Context of the development of regional VET partnerships in Lithuania

Vidmantas Tūtlys, Daiva Bukantaitė, Tomas Sabaliauskas

Centre for Vocational Education and Research Vytautas Magnus University (Lithuania)

Paper presented at the European Conference on Educational Research,

University of Gothenburg, Sweden, 10-12 September 2008
(EERA/VETNET)

Abstract

The paper examines general socio-economical, political and cultural preconditions for the
establishment and development of the regional VET networks in Lithuania. The aim is to disclose the
main context factors influencing the possibilities and effectiveness of the application of foreign
experiences in this field. This paper analyses and discloses the following subjects:
1. Historical development of the VET system of Lithuania with special reference to regional
VET partnerships: socio-economic development context (influence of transition from the
centralized planned economy and post-totalitarian society to the market economy and
Western European democracy); institutional development of the IVT system and continuing
vocational training (CVT) (reform of VET in Lithuania and its influence for the VET
institutions).
2. Influence of the existing legal basis for the development of the regional cooperation in the
field of vocational education and training. Analysis on how the legal system, which sets
and regulates the roles and responsibilities of the social stakeholders in the field of
vocational education and training influence the development of the regional partnerships
in this field.
3. Overview and evaluation of the existing forms and types of the partnership and
cooperation in VET and the main factors of the development of regional partnership and
cooperation in vocational education and training in Lithuania.
4. Identification of the main problems and blockage factors to the transferability of the
foreign solutions (from the partners’ countries) into the Lithuanian local context for each
of the problem areas.

Cooperation and partnership between the social stakeholders in the VET on the regional level
in Lithuania is rather uneven and lacks the systemic approach. Existing initiatives and experiences of
such cooperation do not present sufficient basis for the establishment and development of the regional
VET networks in Lithuania. This research aims to overview the current state of the regional VET
partnerships in Lithuania analysing the development path of the partnerships of the main stakeholders
in VET, looking into existing models and practices of the cooperation and clarifying the main
challenges, possibilities and hindering factors of the future development of the regional VET networks
in Lithuania. This research provides the background information for the analysis of the transfer and
application of the experience of France, Germany and the Netherlands in modelling of the regional
VET networks in Lithuania.
There are applied the following research methods:
1. Desktop analysis encompassing existing literature, documents and other sources.

1
 2. Panel interview (focus group) of the representatives of main stakeholders responsible for the
development of vocational education and training in Lithuania: Ministry of Education and Science,
Methodical Centre for Vocational Education and Training, Chamber of Commerce, Industry and
Crafts, VET schools, colleges and employers associations.

1. Historical development of the VET system of Lithuania and its implications for the
establishment of the regional VET partnerships

Development of the vocational education and training in the period

of the evolution of the national statehood of Lithuania in the XXth
century. Development of the modern vocational education and training in
Lithuania experienced the challenges and influences of the sharp breakages and
transitions of the different socioeconomic systems and political ideologies in the
XXth century. The first courses of crafts were launched in Lithuania at the
beginning of the XXth century after the reforms of tsarist government
implemented in 1905 (Čepėnas, 1992). More systematic vocational training in the
fields of agriculture and crafts was developed only after the establishment of the
independent state in 1918. Until the 1926 the crafts schools were mainly created
by the monasteries and charity associations and their main aim was to help to
integrate orphans and children of other socially excluded groups in the labor
market. The first public schools of crafts were created in 1926 and the
department for special vocational education and training at the Ministry of
Education was established only in 1937 (Čepėnas, 1992). Looking at the institutional
structure of the VET of Lithuania in the period of 1918-1940 there can be
discerned three types of vocational training institutions: secondary crafts schools,
schools of agriculture and special secondary vocational schools in agronomy,
veterinary and technology. These institutions provided young people with
vocational skills and qualifications mainly in the fields of agriculture and crafts, as
Lithuanian economy of that period was based on agriculture. In 1937 there were
14 public special vocational schools (secondary crafts schools, lower secondary
schools of construction and trade) with 2474 pupils and 30 private schools with
3845 pupils (Lietuvos Respublikos Švietimo ministerijos 1937 m. veikimo
apyskaita, 1939).
Undeveloped industry and tertiary sector with the domination of agriculture in the structure of
national economy was one of the most important factors which determined such slow development of
the vocational education and training. The rise of education and training in the agriculture was related
to the implementation of the reform of agriculture in 1922 which opened the possibilities for the
development of the many private farms. The training of the small land owners and small farmers was
also regarded as an instrument of the economical and social integration of these social groups.
Development of industry and services was regarded as one of the most important challenges and tasks
seeking for the strengthening of the national identity, social stability of society and solution of the
main social problems such as poverty and emigration (Trimitas Nr. 19, 1934). Such structure of
economy and society, as well as the authoritarian regime of government imposed after the coup d’êtat
in 1926 could not create favorable conditions for the development of the social partnership and the
bodies representing the interests of workers and employees.

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 Analyzing the preconditions for the development of the cooperation and partnership in the
vocational training in that period there can be made the following conclusions:

1. Due to the domination of agriculture in the economy and the agrarian mentality of society
there were no favourable conditions for the institutional development of the social
stakeholders representing the interests of the economical and semi-professional groups
(unions, employers’ organizations, organizations of professional groups).
2. This period did not create the possibilities and conditions for the development of the
effective networks or systems of institutions providing vocational education and training.
Slow development of the system of activities, underdevelopment of the industry and
tertiary sectors caused corresponding quantitative and qualitative underdevelopment of the
VET institutions and low density of VET institutions could not create the conditions for
development of effective cooperation and networking between these institutions.
3. Training and provision of skills in the society due to the different external and internal
factors was very fragmented, inconsistent and failing to create the synergy between the
individuals, institutions and social groups. Strong influence of the state to the system of
education and system of activities practiced by the tsarist Russian empire until the First
World War and by the occupational regime of the Germany during the First World War was
inherited by the government of Lithuanian state and it presumed the domination of vertical
bureaucratic relations between the state and institutions providing vocational education and
training.
4. This period did not succeed to create the conditions for the social norms of trust based
coordination between the institutions, communities and individuals in the field of
vocational education and training.
5. Analysing the attitudes of society towards the vocational education and training there can
be noted the position of farmers and peasants which gave priority to the education needed
for the agricultural activities and to higer education which could help to provide their
children with the intellectual professions (priests, lawyers, medical doctors) and ignoring
the importance of the training in crafts and industrial skills. Appeals of the intellectuals of
that period to seek for the coherent and equal development of the all sectors of education
seeking in order to ensure the cohesive economical, social and cultural development of
society were not listened to attentively.

