LITERACY CHANGE AS A RESULT OF THE EDUCATION REFORM: LITHUANIAN POPULATION LITERACY COMPARISON AGAINST OTHER POST-SOVIET COUNTRIES POPULATION LITERACY
##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.main##
Abstract
The dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1989–1991 allowed structural changes in the educational systems in 28 new countries which were under control of the Soviet government for a long time. Almost three decades have passed and several generations have been raised within the reformed educational systems. Therefore, it is important to assess the results of these reforms. One, yet not the only, of the main units of measurement for the assessment of the results of the educational system or education reform refers to population literacy and competencies gained through certain educational systems. The purpose of the article is to compare the results of the education reforms in Lithuania and other post-communist countries based on the population literacy as the expression of learning achievements. Data of the survey of adult skills under the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) organized by the OECD (The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) were used for comparison of the learning achievements. The OECD PIAAC survey databases of Lithuania, Estonia, Russian Federation, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Slovenia were used for comparison of the results of the reforms carried out in the post-Soviet countries. 5093 participants from Lithuania participated in the OECD PIAAC survey. Accordingly, 7632 participants participated in Estonia, 3892 in Russian Federation, 9366 in Poland, 6102 in Check Republic, 5723 in Slovakia, and 5331 in Slovenia. The total number of respondents in the seven analyzed countries is 43139.
Analysis of the data of the said countries showed that in the education reform context the lowest value added generated by the secondary school was observed in Lithuania. The most positive results of the education reform at vocational education level were recorded in Estonia, at secondary education level – in Estonia and the Czech Republic, at lower secondary education level – in Lithuania. At secondary education level, the most considerable deterioration of the results was recorded for Russia, at lower secondary education level – for Russia and Slovakia. The most moderate change in the results at vocational education level was observed in Lithuania, at secondary and lower secondary education levels – in Poland.
Analysis of the data of the said countries showed that in the education reform context the lowest value added generated by the secondary school was observed in Lithuania. The most positive results of the education reform at vocational education level were recorded in Estonia, at secondary education level – in Estonia and the Czech Republic, at lower secondary education level – in Lithuania. At secondary education level, the most considerable deterioration of the results was recorded for Russia, at lower secondary education level – for Russia and Slovakia. The most moderate change in the results at vocational education level was observed in Lithuania, at secondary and lower secondary education levels – in Poland.
##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.details##
Section
Education Science
Mykolas Romeris University retains copyright ownership and publishing rights. Authors contributing to Social Inquiry into Well-Being agree to publish their articles under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public (CC BY-NC-ND) License, allowing third parties to share their work (copy, distribute, transmit) and to adapt it, under the condition that the authors are given credit, and that in the event of reuse or distribution, the terms of this licence are made clear.
