In 1957-58, the Pedagogical Academy of Heraklion was transferred to cover the growing need for attendance in buildings with specific architectural specifications at A. Papandreou Avenue (formerly Academia).
After the establishment of the Pedagogical Departments (1984), the Pedagogical Academy terminated its operation, offering us valuable historical evidence on teacher education.
At this stage, as a consequence of the requisition, the Academy operated in the temple of St. George, Mina.
Teacher education at the Pedagogical Academies was based on an ethnocentric example and aimed at cultivating national ideology and developing national consciousness.
National anniversaries were used to stimulate patriotic sentiment in the name of the nation's unity. In this spirit, the official educational policy was also pursued,
as derived from the following extract from the Minutes of the Teachers' Association (1950-51), concerning no. 3092 / 23-10-1950 Circular of the Ministry of Religious
Affairs and National Education "On Political Recruitment": "There was a wide discussion on this issue after the relative proposition of the Director of the P.A. and it was decided by the teachers to make every effort to comply with the spirit of this Circular and the general cultivation of the national sentiment of the students and of the devoted love and dedication to the country and the nation.”
"The Association has taken into consideration the suggestions of the Director but has also heard the accused student express his repentance and therefore unanimously decides: To impose on the 1st year student a light sentence of an 8-day expulsion from classes from March 5th 1963 and reduces his conduct to a serious misconduct against a professor."
Within the framework of the Pedagogical Academies, however, it was also intended to praise those students "performing exceptional acts or demonstrating general beneficial student and social activity" (Royal Decree, 923/1966, article 24).
The students of the Pedagogical Academy followed a strict and suffocating time study program in the spirit of a regulatory pedagogy with emphasis on pedagogy and behavior. Such a program led de facto to a schooling of the Pedagogical Academies and made them "formally" supreme institutions. Their general context, the curriculum and the daily compulsory schooling confirm that they had been, for a number of years, a "two-year extension of the Gymnasium". An example is the extract from a 1971 practice of the Teachers' Association, which refers to the issue of absences and excludes participation in student exams because of absences.
The pedagogical climate also reflected the hierarchical relations of power. In an exhibition of 1964-65, the Academy states: "The attachment to the Greek-Christian ideals, the sense of duty, love, discipline and respect for the teachers are traits of student conduct." We must recognize, however, that there were scientific fields which the Pedagogical Academy contributed to their development. For example, through folklore projects, rich folk materials were saved from tradition. In some fields of the curriculum as well, also on a practical level, we can gather information on a school of works. The completion of studies marked the vindication of the students' effort, but also the family’s sacrifices, as through the coveted degree the road was opened to professional rehabilitation and social recognition. The graduation ceremony was an important event both for the Academy and graduates.
Today, in the classes of the Pedagogical Academy, students of the 53rd and 54th elementary school of Heraklion are educated.
