Lithuanian Schools Research Articles

ICT SCAFFOLDING FOR SCHOOL EDUCATION IN COVID-19 LOCKDOWN

The COVID-19 situation, where the educational process had to be as flexible as possible, revealed that the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) has become a challenge for Lithuanian schools. In early 2021, we conducted focus group discussions in four Lithuanian schools to investigate how educational technology can enable an inclusive educational process. The analysis of the key determinants of pedagogical success and schools’ decisions on the unified use of ICT to include all students in learning, the scaffolding of the educational process using ICT revealed the two main factors. These factors ensuring the scaffolding process are: (1) how teachers remove the learning barriers and support students by use of educational technologies; (2) what helps teachers to transfer responsibility to students and enables their participation in the educational process. When we examined the potential of ICT to engage students, we found several differences between schools, namely: technology provision, the teachers’ ICT skills, the experience of the school community itself, the readiness of the school, teachers, and students to teach and to learn by distance or blended learning applying new ICT-based educational scenarios. The study results showed that the gains made during the COVID-19 lockdown in Lithuania in combining teaching solutions with the use of technology can become the ‘new normal’ and can help schools address the issue of inclusion for all students.

AN AUTOETHNOGRAPHIC APPROACH TO IDENTITY EDUCATION AMONGST CROSS-CULTURE KIDS IN LITHUANIAN SCHOOLS

While Lithuanian schools face an influx of repatriated pupils post-Brexit and due to the COVID 19 pandemic, there is still no clear framework to support schools in integrating the increasing Cross Culture Kids (CCKs) and its school community and beyond. This paper examines the application of autoethnography as a pedagogical strategy for school agents to foster identity narrative spaces in classrooms and as a research method for investigating identity formation in educational contexts nurturing cross-cultural competencies in Lithuanian classrooms. This piece is part of the preparation work conducted for the upcoming serial cultural dialogue workshops with CCKs between 15-18, which borrows from the TARMAC ‘multicultural story’ framework (Ward and Keck, 2021). While autoethnography engages individuals in cultural-analysis-style interpretations of self-reflection, this process importantly aids the location of selves in one’s own narratives by exploring the self-other, personal-political, and self-society didactic- for all the stakeholders in the dialogue- such as the workshop facilitators/researchers and the CCKs and its non-CCK counterparts. This leads to the implications of philosophical and practical education approaches exploring identity and intercultural communication in alternative and non-traditional forms (Wall, 2006). Overall, this paper contributes to the formation of cross-culture transitional care awareness and strategies implemented in Lithuanian schools.

The Health Problems of Polish and Lithuanian Youth During the Period of Remote Education of the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in numerous changes and restrictions in many countries around the world, including school closures. Remote learning was introduced and took place on various online platforms. The aim of the presented study was to determine the health problems experienced by Polish and Lithuanian youth during the period of remote education which was enforced by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The study used a proprietary questionnaire and 385 students aged 13–16 from Polish and Lithuanian schools participated in the study. Polish and Lithuanian youth experienced many health problems, but the dominant ones were the following: headaches, backaches, problems with concentration, sleep problems and nervousness. These were health problems that resulted from young people sitting for long hours in front of a computer monitor and participating in remote education. The passive and (often incorrect) seating posture adopted by the students and direct contact with the computer and/or the Internet led to the occurrence of many health problems and disorders in both Polish and Lithuanian youth.

MODELING THE APPLICATION OF AUGMENTED REALITY TECHNOLOGY IN THE EDUCATION PROCESS

Augmented reality technology (AR) is strengthening its position in our daily lives every year. The main goal of augmented reality technology is to digitize the world around us by adding additional information that is relevant and attractive to the consumer in a particular sector. Gadget stores are adding more and more fun and useful PR programs, while big companies and startups are coming up with new ideas on how to effectively apply augmented reality technology to business processes. Education is one of the areas where the application of PR technology is receiving increasing attention and funding. It is also anticipated that the penetration of this technology into education will only increase and the PR education industry will expand. The aim of this article is to analyze the impact of PR technology on the participants of the educational process and to form an application model in Lithuanian general education schools. The article examines the possibilities of applying augmented reality technology in the education sector, distinguishing the level of basic schools. The impact on the educational process and its participants is also analyzed and evaluated. Several research methods are used and combined in the work – the analysis of scientific literature is combined with classroom research to find out the already applied PR models at different levels of the education sector and the questionnaire survey method to assess the situation of PR technology use in Lithuanian basic schools. The results revealed that augmented reality technology is still poorly applied in Lithuania in the educational process, mostly due to human and financial resources. The analysis presented in the article can be useful for educational institutions wishing to implement smart technologies, which are also designed for an innovative teaching process.

