The Operational Framework of the Greek Educational System as an Obstacle to the Implementation of Sustainable School

Abstract

The introduction of sustainability education into the educational reality in recent decades to raise student's awareness of environmental, social and cultural issues has gradually led to a change in the perception of school as an organization at all levels of its function. The traditional approach of school is receding and the concept of sustainable school is emerging, transforming school into a factor of change of attitudes and behaviors, into a major lever of transforming society toward sustainability, leading to the revision of leadership and organization views. In Greece, sustainable school is a utopian image in an ideal society. The efforts made are fragmented and incomplete, as the narrow legal framework which is determined by the state. A number of practices are strictly followed on issues that cover the whole spectrum of the educational process, such as the appointment of school principals, teacher placements, teaching instructions, funding and financial management of the school unit, limiting the margin of the school administration to achieve a sustainable use of the available resources in order to continuously develop and improve school as an educational organization. The Greek educational system, through the uniformity of laws in all its fields, inhibits the implementation of sustainable school by lifting cobblestones and obstacles that this article attempts to illuminate.

Distributed Leadership in Greek Public Schools: Limits and Conditions

“…He is responsible for achieving a high level of performance and good behavior of students at school at the educational level and for the smooth operation of the school at the administrative level {...} and is responsible for the smooth, harmonious and effective operation of the school, its coordination of school life, the supervision of the operation of the school, the observance of the laws, the circulars and the official orders, as well as the schedule of the program" [44]. Hence, despite these attempts to decentralize education (Laws 1566(Laws /1985(Laws , 2043(Laws /1992(Laws , 2817(Laws /2000(Laws , and 2986(Laws /2002, the reduction in schools' vertical reliance on central administration was not followed by a school's incorporation into the local community [36].…”

“…Other characteristics of bureaucratic organization are centralism in decision-making, standardization, clear division of labor and formal and impersonal relationships between people (Pasiardis, 2004). This system of hierarchical relations and formalism it is structured by a complex web of laws and regulations that communicate with one another, limiting the opportunities for creativity and efficient administration [35,36] In particular, at the central level, the Greek Ministry of Education has the general responsibility of shaping and formulating educational policy at all levels of education. In this context, educational policies are defined and their scope is regulated.…”

“…As mentioned above, the centralized system of school organization leaves little room for activation and initiative for principals and, consequently, for teachers. The formalism fueled by centralization sets a negative pressure on a series of procedures, and any change is likely to be seen as a danger to the established balance and power, leaving the head teacher with no room to implement sustainable leadership principles [36].…”

Κρίσιμοι Παράγοντες Ανάληψης Περιβαλλοντικών Δράσεων Στα Σχολεία

“…Το μεγαλύτερο ποσοστό των ερευνών χρησιμοποίησε την ποιοτική ή τη μικτή μέθοδο έρευνας (69%) και μόνο ο Ernst (2012) διερεύνησε ποσοτικά τις απόψεις 98 διευθυντών σχολείων πρωτοβάθμιας και δευτεροβάθμιας εκπαίδευσης που στήριζαν την ΠΕ. Επίσης, υπάρχουν δυο βιβλιογραφικές ανασκοπήσεις Uline, 2019· Muller et al, 2020) και δυο κριτικές θεωρήσεις από δευτερογενή δεδομένα (Carr, 2016· Kougias andEfstathopoulos, 2020).…”

Unraveling the complexity of the associations between students’ science achievement, motivation, and teachers’ feedback

“…While there are many possible factors contributing to this trend (e.g., school, family, peers), it is argued that the most proximal factors influencing achievement, that are of educational and psychological importance, are those related to processes taking place in schools, classrooms and students themselves, such as teaching strategies as well as students’ motivation to learn. More distal factors, such as the structure of the educational system or the national curriculum, are typically stable and beyond the influence of students and teachers in centralized governing systems, such as the Greek one ( Kougias and Efstathopoulos, 2020 ). The psychological processes, though, that are under the explicit control of the learners are malleable to change ( Winne and Nesbit, 2010 ), and, thus, susceptible to psychoeducational interventions.…”