Development of the VET institutions in the soviet period: the main socioeconomical and
institutional characteristics. Soviet system of vocational education and training was integrated in the
centrally planned economy and so called military-industrial complex. Totalitarian industrialization was
directed only to the strenghtenning of the military power of the Soviet Union and it demanded
centralized planning and development of the human resources. Centralized system of vocational
education and training had a main objective: in the shortest possible time to prepare maximal quantity
of the narrowly specialised mostly low skilled workforce, which could satisfy the needs of the
developing heavy industry. The lack of labor force in the fifth and seventh decades of
the 20th century further pressed the central planning institutions to direct a
greater part of secondary school graduates to vocational training schools (Kerr,
1990). For this purpose an intensive vocational guidance was used in order to
direct young persons to the workplaces, lacking labor force most. While reaching
the goal, each secondary and vocational school retained close cooperation

3
relations with enterprises, factories, collective farms and the so-called “Soviet
farms”. The said enterprises and organizations arranged for the practice places
for school students and employed the majority of persons, graduating from
vocational schools.
The transition from the one education level to another was regulated by the
centralized system of assessment of acquired knowledge and skills. One of the
most important filters in this system was the exams of the 8th grade school
separating the pupils which afterwards had to the vocational schools and to
acquire the worker qualifications needed for the planned economy. Due to these
reasons the vocational education lost its social prestige. The sociosystemic
implications of the soviet centralized VET system is designed the fig No. 1.

4
 Elements of the Totalitarian Autoritarian machine of rule, Centralized planned Hirerarchical centralized
Soviet post-totlitarian communist based on the system of economy, formal rule of society
system ideology nomenclature of ruling party planning of resources eliminating the
and complex bureaucratic with weak relatiuons possibilities of the
planing mechanism and with real needs and individual to influence
respressive force structures. possibilities. the development of
economy and society .

Vocational education and
training is based on the
principle of the
centralized and forced
mobilization
Possibilities of individual to choose the education and qualification are very limited
Most of the acquired qualifications are very narrow and the stagnation of the system of
activities does not create sufficient conditions for the professional development

Planned vocational education and training become not only the measure for the supply of
human resources for the planned economy, but also executes the function of
indoctrination helping to create and to govern masses loyal to the posttotalitarian regime.

Consequences of Priority is given to the
the post-totalitarian heavy industry and
system production of the
means of production
ignoring the needs to
develop other sectors
of economy.
Problem of coordination in
the supply of resources
creates the situation of the
forced and obligatory
provision of resources
causing ineffectivenness of
economy and big losses.
Lack of the motivation Evolution of the
for the development and passive and
growth of productivity, completely depended
beacause there is no from the state masses
interest to increase the of society.
plans of production.

Fig 1. Sociosystemic implications of the soviet centralized VET system

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 In assessing the conditions for the development of the cooperation and partnership
in the Soviet period there can be mande the following conclusions:
1. Free development of socioprofessional groups and stakeholders (trade unions,
employers organizations, professional organizations) was not possible in
principle due to the totalitarian system. Therefore there was no experience for
the development of such stakeholders at the reconstitution of the independent
state after the collapse of the Soviet system.
2. Lithuania inherited the institutional system of VET which was adopted to the
planned economy and totalitarian society and was not suitable for the new
conditions of the market economy and democratic society. This inheritance of
the VET institutions and their infrastructure (material and human resources)
could not compensate or outweight negative influence of the absence of the
social partnership and cooperation in this system.
3. Experience of the posttotlitarian society and the domination of the vertical
interinstitutional relationships based only on the external control and planning
created the lack of trust in the society and local communities and reluctance to
create free social organizations and communities.
4. Segregational character of the soviet VET system caused the loss of the
prestige of vocational education and training in the post-soviet society. The
experience of the vocational training which was subjected to the planned
economy made the influence for the tinking of employers, that VET system
even in the market economy must provide them with the workforce which
completely suits to the needs of the workplace and need no additional
adaptation. VET institutions had also to abandon the stereotypical thinking,
that the state and employers has to indicate the comprehensive training needs
and guidelines and to become more autonomous and creative.
Development of the VET system and partnerships in VET after the restoring
of the independent state in 1990. Lithuanian VET system is still in the transitional
period from the state-regulated (or supply model) to the market regulated (demand)
model. It is an interesting fact, that the initiative to introduce and to strengthen social
partnership in the VET belongs to the Ministry of Science and Education.
Participation of social partners in vocational education and training system was
first defined in The White Paper (1999) and the Law on VET in Lithuania (1997). Social
partners have been authorised with concrete functions in VET:
(a) to supply proposals to the Lithuanian VET Council, while defining
requirements for VET curricula (modules) and final qualification
examinations;
(b) to organise final qualification examination;
(c) to register practical training agreements/contracts between school, enterprises
and a trainee;
(d) to supervise practical training agreements and their implementation.
Taking into consideration that Lithuanian VET and general education have been
traditionally school (but not company) - oriented and centralized, this new Law brought
into the VET system a radical reform.

6
 The White Paper (1999) described social partnership as a regular cooperation,
negotiation and coordination of interests among governmental institutions (mainly,
Ministries of Education and Science, Ministry of Social Security and Labor, VET
schools), employees’ representatives (trade unions) and employers’ representatives
(associated business structures). Thus, the first practical steps, trying to coordinate the
educational and vocational activity systems, were implemented in 1998, when the state
delegated several concrete functions in VET for social partners – Lithuanian Chambers of
Commerce, Industry and Crafts, and a few years later to The Chamber of Agriculture.
Though Lithuania tried to transfer the best practice from the German dual system,
this initiative has never been fully implemented. Much attention was paid to the
development of the qualifications demand model.
Rimantas Laužackas (2005) discerns three levels of the social partnership in the
VET system of Lithuania:
(a) National policy level. At this level the social partnership is ensured through the
activities of the Council of the Vocational Education and Training established on the basis
of the tripartite cooperation with the participation of government institutions, employers
organizations and trade unions. The Council closely cooperates with the Ministries of the
Education and Science and Social Affairs in the coordination of the activities of the VET
system. The main objective of the Council is to ensure the coordination of the interests of
the all main social partners in the processes of the VET system. However, it should be
noted, that this institution plays more advisory role in the decision making processes.
(b) Sector level. At this level the main institutions ensuring the social partnership
are the branch experts groups and the Central Experts Group of Branches. These experts
groups are also constituted on the tripartite basis and consist of the representatives of the
branch employers, trade unions and VET institutions. Their main responsibility is the
designing of the standards of initial vocational education and training with the
supervision of the Centre for the Methodology of the Vocational Education and Training
(public institution established by the Ministry of the Education and Training).
(c) Practical vocational level. At this level the main actors are different local
working groups composed by the representatives of the VET schools and employers.
These groups create the vocational training standards within separate occupations,
develop the curricula for the vocational schools. Social partnership at the practical
vocational level can also be discerned in the other processes of the VET system: the co-
operation between the VET schools and employers in the organization of the practical
training or between the enterprises and the centres of the labour market training in the
field of continuing training of the employees. However, this partnership is rather passive,
fragmentary, scatered and unsystematic (Laužackas, 2005).
Recently concluded survey of employers executed by the Association of the
Professionals of Personal Management (Personalo valdymo profesionalų asociacijos -
PVPA) disclosed, that only very small part of surveyed enterprises communicated with
the education and training institutions. 68 percents of employers consider, that the
knowledge and skills acquired by the VET schools leavers does not correspond to the
labor market demands and current market situation. 52 percents of the surveyed
employers indicated, that vocational schools designed their curricula on their own and
without the reference to the enterprises and 78 percents of employers indicated that they

7
were not involved in the preparation of the VET standards (Darbdaviai nepatenkinti
profesinių mokyklų absolventų paruošimu:
http://naujasdarbas.delfi.lt/index.php?info=3&t=news&g=2302F035-5192-4B3E-BC73-
1913AE25E923). There can also be noted, that the enterprises of the sectors which
encounter the problem of the shortage of workforce are more inclined to cooperate with
the education and training institutions. For example, 22% enterprises of construction
sector indicated that while solving the problem with the lack of workforce they
cooperated with the education and training institution. The main problem lies in the fact,
that the involvement of employers in the most cases is too formal and based on the top-
down approach, when the employers organizations only formally execute the functions in
the VET system delegated by the state. For example, VET schools face a lot of problems
trying to involve employers in the designing or updating of VET curricula by assessing
the needs of enterprises. Despite of that there are some important factors which will
enhance the higher and more intensive involvement of employers in the processes of
VET: increasing shortages of skilled employees due to the emigration, growth of the
separate successful cases of co-operation between the employers and VET schools and
the introduction of the National Qualifications System.
The involvement of trade unions in the processes of VET is even more
problematic mainly due to the weakness and underdevelopment of the unions in
Lithuania. There can be noted shortages of the partnerships of the VET schools,
employers and other stakeholders on the regional and local levels.

Concluding the analysis of the historical evolution of the VET in Lithuania its
influence to the existing practices of the cooperation and partnership in the vocational
education there can be proposed the following explanatory model of this process (Fig. 2).

8
Centrally planned economy with
the supply based and led
vocational education and training
Centralized and subjected to the
planned economy system of
vocational education and training
supply the workforce according
to prescribed plans.
VET institutions play the role of
executors in the production of
human resources for planned
economy.
Relationships between the VET
institutions and state enterprises
are planed and ruled by the
government and based on the
obedience to set rules and
instructions.
Development of the mentality and
thinking inherent to the patronage
relations with the government:
absence of autonomous initiatives
and cooperation based on the
interests.
Formation of the market economy and labor
market together with the reorientation of the
VET to the labor market demand
VET system is being restructured and reoriented to the
labor market needs by the implemented government
initiatives and policies, providing more autonomy for
the actions of VET institutions.
VET institutions display more initiatives too cooperate
with employers in analyzing and satisfying their needs
as well as seeking to solve the problems of the outdated
technical basis and other problems. Employers are used
to treat the VET system in supply led terms expecting
from the VET institutions that they would supply the
skilled workforce without any significant input of
employers.
Cooperation between VET institutions, enterprises and
other stakeholders is very episodic, lacking initiatives
and clearly expressed interests from the side of
stakeholders, especially from the employers and
unions.
Despite the socioeconomic changes the paternalistic
mentality of the stakeholders and society and the
dominating supply-led approach in the field of VET did
not permit to develop the cooperation between the
stakeholders in vocational education and training.
Development of the market economy,
increasing internationalization of the
labor market
Trends in decentralization of the VET
system seeking to increase its effectiveness
and responsiveness to the increasing needs
of the skilled workforce.
Employers increase their attention to the
development of human resources and
cooperation with VET institutions,
government exerts initiatives to foster the
development of human resources by
creating different policy instruments and
institutional settings: NQF, public VET
schools, sectoral training centres etc.
Cooperation between the VET institutions,
enterprises and other stakeholders slowly
acquire more characteristics of strategic
thinking, it becomes more based on the
interest of stakeholders in the human
resources development.
Mostly external factors, especially
internationalization of the labor market,
integration in the EU socioeconomic
structures demand stakeholders in VET to
base their cooperation on the new strategies
of human resource development at the
different levels.
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 2. Impact of the existing legal basis for the development of the regional
cooperation in the field of vocational education and training

The following questions are analysed and answered in this part:

1. How the existing laws and other legal acts empower the social stakeholders to
participate in the processes of vocational education and training and to cooperate in this
field? Why analysed legal norms are effective or ineffective in doing it? What changes in
the existing legal basis are needed in order to enhance the development of the partnership
of the regional stakeholders in the field of vocational education and training?

Laws regulating the cooperation between the social stakeholders in the vocational
education and training in the most cases do not ensure the empowering for the
stakeholders to participate actively in the processes of the vocational education and
training and to co-operate in coordinating their interests. Sometimes when the role of
social stakeholders is defined more concretely it is usually accompanied by the control
function of the government institutions. For example, the Law on teh Amendment of the
Law of Vocational Education adopted in 2007 foresees delegation of the functions of
accreditation of qualifications to the social partners indicating, that these social partners
have to be appointed by the government (LR profesinio mokymo įstatymo pakeitimo
įstatymas, 2007).
Sometimes the laws fail to indicate concrete functions and responsibilities of the
social stakeholders in the processes of vocational education and training. For example,
the same law on vocational education and training of 2007 foresees implementation of
the apprentiseship in Lithuania, but fails to indicate clearly defined functions and
responsibilities of the social stakeholders in this field. In the other laws on education and
training, like in the previous edition of the law on vocational education and training of
1997, the law of education and the law of higher education the main interest is focussed
on the institutions and their functions failing to set the rules and standards for the
different processes of education.
Strategic documents also fail to provide more clear and concrete vision on how to
develop cooperation between the social stakeholders in the vocational education and
training. The cooperation between the stakeholders in these documents is described in a
very general terms avoiding to propose concrete solutions and ideas on how to develop
this cooperation. In many mases the laws and legal acts only declare the possibility of the
actor to execute certain actions or initiatives, but do not clearly indicate concrete
functions and responsibilities. For example the law on Vocational education and training
issued in 1997 declares that VET schools can design their own training curricula by
involving in this process social partners. Similarly are defined the functions in changing
the VET curriculla: “VET institution has a right with the approval of its founder,
Ministry of Education and Science and /or the Ministry of Social security and labor to
change training programmes, to create the new programmes and to offer them to include
into the Register of study and VET programmes“ (Lietuvos Respublikos Profesinio
mokymo įstatymas, 1997).
How are defined and regulated the functions and responsibilities of the
stakeholders in VET on the regional level? There can be stated that the existing legal
basis legitimize rather strongly centralized system of vocational education and training.

