Local School Leaders in Greece:

1
Local School Leaders in Greece

• Their role and the main sources of their job
  stress
• by Athanassios LAINAS
• University of Ioannina, GREECE

2
Administration of school education in Greece

• Centralisation
• Concentration of power
• Nationwide uniformity
• Four administrative levels
• National / central
• Regional
• Local / prefectural
• School unit

3
Administration of school education at local level
in Greece

• Distinct administrative units for
• Primary education
• Secondary education
• Directorate of Education
• Bureau of Education
• Director of Education
• Director of Bureau of Education

4
The role of the local Director of Education in
Greece

• Involvement in operational decisions mainly
• Implementation of national educational policy
• Support the smooth operation of the local school
  system
• resource management
• personnel management
• trouble shooter
• Formal authority little power for shaping the
  local system

5
Job stress in educational administration

• Increasing pressures
• Job stress / sources of stress stressors
• Mainly focus on teachers job stress
• Research on headteachers job stress
• Mainly in USA research for Superintendents job
  stress

6
The research project

• May 2002
• Survey / questionnaire / five sections
• All 454 Directors of Education
• Rate of response 78.85 (N357)
• What the general level of job stress
• Which the main sources of job stress

7
Research findings

• General level of job stress
• Main sources of job stress

8
The general level of the job stress reported

• The job stress intensity index
• M 1.96 (S.D. .993)
• The general level of job stress index
• M 1.79 (S.D. .639)
• Correlation r .459 (p .01)

9
Main sources of job stress for the Directors of
Education
10
Fields of sources of job stress

• The shortage of human and financial resources
• Difficulaties related to educational policies and
• reforms
• The nature and the characteristics of their work
• Time restrictions and tensions
• Relations with people
• Issues related to career

11
?ractical implications

• Rationalization of the administrative system
• Increase in financial and human resources
• Pre-service and in-service training
• Stress management courses