Anthropocene in Education and Education in Anthropocene: Public and Academic Discourses About the Future

The article analyses the future of education from the perspective of educational philosophy. First, the new peculiarities of the age are discussed, especially the philosophy that made a turn towards posthumanism and the new materialism, setting new goals for education. Then a public discourse study is presented – how the Lithuanian press (the main news portals) responds to the new challenges and sees the future of the Lithuanian school. And finally, the article reflects where the thoughts raised by public discourse lead and how far they reach compared to the new philosophy and challenges for the future.

The method of cumulants for the normal approximation

The survey is dedicated to a celebrated series of quantitave results, developed by the Lithuanian school of probability, on the normal approximation for a real-valued random variable. The key ingredient is a bound on cumulants of the type |κj(X)|≤j!1+γ∕Δj−2, which is weaker than Cramér’s condition of finite exponential moments. We give a self-contained proof of some of the “main lemmas” in a book by Saulis and Statulevičius (1989), and an accessible introduction to the Cramér-Petrov series. In addition, we explain relations with heavy-tailed Weibull variables, moderate deviations, and mod-phi convergence. We discuss some methods for bounding cumulants such as summability of mixed cumulants and dependency graphs, and briefly review a few recent applications of the method of cumulants for the normal approximation.

The updating of content of geographical education at the basic school: methodological approaches and paradigmatic turns

The article reviews the current updating of the basic school curricula in Lithuania, as well as the updating of the content of geographical education. The basic curricula for basic schools were updated last time in 2008. The updating of the content of geographical education is based on the OECD guidelines and guidelines for updating the Framework Programmes (2019) and amendments thereof (2021). The content of geographical education is also updated in accordance with the provisions of the International Charter on Geographical Education (2016). Based on the main categories of geography – location, space, scale – a model of the concepts of the geographical learning structure has been developed, which best corresponds to the content of Lithuanian school geographical education and cognitive perspectives of learning. The study compared and linked the paradigms of education, geography, and geographical didactics. These paradigms are shown to be closely linked with one another and determines the changes in the content of today’s geographical education. Keywords: general curriculum, content of geographical education, education paradigm, geographical paradigm, paradigm of geographical didactics.

Lietuvių dienraštis „Vilniaus žinios“ (1904–1909): tautinė pozityvistinė programa

THE LITHUANIAN DAILY VILNIAUS ŽINIOS (1904–1909): A NATIONAL POSITIVIST PROGRAMME Summary The empirical basis of the research is the articles and news items from Vilniaus žinios, the first legal Lithuanian daily newspaper, issued in Lithuania between 10 December 1904 and 4 (17) March 1909, which discussed ideas relevant to Lithuanian society at the time, and the ‘social fermentation of Lithuanians’, the memoirs of contributors to and contemporaries of the periodical that were published in the first half of the 20th century, and Petras Vileišis’ autobiographical writings. The material and the historical circumstances are analysed from an ethnological point of view. In historiography and the memoirs of contemporaries, it is emphasised that Vilniaus žinios (1904–1909), had no clear-cut political views, and was open to a wide range of trends that were forming in Lithuanian society at that time. To an extent, this explains the newspaper’s subsequent failures. The article aims to reexamine the programme and content of Vilniaus žinios, and its relevant national issues. It notes that the direction of the daily was framed in a statement in Vilniaus žinios on 9 November 1904, repeated in editorials and supported by the editorial staff. At its heart lie concern with the nation’s education, well-being and happiness. This means the work for and with society, activities in a national-democratic direction, pursuing the welfare of the nation through cultural evolution rather than revolution, and through education, which is believed to lead towards culture and the well-being of the people, restraining from membership of any party, and yet respecting the views of each and every party. The article states that the direction of the newspaper was framed by Petras Vileišis, its officially approved publisher and editor. Vileišis was an advocate of the national program of positivism and ‘organic work’, and a proponent of the liberal trend, which after the January Uprising (1863–1864) established itself in the landscape of Polish and Lithuanian political thought. Legal action, work and realistic ‘small politics’ were at the heart of its struggle for independence. The articles published in Vilniaus žinios reveal how this direction was followed in promoting and implementing educational and civilisational progress, and economic development, strengthening the position of the Lithuanian language in public life, promoting social unity among Lithuanians, and developing cultural literacy. The article also dwells on specific issues of the national agenda, which in the newspaper are presented as objects of the daily life: Lithuanian schools, reading rooms, Lithuanian books and newspapers, co-operative shops and dairy plants, Lithuanian evenings, songs and theatre. They are the strategic images that represent innovation, change, modernisation, and the direction of national activity.

