Legal system - Greece

The rendering of free education to all citizens and at all levels of the State education system is a constitutional principle of the Greek State. Education is compulsory from 6 up to 15 years old.

National laws issued both by Parliament and by Presidential Decrees and Ministerial Acts prevail within the educational system. The central Administration Agency of the state education system is the Ministry of National Education and Religious Affairs, which also oversees the evaluation and the support services of people with Special Educational Needs. The administration of education is allocated to the general authorities of the aforementioned Ministry, which in turn is distributed to specific authorities e.g. the General Directorate of Studies in Primary and Secondary Education which is divided into separate offices such as Administrations of Primary Education, Special Education etc.

A number of public services report directly to the Ministry and contribute in fulfilling its functions, such as the Pedagogical Institute, the Centre of Educational Research and others. In addition, the pre-school education advisors, the primary and secondary education advisors and the special education advisors belong to the Ministry of National Education and Religious Affairs. The schools are directly administrated by the local authorities of education with the Directors of Education coordinating and supervising the schools in their responsibility area.

General Provision within the Greek Legislation

The Greek Constitution has provided insurance, protection and equality for all Greek citizens. According to the Greek constitution:
 Article 4 [Citizenship and Equality] 
(1) Greek citizens are equal against the law, 
(2) Greek men and women have equal rights and obligations

Additional relevant articles:
Article 21 [Family] 
(2) Large families, war victims, disabled people in general, widows, and orphans who lost their parents in war, including those who suffer from mental or physical illness are under special state care. 
(3) The State deals with health issues and applies special protective measures regarding youth, old age, disabled and those who are destitute. 
A great number of Laws and Decrees issued by the Ministries (Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs) provide options for the best way of living of people with disabilities. 

Those which bear great significance are the following:

1. L.2817/2000: The categories of pupils who are considered as those with SEN are the following:

    • Pupils with mental retardation
    • Pupils with severe visual or hearing impairment
    • Pupils with severe neurological or orthopedic impairment or severe health problems
    • Pupils with speech and communication difficulties
    • Pupils with special learning disabilities such as dyslexia, etc
    • Pupils with severe cognitive, emotional and social difficulties, autism and developmental disorders (par. 1, article 1)


Pupils with special educational needs can be also preschool aged children or adolescents who do not match with one of the above categories but they do need special education and care for a small period or even throughout all their lives( par. 3, article 1)

2. L.2286/1999 and L.2817/2000: People with disabilities have the right for get their free diagnosis from a Diagnostic Assessment and Support Centre or from a Medical- Pedagogical centre or from a Public Hospital.

3. M.D G6/102357/10.10.02: Parents have the right to choose the appropriate school for their child providing that the stage of diagnosis has been preceded. Therefore a set of services collaborates with parents informing them for the most suitable education and the Individual Education Plan (IEP).  

4. L.2686/1999: The insurance of children with SN is inscribed into their parent's social insurance. The type of social insurance depends on the type of parents' work and gives them the right to claim appropriate medical services, therapies, support technical services etc

5. L.1434/1984 and MDG4a/F224/2001: Youngsters with disabilities receive a special public assistance after the ascertainment of their disabilities.
Other decrees ensure protection of people with disabilities, accessibility to public buildings, rehabilitation, etc. The Greek Government has also adopted and implemented the United Nation's Laws in terms of equal opportunities by all means. Greek government also implements the legislation of the European Union, which refers to education, medicare, provision, and vocational rehabilitation for the people with disabilities.

6. Law 3699/2008” Special Education and education of people with disability or special educational needs” where special needs are defined as follows: 

    • The Difficulties in learning, due to sensory, intellectual, cognitive, developmental, mental and neuropsychiatric disorders which are localized after a scientific and pedagogical evaluation. These difficulties influence the process of learning and school adjustment. Pupils with who have disabilities in motion, vision, hearing, who suffer from chronic diseases, disorders in speech, attention deficit, and all pervasive developmental disorders are considered as having special educational needs.
    • As special needs are also considered behaviours due to complex factors, i.e. cognitive, sentimental, mental and social disadvantages deriving from the family and social environment.
    • Difficulties in learning that derive from the social and economical background of the learner as well as low achievers are not considered as pupils with special needs. 

