PurposeThis paper investigates the levels of career resilience and self-efficacy of the principals of primary school units, identifies the relationship between them and determines the effect of the demographic elements of the sample on their career resilience and self-efficacy.Design/methodology/approachThe convenient sample of this study was 165 principals from public schools across the prefecture of Central Macedonia. A total of 422 questionnaires were mailed to all principals of kindergarten and elementary schools, accompanied by a personal letter to inform them about the procedure and the purpose of the survey. A pilot survey took place to check the adequacy of and get feedback on the questionnaire. The questionnaire used in the study consisted of three parts: The Career Resilience Scale (CRS) by Kodama (2015), the Principal Self-Efficacy Scale (PSES) by Tschannen-Moran and Gareis (2004) and demographic questions.FindingsThe results of the survey showed that principals have high levels of career resilience and very high levels of self-efficacy. There are four factors that form the levels of career resilience: (a) problem-solving skills (b) social skills (c) interest in innovation and (d) optimism for the future. Demographic factors play a role in shaping career resilience as they affect two of the four factors. There are two factors that shape levels of self-efficacy: (a) self-efficiency in administration and (b) self-efficiency in moral leadership. Demographic factors play a role in shaping the factor of self-efficacy that refers to administration. Finally, there was a high positive correlation and a causal relationship between career resilience and self-efficacy.Research limitations/implicationsThe convenient sample used in the present study is a limiting factor, as it may not be representative of Greek primary school principals. Also, research is based on self-evaluation questionnaires, which may show a lack of objectivity, as the answers may reflect the personal worldviews of leaders and particular needs of educational institutions (Sarid, 2021). This fact may not allow us to generalize the results.Practical implicationsThe present study showed that resilience and self-efficacy have a causal relationship and that one enhances another, making their relation pivotal for a successful educational leadership. Regarding the professional development of school leaders, educational leadership training programs could be designed and offered by the Greek Ministry of Education (Dexter et al., 2020). Coaching programs and practices that help principals develop social skills, coping mechanisms, emotional capacities and confidence in one's knowledge should be widely introduced. Governments have to take the necessary initiative to ensure that, particularly in adverse contexts, education stimulate and nurture resilience and self-efficacy among citizens, by promoting appropriate lifelong learning programs and by ensuring the continuous training of employees (Renko et al., 2020).Social implicationsCareer resilience and self-efficacy ensures economic prosperity in times of crisis, globalization and rapid technology development and may be the best way to create strong and successful leaders. Coaching programs and practices that help principals develop social skills, coping mechanisms, emotional capacities and confidence in one's knowledge should be widely introduced. The results of the present research could prove helpful in developing strategic plans, building networks between organizations to improve communication and flow of information, through employee exchange programs.Originality/valueThis research, which combined career resilience and self-efficacy, took place for the first time in Greece. The CRS by Kodama (2015) was also used for the first time in Greek population.

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The present paper describes the design and implementation of an in-school teacher training in managing student behavior and investigates its impact on teachers and their students. The training was based on adult learning and group-leading strategies (development-application) as well as Social-Emotional-Learning and School-Wide-Positive-Behavior-Support approaches (content). Research questions were formulated as follows: a. Does the participation in the training (i) lead to the formulation of a misbehavior dealing methodology? (ii) affect the use and sense of usefulness of targeted strategies by teachers? (iii) affect the school climate, teachers' self-efficacy, students' behavior and academic performance? and b. how consistent are these effects in the long term? The training consisted of training meetings, coaching and distance education and was implemented in a Thessaloniki's middle-school, using a neighbor middleschool as control-school. Impacts' stability was checked by follow-up tests after four and twelve months accordingly. A convergent parallel mixed-methods design was used for data-analysis. Through the training a school's Community of Practice was developed in the intervention school, that defined and supported a positive behavior management methodology and corresponding strategies. Directly after the training completion, teachers-trainees reported increased professional self-efficacy, teachers and students evaluated their school climate as more positive and students' ODRs decreased, compared to control school. Four months later and without the trainer's support, school's Community of Practice gradually weakened but training beneficial effects remain stable. Benefits decreased after one year, reaching pre-training level. Ways to maintain beneficial results and a sustainable in-service teacher's professional development policy are discussed.