GAMTAMOKSLINIS UGDYMAS PRADINĖJE MOKYKLOJE: PROCESAS IR JO GERINIMAS

Despite the fact that science education (SE) in primary school is integrated, it must be of high quality. In other words, primary school students should be able to perform simple observations and tests, formulate conclusions, use the simplest devices and instruments, and so on. The same universal questions remain, such as What do young people need to know and understand? why is it important? What are the most effective ways of teaching science at different levels of the school system? What knowledge and skills do teachers need? In Lithuanian primary school (1-4 grades), science education is mainly implemented through World Cognition lessons and includes two goals that are very important for the student's socialization and education: to help the child get to know nature and its processes and to ensure appropriate (positive) student socialization. Although teachers tend to demonstrate a variety of experiments, student research activities are not predominant. A similar situation is observed with regard to the use of technology in the educational process. The readiness of teachers to organize and implement science education in primary school is quite uneven/diverse. Thus, the main aim of this study was to analyse the position of primary school teachers on the issue of science education, i.e., to determine which ways of improving science education one sees, and which methods of activity in the process of science education are most appropriate, how student research activities are carried out in the SE process. A quantitative study using a survey strategy was conducted. In-service primary school teachers from various Lithuanian primary schools participated in the study. A total of 115 teachers from more than 30 Lithuanian schools participated. Teachers use a variety of methods in their science education. The most frequently used are the involvement of students in practical work (activities), demonstration of experiments, attempts to link science content with the daily life of students, to organize group work of students. Class discussions are much less often encouraged, and students are allowed to carry out independent research (experiments). The aim is rarely to incorporate technology, to encourage (facilitate) research, to meet (take into account) the individual differences of students. In the process of primary science education, the most common research with students is related to a healthy lifestyle, environmental protection, and ecology. Less often, students do research on vegetation (flora), fauna (fauna), physical phenomena. Very rarely students do research on agriculture / the effects of chemicals on plants and animals. Students rarely explore soil, minerals, and rocks. Teachers argue that science education in primary school could be improved with more resources / equipment, etc., by including more practical work (activities) in an effort to bring science content closer to students' daily lives, with more student-centred lessons, better access to technology and their use in reducing the number of students in the classroom. Some teachers point out that it is important to devote more time to the selection and analysis of science content, etc., to the preparation of lessons and to have more opportunities for the professional development of teachers. Keywords: professional development, primary school, practical activities, science education

Academician Jonas Kubilius: works dedicated to the history of Lithuanian mathematics

The rise of the Lithuanian mathematical school in the second half of the 20th century is associated with the development of probability theory and its application, and the foundations of that school were insightfully laid by the famous Lithuanian mathematician Jonas Kubilius. However, the academician also had a second vocation – the history of mathematics. At the end of the 20th century, he purposefully researched the mathematical legacy of the poet, bishop A. Baranauskas, recognizing him as the first Lithuanian mathematician researcher of the second half of the 19th century.
 At the beginning of the 21st century, J. Kubilius undertook a detailed implementation of the idea of a work in the history of Lithuanian mathematics. For this purpose, an informal group of specialists was convened, the content of the work was planned, and the research-based book series ``From the History of Lithuanian Mathematics'' was published. The fourth book in this series, Mathematics in Lithuanian Higher Education Institutions in 1921–1944, presents the research of an academic who reveals the situation of mathematics in universities in Kaunas and Vilnius.
 In addition, the memoirs of mathematics history by J. Kubilius, dedicated to mathematicians Z. Žemaitis, G. Žilinskas and V. Statulevičius, should be mentioned.
 The article, at the end of which fragments of the author's memories are presented, is dedicated to the centenary of the birth of Academician J. Kubilius.