Innovative elements in the Law 3699/2008

The new Law 3699/2008” Special Education and education of people with disability or special educational needs” regulates all the issues concerning the degree of the learning difficulties that pupils may meet during the everyday education process either in the mainstream or in the special system of education. 

The new Law made a codification of the existing laws, it is updated, having incorporated the former existing laws, and leads to a form of legal unity with the general national policy for education. It is based on the internationally recognised characteristics of “a school for all” and on the European Union principles for inclusion and equal opportunities. In addition it simplifies the existing presidential decrees and facilitates the implementation of educational reforms.

According to the new Law, the teacher of the mainstream classroom is expected to evaluate the need and eventually to seek assistance from the Services of the Ministry of Education (Centres of Assessment, School Advisers, teacher of special education), in order to organise the Individual Teaching Programme of the pupil. Pupils and their families are accepted by the Centres of Assessment and Evaluation who, according to the Law, are responsible for estimating the character of the special need and the educational support pupils expect to receive a)  in the mainstream classroom with a specialised teacher, b) in a unit of inclusion for some hours per week (i.e. classes of inclusion), parallel to the mainstream programme, or c) in a special school when severe special needs co-exist and parents decide so, according to the National categorisation system  and the resources’ provision in each learning environment.  

The main focus and aim …

The Hellenic educational policy supports the full inclusion of the pupil in the mainstream classroom as the best means for the development of relationships of joint liability, among pupils with special educational needs, and their classmates. The main elements of the Law are:

  • Education for all children with special needs is mandatory.
  • The political decisions support the substantial inclusion of people with special needs in society by ‘securing equal opportunities’ for learning, independent living and financial sufficiency. 
  • It places emphasis upon the functionality and capabilities of the pupil for participation, and incriminates the educational environment instead of the disability of the child.
  • It clarifies the scope of special education towards full inclusion according to international definitions for disability as an extension of the human being.
  • Clearly states that education must be provided in the mainstream school for all pupils with special needs and in schools of special education for pupils with severe special needs.
  • Defines who are people who need special education on an individual bases and not on categories of disability, though some categories are clearly stated.
  • A new detailed reference is made to individuals of pre-primary, primary and secondary education who do not belong to any of the stated  categories but “need a special educational approach and care for some period of time or during their school life”. This paragraph includes also educational needs that pupils may meet because of a weak socio-economical situation.
  • It introduces, for the first time an official definition concerning students with special abilities and talents as needing also educational support. In the past, no reference had been made in the previous Laws, neither those of Special Education (1143/1981, 1566/1985, 2817/2000) nor the Laws or Presidential decrees, concerning the general educational system. The issue has been broadly discussed for the first time during the ID’ Plenary Session of the Hellenic Parliament on the 29th of October 2003 and led the Committee to the decision to add a clause to the previous Law of Special Education (FΕΚ Α'78/14.03.2000, Law 2817/2000), stating the following: “In article 1, par. 2 of the Law 2817/2000 a clause is added: “Special educational support can be offered to individuals who have special abilities and talents”. This clause has been further formulated making reference to “pupils who have one or more mental abilities developed to a degree that overcome a lot the expected abilities of their age range”. Later it was included in the new Law 3699/2008”:Special Education and education of people with disability or special educational needs” as Chapter A’, Article 3, Paragraph 3.   

The implementation of special education is based on two structures:

A. Diagnostic and Support Services.

The new Law reconsiders and reorganises the operation and services of the Directorate of Special Education. It also reconsiders the operation of the Diagnostic Evaluation and Support Centres (ΚΕDDΥ) and reorganises their framework aiming at their functional and scientific upgrading, e.g. introducing services of consultancy and support with early intervention programmes.

  • Enacting the principle of intra-scientific evaluation of special educational needs, introducing the responsibility of composing individual reports for every pupil with the participation of parents.
  • Introducing the institution of annual evaluation of the Centres of Evaluation and Support based on their annual report.
  • Demonstrating procedures of assessment of a child's special educational need by a committee made up of five pedagogical experts where the participation of parents is needed.
  • Participation of parents is enhanced: parents are encouraged to collaborate with the educational team of the ΚΕDDΥ in organising the particular educational programme of the child, thus participating in the framework of planning special programmes of education for special school units.

