ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates the effects of the economic crisis in Greece on the working lives and experiences of teacher professional communities. It is based on 24 semi-structured focus group interviews, each in a separate school, in which 102 primary school teachers took part in the Attica region and in the city of Volos and its suburbs. The interviews covered themes including teaching/learning conditions, school resources, employment issues, household income, effects on students and teachers’ initiatives, collective activity, and coping strategies. The teachers refer repeatedly to changes in the larger social and political environment, such as unemployment, changes in family, poverty, racism, and authoritarian government policies, along with their fears and anxieties of the potential implications of those changes to both the professional/interpersonal relationships within school and the nature and purpose of public education. There are complex, numerous, and significant impacts of the economic crisis, affecting not only teachers, but also students and parents.
