The Greek speaking Minority Education in Istanbul: how open is it?

The Greek speaking Minority Education in Istanbul: how open is it?Eleni SELLANational and Kapodistrian University of AthensGreece

GREECE, TURKEY, ISTANBULIMVROS (Gökçeada) and TENEDOS (Bozcaada)

Eleni SELLA, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece

image captured by GoogleMapsimage captured by GoogleMaps

1st part:

1. Presentation of the Greek speaking minority in Istanbul,

2. Historical sociolinguistic status: population, school and extra-school settings, use of Greek

3. Educational profile of the Greek Orthodox minority: past and present 3.3.1. Pupil population 3.3.2. Educational problems of Greek linguistic shrinkage: How Greek should be taught, the teacher specialisation specificities

2nd part:

4. The Greek speaking Minority Education in Istanbul and the OERs 4.1. Research findings 4.2. Conclusions: Central question of this session

5. Conclusions- Open discussion: Opinion on the selected policy recommendations

The Greek speaking Minority Education in Istanbul: how open is it?


1. Presentation of the Greek speaking minority in Istanbul (1)

The historical, both religious and linguistic, Greek Orthodox Minority of Istanbul, and the islands of Imvros (or Imbros or İmroz) and Tenedos, with a bilingual educational policy consistently with the Treaty of Lausanne, is faced today with a serious problem of language shift. The bilingual behaviour of its members, stabilized until recently, with Greek as a mother tongue and Turkish as a second language, is rapidly changing towards monolingual behaviour, to the benefit of the prevailing language of the state where the minority lives, i.e. Turkish.

• There are many and varying political, social, economic and educational factors that contribute to this observed change. The aim of this contribution is to identify and present these factors, by focusing on the domain of education. We particularly address the potential of open education to address some of these systemic factors. Learning resources at present consist of paper and some digital materials which cannot fall within the definition of Open Educational Resources (OER).

• In the first section of the paper we present the Greek speaking minority education, its specific traits and the consequent problems, with the aim to find solutions to the problem of the observed linguistic change. In the second section we address teacher practices regarding openness, namely willingness to co-elaborate and share educational resources within the given educational context.

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1. Presentation of the Greek speaking minority in Istanbul (2)

• The Greek Minority in Istanbul falls under the category of the so-called

historical Greek Minorities. The Greek Orthodox community is an indigenous minority with long standing historical existence in Istanbul, as well as in Imvros and Tenedos.

• However, heavy emigration to Greece, combined with pressures and restrictions applied historically to the community, raises concerns as to the survival of the Greek language of the bilingual community, which remains, nowadays, approximately, only 2.500 people, in over 18 million population of such a huge city like Istanbul.

• During the decade of 2000, things have changed to the detriment of the Greek language. It is observed that young men and women feel the need to use Turkish. This proves that the attitude of the minority towards the Turkish language has been changing from generation to generation. Our hypothesis is that the extending use of Turkish will limit even more the use of Greek.

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2. Historical sociolinguistic status:

population, school and extra-school settings, use of Greek (1)

The Greek language in Istanbul: Demographic research has shown that Greek is spoken only in a few areas in Istanbul, while it is not at all in use in the islands of Imvros or Tenedos, while only 300 greek-speaking people remained in the islands of Imvros or Tenedos.

The Greek language is used in school, at church, and within the family environment, with the condition that both parents are Greek-speaking.

The Turkish language is continuously gaining ground within the Greek Orthodox minority. Greek is still used, painstakingly, for the communication needs of middle-aged bilingual speakers. We have observed the factors determining the use of Greek and Turkish language to be: i) the age of the speakers, ii) family and social background and c) social status.

Turkish language enjoys higher status, both socially and culturally, as it allows access to higher social echelons; at the same time its position is strengthened as it connects the speakers to the modern way of life, symbolising the attachment of the community to a greater group, the Turkish state.

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The Greek-speaking minority of Istanbul maintains a tight-knit connection to Greece, where their mother tongue constitutes the official state language; at the same time many community members have relatives and friends residing in Greece.

