Transition to a learning organization within a highly centralized context: Approaches in the case of Greek teachers’ perceptions

Abstract

This research examined Greek elementary school teachers’ views concerning the transformation of their school into a “learning organization” paradigm. This transformation is important for contemporary schools as it allows teachers to develop, adopt new roles, promote better learning, and contribute to the wider social context. However, Greek schools have been found to be resistant to reforms due to the prevalence of a highly centralized system. Therefore, using a quantitative approach, this study aimed to identify teachers’ perceptions towards adapting to a learning organization, with regards to their believes and the actual implementation. The conclusions that were drawn after the statistical analysis demonstrated that teachers claimed to have adopted certain new roles, but they did feel restricted in certain cases.