OPEN AND DISTANCE EDUCATION IN PRIMARY EDUCATION: THE CASE OF CYPRUS

The first distance education experiences in Primary Education were found in countries with huge geographical surface and sparsely populated areas, such as Canada and Australia. During the last years, a progressive evolution of distance learning initiatives was observed in other developing and developed countries, as an attempt to improve students’ performance and to solve problems of the traditional (conventional) teaching methods. These numerous initiatives worldwide, within the formal educational policy of the countries, show that distance education can stand alone in Primary Education as a unique method of teaching children who don’t have access to school and/or as complementary tool to conventional education aiming to enrich the learning process.
This paper is an attempt to define the broader context of distance education in primary schools in Cyprus and to identify its main development phases by presenting and comparing its functions and role in the other European countries as well. In order to achieve these objectives we proceeded to an exhaustive literature review of the distance education activity in peer reviewed scientific journals, books, research reports, international conferences, governmental documents and publications from important organizations, which have put forward the idea and the establishment of distance learning and have contributed to its evolution.
More analytically, in the case of Cyprus, distance education in Primary Education is used only as a complementary tool to conventional education. In this context, we present the most important European and National programs and initiatives that introduce distance learning activities in the Cypriot primary schools. Morevover, we present the socioeconomic needs that led to the increasing importance of distance learning in today’s society. Finally, emphasis is given not only to the several opportunities but also to the risks that derive from the evolution of distance education in primary education.