Freedoms and Restrictions of School Leaders and the Pedagogical Guidance They Exercise in the Greek Bureaucratic System

The subject of this work is the investigation of the existing educational legal framework that determines the operation of school units as well as the pedagogical directions of the principals towards the educational staff. The 43 leaders of secondary education who took part in the research expressed their views and perceptions about the difficulties and limitations posed by the bureaucratic structure of the Greek education system and the positive elements of this particular way of organization. In addition, they describe the pedagogical directions they give to the rest of the staff in the context of the operation of the school units. The survey was conducted in the summer and fall of 2020, the time when schools were called to adapt to the Covid-19 health crisis. The research problem of this work was the investigation of the possibilities of application of participatory administration in the wider centralized education system in combination with the instructions for the support of students and teachers. The analysis of qualitative data confirms the bureaucratic and centralized structure of the Greek educational system. However, in schools, principals apply different policies and practices to support the educational and student community depending on the needs and circumstances.