More than 10 applicants for one place - this kind of competition boiled over after the announcement of the selection for the pedagogy training program "Samsung School for the Future" that will be held in Lithuania for the fourth year. The 106 school teams from all over Lithuania who submitted applications patiently waited for the evaluation committee to announce the list of ten winners. Vilnius "Laisvės" high school also entered it.
Educators from the selected schools will spend almost half a year deepening their digital literacy, change management and evocative presentation skills and will aim to win a prize worth 10 euros for their school.
As every year, the largest number of applications to participate in the program came from high schools, they accounted for more than 45 percent. of all applications. Although there is an increasingly active discussion about the use of innovative learning methods and ICT in primary classes, primary schools are the most passive so far - only 4 applications have been received from them. The most active in applying were the pedagogues of Kaunas (20%), Panevėžys (17%) and Šiauliai (14%) counties.
According to the decision of the evaluation commission, schools of various profiles from different regions of the country entered the training. According to Krisjanis Ozols, the manager of the Samsung School for the Future program for the Baltic countries, more than half of the schools that tried to enter the program did not apply for the first time. According to him, this reveals the teachers' motivation to enrich the educational process with modern teaching methods.
"The education system rests on the shoulders of teachers, on whom the future of not only their pupils but also the state depends. Year after year, the constant desire of schools to become participants in the program is the best proof that educators, knowing the huge responsibility they have, understand that it is extremely important to improve their digital skills competencies. Since Lithuanian teachers are more and more motivated every year, all we have to do is help them achieve the goals they have set, while exploring the secrets of modern child education," said K. Ozols.
Taking into account the slight differences in scores between the schools rated best by the jury, the initiator of the program, Samsung Electronics Baltics, decided to allocate two additional places and invite twelve school teams to the training.
At the end of the summer, the following selected schools will start training:
- Alytus Adolfos Ramanauskas-Vanagas high school
- Anykščiai Antanas Vienuolis pro-gymnasium
- Kaunas district Neveronii high school
- Kelme district Tytuvėnai Youth School
- Klaipėda Baltic High School
- Lazdijas Motiejas Gustaitis Gymnasium
- Panevėžys "Saulėtekios" pro-gymnasium
- Panevėžys district Krekenava Mykolas Antanaitis High School
- Rietava week Tver high school
- Telšiai district Varniai Motiejs Valančius Gymnasium
- Ukmergė Dukstyna Primary School
- Vilnius "Laisvės" high school
During the training at the Kaunas University of Technology, the participants will not only improve their digital literacy skills, but also plan how to help their students achieve better learning results with the help of digital technologies. When the program reaches the finish line, the school with the most impactful and sustainable project will be awarded a €10 prize to purchase Samsung technology.
School applications were evaluated by the program jury, which consisted of: Gytis Cibulskis, head of the E-learning Technology Center of Kaunas University of Technology, Liliana Bugailiškytė – Lideikienė, head of Education and Science Programs of the Lithuanian National Commission for UNESCO, director of the Education Development Center Giedrius Vaidelis, head of E-educational product development of TAMO group Malvina Majauskaitė, Deputy Director of the Educational Information Technologies Center Mantas Masaitis and President of the Lithuanian School Students' Union Raminta Matulytė.
