Schools of change

Goal 

To help educational institutions to become more sustainable organisations by providing funding or co-financing for the implementation of sustainable solutions in the educational institution.

Description

For the 2023 Ideas Challenge, we invited pre-schools and schools to submit ideas on how to increase sustainability in their community in areas such as movement, electricity, water, paper use, food waste, sorting, etc.

Funding or co-funding is available for ideas that encourage and/or enable school administrators, teachers, students and/or other community members to live more sustainably at school.

One application per school. If a school has departments, each department may submit an application.
In autumn 2024, we will again invite educational institutions to apply for funding for sustainability ideas.

Achievements in 2024

We received 56 applications, of which 29 were selected for funding or co-funding between 2024 and 2025.

Some educational institutions have developed or added educational tools to their green spaces: planting shrubs, trees, barefoot paths, oases of sagebrush, perennial flowerbeds, insect hotels, restoring natural habitats, etc. 
Some of the projects aim to influence the school community's mobility, food, consumption and waste sorting habits.

Contact

Project manager Donata Šablinienė
donata@eduvilnius.lt

Goal 

Sustainable development is a prerequisite for a sustainable future, and its principles need to be introduced from an early age. This is why we are increasingly focusing on sustainability projects in educational institutions in Vilnius, to provide them with a wide range of support to become more sustainable.

Description

This 40-academic-hour professional development programme aims to effectively integrate global sustainability themes into the educational process and sustainability attitudes into school life. The programme helps teachers to work successfully with updated general education curricula, where global and sustainable development themes are cross-curricular and integrated into all subject areas.

Achievements in 2024

The "Sustainable Schools - From Theory to Practice" programme consists of 4 modules, the first 2 of which took place in 2024.
The first module was attended by 28 pre-school and general education teachers and school leaders and the second by 14.

This year, school representatives explored the local and global links between sustainable development, the UN Sustainable Development Goals, a holistic approach to sustainable development in schools, the causes of climate change, and a workshop on climate change called "Climate Mural".

Contact

Project manager Donata Šablinienė
donata@eduvilnius.lt

Goal

Sustainability is not only about the school environment, but also about the community involved in its decisions. Participatory budgeting is a way of deciding together with pupils how public money is spent. Pupils themselves propose ideas for the school, vote for the ones they like the most, and learn about citizenship in practice.

Desciption

For the Participatory Budgeting Challenge, schools receive partial funding for ideas proposed by pupils that are in line with sustainability principles. Selected schools are introduced to the principles of participatory budgeting and are advised on implementation by representatives of Transparency International Lithuania and Edu Vilnius.

Short training sessions and implementation advice are provided to first-time implementing schools. Schools that have already participated join in to share their experience and act as mentors. The implemented ideas are presented at a final event.

Achievements in 2024

This year 47 schools have implemented the Participatory Budgeting initiative. 17 of them have implemented a participatory budget for the first time.

One of the most popular ideas was the provision of outdoor and indoor recreation areas (soft seating, benches, games). Pupils often want to renew or add to the school's sports or classroom equipment or furniture, audio-visual equipment. Other winning ideas: replacing the school bell with a modern musical bell, roller blinds and light effects in the assembly hall, a party house, a smart notice board.

40% of schools in Vilnius have already tried participatory budgeting.

Contact

Project manager Donata Šablinienė
donata@eduvilnius.lt

Goal

Contributing to the social partnership programme "Eat Smart!" organised by Humana People to People Baltic for the second year in a row, we invited general education institutions in Vilnius to apply for the programme and receive funding of 2 500 euros for its implementation.
The programme aims to raise students' personal competences, in particular their attitudes towards healthy living and eating, food and the environment. It promotes more varied, useful and modern technology lessons by providing funds for the purchase of foodstuffs and cooking utensils.

Description

In addition to the additional funding, schools receive useful training to help teachers use the programme in the most sustainable and efficient way. 

Achievements in 2024

The 34 municipal schools participating in the programme are using funds from a partner to purchase locally produced products for technology cooking classes. The funding also allows schools to upgrade the equipment in their cooking classrooms.

Contact

Project manager Donata Šablinienė
donata@eduvilnius.lt

Goal

Through our unique programme, we aim to unlock and develop students' and teachers' creativity, critical thinking and other key competences. We want to help schools to create a relevant, 21st century education process and provide practical support to address current learning challenges.

Description

The programme is unique in its methodology. It creates a space for partnerships between students, teachers and practitioners from different creative disciplines, working together to address specific learning challenges, and to develop and test educational approaches based on intergration, exploration and problem solving.

