European Journal of Education Studies
ISSN: 2501 - 1111
ISSN-L: 2501 - 1111
Available on-line at: www.oapub.org/edu
10.5281/zenodo.160695
Volume 2│Issue 7│2016
ALTERNATIVE FUNDING OF SCHOOLS IN EUROPE
Evangelos C. Papakitsos1i, Xanthipi Foulidi2,
Konstantinos Karakiozis3, Evangelos Theologis4, Argyrios Argyriou5
Adj. Prof. Dr., School of Pedagogical and Technological Education,
1
Department of Education, Greece
Lecturer Dr., National School of Public Administration and Local Government of Greece
2
Secondary Education Directorate of West Attica, Youth Counseling Station, Greece
3
Secondary Education Directorate of West Attica,
4
Center for Counseling & Guidance of Elefsina, Greece
Adj. Prof. Dr., Athens University of Economics & Business,
5
Department of Management Science & Technology, Greece
Abstract:
The present article investigates the alternative means of funding for schools in Europe.
Because of the economic restrictions for several European countries in recent years,
schools internationally seek alternatives in order to improve the current situation,
beyond government funding. These alternatives are broadly classified in European
Union and private-sector resources, including the concepts of Virtual Enterprise and
Open School . The relevant policies of several European countries are also presented,
as an example indicating that the alternative means for the funding of schools are
innovative but realistic proposals.
Keywords: school funding, virtual enterprise, open school
1.
Instruction
The state resources that are available to meet the operational needs of schools in most
cases are not sufficient, due to the economic downturn in recent years for several
European countries, especially in the South (e.g. in Greece, the decline of GDP reached
27% between 2008 and 2015, according to the data of ELSTAT, 2015). Meanwhile, since
2008 in Europe with the onset of the global economic crisis, a public dialogue has
Copyright © The Author(s). All Rights Reserved
Published by Open Access Publishing Group ©2015.
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Evangelos C. Papakitsos, Xanthipi Foulidi, Konstantinos Karakiozis, Evangelos Theologis, Argyrios Argyriou ALTERNATIVE FUNDING OF SCHOOLS IN EUROPE
commenced on a more effective management of public expenditure (Eurydice, 2014). In
this context, schools internationally seek alternatives beyond government funding in
order to improve the current situation. This article explores alternative means of
funding for schools in Europe, based on European Union funds, private funds (cash
prizes of student competitions, donations, business operations, etc.), as well as the
ability of the usage or rental of the schools infrastructures by local organizations or
individuals, developing Open School actions.
2.
Funding of Public Education from Public European resources
At the end of the 20th century, amounts recovered from European public resources
began to fund the operational needs of schools. Specifically, an indirect but major
funding of primary and secondary education schools was the one from the Operational
Programme for Education and Initial Vocational Training (OPEIVT-I and II:
Zogopoulos, 2013; Nodara & Sella, 2008; Spyropoulou et al., 2008). Under OPEIVT-I
(1994-1999) of the 2nd European Union (EU) Support Framework that was also cofinanced by the European Commission, the European Social Fund and the European
Regional Development Fund, several projects had been implemented to improve:
curricula;
books and infrastructure of the Primary and Secondary Education;
school extracurricular activities that include Environmental Education, Health
Education and Consumer’s Education;
the training of large numbers of teachers;
the integration into the educational system of students from specific categories,
such as people with disabilities (HMERA, 2000).
As part of OPEIVT-II (2000-2006) of the 3rd EU Support Framework some of the
actions of OPEIVT-I continued. Projects were funded:
against school drop-out with alternative forms of learning;
everyone and especially for those people that are threatened by social exclusion;
learning;
for the promotion of equal opportunities for access to the labor market for
for improving the initial vocational education and training as part of lifelong
for the promotion of vocational guidance and the connection with the labor
market.
Under the Partnership Agreement for the Development Framework 2007-2013
(PADF), innovative and development programmes were implemented in primary and
secondary education schools, funded by 75% from the European Union funds and 25%
from national resources. The same dynamics is observed in the PADF 2014-2020, which
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Evangelos C. Papakitsos, Xanthipi Foulidi, Konstantinos Karakiozis, Evangelos Theologis, Argyrios Argyriou ALTERNATIVE FUNDING OF SCHOOLS IN EUROPE
includes projects financed by the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) of
the EU.
The funding of schools is possible nowadays through the Erasmus+ Programme 20142020 (IKY, 2016). This is a programme of the European Commission, which is also
implemented in education, having the goal of improving the skills of teachers. The
relevant “ction
Learning mobility of the educational personnel
offers to the
personnel of public schools the opportunity of acquiring learning experiences in
another country, mainly in order to improve:
the knowledge, skills and abilities of teachers within the school environment;
European countries, as well;
also their language skills by knowing the civilization and the culture of other
and to develop a sense of European identity.
With the “ction
Strategic Partnerships , the educational agencies schools,
Regional and/or Local Education Directorates) have the opportunity of developing and
enhancing the transnational cooperation between organizations that are active in the
field of education. The desired goal is to involve participants from different areas
related to education, and from different countries, in order to produce high-quality
innovative products, by utilizing the interaction of their skills and experiences to
generate positive long-term effects for the entire educational community that
participates, as well as causing improvements in the systems and policies for education
in Europe. Finally, in the same programme, the “ction Support to Policy Reform
Issues
supports the reforms of the public policy of the Member States and seeks
cooperation with third countries, including exchanges of good practices. This support
includes the implementation of European transparency tools, conducting cross-national
studies and supporting specific action programmes, including as well the Bologna
Process for higher education and the Copenhagen one for vocational education and
training.
The eligible agencies for submitting financing proposals in the INTERREG
EUROPE 2014-2020 programme are the Regional and Local Secondary Education
Directorates. The fundable projects aim to improve the implementation of policies and
activities for the regional development, which mainly concern the achievement of the
investment objectives of Growth and Employment and, wherever is necessary, the
European Territorial Cooperation, by promoting the exchange of experiences and
learning policies in participants of regional interest. To achieve all the above, during the
programming period 2014-2020, the funding projects are related only to a small number
of thematic objectives in a total of five priority axes, thus targeting more specific actions
and achieving the most effective results possible. Specifically, the priority axes regard:
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Evangelos C. Papakitsos, Xanthipi Foulidi, Konstantinos Karakiozis, Evangelos Theologis, Argyrios Argyriou ALTERNATIVE FUNDING OF SCHOOLS IN EUROPE
research; technological development and innovation; competitiveness of small and
medium size enterprises; low-carbon economy; environment and resources viability.
3.
Funding of Public Education from private sector resources
Private resources that can be allocated to the school funding are the prizes of student
competitions, donations, business operations, etc. Undoubtedly, in this case, the
resources are very limited (Spyropoulou et al., 2008: 442). Accordingly, numerous
competitions are recorded, having thematic variety, diversity of objectives and prizemoney rewards.
3.1.
Virtual Enterprise of schools
The programme
Virtual Enterprise
is implemented in cooperation with the
international non-profit educational organization Junior Achievement Worldwide
Francomano,
and offers the opportunity for students to become entrepreneurs .
They can create and promote:
online services;
board games;
original cosmetics;
smart applications for mobile phones;
radio stations;
utilitarian objects;
decoration and nutrition products;
but also social, environmental and cultural enterprises.
The promotion of their creations is conducted in Student Fairs, while the revenue
is available to charitable purposes.
3.2.
Public schools open to society
The resources needed by schools are classified in human, financial and material ones.
The main goal of educational administration is to manage the allocation of these
resources, based on the constraints that exist. In this context, the investments are made
to maintain the existing material resources or to develop new ones, among other
activities. How can we invest the limited financial resources available in order to
maximize the benefit of schools? In this case, the options are very difficult and a
valuable tool is a cost-benefit analysis, based on answering the following two questions
(Everard et al., 2004):
a) Has it been made an effective use of resources in terms of past and present?
b) How can we achieve a future resource usage in cost-benefit terms?
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Evangelos C. Papakitsos, Xanthipi Foulidi, Konstantinos Karakiozis, Evangelos Theologis, Argyrios Argyriou ALTERNATIVE FUNDING OF SCHOOLS IN EUROPE
According to the relevant bibliography, the co-operation of the schools with the
local social organizations and in general with the local community and authorities can
contribute to better learning outcomes through (Athanasoula-Reppa, 2008):
the development of activities in which learners (children / students or adults)
will be able to develop their interests and talents;
the usage of existing school facilities and infrastructure for supporting actions of
lifelong learning.
