HISTORIC REVIEW

ASPETE's establishment in 2002 was paved by the vision, mission, and long tradition of academic excellence of SELETE, a Technical & Vocational Teacher Training Institute, founded in 1959. SELETE's growth and mission was closely related to the economic development of Greece in the fifties. Right after World War II, the Greek government became aware of the need to place particular emphasis on the provision of vocational training in several traditional and new technical specialties. This meant developing and planning a system of Technical and Vocational Education in both, the public and private sector. Such an institutionalization entailed the systematic training of teachers of technical and vocational subjects, and it was to this end that SELETE was founded by state-law in 1959 (Law 3971/1959).

When SELETE was first founded, the prevailing trend for the education and training of Technical and Vocational Teachers was that of the "add on" approach. That is, the focus was primarily on pedagogical training and only a small component of the curriculum pertained to technical or vocational subjects. Later, in the seventies, a parallel approach was adopted, that urged integrating pedagogical training with technical and vocational training. This new approach led to the establishment of two separate Schools under SELETE:

• The Pedagogical Technical School (PATES), which maintained the tradition of the "add on" pedagogical approach and included the following Departments:

       a.  Department of Tertiary Education Graduates

       b. Department of Secondary Technical & Vocational Education Graduates           

• The Higher School of Pedagogical & Technical Education (ASETEM), which adopted the same approach at the level of Tertiary Education and included the following Departments:

                a. Department of Electrical Engineering Educators

                b. Department of Electronic Engineering Educators

                c. Department of Mechanical Engineering Educators

                d. Department of Civil Engineering Educators

                       (i) Option of Structural Engineering

                       (ii) Option of Transportation Engineering & Hydraulics

SELETE continued to function with this structure until the end of the academic year 2001-2002, when it was nullified in favour of the establishment of an upgraded new School, officially named ASPETE (Law 3027/2002, Article 4).