Working with:

- One class or target group of students, together with teachers and the programme developer;
- Teachers' Club - a space for teachers to come together and learn to tackle challenges together.

Benefits for the whole school - building a school culture based on trust, openness, reflection and purposeful improvement.

Achievements in 2023-2024

11 projects implemented. A total of 68 teachers and administrators and 150 pupils took part. 48 organisations were visited. 47 guests attended the sessions, professionals from various fields such as IT specialists, educators, event managers, directors, stage designers, musicians, psychologists, art historians, and even a member of the forensic science department.  

Teachers' Clubs' teachers tested creative learning methods with 1512 students from grades 5 to 12. The programme involved 11 creative practitioners: professionals in photography, film, music, interdisciplinary arts, theatre, education.  

During the creative learning, students recorded podcasts, organised a Night at School, did research on professions, made a short film about love, integrated English, music and sports relays, chat games, and tackled challenges on noise management, motivation, cooperation, and respect for each other. 

Teacher-produced products included: how to use artworks effectively in the classroom; the creation of an educational resource bank; focusing techniques; the development of methodological materials for bilingual education; and guidance for difficult situations in school.

As of 2016, 24 schools in Vilnius City have participated in the programme.  

Contact

Project manager Asta Morkūnienė
asta@eduvilnius.lt

Vilnius participates in the national progress programme "Millennium Schools". Full details of the programme are available here.

Goals

The aim of the Programme is to create integral, optimal and high-quality education conditions in every municipality in Lithuania by 2030 to close the achievement gap.

Vilnius City has set three goals in its Millennium Schools Progress Plan:

1) To reduce the achievement gap between different schools in Vilnius City;
2) To enable the city's residents to choose the right educational institution for their place of residence and needs;
3) To facilitate the access of pupils with special educational needs to general-purpose classrooms/schools.

Description

The programme includes school improvement activities in four areas: leadership, inclusive education, STEAM and cultural education.

Leadership development includes activities such as a monitoring system for school community attitudes and satisfaction, data-driven action planning and quality improvement, a programme to attract new teachers, and others.

Inclusive education includes the physical adaptation of schools for children with different needs, the development of teachers' knowledge, skills and capacity to adapt the educational process, etc.

STEAM education focuses on setting up and improving science and games laboratories, Fablab workshops in the classroom and in non-formal activities, learning mathematics using digital tools, etc.

Cultural education focuses on language labs, collaboration with artists and art institutions, exploratory arts, media information literacy and other activities.

Participants

• Vilniaus „Žaros“ gimnazija;
• Vilniaus „Žiburio“ pradinė mokykla;
• Vilniaus darželis-mokykla „Vilija“;
• Vilniaus Karoliniškių gimnazija;
• Vilniaus Liepkalnio mokykla;
• Vilniaus Naujininkų progimnazija;
• Vilniaus Pilaitės gimnazija;
• Vilniaus Sausio 13-osios progimnazija;
• Vilniaus Sofijos Kovalevskajos progimnazija;
• Vilniaus šv. Kristoforo gimnazija.

Achievements in 2024

Leadership in action. Emphasises the commitment of the school leader to the success of the school, empowering the school community to act.
Vilnius IFA schools chose the most relevant long-term management and leadership competency development programmes for their community. They cover 349 academic hours and involve 157 school leaders, administrators and teachers. 

School leaders have the option of personal leadership/personal growth (coaching) sessions (6 heads and their deputies took up this option).
Teachers at PTA schools participate in training programmes to improve their collaboration and teamwork skills for student progress. The programmes cover 249 academic hours and 146 teachers participate. 

School administrators, teachers, student assistants (245 participants) take part in 1-2 day team building/cooperation activities, events. 

The schools benefit from the opportunity to receive advice from an educational expert on topics of relevance to the school, such as: developing an institutional strategy, diagnosing and improving the efficiency of the educational process, improving the emotional well-being of teachers, improving teaching methodologies and tools, school public communication and image development, etc. A minimum of 300 academic hours of consultation is foreseen.

Cultural education. Teachers strengthen their competences in the field of cultural education with an emphasis on sustainability of activities and community empowerment for the progress of learning.
In addition to the implementation of the Deep Learning (Art of Inquiry) and Phenomenal Education programmes, a "Programme to Promote Reading Comprehension and Literacy" has been launched with the participation of primary and junior high, minority and grammar school teachers, school library staff, and students.

