Pedagogical Practices and Teacher Collaboration in Intercultural Reception Classes in Greek Primary Schools

This study, which utilizes Basil Bernstein’s theoretical framework, aims to investigate the pedagogical practices implemented in the Reception Classes in Educational Priority Zones (RC EPZ) in primary schools, which were set up in Greece as support for the educational needs of socially and interculturally vulnerable student groups (such as refugee children). In addition, it aims to investigate the development of collaborative relationships between the teachers in these reception classes and their colleagues who teach in the normal classes that the RC EPZ pupils come from. The research was conducted using semi-structured interviews and with the participation of 18 teachers who taught in RC EPZ primary schools in the region of Central Greece. The main findings of this study revealed that the pedagogical practices of the teachers in the RC EPZ are characterised by weak classification and framing and lean towards the rules of implementation of an invisible pedagogical practice. What’s more, it emerged that collaborative relationships between the RC EPZ teachers and the normal class teachers were significantly limited and scant. Article visualizations: