Viešojo valdymo ir verslo fakulteto dekanatas / Faculty of Public Governance and Business Dean's Office

This presentation examines a central paradox of contemporary Europe: societies are becoming increasingly educated, yet simultaneously more democratically fragile, socially fragmented, and vulnerable to information disorder and declining institutional trust. Drawing on evidence from OECD PIAAC, PISA, Eurobarometer, and the Democracy Index, the presentation argues that high levels of formal educational attainment do not automatically guarantee democratic resilience. The presentation proposes a broader understanding of resilience that extends beyond institutional stability, economic security, or crisis management. Democratic resilience is conceptualised as the societal capacity to critically evaluate information, navigate complexity and uncertainty, sustain trust and cooperation, and continuously learn and adapt. Particular attention is given to cognitive and competence-based resilience and to the role of education systems in shaping these capacities. The presentation critically reflects on contemporary assessment and certification systems, which increasingly prioritise measurable and standardised outcomes, while many competencies essential for democratic resilience — including critical judgement, epistemic responsibility, democratic dialogue, and resistance to manipulation — remain difficult to standardise and assess. It is argued that education policy must move beyond narrow achievement-oriented paradigms toward a broader focus on societal capability, lifelong learning, and democratic resilience.

Abstract: Objectives and Purpose. This study investigates how geopolitical crises—particularly the war in Ukraine—have affected students' sense of safety in schools in Lithuania and Poland. It highlights the implications of refugee integration, societal tensions, and emotional well-being in educational settings during times of regional instability. Research Questions. The research seeks to answer the following questions: 1. How has the geopolitical context influenced the educational environment in Lithuanian and Polish schools? 2. What are the key factors shaping refugee students’ sense of safety? 3. What systemic responses have proven effective or insufficient in ensuring safe and inclusive schools? Theoretical Framework. The analysis is based on Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory and the concept of psychological safety. These frameworks support a multi-level understanding of student well-being, integrating micro-level (classroom), meso-level (school-family), and macro-level (socio-political) influences. Methods and Approach. A qualitative comparative approach was applied, using content and discourse analysis of national and international media reports, institutional documents, and policy records from 2022 to 2024. The study focused on media portrayals and school narratives about refugee student experiences, integration efforts, and challenges. Data Sources. Data included journalistic articles from Lithuania and Poland, government statistics, Ministry of Education reports, and NGO assessments related to school integration, bullying, psychological services, and education policy shifts during the crisis. Findings. Key findings reveal that language barriers, cultural differences, and trauma-related behavior have complicated refugee students’ integration and heightened their vulnerability to bullying and social isolation. Teachers reported feeling unsupported and underprepared, while schools lacked clear guidance and adequate resources. Instances of violence and discrimination, driven by societal polarization and wartime narratives, further undermined emotional safety. Nonetheless, some schools showed resilience by employing inclusive practices such as trauma-informed pedagogy, peer support programs, and targeted psychological assistance. Educational Importance. This research underscores the essential role of schools in responding to crisis-driven displacement. It contributes to the broader understanding of how educational systems can (or fail to) ensure equity and well-being under geopolitical pressure. The study calls for more systemic investment in teacher training, intercultural competence, and psychosocial services to support both refugee and local students in volatile contexts. Connection to Conference Theme. The paper directly aligns with the ICSEI 2026 theme “Crossing Boundaries in Education”, particularly the sub-theme “Mental Health and Well-being in Education”. It contributes to the Crisis Response in Education Network by offering comparative, evidence-based insights on how schools in different national systems respond to global emergencies while striving to remain inclusive, sustainable, and safe for all learners.

