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ISEA Volume 37, Number 2,2009 1 1 1

Financial Management in Greek StateSchoolsEleftheria Argyropoulou

Abstract: The man agem ent of the financial affairs of Greek state schools has never been considered asa separate and distinct man agerial activity and has not been researched as such. The purpose of thisstudy is to present the role of school headteachers in the funding process of Greek state schools, as wellas to discuss heads' perceptions of the financial m anagem ent of their schools. This study highlights theneed for training for head ship, to provide a solid theoretical foundation for planning and budgetprogramming.

IntroductionFinancial man agem ent (FM) in Greek education has been ru n solely by the state and has notbeen open to discussion; therefore, it has no t been explored in detail. To date, finance withinthe educafional framework has been concerned with the percentage allocated to educafionfrom the gross national product. In other words, the central issue has been the amount ofmoney spent, or to be spent, on education as a whole.The Greek educational system is heavily centralised: funding and general management arethe responsibility of the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs (MiNERA) and itsservices.Discussion of the financing of educafion has arisen as the result of increasingly complicatedprocedures in managing state schools and has been influenced by the relevant literature inother countries, such as the UK and the USA. In these countries parents participate in thegoverning body of the school and they demand high educational standards. Moreover,schools wish to attract more students, as they are aUocated more money in relafion to thenumber of students so headteachers can earn higher salaries in very large schools.The manage ment of the financial affairs of a Greek state school has neve r been con sidered asa separate and distinct managerial activity and has not been the subject of research. Also,very rarely has it been regarded as part of the managerial duties of the headteacher.However, there is a bulk of legislative regulations arranging and/or designating schoolfinancial management which the headteacher should know or have access to. Despite this,MiNERA has never issued a handboo k or a guide to the law to facilitate the hea d's w ork. As


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assumes that resource allocation decisions are based on specific goals. Thus, the means andactivities to attain them should be explicit. Careful monitoring and/or flexiblimplementation is necessary in order to meet specific goals. Evaluation is a key element toascertain how closely objectives are met and whether action should be taken to improvperformance. It is characteristic that in this type of financial management there is detailedhierarchical control of su bord inates.The degree of burueacracy as been a concern for educationahsts since 1980 (Andreou &Papakonstantinou 1994; Allamanis 1997),Purpose and Rationale of the StudyThe purp ose of this study is: to describe the funding process of state schools, the school financial m anag em ent cycland the role of head teachers; and to prese nt perceptions held by the head s of secondary state schools in Greece abo ut thfinancial m anagem ent of schoolsThe article is divided into two parts. The first describes how financial management isapproached in Greek state schools; i t serves as background information to analysingcritically the problematic areas of financial m anage ment, as well as a basis for un der stan dingthe perceptions of the head s gathered in the second par t of the study. The second par t relatethe statutory framework to everyday practical realities (that is, the problems or situationarising from the implementation of centralised regulations) and seeks to examine the headsperceptions of FM in practice and their consequent managerial role.This stud y aims to show that financial manag em ent in Greek state schools shou ld be seen noonly as a series of static bureau cratic proc edures bu t as a positive and dynam ic aspect of thehead's managerial skills. It therefore aims to provide a perspective on financial managemenand to offer implications for further study and discussion on this issue. It addresses thefollowing key questions:A Ho w are schools funded in Greece? W hat are the financial roles and respo nsibilities of the head? Are they clearly defined and un dersto od? Are the hea ds trained to und ertak e the defined responsibilities? To wh at extent can a head m ake financial decisions in his or her school?B Are there sufficient resources? How d o resource levels com pare with those of other similar schools? Are the resources available at the right time in order to me et priorities?


