The innovation of zones of educational priorities in Cyprus. Curriculum and Teaching

Abstract

This article examines Zones of Educational Priority (ZEP), an innovation in its fourth year of implementation within the Cyprus Educational System. The ZEP concept aims at reducing social inequality through three distinctive paths: (a) allocating certain privileges to schools and teachers (b) applying innovation in teaching methods, and (c) mobilising of local action. Many efforts where made and several projects developed by the steering committees. However, the innovation’s abstract orientation, broad goals and objectives along with its theoretically grounded philosophy often collided with many aspects of the existing educational system. One can argue that even though the innovation stems from the centralised education organization, it functions parallel to the main system, still failing to penetrate its structures in order to produce any noticeable results. The underpinning notion of the whole innovation is rooted within the political arena. A more thorough analysis of the strategic plan of the implementation indicates that changes carried out in a cosmetic manner not only fail to tackle the problem but sustain injustice while producing an alibi for the state.