The educational institution is usually managed by the school head (principal). The Law on Education establishes how the school head is appointed, what is his/hers authority, requirements for reputation. In order to ensure education quality and strengthen management unit in educational institutions, the Seimas adopted amendments of the Law on Education, related to the school heads, at the end of June 2017. These amendments establish the terms of office for the school heads, strengthens the school board and the responsibilities of the school head[1]. More about the changes of school management can be found in chapter 2.7.

Requirements for appointment

The head of the state or municipal educational institution is appointed through a public tender. The Minister of Education and Science specifies the procedures of the tender and the qualification requirements for the applicants. The institution implementing the rights and obligations of the owner organises the tender. The heads of non-state schools are selected, appointed and dismissed according to the procedure of the Labour Code. The school heads work under the employment contract.  

From 1 January 2018, terms of offices are introduced for the heads of the state or municipal educational institutions. The term of office is 5 years. After the term of office ends, the school head can participate in the tender for the same position in the same school, because the number of terms of office is not limited.

Commission of the public tender

On 1 July 2011, a Description of the tender to the head of the state and municipal education institutions (except for higher education) was approved[2]. Under the aforementioned procedure, the competencies of the applicants for school heads are assessed according to the same criteria. Professional recruitment specialists and representatives of pupils, parents and teachers are included in the process of the selection.

From 1 January 2018, the Law establishes the main provisions of the public tender for the position of the head of educational institution. The commission is composed of 7 members (if a new educational institution is established – of 4). The institution implementing the rights and obligations of the owner organises the commission. It proposes to delegate representatives to the commission of the tender:

1. The institution implementing the rights and obligations of the owner – 1 representative.

2. The Ministry of Education, Science and Sport – 1 representative.

3. The association of the corresponding type of schools or heads – 1 representative.

4. The institution implementing the rights and obligations of the owner invites 1 representative from social partners.

5. The school community (parents delegate 1 representative, teachers delegate 1 representative, pupils delegate 1 representative. If pupils are under 16, parents represent their interests) – 3 representatives. It the educational institution is newly established, the school community does not delegate its representatives.

A member of the commission must be of impeccable reputation. The state politicians and civil servants of political (personal) confidence cannot be the members of the commission. The composition of the commission is publicly available on the website of the educational institution.

Qualification requirements for the applicants

According to the Description of Qualification Requirements for Heads of the State and Municipal Educational Institutions (except for higher education) (1 July 2011), applicants for the head of the state or municipal educational institution must meet the following requirements:

• Have university degree or equivalent education.

• Have the necessary professional qualification and teaching experience.

• Have the general and leadership competencies, have no less than one year experience managing a group of people.

• Be able to work with information technologies.

• Have a good command of Lithuanian, and know at least one of the European Union working languages (English, French, German) at level B1 or higher. 

  From 1 January 2018, the applicant must be of impeccable reputation.

Selection stages

Any applicant for the head of a pre-school, general education school, or vocational school should participate in a three-step selection procedure:

• First assessment of abilities. Applicant must have his/her abilities assessed by the National School Evaluation Agency according to the same methodology applicable to all applicants. If the level of the applicant abilities is found appropriate, he/she has the right to participate in the tender announced by a particular local government. At this stage, general abilities (personal effectiveness, strategic thinking and management of development, ability to learn, management of people) and leadership abilities (leadership in education and learning process) are evaluated.  Assessment of the applicant’s abilities is valid for five years. The applicant can take the cognitive test at a convenient time. 
• Submission of documents. An applicant should submit the required documents certifying his/her work experience, compliance of his/her abilities to the qualification requirements and guidelines for the management of the educational institution concerned, letters of reference from former employers, etc. Before the selection process an applicant has to become familiarised with the educational institution’s activities and needs. An applicant has to prepare guidelines how he/she will run the particular education institution. An applicant has to present these guidelines to the community of the particular education institution. During this period, the applicant can visit the educational institution (no longer than three days), interact with employees and students, and observe lessons and other educational activities. 
• Second assessment of abilities. During the interview with the selection commission, the candidate answers questions asked by the members of the commission. In this stage, the applicant’s communicative competence, information competence (information competence means ability to prepare and clearly present information orally or on paper), and areas of leadership skills are also assessed. The selection commission includes representatives of the organiser of the tender, the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport, the school’s council (pupils, parents and teachers), association of the corresponding type of schools or heads. Until 1 January 2018, a representative of the educational institution’s trade union or labour council can participate in the commission meeting as an observer. 

Conditions of service

Heads of educational institutions are appointed by the public tender and dismissed from the position by the institution implementing the rights and obligations of the owner. From 1 January 2018 school heads will be appointed for a fixed period of 5 years, due to the introduction of a 5-year term of office. The number of terms of office at the same educational institution is unlimited.

The heads of schools are employees working under an employment contract. The school head performs administrative work. He/she manages the implementation of the strategic and annual plans of the institution, appoints and dismisses the staff, is responsible for the performance of the educational institution, etc. The head of general education school can have lessons. Depending on the number of groups in the institution, the head of early childhood education institution must work in the group at least for 3 pedagogical hours per day.

The salary for the school head depends on:

• Length of work experience.

• Managerial qualification categories.

• Number of pupils.

• Complexity of activity (type of school).

• Acquired scientific degree or pedagogical (scientific) name.

The detailed remuneration and other working conditions for school heads are set out in Annex 5 to the Law on Remuneration for Employees of the State and Municipal Institutions adopted on 17 January 2017.

The weekly workload established for heads of schools cannot exceed 36 hours. They are entitled to annual paid holidays lasting 56 calendar days. School heads can improve qualifications for at least 5 days a year.

There is no specific legal act regulating the statutory dismissal of educational staff once they have reached the official retirement age. According to the Labour Code, heads of schools may retire by mutual agreement. Pensions for heads of schools are paid in the same way as they are for employees in other fields. A pension consists of a basic part that is the same for all beneficiaries with the required number of years of service and an additional part that depends on years of service (years of social security payment) and wages earned on which contributions to the social security fund were paid.