Click Here to skip to Strategies for clarifying & communicating values in your ecosystem

 What does it mean to clarify and communicate values?

The first pillar of the Ecosystem of Welcome and Belonging framework asks us to think about values and cultural beliefs that are explicitly and implicitly conveyed in our education ecosystems. To ensure that all students, teachers, and families feel welcomed in our school, we must listen to children when they describe what makes them feel comfortable at school.

• What does it feel like to be included?
• What does it mean to be proud of your effort and understood your strengths?
• How do we implement the values of inclusion, support, pride, and understanding? 

By examining an essential element of Greek culture, we can learn how to explore the culture of our ecosystems.

Philotimo: Defining a concept that you have to experience to understand

Philotimo is integral to welcome and belonging.
Many say that philotimo is impossible to translate but working through the meaning is essential to broaden an understanding of belonging and welcome in Greece. This concept goes beyond surface-level cultural customs, rituals, food, and history. Philotimo helps us dig into Greeks' psychological motivations and inner life. We can understand philotimo by looking at the concept through four lenses: 
1. What does it feel like? The ideas that make up philotimo are a painter's palette of feelings and emotions. Each of these ideas has intellectual properties and dynamic properties and can be blended in a myriad of ways:

• A feeling that it is your duty to help when it is needed
• Pride in your community
• Loving out of a feeling of gratitude and spirituality
• Joy in living the experience of life
• Selflessness in taking action without expecting anything in return
• Helpfulness
• A sense of momentum in building relationships

Reflection: Do these ideas seem foreign or natural to you?
If you had to illustrate philotimo so far, what would you draw?
2. What does it look like? What philotimo looks like can vary from the revolutionary heroes of 1821 who sacrificed everything for Greek independence to small gestures that make up everyday interactions in your neighborhood.

• Take pride in what you do because you took the time and effort to do your best
• A close-knit community where people look out for each other
• Service to your community

Reflection: In your school community, do these ideas apply?
What about in your classroom or family?
What would you add to your philotimo illustration?

3. What can it be compared to? Comparing languages and cultures is difficult, but the conversation begins with etymology. In ancient Greek, "Philo" meant being friendly and welcoming. In modern Greek, the meaning is closer to "friend." "Timo" means to honor. We can compare this to:

• Being part of an inward-looking community that values the contributions of all aspects of society
• To act honorably without ego focused on how individual actions and choices collectively uplift
• To be honorable with humility by standing up for what is good and right

Reflection: What does it look like to value all contributions in your school, your team, and your classroom?
Picture an honorable friend. Pay attention to how you feel when you picture that person,
4. How is it put into action? Finally, how can philotimo be put into action outside the context of Greece? Pandemic isolation was a universal experience. No matter how long the lockdown lasted in your country, all parts of society felt some isolation, discomfort, and disconnect. As we looked for remedies, solutions, and healing, some authors have offered this uniquely Greek idea as an element of well-being and belonging.

• Treat others as equals by having humility. This means treating everyone with dignity and respect.
• Treat yourself with dignity, respect, and care.
• Open space to share different opinions with an openness to the experience of learning from others.
• Listen to evaluate solutions that you never considered.
• Respect the wisdom of elders.
• Respect your parents, leaders, and educators.
• Take pride in your country but not to the detriment of others.
• Volunteer and help without expecting to be paid back.​

Reflect: Which ideas would be easy for you?
Which ideas would be a challenge?


​Now, pause and imagine philotimo in your life. Imagine if you felt philotimo every day in your work and your community.

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How does communicating philotimo values create belonging?

Philotimo is so profoundly woven into Greek culture that it's intuitive. How can we apply something intuitive in the multicultural context of schools in the United States and beyond?
​We take the approach of every entrepreneur who took the food of their homeland and adapted it for a wider audience, philotimo, with a twist.
Speaking to Greek students, I discovered that the most critical element of finding philotimo or identifying values in your school is to talk about it. 
At a high school in Chalkidiki, in Eastern Greece, a student told me that philotimo no longer exists. She argued that most kids her age wouldn't stop to help a person if they needed help. Her teacher disagreed and argued that this student had more philotimo than most. I listened to the student's perspective and reflected on her idea to her. I shared that my understanding of working for the common good has been challenged by the pandemic and division in my own country. Talking about values with Greek students pushes them out of their comfort zone. Values are just assumed. They are implicit. However, values are also the way we divide. We assign value systems to those we stereotype. To create belonging, we must dig deeper and share our values to find similarities and connections.
Centering your ecosystem on shared values is a practice that involves talking, listening, and working through ideas. Many of the strategies I've collected may be things you are already doing in your school, but there is great power in putting a name to your work and explicitly helping students see how belonging is created.​

click here to access philotimo strategies

Student artwork at a Primary School near Athens.

Silk embroidered depiction of a community festival from the Folklore Museum of Chania.

A mural at the Model Gymansium of Heraklion

A mural at a primary school in Patras conveys shared values: Love, joy, justice, equality, acceptance, solidarity, diligence, respect, friendship, peace & justice.

Students from the Ilion Music school participate in an Erasmus+ program focused on social service (service learning.)

A mural shows a life preserver being thrown to a person lost at sea. Street art from the harbor of Heraklion, Crete

Sources for defining Philotimo:
Papaconstaninous, K. (2020) Filotimo: Is it the answer to surviving the age of loneliness? Greek  City Times. 
(2018) Philotimo: One Greek Word Packed with So Much Meaning It Can't Be Defined. Greek City Times.
Schafer, J. (2015). Philotimo: A Greek Word Without Meaning but Very Meaningful. Psychology Today. 
Tsolakidou, S. (2013)  Filotimo, the Hard to Translate Greek Word. Greek Reporter.