“European School Radio(ESR)” the first student radio
A short description in English
The web radio station called, “European School Radio” (ESR) http://www.europeanschoolradio.eu/ , is a school radio for all school levels and is implemented by a large network of associated schools, now more than 160 schools and 40 students applied independently in Greece and 8 in Europe. It is on air 24 hours 365 days a year with schedulled music and broadcasts programme (eg. 2013-14). It is hosted on the streaming media platform of the TEITH Educational Institution (ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΕΙΟ ΤΕΧΝΟΛΟΓΙΚΟ ΕΚΠΑΙΔΕΥΤΙΚΟ ΙΔΡΥΜΑ ΘΕΣΣΑΛΟΝΙΚΗΣ, www.teithe.gr) and the Pan-Hellenic School Network (P.S.D.) (www.sch.gr), which was created for this exact reason, in video-streaming services, educational Channels.
A short history
The web radio station has a history back to 2009 when it operated as a web radio of a few schools. It started as an initiative of four High school teachers (Kampanis senior and junior High School, Kilkis, Greece). After a succesful period, it was immediately supported by P.S.D. and the Ministry of Education in Greece. Now, is a network of hundreds of schools that implements it. The production of the broadcasted programme is created by the school community and within the limits of school procedures and, it is on the basis of volunteerism. It serves educational and entertainment targets for students aged 4 to 18. It is also absolutely, a non-for-profit radio station. Now, it is under the management of the Non Profit Scientific Society with the distinct name “European School Radio”. The ESR is an original initiative which is placed in a wider educational philosophy and wants the student to look at school as a place of creativity and expression. The ESR shows the ideas, the creations, the concerns of the school community. It answers to the quests for a more dynamic and direct way of contact and education of children with the wider environment, taking into consideration the great interests toward new technologies. The involvement of students, is spread to all the stages of development of the Radio as they participate in groups either of technical support or production of a broadcasting programme. School students have created the LOGO and the SPOTS, and they renew the Radio Website with news and issues, they produce music playlists with their own voices included, they take interviews and they tell various news that concerns students. ESR urges school pupils to view school as a place of participation, expression and creativity and it can contribute to :
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- Connecting School to local and wider Community
- Connecting Schools to each other in a network of contact and cooperation
- Promoting a positive climate to the school environment.
The participation in the radio is a developing process. Through this team-activity children can among other things:
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- Develop a co-operative and communication skills in order to improve their contact with other people
- Develop a critical thinking so that they are going to be able to judge the information they receive.
In fact, European School Radio is an idea that was established in 2010 but the origins comes two years earlier. In 2008 the School Innovation Network (Δίκτυο Σχολικής Καινοτομίας) had the idea to experiment with a specific small high school in Athens, the Ekali High School and try a school activity called “Radio Ekali”. At the same time, in Fall 2009, in Kampanis Senior and Junior High School in Kilkis Greece, teachers who are now the leaders of the current successful ESR Radio, had the idea to experiment with their own radio and eventually has joined Radio Ekali to create a small network of schools. In November 2010, the team of teachers from Kampanis High School undertook the co-ordination of all activities and renamed the school radio network as “European School Radio”. It has put new bigger goals to expand and addressed an open invitation to schools, teachers and pupils in order to participate with their own productions. The team created a working and coordinating committee with 5 core members; they created specific platform and procedures that supported a full radio program for many schools. Eventually, every year the number of schools participating doubled; since 2015 the participant schools over exceeded the 400 in total from Greece, Cyprus and some from EU countries. The nature of our Web radio station is recreational and educational. The recreational section includes a selection of music, from all kinds of he Greek and Foreign music industry. In the educational section, programmes which promote and elevate environmental sensitivity, fondness of reading, artistic and social actions, as well as, the schools’ activities, will be broadcasted. The informative programmes may also include thematic approaches and material, news concerning Arts, Science, technology, Sports, Education as theme, tributes and interviews of respectable and reputable people. The nature of the broadcasts has been formed as a result of a survey among the students via questionnaires which were publicised online. The radio station is organised withing the boundaries of school activities, and it is addressed not only to the Pan-Hellenic School Network but also to the European one. The participation of every member of the Pan-Hellenic School Network, especially that of the students is available to state and private institutions/schools , not only Greek, Greek speaking but also to European ones. Although, the official language of the radio station is Greek, it promotes the idea of multiculturalism and multilingual participation. It has been realised as a result of the collaboration among the members of the school community, primarily, of the students and teachers in the domains of organisation, production technical support and communication. The coordination of the radio groups for each school, is assigned to the teacher in charge. The producers are solely responsible for each broadcast and they are obligated to supervise their content before it is broadcasted. The producers’ opinions and views do not necessarily coincide with those of the radio station. The Coordinator school is Kampanis Junior and Senior high school, it is not operating as a director or censor whilst the Panhellenic School Network should not be held responsible, in any case, for ESR content on its blog/web site, since the Internet radio station is solely accommodate on its technical platform. Freedom of expression and communication are the primary objectives of the radio station. The producers and broadcasters, though, are obligated to express themselves in an non-offensive manner. Taking advantage of their status, in order to answer purposes other than those above, is also unacceptable. The Coordinating Team for European School Radio (ESR), since 2013 started a legal entity called “European School Radio Society” (Αστική Μη Κερδοσκοπική Εταιρία, “Διαθεματικό Διαπολιτισμικό Ραδιόφωνο της Εκπαιδευτικής Κοινότητας με τον διακριτικό τίτλο, European School Radio). A non for profit scientific society with tens of members all over Greece which represents, guides and leads the operation, coordination and development of ESR and also gives all the necessary scientific background. ESR had organised and delivered many annual Radio School Festival with the participation of thousands of students and teachers. In addition, it has set up a plethora of educational programmes, seminars, events , participating and covering many other events. ESR co-organised hundreds of events and projects together many public and private bodies , including the Ministry of Education, eg. with the Educational Radio-TV and the platform of “i-create” and the creation of a central radio service through P.S.D. In the current ESR, many students that were participating as youngsters and pupils at the schools, have grown up and joined the European School Radio Society in the main team and also some of them were inspired by the Radio and now study Journalism. The ERASMUS+ project NEStOR (2016-2018) delivers Online Radio Platform and also the the guides, documentation and the scientific justification and analysis, all appropriate to run the new enhanced ESR Radio. In fact, the knowledge and experience from the radio has been passed to the new Radio which will develop new features and possibilities to support a European wide coverage. The project is coordinated and lead by European School Radio Society.
