The ‘Response’ of the Greek State to Global Trends of Educational Policy Making

Abstract

Many academics in the past have attempted to provide an overview of the general and common elements and ‘trends' in contemporary, international education policy, focusing mainly on the most advanced — economically and technologically — countries of the ‘West’: from the increasing adoption of market ideologies in (public) education, to the introduction of modern management techniques into the organisation of state schools; and from a rising support for ‘public choice’ theories to the prevalence of the ‘perfomativity’ criterion. The main aim of this article is to examine the degree of ‘adaptation’ of the contemporary Greek educational system to the above trends. Using Ball's analytic model (1998), this will be done through a comparison between the specificities of the Greek social — and consequently, educational — formation and those of other advanced countries of the ‘West’, drawing examples mainly from the European experience.