The children of the Greek Orthodox minority in Istanbul are being brought up in a bilingual environment where Turkish and Greek are spoken, with Arabic as a third language. Arabic is the language of another category of bilingual Greek Orthodox children who, according to the Turkish authorities, can frequent the same classrooms as the Greek children, as early as preschool.

As for the children coming from mixed families, the common language used at home is Turkish. This results in children who do not acquire a close-enough contact to the Greek language until they reach the age of primary education, while the Arab-speaking children, who usually, have a better knowledge of Turkish, are suddenly confronted with a language which is literally foreign to them, Greek.

Today, with the Turkish language gaining constantly in status, good knowledge of Turkish is necessary for all vital communication needs of the minority members. So, the use of Turkish became synonymous to an upscale in social and cultural status and, over time, an upscale in financial status, which consequently led to further depreciation of the mother tongue (Greek).

2. Historical sociolinguistic status:

population, school and extra-school settings, use of Greek (2)

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3. Educational profile of the Greek Orthodox minority: past and present (1)

3.1. Greek Orthodox minority schools (number of pupils and schools: constant reduction of pupil numbers and change in pupil composition)

The evolution of the Greek Orthodox minority education depicts the decline in the population of the Greek

diaspora in Istanbul. While

• in the 1955-1956 school year (in total 51 schools) with 5,380 and 1,209 pupils for the 1976-1976 school year, (in

total 32 schools), with the respective number of students being 1,150 and 862.

• the school year 1999-2000 only a few schools seem to have survived: 10 primary education schools and 3

secondary education schools (in total 13 schools) with 127 and 148 pupils respectively

• the school year 2013-2014 (in total 7 schools), with 119 and 125 pupils respectively.

Graphic presentation of the number of pupils on roll at minority schools from the years: 1955 to 2010

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3.2. Some facts on primary and secondary education In the Greek Orthodox minority schools of Istanbul, in compliance with the

Lausanne Treaty, education is offered in two languages: Greek and Turkish. More particularly, the courses: “Greek Language”, “Greek Literature”, “Physics”, “Biology”, “Chemistry”, “Mathematics” are taught in Greek, while the courses “History”, “Geography”, “Modern Turkish History”, “Civic education”, “Sociology” are taught in Turkish. Moreover, English is being taught as a foreign modern language.

The educational staff employed by the Greek Orthodox schools is divided in three categories: a) the “Rum” (Greek Orthodox, with Turkish citizenship), who are employed following the approval of the Turkish Ministry of Education, b) the Turkish educational staff, who are civil servants employed by the Turkish ministry and c) the Greek educational staff, who are being “transferred” from Greece.

Greek language maintains its mother tongue status, and the young members of the minority use it to communicate exclusively within their private sphere. This mother tongue is evolving into a language rich in loan words and expressions from Turkish. The decline in the use of Greek is mostly due to the absence of any stimulus expressed in the language outside the school environment.


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3.2. Some facts on primary and secondary education Furthermore, youths are not being taught Greek history, or Geography,

(subjects limited to but a few chapters in their textbooks), while Greek language and literature is material “scarcely” provided. This comes as a consequence of a largely deficient Greek-speaking education, which cannot be overcome or counterbalanced by the family environment.

In the parenthesis we’ve included the number of pupils enrolled at the Zappion preschool.

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3.3. The minority school as a condition of communication: a multilingual or monolingual school environment?

3.3.1. Pupil population: The heavy emigration of community members from Istanbul has resulted in significant

reduction of the pupil population. The arrival of Arab-speaking children to minority schools of Istanbul, who corresponded partly to children with Arab as mother tongue and partly to children with Turkish as mother tongue, combined with their gradual increase in numbers in relation to the dwindling population of the Greek Orthodox minority children, established Turkish as a lingua franca, even inside Greek Orthodox minority schools. Currently, the percentage of Arab-speaking children may, in some cases, exceed 50% of total pupil population. This phenomenon creates a complex situation from both a linguistic and an educational perspective.