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D Are there any channels for commu nication and decision-m aking betwe en the head a nd

the teachers an d/ or parents concerning priorities in expenditure? Is there a school plan establishing priorities? Are priorities always met?MethodologyIn response to the key questions relevant information has been selected from varioussources:

a. The statutory framework of state school financial m anagem ent and the he ads 'roles and responsibilities are designated by law. Relevant information has beendrawn from legal documents (laws, decrees, circulars, parliament minutes,parliamentary committees' decisions, ministerial decisions, etc.). Document orcontent analysis has been im plem ented as indicated by Krippendorff (1980). Legaldocuments have been gathered and ordered in categories and subcategories ofanalysis:

i. those rega rding the central funding processes and the financial responsibilities ofthe Local Educational A uthorities (LEAs);

ii. those concerning the structure and function of the School Committee, includingthe allocation of funds and the areas of expe nditure in each school; and

iii. those designating the heads' roles and responsibilit ies in the financialmanage ment cycle of state schools.b. Small-scale research was designed to explore heads' views on financialmanag em ent and the actions taken to achieve it. In this research, the collection ofdata was achieved by using a questionnaire. Collection of data was followed bynumeric analysis. Findings from this analysis were grouped in categories anddiscussed.c. Finally, conclusions we re draw n from bo th legal doc um ent analysis and researchfindings in order to provide answers to the key questions.

State Head Teachers in GreeceAny state school teacher can be appointed as head provided he or she has completed acertain number of years of teaching. No previous experience or training is needed. Thepositions are advertised throughout the LEA area (this applies to all LEAs). Successfulcand idates are ap pro ved by the LEA Com mittee of In-service Teachers Affairs.Hea ds com bine two distinct roles:

a. Academ ic: to be responsible for the implem entation of the curriculum , thestud ents' pro gress, the guidance to the teaching staff, etc.

b. Managerial: to ensu re the efficient operation of the school, the effective managem entof resources and expend iture, and ca re for the school maintenance, etc.


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the various types of dufies and imdertaking onerous responsibilifies. Moreover, teachers iGreece are low paid (Greek teachers are the least paid am ong their coUeagues of 15 EU membestates (OLME 2007)) and the fact that earnings for the head teacher post do not exceed abou400 euros per month does not mofivate a nd en courage teachers to apply for head ships.Heads' Roles and Responsibilities within the Financial Managem ent CycleFinancial mana gem ent in Greek state schools is appro ache d in four stages:

a. centralisation of resources;b. allocafion of resources;c. implem entation of resources; andd. comm on school expenses.

Centralisation of Reso urcesThe general resource aUocafion for state schools is centralised. This applies to both financiaand hum an resources. MiNERA receives almost 3.5 per cent of the national bu dge t.Apart from the centralised allocated resources, every school receives a limited capitatioallowance by the local authorities. The amo unt of mon ey given to each school is estima ted onthe numb er of stud ents calculated by a formula-based system.In order to get this per capita allowance every school shou ld be a m ember of the Local SchooCommittee. The School Committee constitutes a joint organisation with the participation oMunicipal CouncU mem bers, the school head(s) and a pa ren t union representafive (as well aa secondary school student representafive, where appropriate). The School Committeserves as a liaison between the delegated funding source (the Local Authority) and thschool itself.Generation: Acquisition of ResourcesThe most important state school resources are: allowances from the local authorities. The LEA is responsible for gathering informatioabou t the numb er of studen ts in each school in order to generate the per capita allow ancefor each school. These allowances are transferred in four three-month instalmentthroughou t the school year; and funds coming from o ther sources, such as letting of school prop erty or donatio ns.Each school has a savings or current bank account. Only the headteacher is eligible to carrout bank transactions (that is, withdrawing or depositing money, signing cheques, etc.). Foeveryday expenses (current expenses) the head can use small amounts of cash.Allocation of Resources; Implementation of Possible Plans; Com mon School ExpensesThe generated income is used for various expenses, often termed 'running or fixed costs' o'supplies and services'. These terms usually cover a multitude of headings including:


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Teacher salaries are paid centrally through a computerised accounting system, holdinginformation about each teacher's profile (years of service, type of payment, salary rises,allowances, etc.).As far as repair an d m aintenance costs are concerned, the head alone can decide wha t repairscould be carried out a nd by wh om , up to the am oun t of 3,000 euros . It is the responsibility ofthe School Comm ittee to decide on exp enditur e in excess of this am oun t.Cleaners are ancillary staff and are subject to compulsory insurance w ith the coun try's socialsecurity system.EvaluationEvaluation of the implementation of possible plans and of allocation of resources is not acompulsory activity for heads. As long as planning a nd bud get pro gram ming remain at thehead's discretion, evaluation is also an individual capacity depending on the head'sleadership qualities. Evaluation as a process is conceived only in term s of fiscal c ontrol, notas a feedback activity measuring the efficiency and effectiveness of planning.Financial Managem ent Functional AreasManagement AccountingApart from income and expenditure, there is also a number of other administrative/accounting-related arrang em ents in the school for which the head is also responsible: income and expenditure book-keeping; incom e tax pa ym en t (to the tax office); social security contribution payments for category B and C teachers and the ancillary staff;

