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This paper aims to investigate whether educational leadership in Greece implements the values of total quality management and contributes to the improvement of the educational process, and to offer proposals for a framework of total quality management that would contribute to an improvement in the overall quality of the education process.

The paper is based on theoretical analysis and on the current legislative framework. Three different aspects of the Greek education system are critically reviewed and discussed.

This study recognises that, due mainly to the lack of a long‐term educational strategy, the absence of an educational leadership development programme and limited financial support, the Greek educational system needs to review its structure and procedures ‐ even those that are “taken for granted”.

Given the differences between education and industry, and the fact that only three different aspects of the Greek education system are investigated here, more research and analysis would be required in this field.

The paper is useful to educational planners and policy makers. From the perspective of total quality management, there may be a substantial impact on the improvement mechanisms and outputs in education, contributing to a country's social and economic well‐being.

The paper contributes to the better understanding of the value of total quality management in education, and offers recommendations that may be more widely adopted, and may contribute to an enhancement of overall educational quality.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate and assess the role played by university governance in the effectiveness and efficiency of the higher education system through literature analysis and the management evaluation method of Organization and Methods (the O and M technique) and argue for a more radical change in, and greater scrutiny of, university governance so as to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of university operations and thus yield a more optimal satisfaction of social needs.

The paper employs the O and M technique in order to investigate and assess the role played by university governance in the effectiveness and efficiency of the higher education system.

The “objective” is education and knowledge and there is no room for experimentation in the system. The higher education sector does not need experiments to develop further. Rather, it deserves cautious, creative and innovative consideration and needs a very distinctive treatment of national problems. No matter the policy orientation of the system, higher education policy makers should not forget that higher education has a tremendous influence on peoples’ attitudes and beliefs so the focus should be on the actual knowledge on social responsibility and on the commitment of higher education to serve social interests and needs.

The analysis developed in this study would benefit from a deeper exploration by investigating more numerous and diverse examples from the international arena of higher education.

This study acts as a complement to previous research on higher education governance since it develops further the analysis and the understanding of university governance. By using as examples two countries with different orientation in their higher education system (mainly due to differences in cultural and ideological perceptions) and keeping in mind that there is no ideal model for university governance, this study could enlighten decision makers in any country to develop a more effective and constructive model of university governance that would serve societal interests more effectively.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a comprehensive account for careers within the Greek academic system. Historical, cultural and geographical features of the country have created a unique context that has shaped the way academic careers evolve.

The primary methods of data collection were retrospective participant observation and discussions in interview form with individuals who have had various types of experience with the Greek Higher Education system.

The major factor that shapes careers in Greek academia is social capital or know-whom that operates within a broader cultural environment where institutional collectivism is extremely low, the in-group – out-group distinction is a major element, and political party affiliation plays a key role in everyday affairs. As a result academic careers in Greece are almost exclusively determined by membership, a priory or earned, to an “in-group” that is linked via blood, family friendship, business and political party ties. This “in-group” uses its social capital to control academic careers across all stages for the benefit of its members.

There are method limitations, but relevant concerns were largely alleviated by precautionary measures and the way data were utilized. Ethnography may be the most appropriate method to disentangle the way networks and social capital impact careers.

Achieving substantive change, such as increasing meritocracy, within a sector may be impossible without considering the broader cultural context that encapsulates it.

The study is among the very first to unveil the “dark side” of social capital, and show how social capital may benefit the interests of in-groups at the expense of the collective.

The purpose of this paper (based on the relevant literature) is to: investigate, through empirical analysis, primary school teachers’ perceptions regarding their job satisfaction, and examine whether or not the personal characteristics of primary school educators (such as gender, age, family status, educational level, and the total years of service in public primary education) have any impact on their job satisfaction.

In total, 360 questionnaires were administered to primary school teachers in the metropolitan area of Athens (region of Attiki). The sample was randomly selected. The questionnaire was based on 41 closed and was divided into two sections. The Job Satisfaction Survey developed by Spector (1985) was implemented.

Greek school teachers are generally satisfied with their profession. There is no statistical correlation between personal characteristics and the overall satisfaction while indicated that teachers are more satisfied with three aspects (subscales) of job satisfaction, namely, “administration,” “colleagues” and “nature of work” and less satisfied with “salary,” “benefits” and “potential rewards.” Age correlates with the levels of satisfaction with reference to administration, potential rewards, colleagues and the nature of work. The overall satisfaction positively correlates with all nine aspects of job satisfaction (subscales) and gender affects the aspects of “promotion” and “colleagues.”

