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Last month, the Vilnius City Council approved a five-year action plan to ensure high-quality access to education for all Vilnius children.
Under this plan, salaries for education support professionals, and at that time for teacher assistants, receive almost three times more funds than before, ranging from € 3.3 million to € 8.9 million. This would mean that the opportunities to hire such professionals increase significantly.
But only in theory. As the experience of the schools shows, you cannot find those who are willing and able to do the job of a teaching assistant professionally.
Specialists are missing, not funds.
“There is a shortage of teaching assistants everywhere. We have posts but not staff. Because, in general, no higher education institution trains teacher assistants as such, ”says director Ramutė Mečkauskienė about the situation in the Vilnius Viršuliškės progymnasium.
Photo by Irmantas Gelūnas / 15min / Ramutė Mečkauskienė
Similar moods prevail in other Vilnius schools.
For example, Vilnius Sigismund Augustus Basic School currently has four student assistants, who should at least double, says Renata Neverauskienė, director of the school’s primary and social education department. However, organized competition was unsuccessful.
“It just caught our eye then. When you are still telling me what the salary is, call immediately: no thanks, I don’t need to. And the responsibility remains considerable, because the children are very diverse, aggressive, they fight and they don’t listen, “says R. Neverauskienė.
The salary of a teaching assistant depends on the weight assigned to him, which is determined by the length of service, education, difficulty of tasks and other elements. As a result, an assistant’s salary is not the same for everyone, but generally does not exceed € 600 per hand.
The Vilnius City Municipality indicates that a teacher’s assistant appears at school only in the presence of a student who will need the help of this employee. Therefore, there is currently no specific number of such specialists in short supply.
There is a shortage of teaching assistants everywhere. We have posts but not staff.
Starting in 2021, the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports (ŠMSM) plans to establish the positions of student assistants and other educational support specialists, which would guarantee conditions for children with special educational needs in general-use schools.
But who will take these jobs if there is no longer anything to hire?
Student assistants are not and will not be trained
According to the MESM, the facilitator position is only intended to help the student participate in the lesson, “move, organize, prepare for activities, etc.” Therefore, they do not need separate training.
“He is not a teacher, so no school specifically prepares such professions. The most necessary help in school must be provided by other specialists: psychologists, special pedagogues, social pedagogues and others,” says ŠMSM.
The representatives of the schools interviewed disagree. Irina Blažienė, a psychologist from the Vilnius Psychological Pedagogical Service (VPPT), also emphasizes that the current training is insufficient.
Photo by Irmantas Gelūnas / 15min photo / Opening of the sports field
“This requires at least professional development courses, a relevant program, especially in the event that the assistant participates in the child’s educational process, looking for the best way to communicate with the child,” says I. Blažienė.
It is true that the shortage of other educational support professionals is also marked. A survey by the Vilnius municipality in May showed that in 2020-2021, an additional 29 psychologists and 24 social pedagogues will be needed in the city’s schools. 39 schools are looking for a speech therapist, and some indicated that they are looking for more employees in this field. With each subsequent year, the projected demand decreases.
Assistant without skills: no benefit to the child
Currently, no pedagogical education is required to work as a teaching assistant. However, the Virgyuliškės Progymnasium is trying to find specialists who have that education. Work is no longer just auxiliary.
“Now that the children are integrated, we are trying to hire a teaching assistant with a pedagogical education. Working with a child is a great burden for him, he has to help, teach and read and write. In the end, they need to know the methodology, but their salaries are very low, so nobody wants to go to work, “says R. Mečkauskienė.
Not only pedagogical, but also psychological preparation is needed, my director. Otherwise, there will be no benefit to the child for whom the assistant is assigned.
However, the SMSM does not provide that the student’s assistant is required to have an education in the future. There is only one “requirement to participate in in-service training before starting work and already working,” says MES.
People arrive who are not even oriented. When you’re still telling me what the salary is, immediately call, no thanks, I don’t need to.
Educator training is getting worse.
If assistant training is not sufficient, teachers do not receive separate training to work with children with special needs. They are looking for information on new working methods, foreign experience, themselves.
“To work with children with behavioral and emotional difficulties, we just had to learn and learn all the methodologies used in the world. And none of them is adequate or we did not know how to apply them, the director tells the experience of the Viršuliškės progymnasium. – We looked for our own ways, with some children it worked, and with some, none of the methodologies worked. It is our own lifeline to learn to work. “
Vilnius Deputy Mayor Vytautas Mitalas believes that in the past 20 years, the training of both teachers and educators “has steadily decreased in terms of its quality.”
And the prestigious history of the old pedagogy and later of the University of Education did not add prestige to these professions. Therefore, the municipality is trying to compensate for the lack of specialized training.
Photo by Sigismund Gedvila / 15min / Vytautas Mitalas
“We have tutoring courses for educators in schools so that those who choose to work at the school fall as little as possible after their first experiences. Because we see that part-time preparation in colleges or universities is at a level that would withstand the challenges of a modern school, ”says V. Medital on the situation in city schools.
Are Lithuanian schools ready for student inclusion?
The need for assistant teachers and other support professionals is increasing as a result of ‘inclusive education’ policies. Its goal is to eliminate discrimination and provide equal educational opportunities for all students. Therefore, students with special educational needs are encouraged to study in general classrooms. And quality training must be provided by the aforementioned specialists.
Currently, there are around 69 thousand students in Vilnius, 10 percent of whom have special educational needs, according to the Vilnius municipality.
These students are admitted to the nearest school, according to their declared place of residence, in order of arrival. Therefore, every Vilnius school should, in principle, be prepared for special education, have specialists and appropriate learning spaces.
An adequate base of assistants, tools, possibly a reduction in the number of children in the classroom is needed to attract more attention.
Unfortunately, not everyone can boast of that.
R. Neverauskienė believes that joint learning and quality inclusion of all children is possible. But this requires appropriate solutions and a different approach from the state.
“An adequate basis is needed to reduce the number of assistants, facilities, possibly children in the classroom, so that they receive more attention,” he said, adding that there are only a few schools in the city for students with physical disabilities.
Another obstacle is a stagnant society.
He really wants society to accept that each and every child has the same opportunities for education and communication, says R. Neverauskienė. However, society is hardly ready for that.
“People are not yet tolerant enough to sacrifice their knowledge, time for other children who interfere during lessons, who cannot learn, to whom the teacher’s attention must be complemented and, consequently, that attention is not paid to your son, “says the specialist.
It turns out that there are cases where parents write writings and therefore seek to keep a student with special needs out of the classroom: “It should take us several more generations to get out of this. Integrating these children into the main classes is difficult. “
People are not yet tolerant enough to sacrifice their knowledge, time for other children who interfere during lessons, who cannot learn.
The psychologist VPPT I.Blažieniza emphasizes that everything begins with the attitudes of society and the community, “the preparation of emotional education and in the sense of attitudes: accepting everyone.”
And then there is a need for multifaceted preparation, improving the environment for students, having specialists with the right qualifications.
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