Monkevičius, Algirdas

The articulation of multi-stakeholder participation implies some reconstruction of public governance structures towards a more participatory democracy with a significant impact on public governance. This reconstruction implies incremental decision-making methods. Pluralistic incremental decision-making is based on the hypothesis that decisions are made under pressure, compromises, coalitions, and negotiations between interdependent actors. The aim is to reach an agreement that reconciles the diversity of interests resulting from coordination of the parties involved. However, stakeholder involvement in the public governance process faces significant contradictions based on methodological, theoretical, and ethical issues. From the methodological point of view, it is very difficult to define who a legitimate stakeholder is. There is no objective method to distinguish between individuals and groups who should be considered as stakeholders and those who should not. Another issue is the extent to which the stakeholder should / could be involved in the decision-making process. We explored the relationship / collaboration between bureaucrats and interest groups in education. The key questions we raise in the study are: What stakeholders are invited to take part in the decision-making process and when? What are the reasons for stakeholder involvement? and To what extent is that involvement reflected in the decisions made? In the education system, the main stakeholders are teachers', school leaders', parents' and students' organizations. In the first stage of the research, we chose the largest interest group - the teachers' trade union, which unites more than 10 thousand pedagogical staff (about 1/3 of all teachers). We must point out that there is a quite fierce competition in Lithuania between the two trade unions representing teachers‘ interests. In terms of the results of the research, it is worth noting that public authorities have a particular interest in encouraging stakeholder involvement in high-risk, uncertain and complex decisions. These features are characteristic of the decisions taken during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially at the very beginning of the pandemic. I myself was working in the ministry at the time, holding the position of deputy minister, so I was directly involved in the process when the emergency required urgent decisions. The pandemic disrupted normal life around the world, as well as the functioning of education systems. Most students were unable to attend school, and educational institutions had to adapt quickly to new conditions and challenges. The extreme situation called for urgent solutions. No one was prepared for the pandemic, and urgent solutions covering the entire education system were needed in its presence. No one knew what the right solutions would be. It was difficult to select the best solutions and predict the consequences, as no country had such extensive experience in distance learning, no research was carried out, and there was a lack of reliable data on the IT infrastructure and digital literacy levels of schools and students. In the case of Lithuania, it was understood that it was important to involve stakeholders in the decision-making process as early as possible: the school leaders' association, teachers' unions, the parents' forum, the students' union, the municipal association, INFOBALT, an association uniting business enterprises in the IT sector, the media, etc. Assuming that stakeholders play an active role in the decision-making process, the need for an evidence-based policy, a policy of openness, public awareness and, at the same time, responsibility and control for the decisions taken will be at least partially met. Undoubtedly, due to tensions and very limited time, it was difficult to find compromises. On the other hand, the key actors involved in the discussions did not have enough time to discuss solutions with their wider group. However, the involvement of stakeholders led to more informed decisions that were more acceptable to the educational community. Some argue that public involvement in policy-making is a positive change that increases the legitimacy of public policy and can lead to more accurate and innovative decisions (Bingham et al., 2005; Fung 2006), while others argue that involvement has minimal impact on decision-making and best practice. serves as a buffer for elected officials to reject criticisms of the legitimacy of the process (Rowe and Frewer 2000). Now, the conducted survey and discussion with the largest education union in Lithuania reveals that involvement and role of the union differs from the level of governance at which they participate. Trade unionists, whose activities cover the municipal level, focused most on cases where they were involved in resolving conflict situations. In other words, they were not involved in shaping proactive policies or strategic education policies in the region. However, trends show that agreements between trade unions and local authorities on matters in which they are invited are being legitimized at the initiative of the trade unions themselves. This tends to institutionalize their involvement in decisions related to teacher issues. This can be identified as a kind of expression of neo-corporatism. It can also be assumed that there is still a lack of participatory democracy practices in local authorities and the culture of stakeholder involvement. This is probably why the education system in Lithuania is still quite centralized, and municipal institutions do not feel ready for greater decentralization and a different relationship of powers and responsibilities. Meanwhile, trade union leaders at the central / national level are characterised as more proactive policy actors who not only see problems and raise them, but also offer measured solutions to public authorities. There is now a tendency for trade union involvement in educational decisions and negotiations to improve teachers‘ working conditions and foster a culture of evidence-based policy, as they increasingly base their proposals on research and analysis carried out independently by the authorities. Stakeholder involvement in decision-making at the national level ensures a comprehensive representation of the needs of the modern society or relevant policies. However, the growing power of interest groups, such as trade unions, raises the question of the levers of power and participation in democratic decision-making. On the one hand, municipal level government is rather of a closed nature due to fear of losing the decision-making power, and openness at the national level to recognize major interests as a mechanism to strengthen their legitimacy and ensure the legitimacy of their decisions by involving certain stakeholders in political decision-making. However, groups with power in solving one problem will not necessarily have power in solving others. In this context, the approach of deliberative democracy (Macedo 1999; Dryzek 2010; Mansbridge 2012), which is characterized by innovative alternatives to involving the population in decision-making or empowering a wider range of interest groups in the municipality, is becoming relevant. It is a direction towards reforms of municipal government decentralization and towards the changing logic of political power systems. It is also worth emphasizing that an active trade union can be seen as a guarantor of policy continuity. On the one hand, trade unions have an interest in signing agreements between political parties on the future of education and are active participants in shaping those agreements, while on the other hand, trade unions "monitor" compliance with those agreements. Thus, in a sense, trade unions monitor education policy. Thus, it can be concluded that the teachers' trade union is an important player in education policy, that influences not only tactical / operational educational decisions, but also raises the quality of general, forward-looking decisions and ensures the preconditions for finding the form of democracy in question.