10
 The Ministry of Education and Science is planning the vocational training
according to so called orders from the sectors of economy. The volumes of enrollment
and its distribution according to different training programmes in the vocational schools
each year are agreed with the administration of counties.

According to the current law of vocational education and training (2007) there is
the following distribution of functions and responsibilities between the Ministry of
Education and Science, Ministry of Social Security and Labor, administrations of
counties and municipalities:

Ministry of Education and Science together with the Ministry of Social Security
and Labor:
1) coordinate the designing of VET standards and approve them;
2) prepare the methodology of the calculation of funding of training per pupil and
present it for approval to the Government ;
3) define general requirements for the regulations (statute) of the county councils
of vocational education and training ;
4) define the requirements for the content of vocational training contracts and the
sules of registration of contracts;

Governor of the county:

1) participate in planning the enrollment of pupils and adults seeking for the first
qualification into the state funded programmes of vocational education and training in the
county – (planning function)
2) establish the county council of vocational education and training, approve the
regulations of its activities and organize its work (regulation function);
3) performs the functions of the founder of the VET institutions attributed to the
competence of county administration (foundation function);
4) perform the supervision of the activities of the VET providers (control
function);
5) initiate vocational training of the persons with special needs (foundation
function).

Representational (legislative) institution of municipality :

1) initiate the establishemnt of the network of the VET providers according to the
needs of the local population and labor market (planning and foundation functions);
2) establish, reorganise, liquidate and restructure subordinate VET institutions
referring to the criteria defined by the Government (foundation functions);
3) perform the functions of the founder of the VET institutions attributed to the
competence of municipalities (foundation function);

Executive institution of municipality (department of education and training):

1) participate in preparing the enrollment of pupils and adults seeking for the first
qualification into the state funded programmes of vocational edcuation and training
(planning and organization functions);

11
 2) plan the enrollment of pupils into the subordinate VET institutions (planning
function);
3) organize and execute the continuing training and certification of the principals
of VET schools (executive organizational function);
4) organize the assessment of the learning outcomes of general and secondary
education for the pupils of vocational schools, as well as the final exams for the
certificate of secondary education (executive organizational function);
5) plan and perform vocational guidance (executive function).
What are the most needed changes in the legal basis in order to promote and enhance the
cooperation and partnership between the social stakeholders in VET?

There can be discerned the following changes of the legal basis which are needed
to enhance the cooperation and partnership between the social stakeholders in VET:
1. Legitimization of the fiscal policy measures which could motivate the
employers to increase the financial support to the vocational education and
training and enhance them to invest in the initial and continuing vocational
training. Such measures can be like the attribution of the investments to the
vocational training and financial support to the VET institutions as an
expenditures of activities and deduction of these expenditures from the profit.
2. Establishment of the legal acts clearly regulating apprenticeship, activities of
the public VET schools, sectoral practical training centres and other
institutional units of the partnership and cooperation in the vocational
education and training.
3. Increase of the transparency, clarity and stability of the legal basis of
vocational education and training by accepting important „umbrella“ laws
covering all fields of vocational education and training: the law on
qualifications, law on the recognition of informal and non-formal learning etc.

3. Existing forms and types of the partnership and cooperation in VET and the main
factors of the development of regional partnership and cooperation in vocational
education and training in Lithuania

At present the cooperation and partnership between the VET institutions,

employers and other stakeholders is increasing but it is still rather episodic and based on
the separate and rather unsystematic cases. From the other side there can be noted
shortage of the regional initiatives and forms of the cooperation and partnership in the
VET. One of the possible reasons is the demographical situation and size of the country.
What is the potential representativenness and authonomy of Lithuanian administrative
regions (districts) in the field of VET? According to prof. Vincentas Dienys, referring to
the demografical requirements o the VET development and regulation and the situation in
the developped EU countries there can be statei, that the sufficient autonomy of the
regions in VET can be achieved in the regions which have at least 1 million inhabitants.1
Such minimal population is required in order to have sufficient demand of the human
resources in the whole sectors and occupation of the regional economy which is satisfied
by the corresponding networks of the VET institutions. This minimal demografical
1
From the interview executed on the 05-03-2008.

12
density of the regions is also needed for the establishement of the long lasting
cooperation networks between the VET schools, employers and other stakeholders of the
regions, because the interest for co-operation and creation of the cooperation networks of
VET in the regions very depends on the number of the present and potential students and
learners in the different occupations. Lithuanian regions do not satisfy this quantitative
requirement and can not be regarded as sufficiently autonomous entities for the
establishment and development of the regional VET networks. Therefore it should better
considered possibilities to develop networks of the cooperation in VET on the national
level with the clearly expressed regional dimension.
Analysing the preconditions of the development of partnership between the VET
stakeholders in the regions there can be discerned the VET councils of districts consisting
of VET schools, colleges, employers and the authorities of districts. The County VET
councils are established on the tripartite basis with the role of provision of expertise,
consulting and coordination of VET functions in the regions. Such councils are
established in the all counties of Lithuania, but their activenness and involvement in the
development of VET is rather different from region to region. In the statute of the county
VET council this organization is defined as collegial education self-government
institution advising to the county government on the strategic questions of the VET
development (Lietuvos Respublikos švietimo ir mokslo ministro ir Lietuvos Respublikos
socialinės apsaugos ir darbo ministro 2008 m. sausio 18 d. įsakymas Nr. ISAK-115/A1-
25, 2008). The main tasks of the council are to analyse and evaluate the strategic
questions of the VET development in the county, to design the regional VET policies, to
provide advices and conclusions on the VET development and VET quality improvement.
The county VET councils also provide the suggestions to the Ministry of Education and
Science and other ministries regarding the preparation and improvement of the laws and
legal acts regulating the vocational education and training processes. The Council also
evaluates the applications of IVET providers to provide state funded initial vocational
education and training according to their training curricula and analyses the needs of VET
curricula and volumes of VET in the region. It also provides the recommendations and
suggestions for the VET institutions regarding the existing and new training curricula,
vocational guidance and other VET activities. Generalizing the overview of the
obligations and rights of the county VET councils there can be stated that despite of the
predominantly advisory role these organizations can still be very active in proposing and
launching of the different initiatives in the VET development. If VET councils of
counties would make use of all their possessed rights and influence they can become very
important institutional basis for the development and intensifying of the cooperation of
the VET stakeholders in the regions and subsequently it would increase their influence
and decision making power in the future. Presently county VET councils can play a very
important role in forecasting and planning the VET development in the regions by
adjusting the plans of VET schools in the forming of the cohorts of the pupils and
estimating the volumes of the VET school leavers. In this regard one of the very
important fields of their activities can be adjustment of the supply of the workforce
provide by the VET institutions with the demands of the regional labor market and
prevention of the drop-outs from the vocational schools in the regions which increase the
share of the unskilled and low skilled human resources. These institutions can enhance
the cooperation between the VET schools, colleges and other educational institutions in

