Breakthrough in Educational Research

Summary: The project “Breakthrough in Educational Research” is being implemented by the Research Council of Lithuania in cooperation with seven key partners. One of the partners is the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, which is conducting a study entitled “Wellness and Empowerment in Learning: Strengthening Teacher Empowerment and Pupil’s Emotional Proficiency in Early Education” within the framework of the aforementioned project. The study analyses the interaction between teachers’ professional development and early childhood education, comprehensively examining the possibilities for strengthening the psychosocial well-being of teachers and children through the development of social and emotional competencies. Using a quasi-experimental method, an interdisciplinary team of researchers is conducting an assessment of teachers’ competencies and implementing two versions of ELLA (a program for developing emotional and social competencies) in preschool and primary education institutions, measuring the impact of the interventions on 450 children and 160 teachers.

The research focuses on four main aspects: changes in the competencies and psychosocial well-being of preschool and primary school teachers after the training, as well as the effectiveness of the ELLA 3-6 and ELLA primary school programmes on children’s social and emotional competencies. The research integrates elements of international experience, adapting and empirically evaluating the effectiveness of the programmes, while strengthening pedagogical research and evidence-based decision-making in the field of early childhood education in Lithuania.

The expected outcome of the project study is composite and includes several key aspects:

• Strengthening teachers’ psychosocial well-being and competencies, reducing the risk of burnout, and improving their ability to manage challenging situations when working with children with emotional and behavioural issues.
• Improving children’s emotional and social skills by implementing and empirically confirming the effectiveness of ELLA programs in the Lithuanian educational context, which would improve children’s adaptation and functioning in the educational environment.
• The development of a new model for educational research and practice, combining interdisciplinary (psychology and education) research with the implementation of evidence-based programmes in the education system.
• In the long term, the project aims to contribute to the improvement of the quality of education by creating conditions for evidence-based decision-making in the field of early childhood education and by formulating recommendations for education policymakers on the improvement of qualifications, including the strengthening of emotional, social, and research competencies.