An Empirical Approach to the Contribution of Counseling in the Administration Function of a School Principal : The Case of Greece

Objectives: The research focuses on the needs of the secondary schools’ principals in Greece, the necessity of counseling while the principals fulfill their role as managers of their educational institutions and the suggestion of a framework regarding counseling intervention in education. Methodological Approach: A research with exclusively qualitative characteristics has been selected as the most suitable for imprinting the perceptions, the attitude and the experiences of school administrators in relation to the objectives of this research. The semi-structured interview has been chosen as an investigation tool for gathering data. The collected data was evaluated using the content analysis technique. Additionally, the data was segmented, codified and categorized. Research Issues: Firstly, the school principals who participated in the research had limited familiarity with the scientific principles of school’s leadership and administration. In result, there were communication problems and some terms had to be specified (i.e. 'counseling') in order to ensure the precision of the participants’ answers. Secondly, although there was little awareness of the counseling process, the principals had already formed doubts about the usefulness of the counseling support despite their existing needs. Furthermore, some participants failed to create a positive climate due to their hesitation in discussing in depth the administrative issues with the researcher. Moreover, the interviews have been taken place in spring of 2009, but the article has been written two years later. This period is extremely difficult for Greek economy with extensive consequences in the education sector. Innovation: The suggestion/challenge to involve the Centre of Counseling and Orientation (KESYP) in the counseling procedure can contribute to the enhancement of the modern school principal’s profile and to the personal and professional development of any educator. The modern school principal acknowledges the deficiencies and the needs of this particular role. The principal is interested in counseling support that is brief and institutionalized and the request for aid in horizontal structures is not considered as a threat to the leadership status