Scientific Coordinators: Dimitris Vergidis, Vasiliki Nikolopoulou, Piera Leftheriotou
Timeline: February 2026 – July 2027
Second Chance Schools (SCS) are adult education institutions that offer individuals who have not completed compulsory education the opportunity to obtain a lower secondary education certificate after successfully attending a two-year program. SCS constitute one of the main pillars of adult education in Greece, and the updating and upgrading of their curricula is of strategic importance for achieving the goal of increasing participation.
The actions included in this project are outlined below and are considered particularly important for enhancing the operation of Second Chance Schools:
- Study on Educational Needs in SCS
Initially, the profile of current learners in SCS will be examined. Data collected through a dedicated information system of the General Secretariat for Vocational Education, Training and Lifelong Learning of the Ministry of Education will be analyzed to draw conclusions regarding learners’ age groups, gender, nationality, employment status, and other characteristics.
Subsequently, the views of SCS Directors on the operation of the schools will be recorded, focusing on the challenges they face, the priorities they identify, and the improvements they consider necessary. For this purpose, a specially designed questionnaire will be distributed to all SCS, followed by interviews with a selected sample of Directors in order to explore in greater depth issues emerging from the questionnaire responses.
Finally, relevant institutional and regulatory texts concerning SCS will be reviewed and analyzed, leading to proposals aimed at facilitating their effective and smooth operation.
- Guide on Literacies and Educational Methodology
The development of this Guide will build on the findings of the above study. It will include core guidelines and material for each of the eight subject areas/literacies taught in SCS. This is considered essential, as educators in these schools do not use standardized textbooks—as is the case in secondary education—but instead develop their own teaching materials based on the needs, interests, and capacities of their learners.
Similar guidelines and sample lessons were introduced at the outset of SCS and updated in 2013; however, there is now a clear need for their further revision and modernization.
- SCS Graduate Observatory
The Observatory will enable the systematic tracking of SCS graduates in order to explore:
(a) whether and to what extent their attendance at SCS has influenced their professional trajectory,
(b) whether it has served as a starting point for continuing their educational pathway at other levels, and
(c) whether and how it has affected their personal and social lives.
The Observatory will initially operate on a pilot basis with a selected sample of graduates from the 2025–2026 academic year and will subsequently be integrated into the General Secretariat for Vocational Education, Training and Lifelong Learning. A proposal/report outlining its operational framework will also be developed.
