Directors of education in Greece operate at prefectural level and are the heads of the local directorates or bureaus of primary/secondary education. Because of the centralized character of the educational system, their role is restricted to facilitating the smooth operation of the local school system and implementing the national policy on school education. The research reported in this article aims at investigating the job stress experienced by the Greek directors of education. Three hundred and fifty-seven Directors of Education took part in the study. The two main questions addressed concern: (1) the level of job stress experienced by the participants; and (2) the main sources of their job stress. The results showed that directors of education in Greece experience moderate occupational stress while the main sources of their work stress come from different domains including the shortage of human and financial resources, the implementation of national educational policies and reforms, the nature and the characteristics of their work, their relations with people and specific dimensions of their career. Moreover, variations were found between the different subgroups examined with directors of secondary education and directors of directorates of education reporting higher stress.
Bergin M., Solman R. ( 1988) Perceptions of role related stress in senior educational executives and its relationship to their health. Journal of Educational Administration26(2): 159-83.
2.
Borg MC, Riding RJ ( 1993) Occupational stress and job satisfaction among school administrators. Journal of Educational Administration31(1): 4-21.
3.
Brimm JL ( 1983) What stresses school administrators? Theory into Practice7(1): 64-9.
4.
Buunk BP, Jonge J de, Ybema JF, and Wolf CJ ( 1998) Psychosocial aspects of occupational stress. In Drenth PJD, Thierry H , and de Wolf CJ (eds) Handbook of Work and Organizational Psychology, vol. 2. Hove: Psychology Press, 145-82.
Chand K. ( 1990) Pressures, stresses, anxieties and on-job safety of the school superintendent. Research Report. ERIC DocumentED321421.
7.
Cox T., Griffiths A., Rial-Gonzalez E. ( 2000) Research on Work Related Stress. Report Written for the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work. Luxemburg : Office for Official Publications of the European Communities.
8.
Derogatis LR, Coons HL ( 1993) Self-report measures of stress. In Goldberger L, Breznitz S (eds) Handbook of Stress: Theoretical and Clinical Aspects. New York: The Free Press, 200-19.
9.
Eastman M., Mirochnik DA ( 1991) Stressed for Success: A Study of Stress and the Superintendency . University of Maine, College of Education, Occasional Paper Series, No 14. ERIC Document ED336854.
10.
Englezakis D. ( 2002) Occupational stress, job satisfaction and coping actions among Cyprus headteachers. In Baldacchino G, Farrugia J (eds) Educational Planning and Management in Small States: Concepts and Experience . London: Commonwealth Secretariat , 119-34.
11.
Enns F. ( 1988) Administrative roles.In Gorton RA, Schneider GT, and Fisher JC (eds) Encyclopedia of School Administration and Supervision. Phoenix, AZ: Oryx Press, 9-10.
12.
Feitler FC, Tokar EB ( 1986) School administrators and organizational stress: matching theory, hunches and data. Journal of Educational Administration14(2): 254-71.
13.
Frick CR, Fraas JW ( 1990) Stress and educational administration: variations in stress factors across administrative levels. Paper presented at the 12th Annual Meeting of the Mid-Western Educational Research Association , Chicago, Illinois, October 1990, ERIC Document ED 330095.
14.
Gmelch WH, Gates G. ( 1998) The impact of personal, professional and organizational characteristics on administrator burnout. Journal of Educational Administration36(2): 146-59.
15.
Gmelch WH, Swent B. ( 1984) Management team stressors and their impact on administrator’s health. Journal of Educational Administration22(2): 192-205.
16.
Gmelch WH, Koch JL, Swent B., Tung R. ( 1982) What stresses school administrators and how they cope?Paper presented to the American Research Association , March 1982, ERIC Document ED 218760.
17.
Greenberg J., Baron RA ( 1995) Behaviour in Organizations: Understanding and Managing the Human Side of Work. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
18.
Grimshaw J. ( 1999) Employment and Health: Psychosocial Stress in the Workplace . London: The British Library.
