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This paper provides a brief description of the Greek–Cypriot early childhood education system and focuses on the current education reform. We focus on one of the main changes of the reform, a new status for play within the daily educational programme. The goal of this paper is two-fold; first to portray play in the former and current proposed curricula though document analysis and second to provide examples of the current practices through non-participant observations and interviews with children, teachers and principals, concerning the role of play and describe how these have been traditionalised. Findings show the different perspectives on play and support the need for the reconceptualisation of play, since free activities are basically organised around structured and teacher-directed activities. The paper provides a stance on play which allows children to be social agents, supports socio-cultural processes of learning and encourages participation in meaningful play activities. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The paper looks at developments in Greek language curricula in Cyprus during three periods: (1) the post-independence era from 1960 to the partition of the island in 1974; (2) the post-partition era from 1974 to 2003; and (3) the contemporary era, including the accession of Cyprus to the European Union in 2004, and the introduction of a new Greek curriculum in 2010. The paper seeks to document the tensions between national values associated with the teaching of Greek, and the need to implement new and progressive trends in language teaching that are increasingly driven by international developments in language pedagogy. The main question addressed in the paper is whether the degree of prominence achieved by the national objectives of language curricula, which is usually controlled by social and political factors that fluctuated during the three periods studied here, sets limits to the amount of innovation in matters of pedagogy and content that is possible. While some of the data suggest that this is so, this is a question that will be most decisively answered by data emerging from the implementation of the new curricula introduced in 2010, a process that is still in its early years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper looks at teachers' interpretations of a recent and controversial Greek-Cypriot policy initiative, which aimed to promote 'peaceful coexistence' between the two rival communities in conflict-ridden Cyprus. Specifically, it focuses on the ways in which Greek-Cypriot teachers constructed the relation between the new policy for peaceful coexistence between Greek-Cypriots and Turkish-Cypriots with the long established but rather conflicting policy of 'I don't forget and I struggle'. The study analyses a set of 40 interviews conducted a few months after the first introduction of the new policy and maps teachers' interpretations using the analytical concept of interpretative repertoires. Despite the poor implementation of the new initiative in practice, the study argues that the introduction of the new policy has brought about discernible discursive shifts in some teachers' perceptions of the older policy of 'I don't forget'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the interference of local politics with a peace education initiative in Greek-Cypriot education and the consequent impact on teachers’ perceptions and responses. Focusing on a recent educational attempt to promote ‘peaceful coexistence’, the authors explain how this attempt was seen by many teachers as being a part of a local leftist agenda and was therefore often rejected. When though the same initiative was positioned – through a series of teacher training seminars organised by the authors – within the global field of ‘peace education’, and was grounded in humanistic ideals, the teachers appeared much more comfortable to engage with it. Taking the local political complexities into consideration, the authors argue that despite the existing thorough critiques of the humanistic discourse of peace education, a seemingly ‘neutral’ humanistic discourse of peace education can be legitimised on the basis of two arguments: first, a humanistic discourse could serve as an entry point for talking about ‘peaceful coexistence’ in schools and second, it might offer a way to overcome the strong political connotations that these concepts appear to have locally. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The present paper looks at teachers’ perceptions of difficulties and emotions about a recent policy initiative in the Greek-Cypriot educational system to promote peaceful coexistence. This policy initiative by the government sparked strong emotional reactions. This paper provides an in-depth understanding of the intersection between tensions at the larger socio-political landscape and teachers’ emotional readiness to deal with this policy initiative. To do so, the paper draws on the findings of a quantitative and a qualitative study conducted during the end of the 2008–2009 school year. Possible implications are discussed for educational policy and teacher education. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The socio-historical context of Cyprus entails various consequences for Greek-Cypriot education. However, the distinctive character of Greek-Cypriot education does not only have historical credentials, but it is also bound to the contemporary situation that includes Cyprus' accession to the EU. This paper explores the ways in which history influences Greek-Cypriot education. Furthermore, it examines the types of interaction between European influences and national education policies by reporting on policy-document analysis and semi-structured interviews carried out with Greek-Cypriot policy-makers. As Greek-Cypriot education has been developed in a case characterised by both inter-communal and intra-communal conflict, it has been inextricably linked to the nation-building project. The Europeanisation of Greek-Cypriot education has been merely symbolic, indicating 'simulated' development and implementation processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the moment primary history education in the Greek Cypriot educational system is mainly about providing substantive knowledge and promoting Greek national identity and other social goals. Debates about history education are mostly about the kind of the past that should conveyed to the students and the social aims which should be promoted through history. A recently emerged community of educators specialised in history education advocates in favour of an approach in history education which aims to develop students' historical thinking. The current reform process has to either move towards a new approach or preserve the current status quo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]