Extract

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Reflecting on Meilė Lukšienė’s Insights – an introduction from Lithuanian perspective

Algirdas Gaižutis

Abstract

Not only in Europe, but also in all the other continents the national systems of education are being reformed aiming to discover the optimal perspectives and models for educating, teaching and developing the modern man. The routine and spirited discussions focus on new paradigms, the mission, the vision and strategies. The current debates inevitably embrace an intersection of traditionalism and postmodernism, the theory and practice of education, the school and other state and public organizations, the interests of various social groups and their frequent inability to go in one direction and pursue common goals. School or university teachers, working in both formal and informal education sectors, may sometimes fall into despair in the face of excessive emphasis on the significance of constant changes and reforms of the system of education without having any firm basis for that. It sometimes even seems that this sphere requires permanent alterations and bigger or smaller revolutions which, in their turn, have to be standardized, necessarily following identical norms, requirements and criteria.

I

Nevertheless, the undue passion for winds of change and continuous alterations, the constant development and its pace often makes one forget the issues which are no less fundamental – namely, the system of education as the basis of cultural and national identity which has to be preserved...