Abstract:

The aim of this paper is to highlight the different theoretical approaches on the Project Method in the Greek discussion on education. Over the last years, this discussion has expanded due to the Greek Ministry of Educations’ decision to encourage teachers to implement this method on a small scale in the primary and secondary public schools. Thus, the presentation of the different theoretical perspectives on the Project Method is of particular importance in terms of the ways it can be implemented, since the theoretical discussion affects in multiple ways the teaching practice of educators. Our analysis is grounded on the understanding of basic elements of the method’s history, which enables us to identify those theoretical approaches that are specifically expressed in the Greek discussion on education. This is done on the basis of those approaches that have been expressed in the past in other countries, especially in the United States in the beginning of the 20th century, when the Project Method was established as a pedagogical term. More specifically, in the United States we had the articulation of the technical/professional and the democratic/reconstruction approach, as well as the approach of the method as complementary to the traditional pedagogy. The question we will attempt to address in this paper is if, and in what ways these approaches of the Project Method are expressed in the current theoretical discussion on education in Greece.

Keywords:

Project Method, Greece, pedagogy.