Steps of educational decentralization in Greece: Between delegation and deconcentration

Abstract

This chapter describes the attempts at education decentralization in Greece within the framework of general restructuring of society encouraged by the European Union (EU), and of the type prescribed in the education world model.The system has since 1981 been on constant reforms towards democratization, technological development, curriculum changes and the introduction of lifelong learning (Bouzakis, 1999), but it was with the pressure and support from international organizations that decentralization speeded up and started to take a shape similar to the features suggested in the world model. In order to place Greek decentralization in its context, some national characteristics as well as changes will be described. Some of the changes are associated with globalization processes, while others are not. Stavros (1996) argues that the official ideology of the Greek State has been built almost exclusively around the concept of a single nation, with a common creed and language. A more convincing evidence of Greeces self-perception as one of the most homogeneous countries in ethnic, religious and linguistic terms may be found in a series of policies concerning the acquisition of Greek citizenship by those who belong to the nation (omogeneis) and its loss by those who do not (allogeneis) and the position of minorities. © 2007 Springer.