PRACTICAL TRAINING OF STUDENTS IN FREINET TECHNIQUES AT THE 2ND KAISARIANI'S HIGH SCHOOL

In the framework of the innovative activities of the Curriculum of AUEB Teacher Education Program under the scientific responsibility of Dr. Vassiliki Brinia and the collaboration of the pedagogical team "Skasiarxeio" a practical training of the Freinet techniques was held in real school conditions at the 2nd Kaisariani's High School. Specifically, a number of students followed the empirical application of the Freinet techniques, namely the Class Council and the "What's New?" in real school conditions.Ms Stella Badikian, a mathematics teacher at the 2nd Kaisariani's High School and member of the Skasiarxeio team, presented to the students the class board and "What's New?". The experience as recorded by the students of the Program is summarized as follows:

"Our visit to the 2nd Kaisariani's High School where Mrs. Badikian teaches, was another unprecedented and enjoyable experience, that we could say that has gladly closed a large circle of public school visits this year, giving us a successful run and the opportunity to see the Freinet techniques in practice.There, Mrs Badikian welcomed us cordially and sooner than our scheduled appointment, giving us the opportunity to enter the classroom and see the film crew of the third class who was currently producing its own short film. The work they did was really impressive, but we were more impressed by the maturity they had to work together and solve any problems that arose in the making of the film. We followed the students through the discussion to find solutions to their problems and to improve their existing work. Finally, they shared the responsibilities that everyone had to carry out until their next meeting. Then we took part in the Γ1 class of the high school where we introduced ourselves and raised our own topics for discussion. It was striking that Mrs Badikian through active roles helped us understand the process of the class council. Towards the end of class, through a topic voted for discussion that referred to the actual existence of a vocational orientation lesson in schools, the students "opened up" and asked us various questions that addressed this topic, creating a beautiful environment for discussion. Then our group changed room and went to section Γ3, where we also participated in the What's New technique. After we had time at our disposal, the students formed groups of three, which we shared as leaders. Each group had to choose a theme from the ten given to us, all of which were about human rights, especially of children, where each group had to support its choice with examples and arguments.In conclusion, we would like to emphasize once again on how important it was for our learning that we were actively and experientially involved in all the processes of Freinet Techniques in a real school environment, convinced that these Techniques could be applied to school practice". 

Students through the experiencial application in schools of those which they are taught in experiential laboratories as part of the Teacher Education Curriculum perceive the connection of pedagogical theory with school practice with a strong mnemonic trace.