This study only analyzes a small sample from the Athens region and hence the results cannot be used to generalize about the whole of Greece. Since other Greek regions operate in different socio-economic environments, an analysis of additional data from other regions (rural and urban areas) would be necessary to compare and confirm the results.

The findings of this study a valuable extension of other relevant research as it provides the first empirical study of the Greek school system, investigating the relationship between certain aspects of job satisfaction and the personal characteristics of school educators as well as the relationship between these aspects of job satisfaction and total satisfaction. In the context of efficient educational policy, a greater understanding of educators’ job satisfaction could facilitate the development of more effective policy practice that would increase not only the level of educators’ satisfaction, commitment and morale but also improve the performance of the school system.

Vocational education in Greece has been developed only recently, mainly through foreign influences. Delay is largely attributed to idiomorphic employment patterns, favouring low‐skilled labour, and to culture, prompting youths to university education. Traditional lack of continuity of the national education policy, as well as persistent low financing of vocational education by the state, has resulted in the accumulation of long‐standing problems. This situation has added up to a sluggish vocational education organization, more or less incapable of effectively tackling crucial social issues like unemployment and the challenge of new technologies.

Even though social media are nowadays used in the frame of public governance to ensure citizens’ major participation, enhance e-dialogue and e-democracy consequently, this utilization has not been expanded yet in the field of education, whose key role focuses on the cultivation of active citizenship, as it is promoted through participation. The purpose of this paper is to examine leadership’s views of Greek Secondary and Tertiary Education on the potential use of social media for participatory decision-making processes in order to identify if the e-participation model could be implemented in the Greek education field as in other public domains.

An exploratory research was elaborated, employing a survey design of quantitative method in order to explore Greek educational organizations leadership’s perspectives toward social media usage in participatory decision-making processes.

The research reveals Greek educational leadership’s positive view on the potential effects of social media usage in participatory decision-making processes and highlights anticipated benefits as well as problems to be faced, indicating the foundation for Greek leaders to implement social media in their leadership practices and exploit their affordances as in e-governance shifts.

Bringing the concept of e-participation and crowd sourcing model – key features in e-governance initiatives through social media usage – in education field, Greek educational leadership is informed to consider social media utilization more methodically in the context of participatory decision-making processes, updating simultaneously existing leadership practices.

Up till now, social media usage in participatory decision-making processes in educational settings has hardly received attention.

At a European level, despite the numerous policies developed in relation to the inclusion of Roma, Roma continue to be discriminated. With regard to education, Roma children remain among the lowest academic achievers in all European countries and the same is reported in Greece. This chapter discusses aspects of life for Roma living in Greece, with an emphasis on education: first, it details aspects of Greek Roma’s social and cultural life; second it focuses on Greek Roma’s education (educational situation, policies and supportive programmes for Roma children); third, it presents studies which have started to examine contexts where the Greek Roma have experienced some educational progression against the odds.

The purpose of this study is to examine the decision‐making process in the Greek education system, as an indicator of the design and implementation of educational policy.

The paper uses a case study approach to identify limitations in educational decision making in Greece. Specifically, it examines the case of the decision‐making process that led to the establishment of All‐Day primary schools in the country.

The decision to establish All‐Day schools was not based on collaboration among stakeholders. Due to the centralisation of the Greek educational system, important decisions are made at the level of the Ministry of Education. Moreover, it appears that the central educational administration did not follow a specific action programme for the establishment and operation of All‐Day schools.

The findings indicate that policy proposals for educational reform in Greece are controlled by a small group of bureaucrats. This results in a decision‐making process that fails to take into account the interests of different stakeholders and broader societal needs.

This paper attempts to explore the limitations of a centralised education system in relation to decision making and the formulation of educational policy. It takes a critical approach to present practices in an attempt to improve educational decision making in Greece.

The Greek secondary education system lacks a formal crisis management system. The purpose of this paper is to address this problem as follows: elicit current crisis management practices, outline features for designing a formal crisis management system in Greece.

The research is based on a survey conducted with the directors of secondary education and the interpretation of the survey results. Due to the echelon structure of secondary education the directors are experienced educators with plenty of experience. They are in a unique setting to be able to combine the managerial perspective with field experience, both of which are important for managing crises.

First, events of sociopolitical nature are considered as important crisis triggers. Second, there is tendency to expect extended involvement of the state. Third despite the lack of a formal system, current practices are relevant and tend to mimic formal systems.

In practice the lack of a formal system does not impede crisis management to be applied in secondary education units.

There is no other survey on crisis management at the directors’ level that we are aware of. The findings outline existing practices from a tactical perspective, and can serve as a guide for designing a formal crisis management system that is suited for secondary education in Greece.