Elena Hadjikakou is the Director of the Pedagogical Institute of Cyprus. She is a graduate of the Cyprus Pedagogical Academy and the University of Cyprus. She completed her M.A. and Ph.D. studies at the University of Reading, United Kingdom, in the field of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in Education.

She has worked as a primary school teacher but has also worked on secondment at the Pedagogical Institute (PI) and the Curriculum Development Unit. From 2000 to 2008 she held, as a permanent PI staff, the position of Professor of Informatics, while from 2008 to 2012 she was the Head of the Teachers’ In-service Training Department of the Pedagogical Institute. From 2012 to 2024, she was the Chief Education Officer of the Pedagogical Institute, while very recently she has assumed the position of Director of Pedagogical Institute.

Throughout her years of work at the Pedagogical Institute, she has taught in many in-service training programs for teachers of all levels (pre-school, primary and secondary education), on the use and integration of ICT in Education, but also thematics related to the professional learning of teachers.

She has undertaken the planning, organization and offering of various training programs and training activities, on various topics, for teachers of all levels.

Additionally, since September 2019, she chairs the Monitoring Committee of the National Strategy for the Prevention and Management of School Violence, which includes officials from Departments and Services of the Ministry of Education, Sports and Youth, as well as officials from the Cyprus Police, the Services Social Welfare and Mental Health Services.

Finally, she participates in various committees and working groups in Cyprus and abroad and her main interest is the effective learning of teachers and the role of the teacher in the learning process.