At international level, this practice is already followed by many countries. For
example, the relevant policy followed in some countries is presented next, according to
the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) figures:
i)
In Austria, schools are used both for educational and non-educational purposes,
such as: adult education, sports or cultural activities or youth support activities.
Especially for Bundesschulen schools, such actions are one of their main purposes,
for enhancing their autonomy and for covering their maintenance costs. Under
the current legislation, the cost and time frame for renting school facilities are
identified by the local municipalities that manage these facilities. Especially for
schools threatened with closure due to the small number of pupils, an important
argument to prevent such decisions is how important these school-facilities are
for local communities (OECD, 2015a).
ii)
In Belgium, the use of school buildings and facilities after school-hours is a
common practice in many schools. In particular, primary and secondary
education school buildings are used during the afternoon shift: for adult
education programmes; by private organizations or sports clubs that rent both
classrooms and sports facilities; or they used for activities during school holidays
(OECD, 2015b).
iii)
In Slovakia, the school facilities can be rented by organizations or persons upon a
decision of the owner of the school, but without obstructing the teaching or the
after school activities of pupils, provided that the required safety regulations are
respected. The school facilities are normally used by school clubs that provide
educational or other activities and evening education sessions (OECD, 2015c).
iv)
In Iceland respectively, each local community or upper secondary education
school is responsible to develop its own policies for the usage of school facilities
after school-hours. Generally, the local communities put great emphasis on the
use of primary and secondary education school-facilities by third parties. For
example, many compulsory education school-buildings are used as youth centers
and sometimes for activities such as local choirs, chess games, etc., that are
organized for adults or elder people by the local community or nongovernmental organizations. Also, some schools in rural areas are used as motels
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Evangelos C. Papakitsos, Xanthipi Foulidi, Konstantinos Karakiozis, Evangelos Theologis, Argyrios Argyriou ALTERNATIVE FUNDING OF SCHOOLS IN EUROPE
for tourists during the summer period. Finally, some schools charge a fee for
renting their sports facilities to local sport clubs (OECD, 2015d).
v)
In Estonia also, school buildings are widely used for activities after school-hours,
such as athletic adult education or craft programmes. Specifically, in a survey
conducted recently, 77% of school-facilities are used for non-school activities
(only 50% for upper secondary education schools and 82-90% for other schools).
The cost of using these facilities is calculated by their respective owners. Usually
it varies depending on the type of usage and often is for free, particularly for
local community members (OECD, 2015e).
vi)
Finally, in Cyprus, the institution of
Open School
has been already
implemented since 2007 (Ministry of Education and Culture, 2016). The
Education Ministry of Cyprus proceeded to use the school-facilities in
cooperation with the municipalities and local school boards. During the school
year 2014-2015, more than 11,000 citizens of all ages participated in the
programmes of Open School (Municipality of Nicosia, 2015; Municipality of
Lakatamia, 2015; Municipality of Latsia, 2015). The aims of this action include:
the use of school premises as culture, sports and creation centers, when not
covering the objectives of the curriculum; the activation / participation of citizens
in society and the strengthening of school-local community relations; promoting
experiential and collaborative learning. In this context,
financed through the Fund of
such actions can be
Open School , other European programmes
and/or from the contributory cost of some services, such as:
the organizing of sports, theater, film, dance and other cultural activities,
events and exhibitions;
the organizing of informative lectures on social and educational topics;
computer training;
the organizing of environmental education and training programmes or of
the use of school libraries by the citizens and for borrowing books.
Consequently, the schools play an important role in maintaining community
cohesion and to the preservation and transmission of local history and culture (Berry &
West, 2010). They also contribute to the increase of social capital within the community
and to the cooperation of all members of the community with mutual benefits.
Similarly, the social capital that schools promote has a positive effect on the social life of
the community when the latter supports and is involved in school activities (Moulton,
2001). Besides, the specific actions should be considered financially as an investment in
education that returns to the local community (Chalkiotis, 1999).
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Evangelos C. Papakitsos, Xanthipi Foulidi, Konstantinos Karakiozis, Evangelos Theologis, Argyrios Argyriou ALTERNATIVE FUNDING OF SCHOOLS IN EUROPE
4.
Conclusions
The presented herein alternative means for the funding of schools are innovative but
realistic proposals. They ensure the growth of scarce resources that schools need these
times in many European countries, but they also ensure multiple educational benefits
for the entire educational community.
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