Reconceptualising teacher professionalism: an ecological view from Greece

This article reconceptualises teacher professionalism through ecological systems theory, offering a context-sensitive analysis of how it is enacted by primary teachers in Greece. The study draws on reflexive thematic analysis of 30 semi-structured interviews across four schools, with a focused subset of eight teachers interviewed in greater depth. Findings reveal that collegial dynamics range from genuinely collaborative to deeply fragmented; principals emerge as the single most consequential determinant of professional culture, yet their capacity to support teachers is bounded by near-total state disengagement. National frameworks are formally prescriptive yet effectively unmonitored, producing what the study terms an autonomy of institutional abandonment—a configuration distinct from both Nordic trust-based autonomy and Anglo-performative compliance. Autonomy is experienced both as pedagogical freedom and as legitimisation of professional isolation. Professionalism in Greece evolves through identity development rather than formal reform. The Greek case is characterised as situated enacted individualism: professionalism that is personally constructed, culturally rooted and institutionally uncultivated. The study offers an empirical counterpoint to performance-oriented OECD scholarship and contributes a framework for examining teacher professionalism in under-represented contexts.