13
the region, can be mediators in setting the cooperation contracts between these
institutions.
There can be noted clear dominance of the networks of VET institutions which
are established and managed centrally (top-down approach). This applies both for the
network of IVET schools and the system of the regional labor market vocational training
centres governed by the Labor market training authority, which is currently going to be
integrated with the initial VET system.
There is clear shortage of the systematic contacts and exchange of information
between the VET institutions and employers organizations. For example, the
Confederation of the Industrialists of Lithuania claim, that since the establishment of this
biggest employers organization 17 years ago they were never asked to help in defining
the skills needs in the sectors. This organization also notes the shortage of cooperation
between the secondary schools and VET schools and even the destructive competition
between these educational institutions seeking to attract the pupils and to ensure the state
funding which depends on the number of pupils (Lietuvos pramonininkų konfederacijos
ir Lietuvos Respublikos Žemės ūkio rūmų bendrojo posėdžio protokolas Nr. 25, 2005).
Despite of such crictical evaluations of the current situation and declaration of miscontent
the employers organizations still lack for the will and preparation to take concrete
obligations and roles in the VET. Untill now all efforts are limited to the establishment of
the different work groups which analyse the existing problems and propose possible
solutions (for example, decision to create working group of stakeholders from the
Confederation of the Industrialists and Chamber of Agriculture to analyse the questions
of the improvement of prestige of blue collar work, improvement of the technical
infrastructure of practical training and other questions). Presently, due to the big shortage
of the workforce and the low unemployment employers became much more active in the
improvement and support of the activities of vocational schools. They propose to
government to apply the fiscal reductions or to treat the financial support for the schools
as the expenditures in order to enhance the employers to support the VET schools.
According to other employers one of the biggest problems which does not permit
to develop the cooperation between the VET schools and enterprises as well as to
increase the support of enterprises to vocational schools is that there is no guarantee that
the support of the enterprise gives the return and in many cases this financial support is
more useful for the competitors which do not support the VET schools themselves. They
propose to accept certain laws, which foresee the obligation for the schools leavers to
work in certain enterprises (those who support the VET school) after the leaving the
school.
There can be noted, that the cooperation between the VET institutions and
employers is the most active in those sectors, which experience the biggest shortage of
the skilled employees, like construction and road freight transport sectors. A good
example here is the activities of the Association of the road freight carriers of Lithuania
“Linava” uniting the enterprises of the road freight sector. Linava established its own
training centre which trains and develops the skills for about 3000 truck drivers per year
(http://www.linava.lt). The training centre “Linava” develops the cooperation with the
VET schools helping them to design the training curricula, providing training materials,
organizing seminars for the trainees and teachers and their practical training in the
transport companies.

14
 The shortage of the skilled employees in the construction sector made to establish
closer relation between the enterprises, vocational schools, Association of Builders and
the Ministry of Education and Science. Recently Association of Builders and Ministry of
Education and Science prepared the guidelines for the all stakeholders involved in the
training in this sector indicating the measures helping to impove the quality of the
preparation of construction workers. According to the Director of the Department of
Initial and continuing vocational training at the Ministry of Education and Training Mr.
Romualdas Pusvaškis, these guidelines foresee the complex solutions proposed together
by the Association of Builders, enterprises and VET institutions which also include the
ways for the development of popularity of construction professions as well as the
improvement of the career possibilities in this sector (http://www.smm.lt). These
guidelines propose to conclude the contracts and agreements between the construction
enterprises and VET schools in order to solve the existing problems.
The representatives of the VET schools analyzing their relationships with the
VET schools often claim, that the last skilled and qualified teachers and trainers were
“recruited” from the VET schools by the employers and the pupils also leave the VET
schools without completion for the reasons of emigration or employment which does not
permit to ensure the quality of education and provided skills.
Ministry of the Education and Science is very interested in the cooperation
between the employers and VET schools in organizing the internships of the VET
teachers in the enterprises. Such co-operation would permit to decrease the gap between
the qualifications of teachers and trainers and the technological and organizational
realities of the industry. Ministry of the Education and Science also support the position,
that the stakeholders of the public VET schools should be not separate enterprises but
their sectoral associations. Some associations of employers do not agree with this
position, stating that the associations do not have sufficient financial resources in order to
become the effective stakeholders and in this case they would still have to revert to the
enterprises.
Analyzing the main currently developed institutional units of the cooperation and
partnership in the vocational education and training there can be discerned the following:
a. Regional VET centres established during the optimization of the network of
the VET schools by uniting together those vocational schools and centres in
the regions which could not collect enrollment sufficient for the cost-effective
training. Currently there are working 5 such centres in the different regions of
Lithuania. Here is presented the case of Marijampolė regional VET centre.2
Regional VET centre of Marijampolė was established in 2000 in the framework of
the optimisation of the netwrok of VET schools of Lithuania. Creation of centre wass
supported by the European Training Foundation and the National Board of Education of
Finland. The centre was created using to the experience of the Lahti Region Educational
Consortium in Finland. Centre united former school of polytechnics, vocational school of
construction, several schools of agriculture, and vocational training centres of the
imprisonment institutions established in the region. Now the centre is the only VET
institution in the county of Marijampolė and one of the biggest VET institutions in
Lithuania with 1970 pupils, 320 employees including 86 vocational teachers and 53
teachers of general education. The governing institution of the centre - Board of Centre
2
Source: interviews with the representatives of the institution and the web-site

15
is composed of 4 teachers, 2 other employees, 1 representative of the trainees, 2
representatives of the parents, 5 social stakeholders and 3 representatives of the
municipalities of county. The Board is responsible for the management of the all
activities of institution: approve the directions of work, control the economical and
financial management, decide about the establishment or closing of the units and
departments, organize the practical training of the trainees in the enterprises, propose
the recommendations for the development of the technical infrastructure of training, take
care about the organization of the continuing training and skills upgrading of teachers
and trainers. Such organizational and management structure as well as the available
infrastructure permits for the Centre to use effectively the support of the European Union
by participating in the different projects. During these projects there are developed new
training curricula, updated technical basis of the practical training, developed skills and
qualifications of teachers and trainers (http://www.mprc.lt).

b. Establishment of the public VET enterprises with the participation of social

stakeholders which have been initiated 5-6 years ago. The transformation of
the VET schools to the public institutions or regional VET centres expands the
weight of these schools in regions and increases their possibilities in providing
skills and qualifications both for the pupils and for the employees of the
enterprises as well as to react more flexibly to the labor market needs
becoming multifunctional vocational training school. It also helps to solve
the problems of the work of teachers and administration of school.
Involvement of the employers and their organizations as well as the regional
authorities in the management of schools permits to respond both to the needs
of the employers and to the requirements of the regional development of
human resources by integrating initial vocational training, adult education and
continuing vocational training. Currently there are 75 vocational education
schools in Lithuania and 13 of them are public vocational schools owned and
governed by the ministry of education and science and business organizations.
Employers recently have become very interested to take part in the
reorganization of the state owned VET schools to the public enterprises, what
permits them to be the stakeholders and co-owners of the schools. Currently
many employers and their organizations are not satisfied with the long and too
bureaucratic procedures in transforming the VET schools in the public
entities. However, some employers think that only the reorganization of the
state VET schools to the public enterprises will not solve all the problems
related to the lack of the teacher’s qualifications, insufficient funding or
outdated technical infrastructure of training. They claim, that VET schools and
employers had done nothing in order to increase the attractiveness of the
vocational education and training for the pupils of secondary schools and to
increase the flows of young people to these schools. In the same time there
can be noted that some employers even propose to regulate these flows with
the state planning intervention, just like in the times of the soviet planned
economy. Here is presented the case of Vilnius Vocational School of Builders3.

