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Conference
2008 Safe
Internet Use
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Highlights
of previous SSBA conferences :-
2007 Developing a
Parent Council and Encouraging Parental Involvement
2006 The Way Forward
for Parental Involvement
2005 Parents in
Partnership
2003 Partnerships and
responsibilities
2002 SSBA is fit for
the future
2001 Roadshow
2000 International
and published book
available here online
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Conference 2000Lithuania
Participation in School Decision Making
in Lithuania
Teachers, Parents and the Community
Since
‘rebirth’ the reform of the educational system
has clearly been based upon the experience of the pre-war
Lithuanian democratic educational system as well as upon
the achievements and practice of different European
educational systems. This process was embodied within the
General Concept of Education and the key principles
guiding subsequent school reforms included:
humanism
(affirming the absolute value of the
individual and his freedom and responsibility
to choose);
democracy
(affirming a person’s ability to base
their life and activities on democratic
values; i.e. equality, tolerance, and
democratic relations with others);
nationalism
(including a commitment to care for national
culture and history, and the necessity to
take into consideration the interest of other
cultural minorities in Lithuania, such as
Poles, Russians, Jews and Belorussians)
constant
renovation and renewal
With such
principles now transforming the national system it is
clearly no longer necessary for the Principal/School
Director to be a member of the communist party. At the
same time the activities of school life have been
increasingly depoliticised. Political youth movements
such as the Young Pioneers and Komsomol no longer exist
and there is no obvious attempt to undermine or prohibit
the influence and work of religious groups and their
beliefs. In contrast to earlier centralisation there has
also been a significant move towards self rule. School
staff, representatives of the community and parents
themselves are all encouraged to participate in making
decisions which will affect the life and work of their
school. Participative decision making has, in fact,
become much more evident in a process of decentralisation
and increased autonomy which is now transforming the
whole school system.
1.1
Changes in local administration
Within a
four stage programme announced for change and
development the process of devolved decision making
has indeed been prominent. At the time of writing the
national administration of education includes
Ministerial, Regional and District authorities. It is
within the broad frameworks established by these
bodies that school decision making is made. Below the
national level the former administrative districts
have been reorganised and, since 1995, decision
making has been devolved to a self governing Apskritis
(or regional authority). Currently there are 10 such
Apskritis, with their centres located in the major
cities of Lithuania, viz.: Alytaus, Kaunas, Klaipeda,
Marijampole, Panevezys, Siauliai, Taurage, Telsiai,
Utena, Vilnius. Each regional authority has its own
governor, administration and a Department of
Education. In effect the regional governor has
considerable authority both in terms of implementing
state policy and also in reacting to local priorities
and needs. His responsibilities include a duty to:
implement
state policy in social welfare, education,
culture, health care, territorial planning,
and to carry out the state and inter regional
programmes in the Apskritis;
co-ordinate
the activities of the structural units of
ministries and other governmental
institutions in the Apskritis, co-ordinate
the activities of local governmental
institutions in terms of the implementation
of regional programmes;
consider
priorities for the development of the
Apskritis and to develop programmes.
Accountable
to the governor is a senior co-ordinator responsible
for educational matters. When a secondary school
director is appointed (or dismissed) the regional
department of education must co-ordinate this process
both with the regional governor and also with the
Ministry.
In turn
the regional authorities are administratively divided
into savivaldybe and seniunija (local
councils) and many councils are supporting moves
towards increased decision making and autonomy for
the regions and districts. Such optimism may well be
tempered by reality, particularly as some local
authorities and many of the rural districts are
impoverished in the extreme.
2.1
Relationship between the local and central government
The new
changes in the law of Education have foreseen the
relationship between the regional Apskritis governor
and the local savivaldybe.
The
Apskritis governor/manager:
initiates,
reorganises and liquidates educational
establishments and appoints and dismisses
their heads,
is
responsible for the formation of all
educational units in Apskritis,
is
responsible for functioning of all such
institutions in Apskritis,
controls
the requirements of all other education
institutions in Apskritis,
controls
how savivaldybe carries out in practice
educational policy and if all pupils attend
school,
does
everything in his power to let educators
raise their qualification and undergo their
certification,
gathers
all the information about the state of
educational matters in Apskritis.
The
Savivaldybe authorities:
appoints
the heads for all the educational
institutions by means of a public
competition,
under
the approval of Apskritis initiates,
reorganises and closes local educational
institutions,
under
the approval of the ministry of education
initiates, reforms and liquidates educational
establishments such as secondary and primary
schools and appoints their heads,
controls
all such institutions, their activities and
adopts their regulations,
is
responsible for their finances,
is
responsible for the lists of all pupils who
have to attend school under the age of 16,
creates
favourable conditions for the teachers to
raise their qualification and certification,
is
responsible for the information to the
Ministry of Education and Apskritis about the
situation in educational matters in
Savivaldybe.
3.1
School Directors - Recruitment, roles and
responsibilities
In
contract to Soviet times school directors are no
longer guided and chaperoned by party committees or
komsomol leaders and can make important decisions
about school problems, future plans and details of
the curriculum.
