Over the past six years the Modern Greek Teachers’ Association of Victoria (MGTAV) has led an initiative to investigate the state of teaching and learning of Modern Greek in Victoria. On the basis of commissioned research carried out by the esteemed Professor Joseph Lo Bianco, the Association organised workshops, sponsored conferences and debates on the troubling findings. Essentially the overall teaching and learning of Modern Greek is in steady decline. Unfortunately, every year the number of programs, teachers and students declines further.
Compounding this loss of systemic provision of Greek in education, Census results confirm a noticeable decline in the number of homes where Greek is the main language of communication, meaning that every year fewer children are raised speaking Greek. This dual challenge of Greek declining in the public education system and retreating in the home domain is a cause of significant concern. On 23 February 2020 the MGTAV released a full set of data from its commissioned research and launched the outlines of a possible strategy at a highly successful media and community event held at Lalor North Primary School. There was extensive media coverage and a great deal of public support for the initiative of a unified strategy to tackle and reverse the trend of decline.
Despite the disruptions of COVID-19 lockdowns, the Association, in collaboration with the Modern Greek Studies Program at La Trobe University, has worked assiduously to build a broad coalition of interested parties from the Greek Australian community, to devise a strategy and plan that can unite the community’s efforts.
Under the leadership of the Greek Orthodox Community of Melbourne and Victoria (GOCMV) and the MGTAV, a coalition of groups and individuals campaigned to reverse La Trobe’s proposal to close its Greek Studies program. On a very welcome note, on 15 December 2020, an accord was signed by the university, the GOCMV and the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia to secure the continuation of Modern Greek at La Trobe University over the next three years, and on the 26th of October 2022, the University announced the program’s definite continuation moving forward.
The spirit of this cooperation and decisive action that characterised this achievement, combined with the ongoing efforts of the MGTAV, culminated in two key groups being formed: the La Trobe University & Greek Community Partnership Steering Committee, focusing on supporting the La Trobe University Greek program; and, the Pharos Working Party, focusing on revitalising Modern Greek in Victoria. Comprising all key stakeholders, the Pharos Working Party formed on April 13, 2021, and prepared the Modern Greek Strategic Plan which was first disseminated for widespread discussion, before being launched on the 1st of May 2022. Simultaneously, Professor Lo Bianco’s book ‘Pharos:
The vitality and presence of Modern Greek in contemporary Australia’ was published.
The intention of the Strategic Plan is to provide a succinct and publicly accessible strategy and plan to unite and coordinate the efforts of the entire community of Greek speaking, Greek identified Australians, allies, and supporters. While the focus is initially on Victoria, we are committed to supporting the emergence of a coordinated, national approach.
Further decline and loss of Greek is not inevitable; evidence of this can be seen in the doubling of enrolment numbers in La Trobe’s Greek program over the last four years. The number of teaching programs overall can be increased, the amount of use of the language and its depth and reach can be improved, the interest and commitment of young people to identify with and actively seek opportunities to communicate in Greek can be extended and enriched. It is with this optimism that we have created the Modern Greek Strategic Plan, aware that only concerted, coordinated and cooperative effort can achieve our shared aim of keeping Greek healthy and prominent in Australia.
Currently, there are over 35 dedicated individuals, all of which demonstrate the representative and broad cross-section of the entire Greek Australian community, volunteering their time to help us revitalise Modern Greek, including representatives from: the Modern Greek Teachers’ Association of Victoria, La Trobe University Modern Greek Studies, the Greek Orthodox Community of Melbourne Victoria, the Archdiocesan District of Northcote (representing the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia), Community Languages Victoria, the Association of Greek Language Schools Victoria, the National Union of Greek Australian Students Victoria, and the Greek-Australian Society.
The general principle behind the strategy is that we need to advance Greek in three broad areas. These are: 1) To build capacity in knowledge of Greek, so that more young people learn the language to a level that gives them confidence to use it; 2) To create opportunities to deepen and enrich their knowledge of the language; and 3) To connect with the language on a personal level.
As of June 2022, various Pharos subcommittees have been formed which correspond to different aspects of the Modern Greek Strategic Plan. As part of Building Capacity, Pharos’ goals so far have been to maintain and expand current Greek language programs, to establish new programs, and, to support families to raise their children bilingually.
The subcommittees currently are working on:
- issuing a statement of excellence for the teaching of Modern Greek
- increasing the amount of qualified Greek staff
- supporting seconded teachers from Greece
- increasing student numbers in all sectors
- increasing the awareness about the value of learning Greek
- establishing new preschool and kindergarten programs
- raising awareness about the importance of raising children bilingually
Already, Pharos has had success in playing a pivotal role in the retention of the Modern Greek Program at La Trobe University, as well as securing a meeting with the Minister for Education’s office, where supporting schools with Greek programs, and the possibility of receiving some funding for a paid Pharos position were discussed. The Department of Education has responded immediately to our first requests, and as a result of this the Greek Programs at Lalor North Primary School, and Coburg West Primary School have received support, allowing them to remain strong, viable programs within our community. While the request for funding is still to be decided, the Department of Education seemed very willing to support our initiatives and was very impressed by the united effort to revitalise the language.
Our next steps include a widespread promotional campaign and ways forward for VCE Greek.
Follow Pharos Facebook via Facebook.
*Anita Kolaitis is the Vice President of Modern Greek Teachers Association