Lithuania presented the priorities of Lithuania’s Presidency of the European Schools system at CULT
On 28 September, at the European Parliament’s Committee on Culture and Education (CULT) in Brussels, Rūta Stanaitienė, Adviser at the Division for Lithuanians Abroad of the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport, President of the Board of Governors of the European Schools together with Vaida Jurgilė, Inspector for Secondary Education at the European Schools, presented the priorities of Lithuania’s Presidency of the European Schools system.
Lithuania holds the Presidency of the European Schools from 1 August 2026 to 31 July 2027. This is the first time Lithuania has held the Presidency of the European Schools system since joining the European Union in 2004 and ratifying the Convention defining the Statute of the European Schools in 2005.
For its Presidency, Lithuania has adopted a logo and motto “Žmogus ateina į žemę su saule" – “Every human comes to Earth with the sun"; Chaque être humain vient au monde avec le soleil”, “Jeder Mensh kommt mit der Sonne zur Welt”, inspired by the genius Lithuanian artist Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis.
These reflect the country’s key priorities:
- Reinforcing linguistic and cultural diversity
- Enhancing learning and teaching through safe, responsible, ethical and sustainable use of GenAI in education
- Launching a System-wide Transition Towards a Needs-Based Assessment Framework in the European Schools
As part of these priorities, Lithuania plans to establish a working group on the language policy of the European Schools, share Lithuanian good practices in the use of AI in education, and develop practical recommendations for its responsible use. It will also review current assessment criteria from the perspective of inclusive education and explore ways to improve the recognition of external assessment reports.
These priorities are closely aligned with the agenda of Lithuania’s 2027 Presidency of the Council of the European Union and its objective of strengthening Lithuania’s contribution to the European Education Area. The overlap between the two Presidencies will also provide opportunities to strengthen cooperation in the field of teacher development and raise the visibility of the European Schools.
In this context, the European Schools Teachers’ Forum Lithuania 2027 will be organised alongside a conference held during Lithuania’s EU Council Presidency, focusing on teacher development.
The aim is to translate these priorities into concrete actions towards a more inclusive, multilingual and innovative European Schools system that is prepared to meet future challenges.