and accounting work regarding cleaners and category C teachers' mon thly paym ents (wages

dockets, payrolls, etc.).Managem ent Control: AuditTwo typ es of aud it take place, internal and external. Internal aud it is und retak en by the headin the school, while external - being more formal - is undertaken by a State Audit Councilofficer. When the fiscal year is completed, the head holds an internal (in-school) audit,mainly checking all financial actions taken throughout the school year (book-keeping,receipts collected for work done or labour offered, social security contributions, taxpayments, etc.). Then, he or she prepares a detailed annual report to be submitted to theSchool Committee. Taking into account the annual report and the school bank accountbalances along with the enclosures, the School Committee approves and signs the annualrepor t, which is then sent to the Local Au thority (LA) for the external au dit pro cedu re.The Heads' PerceptionsThe purp ose of this pa rt of the article is to present the study to ascertain how h ead s perceivetheir roles and feel about their financial management duties, how they perform, and whetherthey are satisfied with the way the state supports their efforts to perform their duties.


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The Sm all-scale Rese arch ProfileThe InstrumentThe instrument was a researcher-designed 15-item quesfionnaire. Eleven of the items wereforced choice, one open-ended question was included and demographic questions wereasked. A short pilot stud y took place using five subjects: two of them w ere he ads at the fimeof the pUot stud y and three of them ha d com pleted a head ship p eriod of more than five yearsbu t did not hold a headsh ip post at the time of the pilot stud y. The pUot stud y aim ed ma inlyat investigating whether the questions were clearly understood, realistic and quick toansw er, as subjects often seem reluctant to respon d to questionna ires.The SampleSixty subjects who were heads and ex-heads of secondary schools took part in this small-scale research:. This is a smaU sample com pared to the total populafion of state school hea dsin the country (about 4,300). The sample size itself consfitutes an important constraint ifgeneralisafion of research resu lts is attemp ted. H owe ver, the sam ple can be regarded as vaUdand reUable, as aU of the subjects belong to the same job category an d wh at ma tters m ost istheir atfitude towards the issues under discussion.Convenience sampling was used. AU subjects had posts in five different municipalifies, inurba n a reas, close to the municipality of central Athe ns. The municipalities were chosen fotwo m ain reasons:

a. they are densely po pula ted; consequ ently, there is a large num ber of schools(except in on e case); andb. they include all possible types of secondary schools (junior high schools, seniorhigh schools, senior technical-vocational high schools.

The municipalities are among the largest - in terms of population - in the country, incomparison to semi-urban and rural areas. It is characterisfic that in a number of rural orsemi-urban prefectures of the country there are only two to three secondary schools, all ofthem state schools, while in the majority of the sample municipalifies the number of thesecondary schools varies from 10 to 25.Distribution and ReturnSubjects were generally contacted directly and quesfionnaires were distributed by hand, inorder to avoid waste of time and to minimise reluctance to comp lete them .Et)icsAnonymity was a condition of the investigation, and it was scrupulously preservedthroughout the research and editing of the material. Thus, idenfification of individuals orinsfitufions was made as difficult as possible. Personal quesfions (regarding studies, type ofschool where the subject is appointed as head, etc.) were avoided, not only for the sake ofanonymity but because they were found unnecessary. This is because every teacher, after acertain nu mb er of years of service, is eligible to be a can didate for h ead ship .An onym ity was also kept in regard to municipaUty nam es. The latter were code d in a simple