Objectives, purpose, problem of practice, or policy focus. This study examines how students’ subjective sense of safety at school relates to their emotional well-being, social relationships, academic behavior, and socio-economic background. The objective is to identify key factors that contribute to students’ feelings of safety and to highlight their implications for educational quality, equity, and policy. Research question(s) or focus of inquiry. (1) In what ways do safe and unsafe students differ across academic, emotional, social, environmental, and structural dimensions? (2) What systemic factors shape students’ perceptions of safety at school?. Perspective(s) or theoretical framework, or context. The study is grounded in Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory, psychological safety theory, and social capital theory. Together, these frameworks support a holistic analysis of students’ sense of safety, emphasizing the influence of individual, relational, institutional, and structural factors. Methods, techniques, modes or approach to inquiry. The study uses data from all participating countries of the OECD PISA 2022 survey. Students were grouped into “safe” and “unsafe” clusters using K-means clustering based on their responses to safety-related items. Independent samples t-tests were conducted to compare these groups across multiple indicators. Data Sources/evidence. Data were derived from PISA 2022 student questionnaires, including measures of academic behavior (e.g., grade repetition, truancy), emotional well-being (e.g., stress resistance, bullying), social connections (e.g., teacher support, family support), perceptions of school climate, and socio-economic-cultural status. Results, findings, learning. Students who feel safe at school are less likely to skip classes, demonstrate higher emotional resilience, experience less bullying, report stronger teacher relationships, and tend to come from higher socio-economic backgrounds. The most pronounced differences were found in emotional and social domains. However, there were no meaningful differences in long-term academic expectations, such as career aspirations. Educational importance of this research or inquiry for theory, practice, and/or policy. The findings underscore that school safety is a multidimensional construct with significant consequences for students' day-to-day engagement and emotional health. Ensuring school safety requires more than physical measures; it involves nurturing positive relationships, supporting emotional well-being, and addressing structural inequalities through inclusive policies. Connection to the conference theme. By providing robust empirical evidence on the links between perceived safety and educational equity, this study contributes directly to the ICSEI 2026 theme of building fair and supportive education systems. It calls for systemic, evidence-informed strategies to create safe, inclusive, and equitable learning environments for all students.

This chapter examines how educational leadership mediates cultural continuity, professional voice, and innovation in the context of local education reform. It argues that innovation does not arise from structural reform alone but emerges through relational processes that sustain trust, cultural continuity, and professional meaning. The study focuses on an ongoing structural reorganisation in one Lithuanian municipality, where multiple educational institutions—including early childhood settings—have been merged into a single administrative structure. This restructuring represents a distinctive case of system-level innovation at the municipal level. In this chapter, innovation is examined as emerging through leadership practices and professional coordination during consolidation. The chapter forms part of a broader research project investigating education network reform across two Lithuanian municipalities, with specific attention here given to the consolidation of pre-school institutions. The core research question is: how can leadership support culturally grounded and emotionally sustainable innovation during institutional consolidation? Drawing on theories of distributed leadership (Spillane, 2006) and organisational culture (Schein, 2010), the chapter presents empirical insights from a mixed-methods study involving surveys, focus groups, and interviews with educators and administrative staff. The findings indicate that inclusive leadership practices and respect for local cultural identity can transform reform processes into opportunities for organisational and pedagogical innovation. The chapter contributes to international debates on educational change by demonstrating how systemic reform—when locally embedded and relationally enacted—can activate professional agency and trust as key mechanisms through which structural reform becomes sustainable educational innovation.

Recent geopolitical developments, particularly the war in Ukraine, have significantly affected educational systems across Europe. Schools increasingly face the challenge of ensuring a safe learning environment while integrating students displaced by conflict. This study examines how geopolitical tensions influence perceptions of safety and inclusion in schools in Lithuania and Poland, two countries that have received a large number of Ukrainian refugee students since 2022. The research is based on qualitative analysis of media discourse and education policy documents published between 2022 and 2024. The study explores how public narratives, institutional responses, and policy measures frame issues of student security, integration, and school climate during a period of crisis. A comparative perspective highlights similarities and differences in national approaches to addressing these challenges. The findings contribute to understanding how education systems respond to geopolitical instability and identify factors that may strengthen inclusive and secure school environments in times of uncertainty.

