The School of Pedagogical and Technological Education or ASPETE (Α.Σ.ΠΑΙ.Τ.Ε.) is a Greek University which specializes in training teachers.

ASPETE’s establishment in 2002 was paved by SELETE (Σ.Ε.Λ.Ε.Τ.Ε.), a Technical and Vocational Teacher Training Institute (Σχολή Εκπαιδευτικών Λειτουργών Επαγγελματικής και Τεχνικής Εκπαίδευσης), 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.

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:

1. 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 Graduatesb. Department of Secondary Technical & Vocational Education Graduates:

2. 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 Instructors.b. Department of Electronic Engineering Instructors.c. Department of Mechanical Engineering Instructors.d. Department of Civil Engineering Instructors.

(i) There is an option of following the Structural Engineering principle and/or (ii) Transportation Engineering & Hydraulics Instructors