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distribution is preferable because 'it provides a basic means for ordering data, enabling thespre ad of the sam ple across the categ ories to be seen at a glanc e' (H ard m an 1994: 335),Moreover, data can be presented as either a table or a chart. Firstiy, questions we re grou pedaccording to topics. Four main groups were formed: training, experience and manag emen tstyle; plann ing; job satisfaction; and a ttihides to wa rds (their own) school funding. Secondly,questions in each group were exam ined. Thirdly, a bivariate analysis was a ttempted not bymeans of cross-tabulation techniques but in a merely qualitative way: wherever we areconcerned with identifying relationships between variables we simply comment on thesepossible relationships without using detailed numerical data.CommentaryDemographicsThe num ber of male he ads is higher than female (83 per cent male, 27 per cent female). Theoverwhelming majority of female heads manage junior high schools. The respondents havean average 23,5 years of service as teachers and an ave rage 16 years as head s. In all cases, thesubjects state that now they are well acquainted with school management.Training, Experience and Management StyleNone of the subjects has ever participated in a training course on school management ingeneral or school financial management (SFM), However, they believe that what they reallyneed is training on all aspects of school ma nage me nt. This may im ply tha t they consider SFMas part of their managerial duties as heads. They state that they have learnt SFM from theirpredecessors.Heads seem to 'confuse' mentoring (even if it takes place unofficially) with training in anorganised management course, or perhaps they feel that both (mentoring and training)should be done.Data indicate various management styles, A significant number of heads delegate some ofthe SFM tasks to members of the teaching staff. This may not show a general managerialintention to delegate but a means to alleviate the burden of everyday routine. It ischaracteristic tha t almost half of the subjects adm it they do n ot have e noug h time to carry ou tall their routine mana gerial duties a nd all of them w ish to stop teaching while they are head s.PlanningA number of questions aimed at investigating whether planning is implemented as part ofthe financial mana geme nt cycle. Most of the heads do not ma ke a plan of need s and prioritiesbefore or after they ask LAs for funding, or they do n ot mak e a plan at all. Only a few h ead swork on a plan, while others are less regular: sometimes they make plans, sometimes they donot. However, heads state that they review the coverage of needs and priorities at the end ofthe school year. This seems somehow contradictory as reviewing refers to a set plan, whichaccording to head s' statemen t does not exist. This conti'adiction m ight im ply either that the ydid no t clearly understan d the question or that end-of-year auditing is what they mean byreviewing. Planning in our case means not only prioritising the school needs but alsoestimating the cost of the work to be done. Lack of planning implies possible misuse of the


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implications for considering the best people available to meet need s and to achieve safety forstudents and teachers.Job SatisfactionHea d teachers are not satisfied with their earnings. Greek teache rs' salaries are very low an dthe same applies to head teachers. Moreover, teaching adds more work and time to theirman agem ent duties. Thus, workload is disproportionate to their salaries and constitutes themain reason for their repeated strikes and syndicate complaints.Attitudes Towa rds (their own) S chool FundingNeither the generated funds nor the timing of funds acquisition seem to meet heads'expectations. Additionally, the majority tend to find the formula funding system (fundsgeneration) quite fair. The relevant question was an swe red p ositively by 13 per cent, w hodid n't justify their answers or explain on what groun ds they m ade this com parison.Open-ended QuestionThe puipos e of administering this particular question w as to gain hea ds' own explanationsfor and justifications of the answers they provided to the forced choice questions. However,37 per cent decided not to answer this question. The content of the open-ended question hadto do with the ranking of needs in their school.Answ ers were gathered and grouped into four categories indicating the rank of priority. Lack ofsecretarial support is considered top priority. It may not be directly connected with financialmanagement but, as a lot of financial work is managing accounting activities, secretarial workprovided would be of great help. Insufficient funding, lack of cooperation among SchoolCom mittee mem bers, and delays in fund acquisition are also significant prob lems.CorrelationManagement StyleDelegation is rare. This does not imply that delegation is not appreciated as a leadershipquality, but the financial management of the school by law is the fiill responsibility of thehead. In practice, whenever heads delegate certain FM activities (either to the deputy or toanother member of staff), this is done unofficially. Question four asked about managerialstyle - that is, com mu nication and exchanging ideas with teaching staff an d /o r pare ntsabout prioritising the financial needs of the school. Responses show that an importantpercentage of the subjects do discuss school problems with interested parties. It is evidentthat an open and more collgial type of management is used in these cases.Planning and job SatisfactionThere are three m ajor are as, which sho uld be considered in relation to each other: lack of FMti-aining, lack of planning and inability to control time. If there were FM training, then theneed for planning would have been em phasised.Also, planning and reviewing plans, not only in terms of general managem ent bu t also in termsof programme budgeting, would affect the quality of deployment of the resources available.


