Education and Financial Crisis: The Case of Greece

Abstract

The financial crisis and the subsequent social change in Greece had a direct impact on the institution of education. This paper presents the effects of austerity on school operation and the measures Greek schools take to overcome problems caused by education cutbacks. The study took place in schools of Eastern Macedonia-Thrace, a region in northern Greece that has been severely hit by the financial crisis. The population of the research was teachers of primary and secondary education and the sample came from 119 schools. 752 teachers answered to a closed questionnaire with some open items stating their views on school operation in times of austerity and mentioning the strategies that schools develop in order to cope with recession. The main finding suggests that school operation and the quality of education in Greece have deteriorated since 2009. However, the study reveals that schools have developed social support systems and new skills to respond to the crisis.

The Greek life-long learning centers in the post-debt crisis era: evaluation of the effectiveness of mentoring in adult trainers training

“…Thus, the mentoring process seemed to have a rather fragmentary effect, as the success rates, with respect to the desired objectives, were not as expected and its advantages were rather unclear to the trainees. The aforementioned results and conclusions undoubtedly reflect the dramatic developments in the Greek education system, issued from the lack of sufficient financial resources, in conjunction with the significant budget cuts caused by the Greek Debt Crisis (Azaria et al, 2017;Vergeti and Giouroglou, 2018).…”

“…Unfortunately, the country was now experiencing an unprecedented recession, with social indicators collapsing and unemployment and income inequality rates rising. As a result, the impact on the range of educational institutions was equally severe (Azaria et al, 2017;Vergeti and Giouroglou, 2018).…”

Parental unemployment and adolescents' academic performance

“…The authors indicated that families' low socioeconomic status and class disruption predicted low academic performance, with students whose families could ensure access to a school with more resources enjoying a better class environment (Geritsidou and Paizi, 2017). Vergeti and Giοuroglοu (2018) employed data from primary and secondary schools in northern Greece and found a deterioration in schools' operations due to the implications of the recession. The authors suggested that, for the period 2009-2016, social changes affected the educational system by degrading schools' operation, with negative consequences for learning outcomes due to class malfunctioning, as well as the lack of student motivation (Vergeti and Giοuroglοu, 2018).…”

“…During the Great Recession, an increasing number of students could not cover basic needs, thus leading to social inequalities in the classrooms (Drydakis, 2022;Vergeti and Giοuroglοu, 2018;Kakana et al, 2017;Tsakiridou et al, 2014;Gouvias et al, 2012).…”

Ελλάδα Και Ευρωπαϊκή Ένωση 20ος, 21ος Αιώνας

“…Στην Ελλάδα, τα οικονομικά μέτρα λιτότητας που επιβλήθηκαν από το 2010 έχουν ως αποτέλεσμα, μεταξύ άλλων, τη δραστική μείωση των δαπανών για την εκπαίδευση, τη μείωση του εκπαιδευτικού προσωπικού με την κατάργηση τομέων, τις συγχωνεύσεις ή καταργήσεις σχολικών μονάδων, τη διαθεσιμότητα και τη μείωση των προσλήψεων, καθώς και την αύξηση της συχνότητας φαινομένων υποσιτισμού στη μαθητική κοινότητα. Η οικονομική κρίση επιφέρει αρνητικές επιπτώσεις στη λειτουργία των σχολείων 1004 και έχει αρνητικό αντίκτυπο και σε νέους εκπαιδευτικούς θεσμούς, όπως τα σχολεία 2 ης ευκαιρίας και η ενισχυτική διδασκαλία, που θεσπίστηκαν μέσα από μεγάλες εκπαιδευτικές μεταρρυθμίσεις 1005 .…”