The purpose of this paper - to analyse and evaluate changes that have occurred in the Lithuanian public sector’s staffing, employee pay and institutional management in the context of the European countries. The article analyses the data of different years: some data cover the period of 10 and more years, while other – the last 6 or even 1 year. The newest tendencies were analysed, seeking to indicate the contemporary changes in the Lithuanian public sector. The analysis of employees’ changes in four distinguished groups of Lithuanian municipalities: large cities, medium-sized municipalities, small municipalities and resorts was presented. It was concluded that the decrease in the number of public sector staff does not necessarily means higher efficiency of the public sector organizations. Not the number of employees, but their qualification and competence determine the quality of decisions in the public sector. On the other hand, to achieve a balance between the staff number and the efficiency of services in the public sector, a middle-path policy should be used.

Mykolo Romerio universiteto leidinys „Universitas est. Mykolo Romerio universitetui 25. Liber Amicorum Alvydui Pumpučiui“ skirtas Mykolo Romerio universiteto įkūrimo 25 metų sukakčiai paminėti. Ši mokslo studija dedikuojama ilgamečiam Mykolo Romerio universiteto rektoriui profesoriui Alvydui Pumpučiui. Leidinio autoriai – Mykolo Romerio universiteto mokslininkai, kiti universiteto bendruomenės nariai. Šioje mokslo studijoje Mykolo Romerio universiteto struktūrinių padalinių vadovai pristato bendrai – universiteto ir konkrečiai – jų vadovaujamų struktūrinių padalinių veiklą, jos raidą, dalinasi prisiminimais apie dvidešimt penkerius universiteto veiklos metus ir ateities įžvalgomis. Mokslo studijoje pateikiami ir žymių Mykolo Romerio universiteto socialinių ir humanitarinių mokslų krypties mokslininkų straipsniai jų mokslinių interesų srityje aktualia problematika. Šis leidinys yra skirtas ne vien tiems, kuriuos domina Mykolo Romerio universiteto istorija, veikla, galimos tolesnės raidos kryptys, bet ir tiems, kurie norėtų susipažinti su reikšmingais moksliniais straipsniais.

Mykolo Romerio universiteto leidinys „Universitas est. Mykolo Romerio universitetui 25. Liber Amicorum Alvydui Pumpučiui“ skirtas Mykolo Romerio universiteto įkūrimo 25 metų sukakčiai paminėti. Ši mokslo studija dedikuojama ilgamečiam Mykolo Romerio universiteto rektoriui profesoriui Alvydui Pumpučiui. Leidinio autoriai – Mykolo Romerio universiteto mokslininkai, kiti universiteto bendruomenės nariai. Šioje mokslo studijoje Mykolo Romerio universiteto struktūrinių padalinių vadovai pristato bendrai – universiteto ir konkrečiai – jų vadovaujamų struktūrinių padalinių veiklą, jos raidą, dalinasi prisiminimais apie dvidešimt penkerius universiteto veiklos metus ir ateities įžvalgomis. Mokslo studijoje pateikiami ir žymių Mykolo Romerio universiteto socialinių ir humanitarinių mokslų krypties mokslininkų straipsniai jų mokslinių interesų srityje aktualia problematika. Šis leidinys yra skirtas ne vien tiems, kuriuos domina Mykolo Romerio universiteto istorija, veikla, galimos tolesnės raidos kryptys, bet ir tiems, kurie norėtų susipažinti su reikšmingais moksliniais straipsniais.

