oriented courses of shorter duration (2 to 3 years) which operate under the authority of other Ministries. Students are admitted to these Institutes according to their performance at national level examinations taking place after completion of the third grade of ''Lykeio''. Additionally, students over twenty-two years old may be admitted to the [[Hellenic Open University]] through a form of lottery. The [[National and Capodistrian University of Athens|Capodistrian University of Athens]] is the oldest university in the eastern Mediterranean. The Greek education system also provides special kindergartens, primary, and secondary schools for people with special needs or difficulties in learning. There are also specialist gymnasia and high schools offering musical, theological, and physical education. Seventy-two percent of Greek adults aged 25–64 have completed upper secondary education, which is slightly less than the OECD average of 74 percent. The average Greek pupil scored 458 in reading literacy, maths and science in the OECD's 2015 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). This score is lower than the OECD average of 486. On average, girls outperformed boys by 15 points, much more than the average OECD gap of two points.<ref>{{cite web|title=OECD Better Life Index – Greece|url=http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/countries/greece/|website=oecdbetterlifeindex.org|publisher=OECD|access-date=20 February 2018}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page