Mixed marriages constitute another important factor that we need to take into consideration, 61,5% of the total number of marriages regarding minority members residing in Istanbul that have taken place from 1993 to 2005 are mixed marriages.

This particular sociolinguistic background, combined with the deficient learning of both the Greek and the Turkish languages, the late arrivals of transferred teachers from Greece, the lack of books and the constant control of school life by the Turkish assistant school principals, have made many parents of Greek-speaking families take the decision to move their children from minority schools.

At present time, a number of greek-speaking or mixed families children of primary and secondary education are attending international schools (French or English speaking colleges).

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Pupil population in Greek Orthodox Minority schools in Istanbul and Imvros

Population composition for the school year 2015-2016


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3.3.2. Educational problems of Greek linguistic shrinkage: How Greek should be taught, the teacher

specialisation specificities :

The factors, which have significantly determined the deterioration of minority education:

a) Bad quality of school textbooks, regarding the courses taught in the Greek language or about the Greek language. For decades, teachers had to find recourse to notes, photocopies or old textbooks that had received the state approva (Greek and Turkish)l. Those deficiencies have been largely overcome during the last few years with

- textbooks that were created specifically for the needs of the greek speaking pupils of minority schools and printed by a private organisation (the Ecumenical Federation of Constantinopolitans), since the Greek state did not have the capability to provide the funds for a printout of the course books of the minority schools.

- textbooks for the instruction of Greek as a foreign language.

But, as a consequence of the situation described above, educational material taught is lacking structure and is ailed by various insufficiencies since it is a product of an empirical rather than a scientific process.

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3.3.2. Educational problems of Greek linguistic shrinkage: How Greek should be taught, the teacher

specialisation specificities :

b) Teachers’ specialization in bilingualism and multilingualism?

Setting aside all the purely administrative problems of transferring Greek/Rum teachers to the Greek Orthodox minority schools , there are more important, purely scientific issues regarding the specialisation of those teachers who, due to the particularities of the bilingual status of their students, should be highly knowledgeable in all matters relevant to the linguistic, sociolinguistic, psycholinguistic and educational aspects of bilingualism.

c) finally, the last ten years, the financial crisis and its consequences on the status of the Greek language amongst the population of the Greek minority in Istanbul: absence of socioeconomic motivation to use the mother tongue (Greek).

These observations show that the up-to-recently established language attitude of the Greek Orthodox minority is shifting from bilingualism – which concerns up to the generation of those who are currently 40 years of age – to monolingualism, with Turkish language dominating, especially future generations.

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4. The Greek speaking Minority Education in Istanbul and the OERs (1)

Following the overview of the Greek-speaking education in minority schools of Istanbul, Imvros and Tenedos, it is important to bring the attention to educational matters. The demographic decline of the Greek-speaking population in Istanbul and Imvros is something that cannot be addressed. What can be done, though, is ▫ modernize the teaching methods of courses taught in the Greek language at

school; ▫ cultivate a new philosophy on minority education; ▫ enhance Greek-speaking learning experiences for students inside and outside the

school environment. The heterogeneous student population, combined with unbalanced teaching methods

and resources are constantly producing negative learning outcomes. Records show that student outcomes present with significant variability and could be characterised as rather negative!

This wild dissimilarity becomes obvious in any given classroom, where the Greek language is, for some students, a second or a foreign language while, for others, it constitutes their mother tongue. Respectively, learning objects and modules taught in Greek, are equally addressed to groups of fundamental incongruity: Greek-speaking and non Greek-speaking.

The educational background of teachers is disparate (the Greek-speaking part of the school curriculum is taught by teachers educated in Greek Institutions, and the Turkish-speaking part of the curriculum is taught by teachers educated in Turkish Institutions).

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4. The Greek speaking Minority Education in Istanbul and the OERs (2)Educational material could fall under two categories: i) traditional textbooks for learning Greek, and other courses, addressed

to Greek-speaking students (books issued by the Greek Ministry of Education) and

ii) textbooks for learning Greek as a foreign language (books issued by the University of Crete, collection named “Margarita”) complemented by digital content including language exercises and audio, which can be optionally used by the teacher. But, as regards to this material, it is important to point out that it cannot fall within the definition of Open Educational Resources (OER).