Inclusive education. The professional growth of the community is paramount to achieving quality education for children with diverse learning needs.
68 academic hours implemented. "Strengthening the work of the Child Welfare Committee", which focused on the legal regulation of the work of the school's Child Welfare Committee, the development of an individual support plan, the cooperation between parents and teachers of a child with individual educational needs, the delineation of responsibilities between teachers, pupils and the institution, the application of the GDPR in educational establishments, the effective documentation issues related to effective documentation practices in educational establishments. The training was attended by 102 employees of the administration of the Ministry of Education and the Vilnius City schools, teachers and educational support specialists.

STEAM education. In order to improve the mathematics teaching/learning process and to reduce gaps in pupils' mathematics achievement, a project on the development of a methodological framework for a mathematics support system is being implemented in all the 10 schools of the PTA. It develops methodological guidelines for mathematics support for pupils and organises training and consultation based on data collected from national student tests, action research and focus groups. All mathematicians in Vilnius are invited to participate.
A long-term training course "STEAM Approach" for primary, middle and high school concentrations is underway to foster positive attitudes towards inquiry and science, engineering and mathematics, and to develop students' literacy and competences in science, technology and engineering.

Full-day school. In the context of Millennium Schools project, elements of a system combining formal and non-formal education for students at all levels are being tested to encourage students to stay in school and take responsibility for their own learning. 
In June, an internship took place in Kaunas Simonas Daukantas progymnasium on "Experiences and practices of organising a distinctive model of all-day school". 
Activities to strengthen the leadership and cooperation skills of student self-management have started in each PTA school.
Students from St Christopher's Gymnasium took part in an educational field trip to Teltonika.

Contact

Project manager Jurgita Rimkuvienė
jurgita@eduvilnius.lt

Goal

Every organisation can improve its processes - and so can schools. We aim to foster faster progress and improve the quality of education in Vilnius City schools by inviting school teams to identify a problem area in the school and, with systematic support, work together to solve the challenge.

Description

Continuous Improvement is an offshoot of LEAN applied to the education system, which teaches how to monitor and analyse school processes to improve the quality of education and the social and emotional well-being of students. 

This methodology relies on the agreement and shared vision of the whole community and the daily collaboration of teachers. Daily tools are used to monitor individual and classroom progress, and to promote personal responsibility for learning outcomes.

Achievements in 2024

From autumn 2024 started another cycle of "Continuous Improvement in Education" trainings and practical implementation of Lean methodology adapted to school processes. 4 Vilnius schools and 2 pre-schools have made this long-term commitment. 31 members of the school leadership teams are learning and testing.

Contact

Project manager Jurgita Rimkuvienė
jurgita@eduvilnius.lt

Goal

Low motivation is one of the most important factors contributing to low achievement. Therefore, making learning more fun for pupils through more engaging formats can be a great tool not only to engage pupils, but also to motivate them and improve their achievement.

Description

Computer games are already part of students' lives. Esport is a competitive virtual sport. Esport provides opportunities for students to develop teamwork skills, creative problem-solving and learning to achieve goals. Some countries around the world are already integrating esport into education in one form or another.

In addition to team and individual tasks, strategy and action planning, tactics, healthy lifestyles, managing emotions, achieving personal goals and evaluating results. Global research shows that esports is particularly beneficial for lower achievers as a new way to engage and motivate students.

Achievements in 2024

In 2023-2024, a unique esport programme was continued in one of the capital's youth schools. The programme involved boys in 9 grade. The classes were taught by an esports professional and a psychologist.

We also initiated a qualitative study to investigate changes in the social, emotional and healthy lifestyle skills and academic performance of the participating students, and to determine how their attitudes towards school and learning have changed.

Some insights from the study: 
- Esports lessons strongly developed the skills of naming, reflecting and managing emotions, communication and cooperation, self and social analysis and self-control.
- Positive changes in these areas were reported by the teachers and lecturers interviewed in the focus groups and identified by the students themselves. 
- The researchers recorded the students' increasing skills in these areas during participant observation.

Contact

Project manager Rūta Mazgelytė
ruta@eduvilnius.lt

Goal

We aim to empower representatives of school communities:  

• understand the importance of teachers' well-being in schools;  
• to be able to assess the overall well-being of teachers in the school;  
• to understand how to recognise and deal with stressful situations, burnout and other difficulties;  
• understand and be able to use peer support to improve teachers' well-being in school;  
• understand and be able to develop teachers' psychological resilience.

Achievements in 2024

A 42-academic-hour in-service training programme on "Strengthening Teachers' Well-being: from Stress Management to Community Resilience" was developed and launched. The training involves 5 teams of general education schools in Vilnius City, people who can influence the microclimate of their school and improve teachers' well-being: principals, vice-principals, psychologists, social pedagogues, teachers.