3
Source: interview with Mr. Juozas Baranauskas, director of the institution

16
 Vilnius Vocational School of Builders was established on July 1, 2000, after
joining together two vocational schools involved in the training of builders: Vilnius
Vocational School of Builders No1 and Vilnius Vocational School of Builders No3. In the
year 2000, after both the schools had been joined together, Vilnius Vocational School of
Builders became the biggest vocational school in Vilnius and its region providing
qualifications of workers for construction and wood-working industries. Upon the
suggestion of the Ministry of Education and Science in 2004 this institution became
public enterprise with the participation of the Ministry of Education and Science and a
construction company Ajonda as a main stakeholders. After the school changed its status
to the public enterprise the following changes in the partnership of this school with
employers and other stakeholders took place:
1. Vocational school acquired constant partners of cooperation in the face of
construction company. School, Association of Builders of Lithuania and the
company Ajonda discussed the principles of working together in the new
situation. The asset of company which is invested to the school remains the
property of company in the form of share. According to the statute of
organization each shareholder has 1 vote in the management of school.
2. Participation of the company in the management of school helped to adapt to
the fast changing technological environment in the sector of construction.
Company permitted to the school to use its available technical and
technological facilities and machinery. School sends their pupils to acquire
practical skills in working with modern machinery in the work-places of the
company.
3. Company became involved in the all processes of vocational training
beginning from the curriculum design and ending with the quality assurance
of training. The specialists and experts of the company consult teachers of the
school in designing and redesigning of the vocational training programs and
modules. Company takes care for the organization of the practical training in
its facilities providing access to the modern equipment and machinery, as well
as participates in the evaluation of acquired qualifications. Company as
partner takes care about the quality of training and living conditions of the
pupils - it helped to organize the building of the new dormitory for the pupils
ensuring the support for this project from the Association of Builders of
Lithuania (it has been the first and the only new dormitory of the vocational
school built in Lithuania after the regaining its independence in 1990).
4. School organizes and provides the continuing vocational training for the
employees of the company. Other important advantage of the changed status
of VET school to the public enterprise is improved possibilities to apply for
and to exploit effectively the financial support from the EU structural funds.
The school together withy the external partners implemented important
projects of the renovation of the infrastructure and the curricula of training:
“Development and implementation of new programmes for teaching
construction and wood-working” with the aim to design and implemented new
training programmes corresponding to the needs of the workplaces,
“Modernization of facilities for builder training” with the aim to renovate the

17
 infrastructure and technical infrastructure of the school buy repairing of
facilities and acquiring new machinery.
5. The participation of the company in the management of the school does not
have any impact to the external relations of the school with the other
stakeholders and enterprises. School develops the relations with different
construction companies and providers of the machinery and materials in the
construction sector. As far as the company is involved mainly in general
construction works, it does not have any specific demands and requirements
for the curriculum of the school.
c. Activities of the county VET councils providing the recommendations for the
designing and development of the regional policies of the human resources
development. The interviewed stakeholders noted that currently municipalities
and administrations of counties are not capable to design the regional VET
policies or strategies and to involve the Vet providers, employers and other
stakeholders in their implementation. It was also noticed, that the county
administrations and municipalities of the smaller regions and cities are much
more interested in the development of VET in their regions and show more
attention to the development of the VET in their regions, than the
administrations and municipalities of the big cities. This can be explained by
the fact, that development of VET and education in general is the most
important condition for the preparation and sustaining of the skilled human
resources in the so called provincial regions, while the bigger cities are the
centres of attraction for the skilled workforce and the administration of these
regions do not see the need to make any additional efforts in the field of
human resources development.
d. One of the important preconditions for the development of social partnership
in the VET of Lithuania is currently implemented initiative of the Ministry of
Education and Science to establish the sectoral centres of practical training
which would serve to the needs of the initial vocational training, higher
education and continuing vocational training of the employees. These centres
are established by the partnership of different stakeholders and supported by
the financial support of the EU structural funds.
e. Activities of the regional Chambers of Industry, Commerce and Crafts in
the assessment and accrediting of the qualifications of the VET school leavers.

4. The preconditions for the adaptation of experience of the foreign countries in

establishment and development of the regional VET networks in Lithuania

There can be discerned the following preconditions for the transfer of experiences
and models of regional VET partnerships from the foreign countries:
1. Internal preconditions of the VET system.
There can be stated, that the VET system of Lithuania is still in the transitional
period from the state-regulated (or supply led) model of VET to the market regulated (or
demand led) model of VET. From the other side, the domination of the school based VET
model is still very evident in Lithuania. We can outline the following characteristics of

18
this VET model which are important for the implementation of the experiences of foreign
countries in the field of the regional VET networks:
a. Lack of experience and intensiveness of the relationships between the VET
institutions and the employers (especially on the regional level), making the process
of social partnership in VET too formal and too dependent on the state
interventions. This circumstance creates serious obstacles for the implementation of the
experiences and models of the regional VET partnerships and networks from the VET
systems and models based on the intensive and constant relationships between the VET
institutions, employers organizations, unions and other partners, as, for example, the
experiences of the dual VET model in Germany or initiatives in regional VET partnership
in the Netherlands (experiences of ROC’s, partnerships in establishment of practical
training centres, etc.). From the other side, the experiences of these countries can give
important lessons on how to create this experience and intensiveness of co-operation by
the common action of all the stakeholders:
a. state, which can establish favorable legal basis and enhance the participation
of employers and other partners using the levers of fiscal and social policy,
etc. – examples from France;
b. regional authorities which can initiate regional cooperation projects in VET
and in this way to create the basis for gaining the needed experience and
know-how if partnership;
c. employers and unions, which also can propose the initiatives of projects
according to their needs or to act through the established branch or sectoral
agreements;
d. VET institutions, which could change their passive attitude of state dependants
and act as more independent, autonomous institutions seeking for the establishment of
strategic partnerships.
b. Mismatch between the needs of employers and qualifications, skills and
competences provided by the IVET institutions due to the outdated VET curriculum
and technical basis of practical training and fragmentary involvement o employers
in the processes of designing, provision and awarding of qualifications and
competences. This mismatch becomes one of the main reasons for the lack of trust and
disinterest of employers and VET institutions to cooperate with each other creating
reciprocal passiveness of these stakeholders. Such situation prevents from the effective
implementation of any experiences and approaches of Germany, France or Netherlands
which require “credits” of mutual trust, understanding and mutual interests in
cooperation. Nevertheless, such situation can become an important reason and starting
point for the search of solutions, including those related to the application of experiences
from the other countries. Here, for example, the experience of France and especially the
role of state government in initiating different measures in VET (like apprenticeship
model of formation en alternance, APEL measures, CIF, DIF etc.) can be interesting
examples due to the level of dependence of the Lithuanian VET on the state regulation
and government initiatives.
c. Lack of the communication and transition between the sectors of initial
and continuing vocational training, underdevelopment of the continuing vocational
training due to the institutional structure of VET system with the domination of the
public IVET institutions, lack of cooperation between the vocational schools and