Starting
from the year 2000 school directors will be elected
in a new way. They will have to undergo an open
competition, to present their own programme and the
plan for a future development of the school, its
curriculum and its future vision. The winner will
have the right to be appointed to the post of a
school director, under the approval of the council of
savivaldybe. Such public competitions or competitive
selection for one or another post are very popular
nowadays here.
The
school director is now considered to be one of the
best and most experienced members of staff and will
have at least five years successful teaching. He/she
is expected to attend courses, have a record of
excellent professional experience and to provide
evidence of professional leadership and initiative.
As already noted the school director is also expected
to encourage a participative and democratic ethos in
the school and to display leadership qualities in
relation to the school plan and its development.
In the
developing context of participative management he/she
is also accountable to school boards and
teachers’ councils and is expected to stimulate
good school-community links and intercommunication.
Indeed, the task of being a school director
increasingly requires professional excellence,
leadership skills, and diplomacy. Amongst his/her
duties are the requirements to -
ensure
normal working conditions at school and
normal democratic climate for all the staff
organise
all the staff and to be responsible for the
results of their work;
have
the right to appoint and dismiss teachers;
control
the school regulations and ensure that
students keep to them;
inspect
lessons, take part in extra-curricular
activities, estimate and to give marks to
teachers for their work;
encourage
teachers to seek a higher qualification;
be
responsible for continuity between the
existing school year and the plan for the
next year;
ensure
the necessary conditions for school
inspection;
take
an active part in all new initiatives
concerning the school and its life.
A new
version of the Requirements of the Schools of General
Education of Lithuania (published in 1996) added yet
further responsibilities to the task of the school
director and underlined the growing importance of
maintaining good school-community links and liaison.
For this the school director must:
recruit
the school community in terms of supporting
the implementation of the educational policy
and the short and long term activities
relating to the school programmes;
explain
to members of the school community the
educational policy of the state and the
region;
promote
the links between the school and the needs of
society, and foster democratic relations
within the school community, and
organise
the preparation of teaching profile, level
and the prospect of continued education.
The
activities of School Boards and Staff Councils are
described below. In particular the School Board has
the right to approve the school working plan for the
academic year and to take part in the discussions
related to the problems of teachers and students,
teaching and learning, extra curricular activities
and so on. One difficulty however, is that many
parents (and sometimes students) still remain passive
onlookers to such change and show little initiative
either in terms of attending phenomenon noticeable in
some other countries and, as elsewhere, the degree of
participation will depend both upon the issues and
priorities under discussion, and also upon the kind
of relationship that exists between the School
Director and the School Board.
4.1
School Boards
The
process of decentralisation and local accountability
now enables individual school director and others to
make decisions and set priorities in terms of their
own specific location and needs. In this process the
teaching staff, together with the School Board and
the Students’ Board, have been accorded certain
rights and responsibilities. Every secondary school
has a School Board to which 7-8 of its members are
elected from amongst the teachers, together with a
similar number of parents and others from the
community around the school. The Chairman of the
Board will normally be elected from amongst the
members. Additionally the students themselves can
elect 5-6 representatives to the students’
board, a body which can sometimes be included in the
School Board itself and is generally concerned with
supporting and promoting the activities of students
attending the school.
The
School Board, together with the Teachers’
Council, can now make decisions on issues important
to the functioning of the school. These may include
the maintenance of good relations between the school
and parents, the education of the students, extra
curricular work and cultural activities. The Board
will also take an active part in decisions about the
appointment (and dismissal) of teachers, will help
the school in terms of finding financial support, and
has the right to give its suggestions and
recommendations to the School Director regarding
matters related to school rules and regulations and
to student discipline and behaviour. In a situation
where only limited financial resources are available
for maintenance, parents are encouraged to help with
painting of walls, renewing curtains and preparing
classrooms for the new school year. Sometimes an
enterprising School Director might hire out the
school premises to various groups or associations,
but he/she is required to pay about 30% of any income
received to the state.
5.1 The
Teachers’ Council/Staff Board
Finally
evidence of participatory management is further
provided by the Teachers’ Council or Staff
Board. Such a council must be formed if there are
more than three teachers working at the school and
will consist of the School Director (acting as Head
of the Board), representatives of the teaching staff,
and specialists such as the school doctor,
psychologist and librarian.
The
council has the right to:
discuss
the problems of general education and to plan
the ways and means of putting decisions into
practice;
to
evaluate the work of each member of staff, to
discuss matters of teacher professionalism,
and to investigate matters which relate to
the micro-climate of the school society;
to
evaluate the programme of school activities,
curriculum and timetables;
to
discuss the problems of student health,
questions of leisure, and student nutrition
in the school canteen;
to
expel any students (from the age of 14 years)
who display extremely bad behaviour, and to
offer them other possibilities for education;
to
adopt new methods of teaching and learning in
order to fulfil the requirements and
standards of educational policy in Lithuania.
Alexander
Dicpetris
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