Teachers’ Educational Needs and Their Motives for Participation in Lifelong Learning in Greece

Abstract

The aim of the study is to investigate teacher's educational needs in terms of their teaching work and scientific profile and to examine the frequency and motives of their participation in training programs. The survey focuses on Primary and Secondary Education teachers of all fields across the Greek territory. The majority of the 556 who completed the questionnaire have attended training programs-workshops during the previous two years (95.4%). Regarding the participation in training programs with specific thematic areas over the past two years, higher participation rates are observed in new teaching methods (32.9%) and New Technologies (ICT) (31.1%) with the areas of Teaching Methodology (27.6%) and Addressing Learning Difficulties (27%) following. Low participation rates are observed in the training programs on stress management strategies (7.5%) and the topics related to the evaluation of the teaching process (9.8%) and that of students' evaluation (10.7%). Teachers also want to take part in training courses related to pedagogical and psychological issues and much less to courses related to the administration of education. Finally, teachers participate in training courses for their professional and personal development and much less for career development and personal pleasure (i.e. to meet people etc.).