Job realities of primary school principals in Greece: similarities and variations in a highly centralized system

Abstract

This study aims at investigating primary school principals' work on a daily basis in order to understand the ways in which the centralized educational system affects their practices. Four typical cases of principals were selected and asked to keep daily records for a period of four months. Data from logs were complemented with data collected through semistructured interviews with the principals as well as through discussions with the teaching staff. Results show that the transactional-bureaucratic model in line with the current legislation and administration tradition shapes principals' activities to a large extent. School administration, school organization and internal relationships are the most important areas of principals' activities. Educational-pedagogic issues constitute only a marginal area of their activities. The homogenization of principals' activities is so high that they do not seem to be affected either by school contextual factors or by the individual principals' personal traits. However, features pointing towards a more transformative-instructional model of leadership were identified. These features are: (a) the democratic-participative nature of decision-making, (b) the intimate relationships existing in most schools and (c) the motivation that some principals have towards creating a unique identity of their school and communicate it to the hierarchy and the community.

Η Μετασχηματιστική Ηγεσία Στη Δημόσια Δευτεροβάθμια Εκπαίδευση Στην Ελλάδα: Διερεύνηση Των Απόψεων Των Εκπαιδευτικών

“…Τόσο η συμφωνία όσο και η διαφοροποίηση των ευρημάτων της παρούσας από αντίστοιχες έρευνες δύναται να ερμηνευτούν στα πλαίσια της περιόδου μετάβασης (Dimopoulos, Dalkavouki & Koulaidis (2015) και μεταρρυθμίσεων που διανύει η χώρα, όπως φαίνεται από το πλήθος των νομικών διατάξεων (ενδεικτικά: Ν. 1304/1982, Ν.…”

Proposing a Primary School Principalship Model through Positive and Negative Metaphoric Perspective

“…Primary school principal as an Olympic flame carrier is an Olympic runner as a qualified athlete targeting to win, a busy bee working in harmony with other bees who is seen as a dynamic and example world leader throughout the organization they work for whereas a primary school teacher as an Olympic flame carrier is the power of the garden as the raiser of rare roses of the garden and the continuous supporter of raising rare roses who behaves as an approver and encourager farmer/gardener. Primary school principals require to establish a democratic-participative while making decisions, supply a closely relationship among the staff and the schools around and provide motivation to create a particular identity of their school [6]. Similarly, students require "acquiring excellent innovative and creative competencies" which are products of educational systems, school and school leaders [37].…”

Ομάδες Πρωτοβουλίας Και Επαγγελματικής Ανάπτυξης Εκπαιδευτικών Με Τη Συμμετοχή Σχολικού Ψυχολόγου Και Της Διοίκησης Σχολείου

“…Στο σημείο αυτό τονίζεται το κίνητρο που έχει ένας διευθυντής να διαμορφώσει το σχολικό περιβάλλον. Κάτι τέτοιο αφορά και στην περίπτωση της Ελλάδας, όπου η έντονη ομογενοποίηση των καθηκόντων του διευθυντή εμποδίζει μεν την εστίασή του σε θέματα που αφορούν το πλαίσιο του σχολείου του, αλλά κάποιοι διευθυντές έχουν το κίνητρο να δημιουργήσουν μία ξεχωριστή ταυτότητα για το σχολείο τους και να την επικοινωνήσουν με την τοπική κοινότητα και τους σχετικούς φορείς (Dimopoulos et al, 2015).…”