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It appears that the three correlated areas either create or increase heads' job stress. Variousstudies have shown that workload (Cooper and Kelly 1993), maintaining standards andbu dg ets (Chaplain 2001), taking on too m uch responsibility (Englezakis 2002; Tsiakkiros andPashiardis 2002), as well as the variety of roles heads are expected to undertake, are amongthe most comm on factors causing stress (Tsiakkiros & Pashiardis 2006).Finally, the correlafion of responses provided implicafions of rigidity in the acquisifion ofallocated funds. This rigidity ha d also been em phasised in a previo us stud y (Saifis 2000) andopens up an area of further enquiry. The issue may not always be lack of funds but is oftenlack of administrafive flexibility in the manner in which the School Committee functions.Tsiakkiros and Pashiardis (2006) have included bureaucracy in their list of factors causingstress to headteachers.Considering all the stressful parameters of FM implementafion heads' discontent with theirearning s seem s justifiable.DiscussionResource Generation!Acq uisition Procedures and the Ro le of the HeadIt has been a common belief that centralised resource allocation provides a fair fundingsystem for schools all over the country. In parallel, the decentralised minor resourcesmanage ment, at the LA level, makes it possible for the LA to deploy reso urces m ore flexiblyin order to achieve better resu lts on their own area s.In the case of school budget allocafion, the rational model of financial management isfollowed; formula budgefing has been implemented as a more objective approach to schoolfunding. Formula budgeting, obviously, is an attempt to relate resource allocafions to somequanfified assessment of need (defined - in our case - by the number of students in eachschool). According to Simkins 'their [i.e. formulas'] use seems to increase as one moves upthe resource aUocafion hierarchy or as one mov es from small organisations to large ones. Thereason for this is that the use of formulae becomes more remote from the acfivities to befunded and hence less able to marshal the informafion necessary to make judge m ents am onga wide variety of competing aim s' (1994:164).On the other hand, a 'collgial approach' to school funding has been promoted in Greece bythe introduction of committee structures (School Committee), as a more democrafic and co-operative method of decision-making. CoUegiality, in this case, is believed to defer one-sided, subjecfive decisions in relation to wh o exactly receives the funding, wh en they receiveit and the amount they receive. There is also a belief that the School Committee serves as afacilitator between schools and the LA. But, is this true? Is this double system - rationalfinancial manag em ent m odel and collgial School Com mittee funcfion - viable? Is the SchoolCommittee a facilitator? As Saifis (2000) pointed out, school funding via the SchoolCommittee is complicated, time-consuming, costly and ineffective. It is complicated, as itinvolv es so m any pa rtn ers (MiNERA, LEAs, Ho m e Office via Local Autho rifies /Municipalifies, schools, etc.); time-consuming, as fund approval goes through many controlstages; costly, as there is a bulk of adm inistrative/bureaucrafic procedures and a subsequent


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appointed as head. Actually, Head App ointment Regulations were introduced imm ediatelyafter the dictatorship pe riod (1967-74) and a ttem pts were then m ade to make the re gulationsdemocrafic, equalitarian and non-discriminatory. They are sfiU considered as such, despitetheir defects.In modern schools heads often encounter challenges or demands they cannot carry out basedonly on their empirical background. In order to cover these shortcomings of the heads'managerial experience, the MiNERA issues a mu lfitude of legislative regulations (decrees orcirculars) which specify the roles and responsibilities of heads in every step they takema naging their schools.It would appear that these strict designafions of the heads' administrafive profile Umit anyinitiative they would take in terms of decision-making in the long run. But heads statefrankly that w hat they really need is training. It is true that in-service training is absent, or incases where it exists it is not sufficiently provided for all teachers. Headship training -evenafter the appointment to the head post - is totally non-existent. Due to this lack of trainingplus the underpayment for their heavy duties, heads cannot cope with the demands of thepost: they feel discoura ged and dissatisfied.ConclusionsLegal docu ment an alysis answe red the first set of key questions (A). The small-scale researchdata analysis provided answers to key question sets B, C and D. These answers reflect h ead s'percepfions of financial management. Discussion of the findings of both parts of the studyindicate four problematic areas of school financial management:

a. com plicated resource acquisition proc edures;b. absence of planning process and implem entation;c. difficulfies in headsh ip time allocation; andd. lack of training for heads hip (and lead ership , in general).