19.
Iordanides G. ( 2002) The Role of the Director of Directorate of Education and the Director of Bureau of Education. Thessaloniki: Kyriakides. (In Greek.).
20.
Kelly MJ ( 1991) Occupational stress among headteachers and principals/directors of public sector education establishments in the United Kingdom. PhD Thesis , University of Manchester.
21.
Kendall E., Murphy P., O’Neill V., Bursnall S. ( 2000) Occupational Stress: Factors that Contribute to its Occurrence and Effective Management. A Report to the Workers’ Compensation and Rehabilitation Commision. Shenton Park, WA: WorkCover Western Australia.
22.
Koff RH, Laffey JM, Olson GE, Cichon DJ ( 1981) Executive stress and the school administrator. NASSP Bulletin449: 1-9.
23.
Koslowsky M. ( 1998) Modelling the Stress-Strain Relationship in Work Settings . London: Routledge.
24.
Lainas A. ( 1989) Central-local relations and the role of the director of education: a study in Greece and England. PhD thesis, University of London.
25.
Lainas A. ( 2000) Administration and planning of school units: scientific approaches and Greek reality. In Papanaum Z (ed.) Planning Educational Work at School Unit. Thessaloniki: University of Thessaloniki & Pedagogical Institute, pp. 23-39. (In Greek.).
26.
Nhundu TJ ( 1998) Determinants and prevalence of occupational stress among Zimbabwean school administrators. Journal of Educational Administration37(3): 256-72.
27.
Ostell A., Oakland S. ( 1995) Headteacher Stress, Coping and Health. Aldershot: Avebury.
28.
Pauvert JC ( 1988) Senior Educational Personnel: New Functions and Training , vol. 1. Paris: UNESCO.
29.
Philios S. ( 1984) The Chronicle of an Institution: Administration and Supervision of Education in the Last 150 Years (1832-1982). Athens : Vivlia gia Olous. (In Greek.).
30.
Pitner NJ ( 1985) Administrative positions: primary and secondary education . In Husen T, Postlethwaite TN (eds) The International Encyclopedia of Education, vol. 1. Oxford: Pergamon Press, 73-8.
31.
Poulis P. ( 2004) Educational Law and Institutions. Thessaloniki: Sakkoulas. (In Greek.).
32.
Richardson LM ( 1998) Stress in the superintendency: implications for achieving excellence. Paper presented at the Annual Convention of the University Council for Educational Administration in St Louis Missouri , October-November 1998, ERIC Document ED427421.
33.
Ross RR, Altmaier EM ( 1994) Intervention in Occupational Stress: A Handbook of Counselling for Stress at Work. London: SAGE .
34.
Saffer S. ( 1984) Stress and the educational administrator: a synthesis of dissertation research. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New Orleans, April 1984, ERIC Document ED 249568.
35.
Saleh MA, Kashmeeri MO ( 1987) School administration: factors associated with distress and dissatisfaction. Education108(1): 93-102.
36.
Sutherland VJ, Cooper CL ( 2000) Strategic Stress Management: An Organizational Approach . London: MacMillan.
37.
Torelli JA, Gmelch WH ( 1992) Occupational stress and burnout in educational administration . Paper presented to the American Educational Research Association Conference, San Francisco, April 1992, ERIC Document ED 352698.
38.
Tsiakkiros A., Pasiardis P. ( 2006) Occupational stress among Cyprus headteachers: sources and coping strategies. Studies in Educational Administration34(2): 100-14.
39.
Tung RL, Koch JL ( 1980) School administrators: sources of stress and ways of coping with it. In Cooper CL, Marshal J (eds) White Collar and Professional Stress. Chichester: John Wiley, 63-91.
40.
Watson JK ( 1994) School inspectors and supervision. In Husen T, Postlethwaite TN (eds) The International Encyclopedia of Education, vol. 9. Oxford: Pergamon Press, 5247-52.
