58 out of 60 municipalities in Lithuania are already improving the quality of education through the Millennium Schools Programme
58 Lithuanian municipalities, 270 schools and more than €225 million invested in the country’s education – that’s the maths behind the Millennium Schools Programme (MSP) for educational progress.
Last spring, 22 municipalities across the country started implementing the MSP programme and have now been joined by a further 36 municipalities that have expressed an interest in participating. The MSP is the first of its kind to give municipalities so much autonomy and has become a tool for strengthening municipal ownership of education.
Municipalities implement their own progress projects in the four topics: Leadership in Action, Inclusion, STEAM and Cultural Education.
“The good examples of the programme’s implementation show how the district school network can be approached from a synergistic perspective, applying advanced management methods that our neighbours have come to learn from, respecting educational traditions and applying innovation in a smart way. The first stream confirmed that the preconditions for quality education in Lithuania are in place and that success comes to those who put in the work. I have no doubt that the municipalities in the second stream will also create their own success stories, and the first participants in the programme will learn from them”, said Minister of Education, Science and Sport Gintautas Jakštas.
The problems addressed by municipalities range from the achievement gap between schools in the municipality, unfavourable conditions for the implementation of inclusive education, the lack of cooperation between schools, the lack of facilities for the implementation of the content of modern education (STEAM laboratories, relaxation rooms, spaces for project-based, interdisciplinary and collaborative activities, teachers’ competences, the content of the curricula), to the improvement of the teachers’ working conditions and the possibilities for providing educational assistance.
Good examples
The progress made by the first stream of municipalities, which includes 22 municipalities across the country, can now be put into numbers: of the 1,093 planned activities, more than 500 are already underway or completed. 30% of the total funds allocated to the first stream of the MSP project, i.e. €32 million, have been disbursed to municipalities.
The activities already implemented range from infrastructural changes and the acquisition of tools and equipment to educational activities for students and teachers, field trips and internships, in-service training and workshops.
Jonava Senamiesčio Gymnasium, having planned to implement long-term cultural education and STEAM education programmes, is developing the necessary infrastructure. First of all, a new physics classroom and a biology laboratory have been installed. It is currently in the process of coordinating a list of modern teaching aids needed for science education. A new cultural-educational space “Library without Walls” has also been opened, which includes not only the library and reading room, but also an adjacent space that will allow for a wider range of cultural-educational activities. Šiauliai Ragainė Progymnasium has already organised a successful teacher placement in England, which included visits to the National STEAM Centre at the University of York in the UK and to four English schools. The Lazdijai Motiejaus Gustaitis Gymnasium is being equipped with an elevator-lift and access ramps for people with disabilities. Educational space for social, emotional and health skills, as well as a recreation area are also planned. Alongside the new spaces and facilities, the strengthening of teachers’ competences in inclusive education is being implemented in parallel.
Inclusive education
According to Judita Šarpienė, Head of the MSP Programme, municipalities are focusing on the implementation of inclusive education in a comprehensive and responsible way, both in the MSP Programme and through other initiatives. “Although municipalities and school representatives say that they are not yet 100% ready for inclusion, they are doing their best to prepare. Therefore, the activities envisaged in the area of inclusive education are designed to help municipalities fill the gaps in educational support and physical accessibility, while the application of inclusion as a horizontal principle in all the other areas of the programme only further activates the whole community to enable pupils to participate in a wide range of educational activities in line with their individual needs,” said J. Šarpienė.
Funding
The municipalities of the second stream allocated 28.5% of the total project funds to infrastructure improvements, 71.5% to the purchase of teaching materials, professional development, networking and educational activities. €12 million was allocated to Leadership in Action, €28 million to Inclusive Education, €27 million to Cultural Education, and €49 million to STEAM Education.
The project has a budget of €210 million from the Recovery and Resilience Facility (Next Generation EU) and a maximum of €44.1 million from the state budget to reimburse the value added tax (VAT). The specific support to a municipality depends on the number of pupils in the municipality and the value of its progress in the project, ranging from €500,000 to €43 million over the lifetime of the project until 2026.
The main objective of this programme is to reduce disparities in pupils’ achievement and the quality of education(s) between schools in different municipalities and between municipalities. This is achieved by investing in activities that can help the education community to implement the content of the updated curricula, to strengthen knowledge and skills, to implement inclusive education, to strengthen the leadership competences of principals and teachers, and to give additional attention to cultural and STEAM education in schools. All this is done in line with the principle of networking of schools in the municipality – encouraging sharing and cooperation rather than competition.