Suggestions for Hea ds' Professional Developm entThe four problematic areas identified above need clear and immediate remedy. It may beargued that this remedy should be prov ided by the state not by the individuals. This is trueup to a poin t. Certainly, the state (via the MiNERA) is responsible for the a mend ment of the.law, for the su ppo rt of hea ds or for the provision of larger funds to the schools. But all theseactivities need long-term planning and implementation. The vital question is: what can ahead do in order to move into a dynamic way of management and to achieve the bestoutcomes possible for his or her school in the prese nt statuto ry framework?This study has no intention to provide 'gold standards' or tips for financial management instate schools; there are concise practical guide s in the m arket to do so. It is desirable, thoug h,to provide a conceptual breakthrough to fresh educational thinking in terms of a theoreticalappro ach to financial m anag em ent pracfice. The idea we propo'se is the necessity of p lannin gin financial management. Planning can save time, effort and money and can lead toeffectiveness.


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reven ue pay ments. Today, only a small percentage of schools enjoy the 'luxu ry' of a secretary.For the majority of them, either the head or a member of the teaching staff und ertakes this task.This is 'the easy part', as there are deadlines to catch, and simple program ming of how or w henthe task is done can provide effective management. A 'rational' approach is preferred in thiscase: to focus on a small but realistic number of achievable goals - that is, tasks to beaccomplished, which are well understood by everyone. This type of planning or pro gram mingis generally not affected by the reality of school life: every step is defined in the reasonablypredictable dem ands of the Social Security Service or the Inland Revenue Office, In additio n, thecost of such tasks is covered by the LEAs, not by the school budget. The school serves as afacilitator by completing the clerical tasks for these expenses. Consequently, this is a series oftasks that can be carried out by anyone, possibly outside school, and does not influence theschool microcommunity. This rational ap proach to programming the short-term tasks is logicaland best used in straightforward and practical situations, as the ones mentioned in this category.However, the yearlong planning process deals - almost entirely - with the school itself: itstrives to meet the school's requiremen ts w hether they are maintenance or academ ic, such asimproving its library, the computer pool or the science laboratories. One would argue thatpart of these tasks can be predictable and rational (cleaning or maintenance costs, forexam ple). Actually, these tasks are changeable and they build on existing streng ths: cleaningand maintenance - apart from the daily, weekly or monthly routine- depend on otherunpre dictable factors (such as wo rkload after a school event or following d am age). The sameidea of unpredictability underpins other plans the Head might have made for his or herschool. Various forms of 'turb ulen ce' in the school enviro nm ent are very common and actionshould be taken immediately. It can also be argued that this 'turbulence' is also short termand can be handled accordingly. This is partially true, due to the constantly changinginternal school environment. But how can the head cope with the unexpected if there is noprovision in the budg et? Im provisation is the key to such a situation. In fact, forecasting theunexpected is a long-term activity, as it implies previous b udgeting arrangem ents. For someresearchers responding to unexpected si tuat ions involves a 'pragmatic approach' andpresupposes a deep understanding of the importance of the evolutionary process ineducational organisations.On the other hand, forecasting a potential change requires a strong underlying sense ofdirection. Thu s, yearlong plan ning becom es the most difficult and complex process as it doesnot entail simple tasks at certain deadlines b ut it combines a set of prem editate d actions withpossible unexpected change of plans. In other words, it depends on the head's leadershipqualities: to identify yearlong need s and objectives; to wo rk in small steps tow ards each of them; to forecast 'turb ulen ce' - that is , unexp ected changes (as far as this can be possible); to be 'rea dy ' to respo nd to these sud den or sweeping chang es, wh ethe r they are

opportunities for a better deployment of resources or impediments to the premeditatedprocess (as far as this can be possible);


