A study conducted at a public primary school in Greece found that students with disabilities face barriers to everyday participation, from inaccessible rooms to interrupted support, despite national policies on inclusive education.
Teachers often relocated activities, reorganized classrooms, and rebuilt working arrangements to keep children involved, making participation dependent on staff availability rather than reliable school systems.
The case involved a public primary school in a medium-sized Greek city serving about 180 to 200 children across six grades. Researcher Eleftheria Tsiouri of the University of Patras examined school records, teaching practices, building conditions, and her reflections as a practitioner involved in school operations.
Her findings, published in the October 2026 issue of the International Journal of Education and Teaching Zone, showed that delayed appointments and turnover among special education staff disrupted planning with classroom teachers.
At a Greek school, students with disabilities face barriers linked to building accessibility, specialist staffing and everyday classroom support. pic.twitter.com/hJ3v8CBWCR
— Tom Marvolo Riddle (@tom_riddle2025) October 22, 2026
New arrivals had to learn support arrangements, including help for individual pupils in mainstream classrooms, forcing teachers to repeat work before consistent assistance could resume.
Greek school barriers affect students with disabilities beyond lessons
Parts of the building, particularly rooms on different floors, were not fully accessible for children with mobility needs. When a lesson was planned in one of those areas, staff moved the activity or changed classroom arrangements. Those steps allowed participation at the time but did not provide independent access to every space.
Tsiouri also found that school evaluations did not always capture the time teachers spent arranging support. Coordination, flexible timetables and repeated planning were difficult to reflect in standardized measures. That uncertainty made it harder to sustain the extra work needed for inclusion, even when teachers were committed to it.
Families faced different constraints, too. Some caregivers could not regularly attend meetings or respond to school messages because of competing demands and limited resources.
Teachers rescheduled discussions, repeated information, and changed communication methods. The study did not blame families, instead linking uneven participation to wider social and economic pressures.
Temporary fixes leave schools dependent on individual effort
Across those challenges, educators introduced new colleagues to existing practices, shared records and made local adjustments. These measures sustained some participation but required repeated effort without fixing underlying problems. Tsiouri described inclusion as “fragile and dependent on individual initiative,” rather than securely supported by the system.
The study recommends stable specialist staffing, permanent building improvements, clearer school responsibilities, and evaluations that recognize collaboration. It also calls for stronger coordination with family support services, rather than leaving teachers to manage difficulties alone.
The study did not interview students or families and drew partly on the author’s experience within one school. Its findings cannot represent all Greek primary schools, but show how promised educational rights can depend on resources available locally.
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