The teacher describes the situation in the educational system as tragic: I have no idea what will come to change us

Sara Aškinytė, president of the Lithuanian Student Union (LMS), Neringa Kleniauskienė, member of the board of directors of the Association of Parents for Education, and Vilnius St. Vytautas Toleikis, professor of ethics at Christopher Gymnasium. The debate was moderated by Paulius Mieželis, former deputy director of the Vilnius Jesuit Gymnasium.

Poor psychosocial environment is concerning

Participants in the discussion, who were asked to name the main problems prevailing in the country’s schools, identified a poor psychosocial environment as one of the main ones.

LMS President S. Aškinytė noted that the visible figures for bullying and suicides remain very dismal and there is a severe shortage of psychologists in schools.

“As sad as it is, there are really many problems and they are very complex. First of all, what we are talking about out loud and the students themselves stand out is the psychosocial environment in schools. They are cases of bullying, violence and the fact that many schools do not have a single school psychologist or other expert.

The number of suicides is still very sad and this is what the students themselves notice, who ask for a solution to the problem, especially when they have no one to turn to. So the psychosocial environment in schools is really one of the main things that really needs to change, and learning outcomes also depend a lot on it, ”he said.

According to the president of the LMS, if the goal is for education to recover and the results of mathematics or other exams are higher, it is necessary to talk not only about the content, but also about the psychosocial-emotional environment.

“Another problem I would name is professional development. Vocational education and career guidance are still paper subjects and, boldly, Lithuania is currently not providing career guidance or vocational training. Students boldly pose this as a problem and ask for solutions. Just because those lessons that should allow you to prepare for the future are usually just online quizzes and you have to choose whether to be a lawyer, a firefighter, or a nurse. “

N. Kleniauskienė, member of the board of directors of the Association “Parents for education”, reminded S. Aškinyte that the emotional condition of children in schools is really worrying and that the number of children who need additional help is also increasing .

“In fact, what is a school above all is not only the children and the teachers, but also the parents. When there is no such link in the school – teachers, parents and children – and that psychosocial environment degrades. The further we advance , the more we observe that children come to schools who have behavior problems, certain syndromes and that is increasing, but the teachers do not have help. If a child in a class is, let’s say, more difficult, they will only have one assistant in the classroom. best, but sometimes there are three and four in the class with conduct disorders, ”he noted.

The board member rhetorically asked how a teacher should deal with all this, look at bullying, and finally how to ensure the entire educational process.

“In fact, it is very sad to see when there are 1,200 children and a psychologist in the school. What can he do? Basically nothing. I think that psychosocial environment is very important both for achieving educational results and for us to understand what our children came to school in general, ”said N. Kleniauskienė.

Many of the reforms were identified as selfish

Another very sensitive educational system, according to experts, is the content of education. According to them, so far everything looks beautiful only on paper.

“We had an event a few years ago and the situation has not changed much yet. When the students then looked at the curricula, in fact, they graded them well and said that they would go to school with joy and enjoy learning from them. The problem is that these programs do not correspond to reality.

Now we have an update on the content, there are working groups, commissions, meetings and that update, but we urge you to look forward. Since these new programs will last ten years and the fact that the content is displayed is very important, it is also important to know how teachers and schools are prepared to implement the content, ”warned S. Aškinytė.

S. Jurkevičius said that this problem is huge, but it is not managed professionally and there are no people who can, for example, compile Lithuanian language, history or mathematics programs.

“It’s a piecemeal design and it’s amazing when the whole machine is being run in an uncontrolled professional environment. In fact, this is a very serious problem and when it comes to school, it is probably hard for people to believe that the content of education is poorly considered. At the moment, there are attempts to change it, but, in my opinion, that process should be stopped, because it is not fully prepared for it and it will again create serious problems in Lithuanian schools, ”said the director.

According to him, this problem is so deep and difficult to solve, because at present there are no professional and qualified people in Lithuania who can draw a specific line for the content of education.

“There are no people involved in such problems at all, because there are project-level contexts everywhere, which creates a deplorable situation in the Lithuanian state. When looking at the context of mathematics, what has happened in Lithuania and how much I observe the public space, no one has conceptually communicated how mathematics should be taught, where there are problems, how that program should be structured ”.

Another important thing mentioned by S. Jurkevičius is that this year selfish reforms are being implemented in Lithuania.

“In other words, reforms are being made because of reforms. We are constantly doing something: we are changing the structure of the school, we are introducing absurd full-time pay, we are introducing management terms, but it is all very counterproductive. Basically, yes We think about it, we no longer have successful examples to be proud of, to say that we have done something and that we can build on that.

There were certain aspects that seemed to start with some hope, but there is no truly successful example in the entire education system. Many of those reforms are getting selfish. We try to do something, sometimes looking at it from one country or another, but in the end it gives a grotesque impression ”, he said without sparing bitter words.

According to him, the latest reform on the remuneration of full-time teachers was carried out in a similar way to the curriculum.

“Someone is trying to calculate teachers’ salaries in an absurd way, and public money is largely unmanageable and the responsible authorities are concerned about it. We also don’t know in which direction the school should go and what we should aim for, what should they do the students there. That direction is humanistic and liberal, but in the end everything shines in the educational process and beautiful things do not always turn into good results, “said S. Jurkevičius.

The director regretted that Lithuania did not have an authentic politics and self: “I am always ashamed when we go to Finland, Estonia as a disadvantaged country and try to see something, but we are completely unable to assess what we have here and how we should authentically move in our life. context”.

The situation of teacher training is called tragic

Vilnius St. V. Toleikis, an ethics teacher at Christopher Gymnasium, said it is no longer clear in the state who trains teachers and for what purpose.

“If the state does not have a milestone, then the teacher does not have one. What do you think of the State if it no longer has a pedagogical institute? So, who trains teachers? If it had not been for the” I choose to teach “program started by Eglė Pranckūnienė, who would President Nausėda have been photographed with in early September? It is a disaster and there is a large community of officials who deal with education and think about it day and night, but who teaches the children? Grandparents like me ”, he did not hide his disappointment.

According to the ethics professor, the age of the professors is very old and it is not clear who should replace them.

“Who will change us then? It is good that our principal is clever and there are young people who come every year and perhaps there will be no catastrophe in our school at the age we retire, but there is a tragic situation in other schools. Sorry, but where is the state? There is no such state. I don’t see any state policy, ”he didn’t wrap his words in watts.

N. Kleniauskienė for the post of secondary school teacher and said that there would probably not be enough money to solve this situation.

“Everything is so old that money alone will not be enough to solve them. In fact, normally no one trains educators anymore, there is a lack of social educators and psychologists. It is good that now I have given 300 euros to each of the students to study pedagogy, but I am very curious to know what it will be like in four years. I was seduced by those 300 euros, but I doubt that everyone will take it and go to school to work. I don’t think there is enough money. “

S. Aškinytė also doubted that everything could be solved only with more funds, and S. Jurkevičius ordered to remember what the main axis of the school should be.

“If it is not understood that the school comes together to learn, then a lot of problems arise and then the surrounding problems begin to be solved without solving the main context. I think we really lack that understanding and a sensible and correct position. And the money that we have invested and wasted in education is that today there are well-renovated schools where no one studies. We have bought pseudo-instruments that are not used and again we are allocating that money to whom ”, he assured.

According to S. Jurkevičius, during all the ongoing changes, it is not only impossible to prepare new teachers, but also teachers who have been working in this system for a long time, who receive many complaints about the quality of their teaching, want run away from this system ASAP.