Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore how principals respond to direct accountability factors resulting from central government challenges and indirect contextual constraints imposed to them by the wider socio-economic and cultural environment. The rationale behind this paper is to indicate the interaction between explicit educational policies and demands the principals are expected to enact and implicit ideas and stereotypes of major education stakeholders which they often have to “dissolve” in order to achieve success for their schools. Background The notions of accountability and/or success regard the specific needs, demands and contexts of senior high secondary schools. There is a strong community belief that studying in the lyceum is/should be connected with university entry exams preparation and choices associated with «reputable» jobs. Student success in the university entry exam is often regarded as a reputation and school success indicator for lyceums. Conceptualization-Theoretical Framework We conceptualise schools as systems per se and at the same time as sub-systems of a wider social, economic and cultural eco-system (Brofenbrenner,1979) in which various factors exercise their impact on school operation, ideology and policies on how education is/ should be conceived and enacted (Argyropoulou and Lintzerakou, 2024). Methods This study is based on four semi-structured interviews with two lyceum principals, one from Athens and one from another densely-populated borough. The interviews were taken in the framework of the ISSPP in Greece and used the ISSPP Principals’ interview protocols Findings/Scientific Significance The study produced interesting findings and reflection on how accountability and success is conceived by the education policy designers and how it is enacted in everyday praxis. Accountability is conceived not in terms of indicators and external evaluation systems, as there no such control in Greece but as compliance with central government directives and policies. Success is associated with smooth operation of schools and the feeling of wellbeing teachers and students enjoy when in school. School leadership readiness has also emerged as a pivotal factor to manage challenges from the wider educational environment and transform them into meaningful policies and practices inside school. The study is expected to contribute to the building of general knowledge from various contexts about school success and enrich the ISSPP data and reflection.

Argyropoulou, E., & Lintzerakou, E. E. (2025). Contextual Factors and Their Impact on Ethical Leadership in Educational Settings. Administrative Sciences, 15(1), 23 https://doi.org/10.3390/admsci15010023 Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design. Harvard University Press