Monitoring of education data

"Edu Vilnius", together with the Vilnius City Council, produces an annual Education Progress Report, which helps to assess the state of education in the city and to make the necessary decisions for the future.

Key insights from the report:

1. The academic achievement of Vilnius City students in 2022-2023 was above the national average, with an overall improvement in achievement from the previous school year.
2. There has been a moderate increase in the number of teaching staff, with an increasing proportion of full-time or more teachers, and a relatively ageing teacher community.
3. The number of non-state pre-school and general education institutions in Vilnius continues to grow, in line with the increasing number of pre-school children and pupils. The enrolment of children in pre-school and pre-primary education has continued to increase moderately. An increase in the number of foreign pupils from outside the European Union was recorded. Achievement gaps between Vilnius City schools remain uneven.
4. The poor emotional well-being of a significant number of pupils in a number of schools in Vilnius reflects a negative emotional environment and a lack of social and emotional competences in some schools. The implementation of inclusive education in Vilnius is hampered by the physical accessibility of schools and the lack of human resources.
5. A significant proportion of pupils in Vilnius lack healthy lifestyle habits and have negative attitudes towards their health.
6. The progress in the extent of pupils' participation in non-formal education activities is conditional. The participation of SUP pupils in NFE activities is increasing.

Report (in Lithuanian)

From December 2022 "Edu Vilnius", together with Vilnius City Municipality, has started monitoring the experiences and well-being of pupils, staff and parents of general education institutions in Vilnius City.

Goal

The purpose of the monitoring system is to help schools and the municipality to record fluctuations in indicators of the learning environment, pupil well-being, and the microclimate of schools, to diagnose, identify problem areas and, if necessary, to carry out interventions based on the data.

The main beneficiaries of this innovation are school leaders and school communities.

Process and methodology

This year, 79 general education institutions in Vilnius City have joined the monitoring system. We expect all general education institutions in the city to join in 2023.

The monitoring data collection, analysis system and infrastructure are centrally managed by Edu Vilnius and the service provider UAB Synopticom. The solution applies a methodology developed and successfully used in business management, which allows schools to periodically collect data on the experience and well-being of their community in the form of surveys at a reduced labour cost, analyse it, and react promptly to make quality decisions by means of visual and comprehensible expressions of the results.

In 2023, 10 pre-school institutions will also test the system for monitoring the experiences and well-being of staff and parents (3 kindergartens in Vilnius have been involved in the development of the prototype).

Achievements in 2023

At the end of 2022, we invited general education institutions in Vilnius to participate in the collection of monitoring data on the experiences and well-being of pupils, staff and parents of pupils, and to start monitoring education in Vilnius. 79 schools took up the challenge, 3,987 school staff, 15,365 pupils and 19,111 parents participated in the surveys.

Overall satisfaction:
Pupils - 7.4
Teachers - 8.5
Parents - 8.0

13 pre-school institutions also participated in the Education Monitoring System trials.

Contact

Project manager Jurgita Rimkuvienė
Jurgita.Rimkuviene@vilnius.lt

From the school year 2022-2023, "Edu Vilnius" is piloting an esports (competitive virtual sports) programme for students in grades 9-10 in one of the Vilnius City Youth Schools. The programme is based on one school year of special esports lessons where students learn to play esports with the help of a professional esports player and develop social, emotional and healthy lifestyle skills with the help of a psychologist. The expected outcome of the programme is an increase in students' social, emotional and healthy lifestyle competences and increased motivation to attend school/learn.

In 2023, Edu Vilnius initiated a qualitative study to investigate changes in the social, emotional and healthy lifestyle skills and academic performance of the participating pupils, and to identify changes in their attitudes towards school and learning. The study was carried out by Renida Baltrušaitytė, Kornelija Čepytė and Giedrius Jankauskas, researchers at the applied anthropology organisation Anthropos.

Between November 2023 and June 2024, the researchers collected data through focus groups and participant observation in esports lessons.* The analysis of the data collected during the participant observation and focus groups showed that the skills of emotion identification, reflection and management, communication and cooperation, self- and social analysis and self-control were strongly developed in the esports lessons. Positive changes in these areas were reported by the teachers and esports instructors interviewed in the focus groups and identified by the students themselves. The researchers recorded the students' improvements in these areas through participant observation. The researchers' report includes a review of the scientific literature, a summary of the study, and the conclusions. In order to ensure the anonymity and traceability of the participants, we plan to publish the full research report in 2025. The full version of the research report will include a detailed presentation of the structure and organisation of the esports lesson, an analysis of the teaching/learning process in the lesson, a review of the literature, a summary of the research and the conclusions. 

*Research ethics were observed in the collection and analysis of the data collected.

Report excerpt (in Lithuanian)

"Edu Vilnius", together with the Vilnius City Council, produces an annual Education Progress Report, which helps to assess the state of education in the city and to make the necessary decisions for the future.

Key insights from the report:

1. The academic achievement of Vilnius City students in 2021-2022 was above the national average, but there were significant differences in achievement between different schools in the city and a decline in achievement from the previous school year.

