| Abstract [eng] |
Education is one of the most important priorities of the Lithuanian state. After independence, education has started to reform and restructuring is being carried out so far. Perhaps the biggest reform implemented – change of funding model for schools of general education. In 2002, schools of general education were started to fund by the education voucher‘s principle "money follows the student". Change of funding system was caused due to continued lack of resources, ineffective school activities, the decreasing number of students faced the need to optimize the network of schools. Education voucher‘s model includes all of the new public management elements, but theorists argue that not always the new public management is the best basis for public sector reforms. Education voucher‘s example demonstrates it. Recently, significant decline of society's attitude towards general education, repeated strikes of teachers and government‘s decision to test a new model of financing informs that the education voucher‘s application in schools of general education failed. There are plenty of educational status analysis but there is not investigated how successful education voucher‘s purposes are reached, what is the effect caused by this financing model in schools of general education. So the purpose of this work is to evaluate the results of using education voucher‘s model in Lithuania’s schools of general education. To implement the purpose of the work three tasks were set: to analyse the education voucher as the model which integrates new public management elements; to make the analysis of changes in Lithuania’s education financing system; to investigate the results of financing Lithuania’s schools of general education by education voucher’s model. To accomplish each task there are written three chapters. Theories of the new public management, conception and origin of voucher, conception of evaluation in public sector and models that are expounded in the scientific literature are systemized in the first chapter. In the second chapter the changes in Lithuania’s education financing system and education voucher’s purposes are comprehensively analyzed. The methodology of the research is based on this analysis. In the third chapter the results of accomplished research which was done to evaluate changes of indicators that illustrate alterations in Lithuania’s schools of general education caused by new financing model are presented. The research approved unsuitability of Lithuania’s schools financing model. The main problems are not solved and plenty of new problems emerged. School network optimization is implemented irrationally, the number of children who do not go to school is increasing, young people do not choose teaching as an attractive profession. Though indicators of student’s achievements are improving, international surveys show that education level in Lithuania is decreasing. The public opinion about general education is negative too. Therefore education voucher’s model must be changed. |