Professional Development of In-Service Teachers: Use of Eye Tracking for Language Classes, Case Study

This article presents a study on in-service professional development of Lithuanian secondary school language teachers. The motivation is based on the understanding of language education as a highly interactive, complex process that requires a teacher’s digital literacy skills combined with integrated instructional approaches. This requires the implementation of a set of professional development activities. As a research methodology, we use a mixed method approach based on collecting eye tracking data in the first phase and, then, focus on comparative teacher self-reflection using data analysis and qualitative interviews. Finally, based on the collected qualitative and quantitative data, educational experts develop and present recommendations on the scope and direction of professional development. As a result of this study, a comprehensive set of the eye tracking data from the experiment involving 93 participants in total and 23 recorded lessons is presented. This includes variables such as number of visits, time to first fixation, number of fixations, and fixation duration vertically and horizontally. The discussion presents the results of the qualitative part of the study, including comprehensive teachers’ feedback. In conclusion, an integrated training program for in-service language teachers is presented, including an eye tracking experiment that provides data for extensive self-reflection and feedback.

Sustainable School Environment as a Landscape for Secondary School Students’ Engagement in Learning

The sustainable school is important in today’s education system to ensure the well-being of younger generations. This research work attempted to empirically test the different predictions of a sustainable school environment for secondary school students’ engagement in learning. The following objectives were formulated: to analyse the differences of sustainable school environment and engagement in learning based on gender and SES background; to analyse the relationship between sustainable school environment variables and engagement in learning; and to examine how sustainable school environment variables could predict students’ emotional and behavioural engagement. The research sample consisted of students from three districts of Lithuania with a disadvantaged SES context. We assessed the sustainable school environment variables and students’ emotional and behavioural engagement in learning with the What Is Happening in this Class? (WIHIC) questionnaire, a short form of the Learning Climate Questionnaire (LCQ), and the Student Engagement Scale. The results showed a statistically significant difference in behavioural engagement between boys and girls. There are no differences in sustainable school environment variables and engagement in relation to SES. Teachers’ autonomy supportive behaviour perceived by students has the strongest correlation with emotional and behavioural engagement in learning. Thus, in the Lithuanian schools surveyed, a sustainable school environment is developing.

Risk of Behavioural and Emotional Disorders in Lithuanian School Aged Children as Assessed with SDQ During the Second Lockdown due to COVID-19

As a result of the outbreak of COVID-19 and consequent restrictions, the distance education was introduced in Lithuania in 2020 spring (the first lockdown, lasted for around 3 months) and 2020 autumn (the second lockdown, still lasting, June 2021). The prevalence of children’s mental health problems during the first lockdown was similar to pre-epidemic rates in Lithuania, but the prolonged lockdown (and therefore school closure) might have more negative consequences on children’s mental health. This study aimed to reveal the incidence of mental health problems as rated by parents with a Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire during the second lockdown in school aged children. This research sample included data of 514 children (46% girls), aged 7 to 14 years old (mean age 10.15 years, SD = 3.47). The children’s mental health problems were assessed using a Lithuanian version of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, parental form, in April–May 2021. Results revealed that 29.6% of Lithuanian children had scores in the clinical (abnormal) range of emotional problems and 21.6% – of conduct problems. Based on total difficulties score, 31.6% of children get in clinical range of emotional and behavioural problems, as rated by parents by the end of the second lockdown. The results are compared to pre-pandemic epidemiological rates of emotional and behavioural problems reported and those documented after the first quarantine in Lithuania and highlight important findings for professionals and policy makers about the detrimental effects of prolonged lockdown and school closure on children’s mental health.