2. As the number of pupils in Vilnius increases, average class sizes are approaching the norm, and the number of non-state educational institutions in the city is increasing. Enrolment in pre-school education in the city has increased. The expansion of educational places remains an issue for both pre-school and general education programmes due to positive demographic trends and geopolitical processes.

3. Although there has been a moderate growth in the teaching community, the steady increase in the number of pupils has led to a shortage of teachers and a relatively
ageing.

4. The emotional well-being and quality of life of pupils in Vilnius is satisfactory.

5. The implementation of inclusive education in Vilnius is hampered by the physical accessibility of schools and the lack of human resources.

6. The level of involvement of pupils in non-formal education activities is insufficient.

This report presents the results of an analysis of Vilnius' general, pre-primary and pre-school teachers working in the municipality's educational institutions. 
The aim of the analysis is to provide an exploratory assessment of the age, seniority, tenure, workload, hiring and leaving trends of teachers currently working in Vilnius municipal authorities.

Key insights from the study:

1. Compared to the situation in Lithuania, the situation of teachers in Vilnius is more positive: the average age is almost 3 years lower, the percentage of teachers under 35 is almost double. However, for nine years in a row, the number of older teachers has been steadily rising (compared to those under 50), signalling serious systemic problems.

2. The oldest general education teachers are recorded in the groups of teachers of second foreign languages (German, Russian) and STEM subjects (except IT). In schools where education is delivered in Russian or in other languages or in more than one language of instruction, teachers are older than in other schools. 

3. The balance between older teachers leaving and younger teachers joining the school is not sufficient to renew the teacher pool. 

4. Once a teacher reaches retirement age, he/she continues to work in a general education school in Vilnius City Municipality for an average of 3 to 3.5 years before retiring. Over the next 8 years in Vilnius, the ageing of existing teachers alone would require at least 130-150 new teachers every year to replace those retiring.

5. Although the last couple of years have seen a slight increase in the number of new teachers and a slight decrease in the number of retirements (including retirements), a sustainable general education system in Vilnius Municipality would require at least 250-350 new teachers per year.

6. Vilnius Municipality's general education schools address the shortage of teachers by changing the proportion of full-time teachers. In 2023 (compared to 2021), some 152 posts have been filled without recruiting new teachers due to changes in the number of teachers (increase or decrease). The largest number of additional posts were filled in non-formal education, primary curriculum subjects, Lithuanian language and literature, mathematics, foreign language (English) subjects.

7. The number of new teachers (young and from other areas) entering Vilnius City Municipality schools has dropped particularly significantly over the last calendar year. This is probably the reason for the increasing 
experts and public opinion that there is a severe shortage of teachers in Vilnius.

8. The conditions for the renewal of pre-school and pre-primary teachers are more favourable: this segment has a lower average age than the general education teachers, and a more even distribution of age groups.

9. The most senior pre-primary and pre-school teachers are in schools where education is conducted in Russian.

10. After reaching retirement age, pre-school and pre-primary teachers in Vilnius City Municipality still work on average for 2 to 2.5 years, after which they retire. To replace retiring specialists, at least 55 new pre-school and at least 14 new pre-school specialists should be recruited each year.

The global challenges of poverty, hunger, social inequality, environmental degradation and economic hardship call for sustainable development - development that meets people's needs today without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Lithuania, together with 192 other countries, is committed to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

Sustainable development requires education that equips people with the knowledge, skills and values to understand environmental, social and economic challenges and to take action towards a healthier, fairer and more environmentally friendly society. Educational institutions, as institutions that nurture the citizens of tomorrow, are the ideal place to develop this knowledge, habits and sustainable behaviour.

Schools are encouraged to adopt a whole-school approach to sustainability, thus integrating sustainability issues in a structured and coherent way in all areas: school vision, curriculum content, teaching methods, community relations, professional development and institutional practices. According to UNESCO, such an approach empowers students to live what they learn and learn what they live.

In spring 2023, Julija Skerniškytė, a participant of the unique programme "Kurk Lietuvai", joined the "Edu Vilnius" team for six months to address the important topic of sustainability - to better understand the ways in which schools are striving to be sustainable and, by example, to shape the attitudes and habits of the future generation.

128 out of 242 educational institutions in Vilnius participated in the pilot study.
The study found that around 33% of them have specific sustainability objectives included in their action plans. For example: setting up an outdoor pedagogy group, composting food waste, intensifying cooperation with social partners, ensuring smooth communication with the community, upgrading the heating system, preparing meals from the harvest of the kindergarten.

45% of the educational institutions participating in the study are consciously reducing the number of shared waste bins in the school premises. 43% compost their waste.

Study on sustainability in Vilnius educational institutions (LT)

"Edu Vilnius", together with the Vilnius City Council, produces an annual Education Progress Report, which helps to assess the state of education in the city and to make the necessary decisions for the future.

Key insights from the report:

1. The academic achievement of students in Vilnius City is rising and is above the national average, but there are significant differences in achievement between different schools in the city.

2. Due to the growing number of children, the municipality lacks adequate infrastructure for education, with overcrowding in half a dozen schools.

3. Moderate growth and turnover of the teaching community, but there is a shortage of teachers.

4. There has been a steady expansion of opportunities for pupils with special needs to be educated in mainstream classrooms.

5. Insufficient inclusion of pupils in non-formal education activities.