In general terms, it is safe to say that the educational system in the Greek-speaking minority schools of Istanbul cannot properly function as it is. It requires radical changes in order to find a balanced approach constituting an educationally viable “modus vivendi” between students of different mother tongues, while equally blending the different training background of the teachers.

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Open Educational Practises (OEP) as well as Open Educational Resources (OER) once encompassed in current educational practice can offer a credible solution, enabling educational staff to be released from the mandatory use of any “official” educational material provided by the Greek Education Ministry. At the same time, it enables teachers to abandon a secondary educational source that was provisionary, at best, and certainly insufficient to provide educational material for all education levels of the minority schools.

We would aim at encouraging and stimulating educators to use or repurpose Open Educational Resources, possibly even cooperate with the LangOER network, in order to come up with the appropriate content intended for the specific group of students, based on the principles of the OER principles. This would help develop a knowledge repository of all learning objects.

It is possible to develop a site parallel to, or part of, the Greek Digital Learning Object Repository “Photodentro” (photodentro.edu.gr), which would service the educational needs of Primary and Secondary education of the Greek-speaking minority of Istanbul. The material created should be available online, residing on public domain and released under the appropriate content licence allowing for the no-cost access and use of the digital content for educational purposes.

The same content could be used by educators teaching students having Greek as a second language (i.e. to Greek diaspora schools, with 1st, 2nd and 3rd generation of Greek emigrants all over the globe), or for students who learn Greek as a foreign language.

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To my knowledge there are no Open Educational Resources (OER) for teaching Greek as a second or foreign language, which is a grave omission given that Greek constitutes a less used language (LUL) and a minority language.

Moreover, it would be realistic to assume that the educational policy in Greece or in Turkey would oppose the use of such educational material within the classroom. This is highly probable, given that the modules and the educational material are subject to strictly scrutinized interstate agreements between the two countries. At which point, the use of OER could be extended under the framework of Open Educational Practices, allowing for flexible teaching outside the classroom. We tend to think that such practice could invigorate the Greek language, increase student engagement and have a positive impact on student results. At the same time it would be a practice educationally innovative, promoting creativity with regard to content, objectives, approach, activities and methodology.

A large-scale Greek digital learning object repository for primary and secondary education can be found on the website called “Photodentro” http://photodentro.edu.gr/lor/ with smaller-scale Photodentro repositories up and running in parallel, such as http://dschool.edu.gr/. We could begin building up from this existing repository, initially examining whether the material available is applicable, or if it can be repurposed in a way that can be used for the educational needs of the Greek-speaking children of the Minority in Istanbul. If not, new content may be developed, based on the principles of open educational resources and practices, of which the educators should be informed.

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4.1.Research findings (1)

In our effort to investigate how familiar teachers are with open educational resources (OER), and develop an understanding of their intentions and feelings towards the use of OER, we have developed a questionnaire, organising a survey specifically addressed to the teachers of the Greek-speaking Minority schools of Istanbul.

From a grand total of 68 Greek-speaking educators, one third has participated. According to the evidence gathered, one may draw the following general conclusions, albeit temporarily (since the survey shall be repeated):

a) Educators are left to their own devices, facing an adverse situation with students of different mother tongues and different cultural backgrounds, co-existing in an environment dominated by another more commonly used language. Furthermore, the Greek language knowledge level, even within Greek-speaking students, is quite variable: there are those with Greek as mother tongue, while others have Greek as a second language. The third group, of non Greek-speaking students, approach Greek as a foreign language.

b) The educational material at their disposal is often characterised (by teachers) as “insufficient and inapplicable” to “non-existent”:

According to answers received by educators in Istanbul:i) “The first four classes of primary school use the Margarita series for learning Greek as a

foreign language. There is also a quite particular compilation provided by the Ecumenical Federation of Constantinopolitans, which is based on the official Greek textbook of the Greek Ministry of Education. This material has the approval of the Turkish authorities. The book and digital material of the Margarita method may also being used on occasion.”