CROSS-CULTURAL TRANSITION CARE IN LITHUANIAN SCHOOLS: SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGISTS' PERSPECTIVES

Aim. The study aims to enrich an understanding of how Lithuanian school psychologists perceive the cross-cultural transitional care in the bridging role they are made to play in their schooling contexts in supporting Cross-Culture Kids (CCK). Methods. The article presents research findings of surveying 200 school psychologists from Lithuania on current practices and challenges Lithuanian schools face in working with CCKs and developing effective and comprehensive school-based Cross-Cultural Transition Care Programmes (CCTCP). Results. The analysis shows that Lithuanian school psychologists are unfamiliar with CCK concepts and do not feel prepared to deliver CCTC service to migrant pupils and families or CCTC training to their peer teacher and school administration. Issues surrounding migrant integration are alien to many, and many see it as irrelevant to their school contexts, regardless of governmental attempts to integrate returning Lithuanian emigrants in recent years. Conclusion. The study shows that cross-cultural dialogues—and thus care support—yet need to find space in Lithuanian schools. Through systematic reconsideration, institutions providing educational support and training to key school actors, such as school psychologists, can be better supported. More approachable forms of implementable resources will allow space for schools to negotiate the extent and speed of their involvement, and also provide an arena for cross-cultural narratives and integration care, as they see fit best in their context.

Knowledge formation practices in the context of the VET curriculum reform in Lithuania

ABSTRACT In 2015, Lithuania entered a new stage of the vocational education and training (VET) curriculum reform with the introduction of the national competence-based qualifications standards and the modularisation of the VET curriculum on the basis of these standards. Competence in Lithuania is understood holistically as a ‘totality’ of knowledge, skills and attitudes. The statements of competencies in the standards mainly reflect work processes and it is the role of curriculum designers and vocational education and training teachers (VET teachers) to ‘uncover’ all domains of competency in learning outcomes, learning assignments and assessment criteria. In the Lithuanian context, the modularisation of VET programmes challenges integration of theory and practice within and between different modules and calls for more intensive cooperation of teachers in planning and implementing instruction. This paper aims to explore how knowledge representation has changed in the Lithuanian national and school VET curricula, how changes brought by the curriculum reform reflect in everyday work of VET teachers and, consequently, what challenges vocational teachers face in learners’ knowledge formation. The paper is based on content analysis of the national and school level curriculum documents and semi-structured interviews with VET teachers and administrative staff.

Digital Competence Improvement by Lithuanian School Teachers During Covid-19

Distance teaching and learning in Lithuanian schools during COVID-19 pandemic was a booster for teacher digital competence development. The paper analysis the experiences of Lithuanian school teachers to reveal the challenges schools and teachers faced while switching from traditional face to face teaching and learning to distance education. The research revealed existence of different level teacher digital competences at a school and uneven competence development in each school. The analysis of experiences of Lithuanian school teachers through the lens of DigCompEdu framework revealed that professional development competence was the background for other competence areas to develop. The need for digital resources for teaching online contributed to the teacher digital competence development of this area. Digital assessment was indicated as the main challenge that remained unsolved in many cases. Research found that technological peculiarities were easier to learn and showed the need to develop teacher social and didactical competences which are necessary for distance teaching. Lack of activities to empower learners and develop their digital competences was recorded. Teachers themselves acknowledged great improvement of their digital competence.

The Challenging Aspects of Digital Learning Objects Usage in a Primary School During the Pandemics

The COVID-19 pandemic situation forced to look for other ways to provide continuous education around the world, which highlighted the importance and necessity of online education platforms and digital learning object (DLO) while going through this shift (Zhou et al., 2020; Viner et al., 2020; Wang et al., 2020). Teachers, in primary schools as well, had to reorganize completely their curriculum and assignments to adapt them to the virtual environment. This paper, based on the experiences of primary school teachers, aims to reveal the challenges faced by the teachers when within two weeks all Lithuanian schools and universities had to switch to remote education from face-to-face education and when the adoption of DLOs moved from optional to compulsory ‘mode’ as learning process became remote. The research problem is analyzed primarily by revealing the theoretical aspects of the research, i.e., the concept of the DLO, the specifics of the adoption of DLOs in primary education and the challenges considered through the types of barriers. The findings indicate that teachers experienced challenges of practical training, issues in pupils’ assessment due to the lack of participation in the process of assignment completion, time constrain, different computer systems used, issues of online security, internet access and support. The study also identified the challenges of practical origin, namely, difficulties in keeping pupils’ concentration and attention throughout the lesson, lower level of teacher’s control during lessons as well as differences in pupils’ technical skills to use computers. Received: 2 August 2021 / Accepted: 20 August 2021 / Published: 5 September 2021