19
CVT providers, unregulated relations between the public institutions of IVET and
CVET (VET schools and labor market training centres). This situation creates
obstacles for the implementation of the foreign experiences and models of the regional
VET cooperation directed towards the closer integration of initial and continuing
vocational training and learning pathways. Therefore by implementing of such measures
there should be foreseen how to intensify the cooperation between initial vocational
training sector which is predominantly public and the continuing vocational training
sector consisting of both public and private institutions. Some measures to increase such
cooperation are already undertaken and started to be implemented: integration of the
initial vocational training and labor market training systems, implementation of the
national system of qualifications etc. However, there is still a very important problem of
coordination o functions and activities of the initial and continuing vocational training
institutions seeking to develop a more open and accessible VET system based on the
principles of lifelong learning. It comprises the need to increase the territorial
accessibility of the continuing vocational training in the regions of Lithuania, where the
VET schools and training centres can play a very important role.
d. Existing legal system and institutional framework ensure rather strongly
centralized VET system limiting the autonomy and responsibilities of the social
partners in VET. Strong centralization of the VET system limiting the initiatives and
possibilities of the VET institutions, employers and other social partners in proposing and
implementation of the vocational training measures on the regional level naturally creates
important obstacles for the transfer and implementation of such measures and
experiences from the other countries. Especially if such transferred measures or projects
require from the actors autonomous acting and decision making. Therefore the
implementation of such measures and experiences would require additional (preparatory)
efforts and measures directed towards the increasing of know-how, self-trust and
independent decision making, ability to take the responsibility for the proposed initiatives
and solutions. Again, such situation is more favorable for the implementation of those
measures and experiences of cooperation in VET which are based on the top-down
approach and whose implementation requires strong participation and supervision of the
central government. Strong centralization can be regarded not only as a reason of the lack
of local initiatives of actors in VET, but also as a long-term consequence of this problem.
When the VET institutions and social partners do not show any initiatives in the field of
VET or are not ready for such actions, the state government must engage and take this
role.
e. Problems in funding of the VET institutions. Lack of funding and co-funding
of the VET institutions by many researchers and policy makers is very often indicated as
one of the most important obstacles in the development of VET. Lack of funding is
regarded as the main reason of the outdated technical basis of training and the lack of
skilled and qualified staff in the VET. From the one side the lack of public funding should
enhance the initiatives of the VET institutions to look for the external partners, to provide
the services for the market in order to find additional funding possibilities. Therefore the
cooperation between the VET institutions and employers in the field of the organization
of practical training becomes a very important measure in coping with the problems
caused by the outdated technical basis of practical training. From the other side, lack of
funding of VET poses the difficulties to the cooperation between the employers and VET

20
institutions, because the VET schools due to the lack of public funding, outdated practical
training basis loose their attractiveness for the employers. Referring to the implications
of this to the transfer of the experiences of the foreign countries in the field of the
regional VET partnerships the special attention should be paid to the experiences and
models of the co-funding in VET.

2. External preconditions and factors influencing the adaptability of the

experiences of France, Germany and the Netherlands in the
establishment and development of the regional VET networks.
a. Integration of Lithuania in the common EU labor market based on the free
movement of workforce between the member countries and the increased
economical emigration. Intensified emigration of workforce and increased needs of
skilled workforce can significantly influence establishment and development of the
regional VET partnerships in Lithuania as well as the transfer and implementation of the
experiences of regional VET cooperation networks from Germany, France and the
Netherlands. Growing shortage of the skilled workforce can create rather big tensions in
the relationships between the VET schools and employers. Responding to the growing
needs and shortages of the skilled workforce in the labor market in the context of
growing economical migration is a completely new challenge for the VET institutions
which do not have the experience and largely lacks the know-how of acting in the market
conditions reacting to the changing needs of the enterprises in the different sectors. Slow
adaptation of VET institutions to these changes in many cases causes the disappointment
of the part of employers and their disbelief in the perspectives of the cooperation with the
VET schools often expressed by the position: ”we (business) can not wait.” Such
position makes the employers to look for the individual solutions for solving the shortage
of the skilled workforce by implementing of the different ad-hoc, adaptive and short-term
continuing vocational training measures. Other part of employers and their organizations
seek for more active cooperation and partnership with the VET institutions in order to
respond to the above mentioned challenges. They try to cooperate with the VET
institutions in organizing the practical training, introducing of the new training curricula,
updating and development of the technical basis of training. These two approaches of
employers has different implications for the development of the regional VET
partnerships in Lithuania:
a) The first approach poses real obstacles for such cooperation due to the lack of
interests in cooperation, mutual trust and social capital resources. The transfer of the
foreign experiences would be very difficult and doubtfully if it would bring any effect.
The efforts of government in promoting of transfer of the regional VET partnership
experiences from the other countries can even increase the distrust of employers and
unions in such measures. On of the ways to solve this problem would be to “grow up”
incrementally the trust between the employers and VET institutions by involving them in
the small and short term cooperation projects giving the clear benefits for the both
partners.
b) The second approach creates favorable conditions for the development of the
regional VET networks. Both the employers and VET institutions are open to the co-
operation and understand, that the real long-term profits of this co-operation come only
after the goal oriented and intensive mutual efforts and investments. This approach is also

