Second Chance Schools: educational innovations and school culture

Abstract

The current study investigates the conditions of establishment and development of Second Chance Schools (SCS) in Greece, which are considered as educational structures for adults coping with educational exclusion. Analysis of the institutional framework of the SCS is firstly conducted with respect to the attempts made to adapt their function to that of secondary education reference schools. The innovative features of SCS are also investigated, mainly on the basis of the Ministerial Decision issued in 2003, in an attempt to reveal the culture of these schools, as it was formulated in practice by their stakeholders, i.e.: the principals and the teachers. Finally, the study explores the extent to which both innovation characteristics and culture are reproduced in the institutionalized context of SCS. In conclusion, the current investigation provides significant observations on the negative effects of the institutional changes that took place in the SCS and the implications on their function that steadily tends to become similar with the secondary education reference schools.