Greece

The Greek educational system is governed by national laws (passed by the parliament), and by executive acts (decrees, ministerial decisions). Overall responsibility for education rests with the MoE. Its basic functions and responsibilities are:

• Assessment of educational needs.

• Determination of educational goals and objectives.
• Provision of legal framework underlying the educational program.
• Personnel, methods and processes, and schools.
• Coordination and evaluation of the regional education services.
• Financial support and control of educational activities.

The MoE formulates educational policies according to the political orientation of the country's administration. The administration and management of primary and secondary schools is the responsibility of the Directorates of Primary and Secondary Education in the 54 Prefectures, which report directly to the MoE.

Higher education institutions (AEIs, or universities, and TEIs, or technological education institutions) are autonomous according to the Constitution, but are funded and supervised by the MoE. The MoE and the Ministry of Labor share responsibilities for vocational education and training.

The Minister of Education heads the MoE and is appointed by the party in power. He is assisted by a Deputy Minister, a Junior Minister, and a Secretary General. There are also five General Directors and two Special Secretariats. In January 1995, the MoE headquarters comprised 34 directorates.

There are four national councils, one for each section of education: the Council for University Education, the Council for Technological Education, the Central Council for Secondary Education, and the Central Council for Primary Education.

There are two institutes controlled by the MoE, but independent of the Ministry's Central Service—the Pedagogical Institute (PI) and the Institute for Technological Education (ITE).

The PI is responsible for research relating to primary and secondary education, for planning and programming educational policy for primary and secondary education, for developing and implementing educational technology, and for planning and supervising teacher in-service training.

Other central agencies are:

• State Scholarship Foundation (IKY), which administers scholarships to students of higher education.
• Centre for the Recognition of Foreign Academic Degrees (DIKATSA).
• Service for General State Records.
• Organization for School Buildings (OSK).
• Organization for Publication of School Textbooks (OEDB), which publishes textbooks for primary and secondary education.
• Organization of Vocational Education and Training (OEEK), which is responsible for recognizing qualifications awarded by either Greek or foreign vocational education and training, and for allocating all funds from the EU.

There are also two Secretariats: the General Secretariat for Adult Education (GGLE) and the Secretariat for Youth.

The State finances all capital and staff costs of the public education system. Municipalities bear the cost of school maintenance and some operating costs. Recently the school construction has been delegated to the Prefectures.

The primary source of public education is taxation. The state spends 4.2 percent of the GDP for education; the share of public expenditure is 7 percent. Greek families spent large amounts of money—about 2.3 percent of GDP—on private education, cramming schools, and study abroad (OECD 1997).