Educational psychology research in Greece

Abstract

Although psychological research in Greece has a history of more than half a century, studies based on research methodology as we mean it today are, with rare exceptions, the product of only about two decades. Some of the main reasons include the following: (1) There was not an independent department, or even an independent chair, of psychology at either of the two major universities of our country, namely, the universities of Athens and Thessaloniki. The climate being more favorable for psychology at the University of Thessaloniki, the establishment of a chair of psychology became possible there, finally, in 1964. It was 12 years after that date that the first chair of psychology was established at the University of Athens with a professor elected to it 1 year later. (In 1970 three chairs of psychology were established (although only one completed) at the University of Yannena, a university founded in 1964, while in the most recently established faculty of philosophy at the University of Crete and in that of the University of Patras, the teaching of courses in psychology is assigned to psychologists holding a PhD without any of them being named professor as yet.) (2) There were meager or completely lacking funds for psychological research in our universities. (3) There was a lack of sufficient numbers of persons trained in research methodology in the social sciences. Considering the situation sketched so far, it is superfluous, I believe, to add anything on the subject, concerning educational psychology as a separate branch, more so because the percentage of educational psychologists in Greece is comparatively very small, the great majority being in the clinical field.