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The amendment was passed in preparation for the so-called inclusive education model, which will come into effect in September and means that children with special needs will be able to choose a general education school nearby.
Teachers unions agree that the amendments passed by Congress are necessary, but they can only salvage the situation.
In 2020, the last Congress decided that if a child with severe or very severe special educational needs studies in a class, the class must have two teachers. After the amendments passed this week, educational support specialists, psychologists or other experts selected according to the needs of specific children will be able to work with teachers.
The Ministry of Education admitted that the changes were initiated because schools did not have the capacity to assign two teachers to a class.
“(…) it is really not 100 percent possible. Therefore, MPs submitted amendments to the Education Law, which were basically approved by the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports,” Deputy Education Minister Ignas Gaižiūnas told BNS this week.
“In a sense, we’re going to create some freedom for schools to decide how best to organize these programs,” he added.
Egidijus Milešinas, president of the Lithuanian Trade Union of Education and Science (LŠMPS), told BNS that the amendments were necessary because the inclusive education model had not been ready since September.
“They are saving themselves from this situation because, I repeat, if they do not take this change now, the current legal norms will not work from September,” E. Milešinas told BNS.
The union president said that in order to implement the old rule of two teachers, school funds should be reallocated.
“In an election year, and in fact we have elections in the fall, it is impossible to discuss the budget law at the end of the July session. In fact, no matter how members of Congress talk about it, such a thing cannot be done in a week,” said E. Milesinas.
Deputy Minister of Education I. Gaižiūnas said another reason for the adoption of the amendments was the results of a pilot study conducted in 103 classes.
“The greater involvement of specialists in the pilot 103 classes shows that there is a real need for greater flexibility and more variety for children with high or very high special educational needs,” the deputy minister said.
Although LŠMPS members questioned why the pilot study was conducted only after the adoption of the Inclusive Education Law in 2020, they agreed with the clear results but saw another problem – a lack of experts and funding.
“Additional funds are allocated (for the pilot study – BNS), then the schools have an additional opportunity to hire specialists, create more full-time positions, and then there are already several people working, several teachers in the classroom with such children. As the Ministry of Education says, the solution to such a thing may not be a second teacher, but an educational support specialist (is required). But I repeat – resources are needed for this”, says E. Milešinas.
Until now, schools have not had strict rules on how many and what type of specialists should work in classrooms when children with special needs are learning there.
There are often no qualifications required for hiring teaching assistants.
The chairman of LŠMPS said that the situation in schools will remain similar from September due to lack of resources.
“Every institution must have money and the number of positions to hire people. The second thing is, if there is money, you need manpower, that is, experts who are willing to come and do the work. At the moment, with the current number of people, financial possibilities, budgetary funds, I don’t think the situation will change and will remain the same”, says E. Milešinas.
Deputy Minister of Education I. Gaižiūnas told BNS that they are aware of the issue of raising the qualifications of teaching assistants, but no specific decision has been made on what new requirements will be established.
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