Educational leadership roles for the development of learning organizations: Seeking scope in the Greek context

Abstract

ABSTRACTNowadays, in this rapidly changing environment, organizational learning constitutes a critical component toward school effectiveness. In a transitional period, the Greek nation is going through, as a consequence of a multifaceted and multi-layered crisis, the future of Greece’s well-being depends on improving educational performance to boost productivity and improve social outcomes. Greek schools operate mostly in a traditional way which inhibits change, development and progress. In addition, the Greek educational system is one of the most centralized educational systems in Europe with central government exercising close control on the inputs into the system. However, educational improvement depends heavily on school principals’ actions to play a facilitating role and empower teachers and schools to learn continuously and improve their quality. Since 2011, the Greek Ministry of Education, Research and Religious Affairs (MofERRA) enacted several reforms which focus on an incipient culture of accountability, more autonomy and innovation, as well as, use of data to support improvement. School principals should build on this progress already made towards greater school and teacher autonomy and improvement; adopt an integrated leadership role; develop an internal educational policy in their schools which would allow them to activate specific mechanisms of continuous professional development; and thereby transform Greek schools into SLOs.