– Giannis, this is the first time I have seen a conference like “Play on Early Education” in Greece.
– Indeed. We wanted to bring to Greece some outstanding keynote speakers, who for three days would show how play can be brought into pre-school education. Playing, as we perceive it, has certain features, but these are not negotiable. That is, play should not be directed by adults and should be spontaneous, starting with a need, which arises from the children themselves and with which, using various elements, they can create a whole new world. This kind of play helps children from a very young age to become strong, self-reliant and independent, and they learn to recognize their emotions, to advocate and become 6-7 year old citizens. Because we believe that this kind of play is very helpful in pre-school education, we wanted to give the general public the opportunity to get in touch with some of the best in their field so that we can give back to society. On the other hand, it is a step towards our long-term goal, which is the creation of a school abroad.
– One of your speakers is a professional playworker. What exactly does that mean?
– It may sound utopian, but the work of the playworker is to ensure that children play properly without adult interference. In essence, their role is to take care of the playground, and the procedures of play are set up so as to allow children to play, using up the possibilities of the objects they have been given, continuously extending their boundaries and seeking new elements with which they can engage. If we give a kid a roll of duct tape, they will find thousands of ways to use it. They can make a wheel, a window, a ring, a crown or whatever else they think up. If we give them a car, they are forced to play with this one thing which only has one use. That is why a playworker makes sure there are tires, ropes, cords, pipes, sticks – the so-called loose parts – in the playground so that the children can build anything from a ship to a spacecraft. We believe that those who attend the conference and come into contact with these people will leave being not only better teachers but also better people.
– What is the relationship between a good teacher and a good person?
– You cannot be a good teacher if you are not a good person. Someone who does not have first of all love for their fellow people, or someone who hates children, can never become a good teacher. To become a teacher – as we at least understand the notion of that – and to help children evolve and discover the world with love and excitement, you should first of all have good personality traits as an individual. In the US they say something that I absolutely believe: “You do not become a teacher for the income. You become one for the outcome.” Worldwide, teachers do not receive the recognition they really deserve, neither financially nor professionally, and this was very accurately imprinted recently on the cover of the New York Times. That’s why you should like what you do. I assure you that those who participate in this conference have this profile. Not one person from the Faroe Islands or Vermont comes to Greece to talk about their school if they have no enthusiasm for what they do.
– How did you get started in education?
– I was a financial officer in companies and since 2000, chief financial officer. My daughter Nefeli was born in 2006 and when she was two years old, my wife, Daniela, started looking for a kindergarten. She was disappointed with what she saw, and especially with what they were telling her. Daniela is a pianist and she has always given music lessons to children, so at some point she tells me, “I want us to set up a school.” Her idea was the Dorothy Snot (named after the book of August Corto, “The disappearance of Dorothy Snot”) and the turn that our life took is connected with the implementation of her vision. At the end of 2011, I also left the other jobs I was involved in and since then, I have been working exclusively with the school. I have a lot less money in the bank than when I was CFO, but I have never been so happy. We created a school out of our own personal need and we did it in an innovative way, precisely because we are not teachers. We had no idea how a school should be set up and so we did it according to how we would like it to be. This is not an easy task, but it is a very good model that keeps out all the stereotypes and the usual practices, helping you focus on what you really believe is worthwhile.
– Which are the characteristics of a good school?
– One of the key features is the trio, respect – trust – freedom. Respect the wishes of the children, trust them, and at the same time give them the necessary freedom to realize what they want. Also, a school should be an institution to produce culture and ideas, and for this to happen, there must be on one hand an interactive relationship with society, and on the other hand freedom, based on a clearly defined and non-negotiable framework. There is no freedom without framework and the framework should apply to everyone in the same way. The fact that I am the headmaster of the school, for example, does not give me the right to disregard the framework or in my case only apply it partially. A school is about creating standards, so the people involved in it must have values it is faithful to, within the defined framework.
– Do you think that school and the way we have been brought up has played a role in the rise of the far right during the crisis?
– The great issue that led to the crisis and the emergence of such phenomena is the lack of education, in the sense given by Hadjidakis to that word. Education is not about making you learn a physics manual by heart. Education is about teaching you to think, to have reason and judgment. And in difficult times not to panic, but to think about what has happened and to act on what is good for you. One of the many things children learn in a good pre-school is how to recognize and manage their difficult feelings. If you have not learned from an early age to recognize your feelings, consider that this is very important for you and broach it openly to the other person, not in order to fight, but to find a solution, otherwise you will hardly find solutions to your problems. Surely education can change this condition, but it takes time and vision.
– Thank you very much for the discussion.
– Thank you, too.
