Quality of School Life. A Cross‐cultural Study of Greek and Scottish Secondary School Pupils

A. KARATZIAS, V. PAPADIOTI-ATHANASIOU, K. G. POWER V Goodenow & Grady, 1992), greater motivation to learn (Keys F Ekstrom et al., 1986) and higher achievement accordingto one’s ability (Voekl, 1995). Pupils who perceive their school positively are alsoless likely to experience health problems (Jessor, 1991; Nutbeam & Aaro, 1991).Lower levels of school satisfaction have been found to be linked to behaviouralproblems, poor school achievement (Baker, 1998), school alienation (Fine, 1986)and development of unhealthy behaviour (Samdal et al., 1998), since pupils tendto rebel against the school authority and may turn to ‘marginalised’ peer groups(Perry et al., 1993).Why Compare Scotland and Greece?Scotland and Greece differ in their life style and culture. Greece is a collectivistculture, because of its Eastern influences, whereas Scotland is an individualisticone. Furthermore, Scotland has a well-established secondary educational system,whereas in Greece there have been major reforms recently (e.g. entrance system tohigher education). There has been much protest by Greek pupils and teachersabout secondary and higher education recently. As noted in Cameron et al. (1983),the educational system in Greece has followed the traditional model (classicalstudies, moral education), which may not satisfy the needs of pupils and theirparents or those of modern life (e.g. scientific progress). Secondary educationEuropean Journal of Education, Vol. 36, No. 1, 2001