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In fact, implementing yearlong planning based on these qualities involves a good 'mix' ofrational and pragmatic principles and, according to Knight this is the 'hallmark of theentrepreneur' (1995: 17). Without minimising the importance of a long-term plan for theschool, the head manages change in a quick and effective way as he or she is alreadyprepared for that. Although this may sound a simple procedure, it involves a coherentphilosophy and a set of values, so that the planned route is kept in mind and, at the same time,unexpected opportunities can be readily identified and included in or excluded from theinitial plan.This 'philosophy' highlights, once again, the issue of training in management in education.None of the above suggestions can be implemented whilst there is no management andleadership training. No matter how hard heads try to be effective in performing theirmanagerial and leading duties, this will remain unfeasible.

ReferencesAUamanis, A. (1997). 'Greek School and Bureaucracy: views and attitud es'. Administrative Documentation7: 67-86 (in Greek).Andreou, A.& Papakonstantinou, G. (1994). Authority in the Organizational Structure and Administration ofthe Educational System (Athens: Livanis New Frontiers Editions) (in Greek).Chaplain, R. (2001). Stress and lo b Satisfaction am ong P rimary Hea dteachers: A Question of Balance?Educational Management and Administration 29(2): 197-215.Cooper, C.& Kelly, M. (1993). O ccupational Stress in Hea dteachers: A National UK Study, British Journalof Educational Psychology 63:130-143.Englezakis, D. (2002). Occupational Stress, lob Satisfaction and Coping Actions among CyprusHeadteachers, G. in Baldacchino and C. Farrugia (eds). Educational Planning and Management in SmaltStates: Concepts and Experiences (London: Com mon wealth Secretariat): 119-134.Hardman J. (1994). Analyzing and Presenting Quantitative Data, inN. Bennett, R. Glatter & R. Levacic(eds). Improving Educational Management through Research and Consultancy (London: Paul ChapmanPublishing Ltd).Knight, B. (1995). A Model for School Financial Management, inManagement in Education [ES18/ OB/SUP.27489-8] (Milton Keynes: The Open University): 11-21.Krippendorff, K. (1980). Content Analysis: An Introduction to its Methodology (London: Sage P ublications).OLME (2007) (Greek Federation of State School Teachers of Secondary Education). Europayment files.Obtained online: http://olme-attik.att .sch.g r/files/misthkath/E UR OP AY M EN Tl.pdf (accessed 22March 2009).Saitis, Ch. (2000). TheContribution of the School Committee to the Effective Function of the School,Administrative Documentation 17: 28-49 (in Greek).Simkins T. (1994). Budgeting as a Political and Organiza tional Process inEducational Institutions, in R.Levacic (ed.). Financial Management in Education (Milton Keynes: The Open University Press): 154-169.Tsiakkiros A. & Pashiardis P. (2002). Occupational Stress of Schools' Teachers and Headteachers: AQualitative Approach, Pedagogical Review 33:195-213.


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GlossaryCatchment area:Local Authority:Local Educational Authority:Junior high school:Primary school:Secondary high school:Senior high school:Senior technical vocational school:State teachers:

A defined geographical area from which a school takes its pupils .Municipality/borough officials.Decentralised educational department of MiNERA.Type of school (compulsory education) for 13-15-year-oldstudents.Type of school (compulsory edu cation) for 6-12-year-old studentsEither a junior high school or a senior high (or tech-voc.) school.School for 16-18-year-old stud ents (non-compu lsory educ ation).School for 16-18-year-old stud ents (non-compu lsory educ ation).At present they are appointed after succeeding in a nationwideexam conducted by the National Exam Board, called ASEP. In thepast, there was a year list from which a certain num ber (defined byMiNERA) of teachers was appointed every year. In all cases ofappointment, teachers are four-year University graduates. As theintroduction of the nationwide exam is quite recent, remnants ofthe pre vious system stU exist.

Author DetailsDr Eleftheria Argy ropoulouUniversity of CreteSchool of EducationDepartment of Preschool EducationGR 74100 R ethymno nCreteGREECEEmail: [email protected] or [email protected]


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