BENDROJO UGDYMO MOKYKLŲ SKELBIAMOS PAŽANGOS PASKIRTIES SUVOKIMAS: BENDRUOMENIŲ POŽIŪRIS

Abstract

The article „Perception of the progress announced by general education schools: a community approach” presents School’s progress and its dissemination from the viewpoint of general education school community. Thus, for almost three decades, Lithuania has been developing its own educational system after the Restoration of its Independence. The Restoration of the Independent State of Lithuania on March 11, 1990, prompted a systemic reform of all areas of education. This transformation of education in Lithuania was stimulated by internal (factors that existed in the system of education itself) and sociocultural (factors from other socio-cultural areas of life). According to the national rapports Lithuanian education had to model and develop a new concept of education goals, objectives, structures, curriculum, methods, strategies, which Western European countries had been developing for decades, constantly changing, refining, reforming.
The article addresses the scientific problem that the There is a lack of research, concerning the general education school community‘s approach towards student›s education results, as a significant sign of progress. National goal for 2020 is that all general education schools would announce their progress report but according to studies changes are too slow. This is why aim of research is to analyze general education school community attitude to school’s progress announcements. The object of the research is the attitude of general education school communities to the announcement of school progress 2018 m. The current study (Perception of the progress announced by general education schools: a community approach) is development (described in more detail) part of the research “The Conception of School Community of General Education School Progress in terms of the Good School Concept” (from V. Targamadzė, G. Žibėnienė and J. Česnavičienė).
The article presents a quality research – a interview performed in 2018, which involved representatives of general education school management and teachers, as well as 7-12 grade gymnasium students and their parents. With the help of purposeful sampling there were chosen comprehensive schools that delegated one parent each who had a child studying in grades 7-12 and were acquainted with the school activities. The criteria applied for the selection of comprehensive schools were as follows: comprehensive schools had to be from different regions of the country: schools in a city; schools in a big town; schools in a town and in a village; comprehensive schools according to different founders: state and public institutions. When analyzing the perception of the progress announced by general education schools, we must remember, the fact that a school is an organization operating in a complex and changing social environment and involving many different society groups, such as school administration, teachers, students, parents and other society. Based on the idea already found in the Good School Concept (2015) that the education in Lithuania is founded on close collaboration between the family, school and society.
The research methods were used: analysis of academic literature and educational documents, structured interviews. To analyze the interview, the content analysis was adapted, (Bitinas, Rupšienė, Žydžiūnaitė, 2008,) which allowed to make conclusions based on the analyzed text. The qualitative content analysis was used to analyze the interview data, which allowed to draw conclusions based on the analyzed text. This method of analysis was based on systematic analytical steps: multiple readings of records, systematic interpretation of distinguished categories and subcategories and their justification based on the evidence from the transcribed texts – the confirmatory statements. According to the qualitative research methodology, the confirmatory statements are extracts from answers provided by the participants which cannot be changed by the researcher; therefore, they are quoted exactly as given by the participants. The initial interview data was handled in such a way as to ensure that it was impossible to identify the persons involved in the study. The research was organized, data analysis was carried out and presented based on the principles of qualitative research ethics: insuring the respect for individual privacy, confidentiality and anonymity, with goodwill and justice.
While analyzing legal documents concerning education, it was revealed that there is no clear obligation for general education schools to publish the progress of their schools. Legislation (Good School Concept, 2015; State Strategy for Education 2013–2022) identifies the announcement of the progress of general education schools as an aspiration to achieve educational progress as one of the features of a modern, good school.
According to general education school administration’s, teachers’ parents’ and students’ data, schools progress is announced because of external and internal factors, moreover, was revealed school community attitude to school progress announcement.
All general education school community groups mention the external factors of school progress as a response to the principle of publicity (indicated by all target groups - school administration representatives, teachers, pupils and parents of parents. School administration and pupils also associate school progress with attracting new pupils. The study of school administrations revealed an insufficient understanding of the purpose of the School Progress Announcement (publicity, accountability to society, learning from each other), did not identify the aspect of learning from each other and clearly expressed doubts about the expediency of the announcement (published as education coordinators. Identified internal factors reveal the perception of the relevance of school progress announced by Schools, revealed through distinct categories: for joy and inspiration to improve, for joy and commitment; for learning from each other. Teachers, students, and their parents associate the school progress announcement with learning from each other, but no representative of the administration mentioned it. Pupils and their parents believe that proclaiming school progress allows them to rejoice in the results and inspire them to do even more, but the school administration links this to an internal commitment to rejoice, but at the same time comes a commitment to do even better next time. The results of the study are presented in a descriptive manner and the results are visualized in a table (Perception of the table of progress announced by general education schools according to teachers, students and their parents and administration).