Towards Quality in Distance Education: The First Lessons Learned by Schools During COVID-19 Pandemics

During the initial COVID-19 breakout and related lockdown Lithuanian schools created new pathways of organizing distance education under unprecedented circumstances. The qualitative research focuses on the experiences of Lithuanian schools in organizing distance education during COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 – October 2020, searching for ways to ensure the quality of teaching and learning. The 8 school activity areas need changes during transition to distance teaching and learning: strategy, management and administration; infrastructure of information technologies; digital learning content; digital competencies and continuous professional development; teaching, learning and assessment in the digital environment; a support system for pupils and teachers; partnership, cooperation and networking; and quality assurance. Changes in all the indicated areas lead to the quality of distance teaching and learning. The qualitative research data (expert interviews and focus groups) revealed the importance of school community agreements regarding the choice of technologies and environments, and the need for a national digital curriculum to be created. Quality assurance of the learning process, improvement of digital competences and school community collaboration were among the most successfully changing areas. IT infrastructure, support system, and teaching and learning process were based on very different school or teacher decisions and led to different experiences.

“The New Man” On-Demand: A Student in Lithuanian Schools of the Late Soviet Years (1964–1988)

This article presents a socio-historical study that combines an analysis of the theoretical model of the “new man” in the late Soviet period (1964–1988) with an empirical study of personal experiences of people who were students at schools in the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic (LSSR) during this period. The aim is to analyze how the teaching and learning process were organized during the late Soviet period in LSSR schools, how it was understood by the participants of this study, and what were the possible differences in the experiences of schoolchildren. Also, it is equally important to determine which of the schoolchildren’s experiences in this period could be qualified as “unifying experiences” that formed the mentality of the late Soviet period generation. These experiences are compared with the common Soviet vision of the “new man” education, which was also changing during the late Soviet period. While searching for the answer to how much of the theoretical “new man” model was adopted by this last Soviet generation in LSSR, we use a post-revisionist approach and focus on the narrative of everyday history – what it meant to be schoolchildren in Soviet schools. The research revealed that the formal institutionalization of collective life for schoolchildren through Pioneer or Komsomol organizations was ineffective in creating a collective community feeling between the young generation. During the late Soviet period in LSSR schools there were four main disciplinary practices: formal notices by writing or by word, unsanctioned physical punishments, preventive disciplinary practices, and informal shaming. The last informal disciplinary practice was considered by schoolchildren in todays perspective as the most effective means of discipline at schools. These practices reflected the model of monitoring each other in the adult Soviet society and formed the horizontal control system involving students, their parents, and teachers. The research revealed a preliminary informal social stratification of children in LSSR schools during the late Soviet period. It was not related to the vision of “the new man” education but encouraged an already existing division within the LSSR society. This was a complete departure from the ethical-moral visions of educating “the new man” in schools, which were based on the demolition of the established class division, enabling this “new man” to create a welfare of socialist society by their own hard work and heroic achievements.

Individual and Interpersonal Factors and Their Interaction Predicting the Intentional Physical Education Skipping Behavior among Lithuanian High School Students

The promotion of physical activity in physical education (PE) might be enabled only in the case that PE is attended. Intentional skipping of PE, while widespread, is understudied. The aim of the study is to identify individual and interpersonal correlates as well as their interaction effect on the intentional PE skipping behavior in Lithuanian high school students. This cross-sectional population-based study included 1285 students aged from 14 to 18 years old. Among them, 42.2 were male. PE skipping, sociodemographic, individual and interpersonal indicators were measured. Results revealed that 58.4% of high school students intentionally skip their PE class at least once per week. The main correlates of PE skipping are sedentary behavior and social participation. The main preventive factors are perception of PE usefulness, better self-rated health among direct predictors. Indirectly, social capital played a protective role for PE skipping classes through a more positive perception of PE usefulness. Raising awareness of physical education benefits, providing a rationale for physical education in the social contexts of family and school, in terms of family support and building trust with teachers, strengthening reciprocity at school indirectly prevents students’ PE skipping behaviors.