Students’ sense of safety at school is an important dimension of school climate and student well-being; however, the factors shaping perceived safety remain insufficiently understood. This study examined the extent to which social, emotional, and contextual factors predict students’ sense of safety at school using data from the OECD PISA 2022 assessment in Lithuania (N = 7257). Structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed to analyze the relationships between students’ sense of safety and school belonging, teacher–student relationships, bullying, school safety risks, stress resistance, life satisfaction, socio-economic status, and gender. The findings suggest that students’ sense of belonging was the strongest predictor of perceived safety. Positive teacher–student relationships, higher life satisfaction, and greater stress resistance were also positively associated with students’ sense of safety, whereas bullying and school safety risks were negatively associated with perceived safety. Socio-economic status and gender demonstrated comparatively weaker effects. Overall, the findings suggest that students’ sense of safety is shaped primarily by relational and psychosocial experiences rather than by background characteristics or the mere absence of risk. The study provides preliminary evidence supporting the importance of fostering inclusive and supportive school environments to strengthen students’ perceived safety.

Although school safety is widely addressed in international education reports, it isoften framed primarily through visible indicators such as bullying, violence, and schoolclimate. Less attention has been paid to how psychological unsafety emerges acrossboth student and teacher experiences, particularly through relational, emotional, andorganisational pressures such as exclusion, excessive workload, stress, and limited pro-fessional recognition. To address this gap, this study explores the multifaceted phe-nomenon of the sense of (un)safety of students and teachers in schools through ascoping review of English-language peer-reviewed studies drawing on internationallarge-scale assessment data from PISA, TALIS and HBSC. Following the PRISMA 2020guidelines, systematic searches in Scopus and Web of Science identified 48 relevantstudies published from 2018 onward. The data were thematically analysed followingthe Braun and Clarke framework to identify the main factors influencing perceivedsafety in school environments. The findings reveal two primary domains: bullying andviolence and the broader dimension of the school microclimate. Students’ sense ofunsafety is associated with peer aggression, social isolation, and competitive schoolenvironments, while teachers’ experiences of feeling unsafe are due to excessive work-load, emotional stress, and limited professional recognition. A supportive, collabora-tive, and participatory school climate consistently correlates with higher well-beingand academic outcomes. The review emphasizes the need for evidence-based sys-temic measures that integrate emotional education, professional development, andpolicy-level interventions. Strengthening emotional safety and fostering inclusive andrespectful school cultures are critical to improving both learning and teaching quality.

Gairės parengtos integruojant pagal tyrimo paslaugos sutartį Nr. VP-S-181 parengtą ataskaitą „Mokyklų tinklo plėtojimo Šakių rajono ir Marijampolės savivaldybėse sprendinių analizė ir įvertinimas“. Paslaugos vykdytojas Algimantas Venckus.

Gairės parengtos integruojant pagal tyrimo paslaugos sutartį Nr. VP-S-181 parengtą ataskaitą „Mokyklų tinklo plėtojimo Šakių rajono ir Marijampolės savivaldybėse sprendinių analizė ir įvertinimas“. Paslaugos vykdytojas Algimantas Venckus.

This study explores the profiles of students who feel safe versus unsafe at school, examining how social, emotional, and academic factors are associated with students’ perceptions of safety. Drawing on data from the OECD PISA 2022 international assessment of 613,744 fifteen-year-old students across 80 countries, the analysis employs K-means clustering to identify groups of students based on their responses to four safety-related items. Students were classified into “safe” and “unsafe” clusters and compared across multiple domains, including academic behaviors, emotional well-being, social relationships, perceptions of the school environment, and socio-economic background. Findings reveal that students who feel safe at school are more likely to engage academically, report higher life satisfaction, experience stronger teacher-student and peer relationships, and come from more advantaged socio-economic backgrounds. In contrast, unsafe students tend to show academic disengagement, emotional distress, weaker social connections, and are more likely to experience bullying and attend schools perceived as less supportive or secure. These results underscore the relevance of school safety as a multidimensional phenomenon associated with relational, emotional, and equity-related aspects of students’ school experiences. The study contributes to a more holistic understanding of school safety as a multidimensional construct closely linked to students’ educational experience and well-being.