Contact

Project manager Asta Morkūnienė
asta@eduvilnius.lt

Goal

We aim to strengthen the Lithuanian language skills of non-native teachers. Having a good command of the language of the country where they live can help teachers feel more confident in the teaching community, to take part in training and to build links with colleagues outside their school.

Achievements in 2024

Bilingualism. A bilingual education programme has been launched in 3 preschools in Vilnius, with 5 of these preschools providing bilingual education. The programme has identified models of bilingual education and provided the groups with books and games for bilingual education. Each kindergarten had 6 consultative meetings with teachers and support specialists and 2 joint meetings of all institutions to discuss the project. Work was also carried out with the parents of these groups. 40 academic hours of Lithuanian language training was organised for some of the teachers in these institutions. 

Lithuanian language training for teachers. Long-term Lithuanian language training was organised for teachers whose mother tongue is not Lithuanian. 130 teachers from 13 general education schools and 17 pre-school establishments in Vilnius were trained.

Contact

Project manager Gražvydas Kazakevičius
grazvydas@eduvilnius.lt

Goal

Certificates from international programmes are recognised by many universities around the world, and such programmes prepare children for the wider world. As part of the programme, teachers have the opportunity to develop their professional skills, participate in international training, implement innovative teaching methodologies and work with a modern, up-to-date programme. 

Achievements in 2024

5 Vilnius schools are among the 10,000 schools on every continent to be part of the Cambridge Programme.   

A further 6 schools have chosen the International Baccalaureate programme for their subjects, while 4 kindergartens are pursuing International Baccalaureate status and 1 kindergarten in Vilnius has adopted the Cambridge programme.

Contact

Project manager Andra Litvinaitė
andra@eduvilnius.lt

Goal

We aim to create the right conditions for children with special educational needs and disabilities to attend the nearest school to where they live.

Description

From 1 September 2024, amendments to the Education Act will come into force, removing legal barriers to children with disabilities and special educational needs being able to learn together with everyone. Once the right conditions are in place, children with special educational needs and disabilities will be able to attend the nearest school to their place of residence, reducing the need for special schools.

We organise workshops and programmes to help educators prepare for this change.

Achievements in 2024

In 2023-2024, we invited pre-school and primary school teachers to long-term training, group and individual consultations on "Happy Together Educating Special Children". 

23 primary school teachers and 28 pre-school teachers took part. 

When asked to evaluate the training, the teachers responded that it was very useful and that their knowledge and skills had improved after the training. The teachers appreciated the practical sessions the most, as many of them applied the knowledge in their classrooms and were able to discuss individual cases with the trainer later.

The aim of the project "Meaningful Open Learning: school-community interaction" (MOST) is to bring together schools and communities (families, researchers, citizens, entrepreneurs, etc.) to address environmental challenges in the areas of waste management (in 2021) and energy saving (in 2022), and to find out how they can work towards finding the most appropriate solutions in their community.

Project activities:

During the project, schools are invited to implement school community project activities. The activities provide schools with the opportunity to consult with experts or researchers through the project partners in the country. In each project country, the schools that have implemented the project activities are invited to participate in a national event-fair, where they all present the results of their project activities.

MOST partners participate in a final conference to discuss the results of the school community project activities in the partner countries and to present the best examples.

The project is funded by Horizon 2020, the European Union's funding programme for research and innovation. The project is implemented by a consortium of 23 institutions from 10 European countries. The project is coordinated by the Fraiburg University of Educational Sciences, and the project partners in Lithuania are Vilnius University and the Vilnius City Municipality Administration (implemented by EDU Vilnius).

Between 2022 and 2023, 26 school teams carried out energy saving project activities. The best examples was presented at the final conference in the Netherlands.

Head of planning and implementation of school and community projects (EN)

Project Advisory Board in Lithuania:

Dr. Saulius Maskeliūnas, Lietuvos kompiuterininkų sąjunga (https://www.liks.lt/)
Arminas Varanauskas, Žinių ekonomikos forumas (http://www.zef.lt/)
Daiva Viskontienė,  UAB „Biznio mašinų kompanija“ (https://bmk.lt/)
Girėnė Ščiukaitė, Bentley Systems filialas Lietuvoje (http://www.bentley.com)
Rigonda Skorulskienė, Kauno jėzuitų gimnazija (https://kjg.edupage.org/)

Project representative on the project's European Advisory Board:
Marytė Skakauskienė 

Contacts

Vilnius university: Eglė Jasutė,  Egle.jasute@fsf.vu.lt  
"Edu Vilnius": Rūta Mazgelytė,  ruta@eduvilnius.lt

Read more about the project: Vilniaus universiteto sveitainėje.
Official MOST website: MOST svetainė.