Education reformers of the mid-1970s introduced the idea that schools would work better if the number of formal restrictions in the management process was reduced. Decentralisation and deregulation of management would decrease the “workload” of the public sector as it eliminated unnecessary layers at the middle management level. The reduction of state control promoted the idea of self-government in schools. It is argued that decentralization reforms allow schools to better respond to the needs of students and improve the efficiency of the school performance (e.g., Bray, 1996; Welsh and McGinn, 1999; Beare, 2001; Hanushek et al., 2007; Woessmann et al., 2009). Conceptually, school autonomy should go hand in hand with local participation. Indeed, historically, the principle of autonomous school management is strongly linked to the demand for educational freedom by local stakeholders (school managers, parents, etc.). However, since the 1980s in Europe, these reforms have largely been laid down under national legal frameworks which demonstrate a top-down model of decision-making process without any identifiable driving force coming from schools themselves. This chapter analyses the process of educational decentralisation demonstrating the parallels with public management reform ideology, which, depending on the period, influenced educational management changes: the 1970s are associated with political tendencies, oriented towards “democratic participation”, and emphasised the need for schools to be more open to their local communities (Eurydice 2007). The 1980s were associated with a more efficient management of resources for schools, forming a market for educational services. Education management reforms became strongly linked to a dual movement towards political decentralisation and implementing the “New Public Management” agenda. Decentralising responsibilities to local communities and school autonomy are therefore linked in order to increase the efficiency of school management – it is taken for granted that decisions taken at the level closest to operations will guarantee the best use of public resources. During recent years, New Public Management ideas were partly modified by the New Governance concept, providing priority not for the business management techniques in the public sector, but for the introduction of democratic values in public sector management. The focus is on the principles of community government which means that the government should encourage citizens to participate in solving their problems. Thus, in accordance with the concept of the New Governance, the influence of school community on school management is emphasized. This chapter critiques the assumption that decentralisation necessarily means more democracy. It can happen that giving more power to schools will only legalise more power for educational workers – teachers and school leaders – and that would not at all be related to the wider participation of society in educational matters. On the other hand, central government is very rarely interested in real decentralisation, while local leaders and school communities usually are uninterested in accepting more responsibilities. Zajda (2006) notes, for instance, that splitting government can complicate the process of reaching decisions, mainly because of the conflicts of interests and the weakened responsibility for accepted decisions. It is claimed that one of the merits of school autonomy more attention paid towards the needs of the community. As de Vries (2000) notes: “The possibility of tailor-made policies, which was seen as one of the major advantages of decentralisation, is under discussion, since equality before the law decreases when provision of goods and services differs in different municipalities”. Meanwhile, “centralisation allows for administrational actions to be made uniform,” meaning that the equality principle remains unharmed (Knosala 2006). The other argument countered is that concentrating government at the school level supports more effective management of the educational structures and the use the resources, or simply decreases the expenditure, because centralisation allows more effective sharing of resources and diminishes the differences between richer and poorer regions. This chapter also examines the abilities of school leaders to have a direct impact on reform implementation (Davies, 2003; Hallinger and Snidvongs, 2005). The school will be as autonomous as its heads - leaders will be able to take advantage of the granted autonomy and to share increased responsibility with other members of the school community. This chapter examine the conceptual models of school autonomization and its characteristics, perception and expression of autonomous management principles in schools; substantiate the characteristics of school leadership expression in the context of school autonomy.

Mokslo studijoje autoriai nagrinėja gyvenimo kokybės vertinimo teorinius ir metodologinius aspektus, pristato Lietuvos gyventojų gyvenimo kokybės raidos ir būklės objektyvaus ir subjektyvaus tyrimo rezultatus. Mokslo studijoje vertinami sveikatos ir psichologiniai, demografiniai ir migracijos, užimtumo, verslo ir verslumo, gyventojų pajamų ir vartojimo, būsto ir gyvenamosios aplinkos, švietimo, kultūros, dvasinių moralinių vertybių veiksniai ir dimensijos. Mokslo studijos išskirtinumą sudaro nagrinėjami inovaciniai gyvenimo kokybės aspektai – pasitenkinimo gyvenimu, laimingumo vertinimai, gyvenimo darbe kokybės, socialinių ryšių ir subjektyvios gerovės vertinimai, gyvenimo kokybės gerinimo įveikiant korupciją ir destruktyvius, saugumą mažinančius faktorius, vertinimai. Mokslo studijoje pateiktas subjektyvusis ir objektyvusis gyvenimo kokybės vertinimo modeliai ir empiriniai rezultatai. Mokslo studija skiriama aukštųjų mokyklų studentams, dėstytojams, mokslininkams, valstybės tarnautojams, verslininkams, politikams, kultūros bei žiniasklaidos atstovams ir visiems, besidomintiems gyventojų gyvenimo kokybės matavimo ir vertinimo klausimais.