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This testimony suggests that the educational material is chosen according to the composition of the student population:

For non Greek-speaking students a “traditional”, non-open educational material is used for learning Greek as a foreign language (that would be for the Arab-speaking of Turkish-speaking pupils). At the same time, for pupils having Greek as mother tongue, as well as for children having Greek as second language (children coming from mixed families), the choice of educational material is exclusively intended for students with Greek mother tongue. Moreover, according to the testimony examined, the choice of the educational material depends on the preference of the educator, who has a choice of two different types of material for three linguistic profiles of students in primary education. Finally, we wish to draw attention to the expression “on occasion”, used here, which suggests that not even “classic”, non-open digital content is being used on a systematic basis by educators...

ii) “Since no material from the Margarita series has been approved with regard to the 5th and 6th class of primary school, colleagues usually download Margarita 5-7, depending on the level of their students.”

In other words, as far as those pupils are concerned, evidence demonstrates that the choice of educational material is shrunk into one sole source. Interpreting the evidence here suggests that the teachers perform a simple download of the Margarita series books, intended for learning Greek as a foreign language, in a digital form (no hard-copy).

iii) “In junior high-school, the official Greek textbooks on Greek language are being used, which have the approval of the Turkish authorities – they are almost identical to those circulating in Greece- and considered particularly hard by our pupils. This is why our colleagues teaching Greek language have to make a selection of content they find on the Internet, in order to cover their needs in educational material.”

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For the pupils of secondary education it appears that the educational material for learning Greek depends on the selection made by their language teacher. The evidence shows that educational staff is completely alone in their difficult task, while there is absence of scientific or state support and guidance, therefore each teacher picks the provisionary solution of their preference...

iv) “In high school, there is no approved language textbook, so Greek instructors are literally improvising. We’ve managed some level of coordination among the three minority schools, though, so that the same phenomena and subjects are being presented, approximately, in all classrooms.”

Finally, as we see here, in order to teach the Greek language in high school, language teachers “improvise”, again without any support or guidance, drawing solely on their own expertise and experiences!

According to testimony received by educational staff in the island of Imvros it is indicated that their source of educational material is different, because of a difference in pupil composition:

“All our students –with the exception of one- are repatriated from Greece and are familiar with the textbooks of the current program (of the Ministry of Education), so until now we did not have to use the Margarita series.”

In the island of Imvros it was possible for the Greek Orthodox minority school to resume its activity in 2013, following a closing of 49 years (in 2015, a secondary school also resumed its activities). The long shutdown period was due to an operating ban imposed by the Turkish authorities in 1964. The pupils of the currently operating primary school are the grandchildren of those who had to abruptly evacuate the island of Imvros and seek refuge in Greece. First and second generation of natives that had to repatriate to Greece are returning now back to the island, along with their families. Their children, born in Greece, have Greek as their mother tongue and constitute the “core” of the student population currently attending at the Greek-speaking minority school of Imvros.

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As shown above one can safely hold the assumption that educators come across significant difficulties in their work, while they are in search of the appropriate educational material... We firmly believe that open educational resources can have a consequential role if they are encompassed in this search.

As for the attitude and the level of familiarity of the teachers regarding OER, the answers we have received, through our survey, can give us reason to be hopeful, especially given the circumstances...

Two indicative answers are the following:“I know about Photodentro, because I frequently use the site «online textbooks». I find it very

interesting and I sometimes use it, especially for Greek students. But I don’t think its material can be applicable for teaching Greek as a second or a foreign language.

The European network (you are referring to) could probably constitute yet another source for material intended for Greek language teaching in our schools. This is why I believe it would be very important to receive more information about it.”

- I didn’t know about Photodentro. But I went through the material and my answer cannot be any more positive.... Absolutely, its material can be used by us (school in the island of Imvros).”