B. Educational services.

The new Law describes systematically all possibilities and conditions for learning and studying in the existing structures, offered -for free- by the State, to all pupils, at all levels of education with the following innovative measures:

  • Enacts the measures of early intervention in pre-primary education.
  • Introduces the validation and accreditation of certificates for all levels of special education similarly to those of the mainstream educational levels.
  • Validates the professional rights and certificates from the special vocational schools with those of the mainstream system.
  • Extends the existing age limit of studies after the 22nd year and introduces Life Long Learning programmes for people with special needs, outside the school framework under the responsibility of the General Secretariat of Life Long Learning.
  • Enacts, for the first time, all specialisations in the teachers’ profession according to category of special need and disability and introduces new fields of specialisation.
  • Determines concrete qualifications for teachers who are going to be employed in special education and enacts their scientific training and re-educational programs with a minimum of 400 hours training, specialisation in autism, in sign language, Braille, giving the right to disabled teachers (who wish to be employed in special education) to work in special education (for a percentage of 20%).
  • Facilitates the application of new teaching individual and mainstream teaching programs.
  • Develops a strategy for life learning programmes for people with SEN integrated in the framework of the general education system

Early years education

Preschool aged children with special educational needs, according to the Greek legislation receive supporting services, medical provision, therapeutic services, etc. They also receive the support of early intervention programmes realised by the Diagnostic Assessment and Support Centre or by a Day care- Pedagogical centre.

Compulsory Schooling
Under the terms of the recent Law (2817/2000), students/pupils with special educational needs are classified into the following six categories:   

  1. Mental retardation
  2. Severe visual or hearing impairment
  3. Severe neurological or orthopaedic impairment or severe health problems
  4. Speech and communication difficulties
  5. Special learning disabilities such as dyslexia, etc
  6. Severe cognitive, emotional and social difficulties, autism and developmental disorders


Special education in the system of primary, secondary and technical vocational education aims at: a) the development of the pupils personality b) the improvement of their abilities and skills in order to integrate them to the mainstream school system and to enable their full integration into society c) their vocational training and their participation in the productivity and d) their acceptance from the society as also their equal social development. In order to achieve the previous aims the state takes care and offers the appropriate services to people with SEN until their 22nd year, for all classes of school of primary and secondary education. (Paragraph. 6, 7 article 1). 

Pupils with SEN are educated in primary and secondary educational settings. Schools are organized, stuffed, supplied and supported with the appropriate ways in order to secure the necessary didactic and psycho pedagogical support of these pupils (paragraph 11, article 1)
Pupils with SEN may receive education in the following settings:

  • Mainstream school with the co-teaching model applied by a specialized teacher
  • Integration classes within mainstream schools
  • Special schools, schools in hospitals, at home, when the pupils cannot attend any kind of the previous mentioned educational setting. (Paragr.12, article 1)

Transition Period 

Decrees and laws ensure vocational rehabilitation for people with disabilities and also prepare the grounds for the labour market in order to welcome the people with disabilities.
 Some of these decrees are the following:

  • Participation in work constitutes a right and is under the protection of the State. Additionally the state applies measures from the perspective of establishing appropriate conditions for the full employment joined with moral, ethical and financial support for the working agricultural and urban population. (Greek Constitution, Article 22 [Work, Social Security]
  • Disability is not considered as a prevention of employment since the employee is responding satisfactorily to his duties with the appropriate technical support (L. 2683/1999, article 7 and L.2839/2000, Article 3).
  • The total number of the employees who have a disability constitutes 5% of the total number of employments. The procedure for their election takes place without an official competition. (L. 2643/1998)
  • Employers who provide work to people with disabilities are funded (MD 30278/23.02.2002)
  • People with disabilities are funded to participate in free labor (MD 30278/23.02.2002)
  • The opposition for the rejection of people with disabilities from the labour market is secured by the MD 33605/15.06.1999
  • The arrangement of the working environment of people with disabilities is funded from European Programmes which are integrated in general financial programs (MD 30278/23.02.2000)    
 


Last modified Jan 04, 2011