21
favorable for the transfer of the foreign experiences in the field of the development of the
regional VET networks. However, it should be taken care to avoid, that the transfer of
these experiences change or violate the existing power balances and relations between the
partners. Therefore such transferred measures should be less dependent on the state
regulation and should leave more freedom of action for the partners.
b. Orientation to the liberal model of the economy and market relations. This
orientation towards the liberal model of the economy of market relations can create
favorable conditions only for such models of the regional VET partnerships, which
provide the biggest short-term benefits for the economical actors, do not require big
investments and efforts from the stakeholders, and especially from the employers,
exclude intensive participation and regulation of the government institutions. The role of
the state in case of the Lithuanian “liberal model” of the partnership and co-operation in
VET can be rather specific and unusual for the traditional liberal models, because the
state government tends to support business initiatives in partnership, creating favorable
conditions for the involvement and participation of the employers, as in the cases of the
transformation of the part of VET schools to the public enterprises with the involvement
of local employers and municipalities.
c. Lack of the know-how and experience of the social partnership, weak
unions and their limited participation in the VET processes. VET institutions,
employers, municipalities and regional administrations comparatively very recently
started to acquire the experience and know-how in the field of cooperation and
partnership. Public stakeholders, including part of the VET schools often do not have the
incentives to cooperate with the institutions from the private sector, especially if this
cooperation requires to change the existing work practices and methods or the
organization of the training process, attitudes towards the quality and professionalism.
Private sector organizations also tend to look at the public sector as too bureaucratic,
inflexible making the cooperation with these institutions too complicated, time-
consuming and ineffective. Special attention should be paid to the weak positions of the
unions in Lithuania, their under-development and lack of know-how and experience in
representing the interests of employees in the fields of vocational training, skills
upgrading, career development, initial vocational training. Only recently unions started
to be little more active and to participate in the different processes and projects related to
the vocational training and human resources development, but more on the national level.
This factor has negative implications for the development of the regional VET
partnerships and transferring of the experience of the foreign countries in this field.
Therefore the most effective and desirable would be such experiences and models which
enhance the incremental growth of the experience and know-how in the cooperation
between the VET schools, employers, unions and regional authorities and permit to
accumulate such experience.
d. European support in the integration process: EU funded projects in the
VET, human resources development and social partnership. The EU support and
related EU funded projects facilitate and enhance the establishment and development of
experience of social partnership in VET. The involvement of the VET institutions,
employers organizations and unions in these projects (Leonardo da Vinci projects,
European Social Fund supported projects, etc.) help to strengthen the competences and
experience of these stakeholders in the fields of social partnership and co-operation, as

22
well as in the field of vocational training. These projects also help to establish long-term
institutional relationships based on the mutual trust.
e. Very limited role and influence of the local and regional government in the
social and economical development of society. Local and regional government is not
able to use completely their rights and execute the delegated functions in the field of the
VET. Regional VET councils work in too formal way and can not make any strategic
decisions or implement strategies directed to the development of the regional partnership
networks in the field of VET. The main reasons of this is the lack of the interest of society
in the regional and local governance and misunderstanding of their importance and
influence for the everyday life, lack of the competent persons in the structures of the
regional governance in different field, including the vocational education and training.
This factor does not facilitate the development of the regional partnerships and
cooperation networks in VET and can impede the transfer of the experience of the other
countries in this field. To cope with this problem there could be useful those measures
and experiences which help to the local and regional governments to accumulate the
experience and know-how in the fields of partnership and cooperation with social
stakeholders and the governance of vocational education an training.

Conclusions

1. Socioeconomical and political development of the society and state,

institutional development of Lithuania in the path of transformations from the
agrarian economy and social structure since the end of the XIXth and the
beginning of the XXth century to the Soviet planed economy and post-
totalitarian state almost until the last decade of the XXth century did not
create favorable conditions for the establishment and development of the
constant regional partnerships in the field of vocational education and training
on the regional level and determined some complicated mental,
communicational and social problems which need to be solved in designing
and development of such partnerships – weak social partnership, very limited
and too formal communication between employers, VET schools and local
government institutions, rather high distrust between the involved social
stakeholders, etc. In the search of possible solutions of these problems there
can be referred to the experiences of the other countries but in the same time it
must be considered the specificity and uniqueness of the VET development in
Lithuania and its environment by carefully examining the transferable
measures and evaluating their adaptability.
2. There exists certain institutional and process preconditions for the
establishment and development of the regional partnership networks in the
VET of Lithuania: establishment of the regional VET centres in optimizing
the network of the public VET schools, establishment of the public VET
enterprises with the participation of the employers and municipalities as
stakeholders, activities of the VET councils of counties in the development of
the VET policy, incentives to establish the sectoral practical training centres in
the regions etc. Most of these initiatives and measures are in the process of
implementation and require strong support of the government and social

23
 stakeholders. Besides, these measures lack the coordination which would
permit to enhance the cooperation between the regional stakeholders in the
field of VET.
3. Existing legal basis in many cases does not provide sufficient empowerment
for the social stakeholders and partners to develop the cooperation in the field
of VET both on the national and regional levels. From the one side, there can
be felt the strong influence of the central regulation and control approach
when the regional and sectoral stakeholders do not have sufficient legal
empowerments for the acting in the co-operation networks. From the other
side there is a need for more clear and transparent definition of the rights and
responsibilities of the stakeholders and social partners as well as for the
overarching legal basis providing more comprehensive definition of these
righs and responsibilities in the overall field of lifelong learning (for example,
the Law on Qualifications).
4. The transfer of the experiences in the establishment and development of the
regional VET networks from France, Germany and the Netherlands is
conditioned by the internal preconditions of the VET system in Lithuania and
the external preconditions and factors influencing the adaptability of these
experiences. Amongst the internal preconditions of the VET system there can
mentioned: lack of experience and intensiveness of the relationships between
the VET institutions and the employers (especially on the regional level),
making the process of social partnership in VET too formal and too dependent
on the state interventions; mismatch between the needs of employers and
qualifications, skills and competences provided by the IVET institutions due
to the outdated VET curriculum and technical basis of practical training and
fragmentary involvement o employers in the processes of designing, provision
and awarding of qualifications and competences; lack of the communication
and transition between the sectors of initial and continuing vocational training;
underdevelopment of the continuing vocational training due to the
institutional structure of VET system with the domination of the public IVET
institutions, lack of cooperation between the vocational schools and CVT
providers, unregulated relations between the public institutions of IVET and
CVET; rather strongly centralized VET system ensured by existing legal basis,
limiting the autonomy and responsibilities of the social partners in VET,
problems of the funding of the VET etc. Amongst the external preconditions
and factors influencing the adaptability of the experiences of France, Germany
and the Netherlands in the establishment and development of the regional
VET networks there can be mentioned integration of Lithuania in the common
EU labor market based on the free movement of workforce between the
member countries and the increased economical emigration, orientation to the
liberal model of the economy and market relations, lack of the know-how and
experience of the social partnership, weak unions and their limited
participation in the VET processes, European support in the integration
process. These factors and preconditions as well as their interrelationships
prevent the direct transfer and application of the models and experiences of
the foreign countries in the development of the regional VET networks.

24
 Therefore such experiences can serve mainly as the sources of information for
the designing of the original model of VET partnerships in the regions by
disclosing the general internal mechanisms and powers of the regional VET
partnerships.

References

Darbdaviai pasigenda bendradarbiavimo su profesinėmis mokyklomis (1)

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