To summarise, our impression is that the educators, in their majority, are not familiar with OER; those who are familiar with the digital learning object repository «Photodentro» are using it passively, in its more «traditional» form. Thereby they use the language textbooks «sometimes», only for students with Greek as their mother tongue. They do not use the educational material for non native speakers of Greek (Greek as a second or foreign language), because they believe that their level of Greek language knowledge does not allow them to benefit from it.

However, they express an interest in receiving more information on OER, as they consider that “it might constitute yet another source of educational material in teaching Greek language – as well as other courses- taught in our schools”. We should point out that their answers show that they have not attempted to modify the material, out of «fear of the unknown» and poor knowledge of the technical aspect demanded for such an effort.

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4.2.Conclusions Central question of this session: To answer the question: «Policies for OER in

less used languages: are nations and regions using lessed used languages side-lined?», we could offer the following observations as far as the bilingual minority community discussed above is concerned.

• A small percentage of educators are passively using open educational resources. • Teachers are not actively involved in content creation as a group and do not

subsequently participate in collective creation practices that enable sharing of open access teaching material.

• Teachers consider that the existing material found under the digital learning object repository Photodentro is unwieldy as far as students with Greek as a second, or Greek as a foreign language are concerned.

• Teachers are asking to receive information, training, and instruction about OER, either in the form of live seminars and courses or through distance learning opportunities.

• Thus, we could appeal to language teachers to engage in helping develop open educational resources specifically intended for students with Greek as a second language and/or Greek as a foreign language (both categories are necessary for reaching the student population of the Minority schools in Istanbul). Moreover, such content could prove particularly beneficial to other stakeholders as well, besides the particular minority student population.

In order for the educators to take part in the events of the LangOER network they should receive information enabling them to explore the principles, the policies, the management, the creation and sharing of open educational resources.

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5. Conclusions - Open discussion (1) Opinion on the selected policy recommendations:

i) [regarding the recommendation]: Governments should: Support collaboration with other nations or regions in establishing quality OER in LUL

- We should make sure that a national information campaign reaches language teachers, briefing them on open educational resources. This campaign needs to have the approval of the Turkish state, given that the educational material intended for the Greek-speaking education in Istanbul is subject to interstate agreements between Greece and Turkey.

ii) [regarding the recommendation]: The European Commission should: Revitalise the commitment to OER that it expressed in Opening Up Education, with a particular focus on OER in LUL as a means of maintaining cultural and linguistic diversity

- We could urge Turkish teaching personnel of the minority schools in Istanbul and Imvros to become familiar with OER and take them up so as to create, in collaboration with their Greek colleagues, bilingual Open Educational Resources (in Turkish and Greek). This action could be particularly beneficial for bilingual students, while it could enable the enhancement of their competencies in the language they are less familiar with. Finally this «bipartite» bilingual material should help the students become better acquainted not only with the languages of their everyday life, but also the civilisation of the two language communities, helping revitalise the linguistic and cultural diversity of Istanbul and Imvros.

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iii) [regarding the recommendation]: Institutions should: Facilitate teacher and support staff training in the creation, adaptation and use of OERs.

- The results of our survey suggest that teachers are «receptive» into being educated on open educational resources and open educational practices. Information needs to be disseminated and effort needs to be put so that it can be demonstrated that with regard to both substance and practice OER and OEP are beneficial to their work.

We believe that a reliable means of disseminating information on OEP is through institutional channels: minority schools should help train teaching personnel, which in turn would mean that the Ministry of Education in Greece and Turkey need to propagate their use. During our initial investigation, trying to establish an understanding of the inclination of the minority schools in Istanbul towards OER and OEP, we came in contact with the Assistant Coordinator in Education, at the Greek Consulate in Istanbul, who responded very positively to the idea of an information campaign addressed to teachers on the dissemination of OER in the Greek Orthodox minority schools there. The next step would be to approach both national authorities, which need to embrace the effort of training teachers in creating, adapting and redistributing content through Open Educational Resources.

Thank you for your attention.

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5. Conclusions - Open discussion (2)