2026-07-27
More than half of Lithuanian general education schools still lack educational support specialists. Although the state and local authorities are increasing funding, implementing measures to attract specialists and encouraging people to choose these professions, the shortage of specialists persists. An audit carried out by the National Audit Office, “Educational Support in Schools”, revealed that, as a result, the specialists currently working in this field face heavy workloads, and a significant proportion of their working time is spent on administrative tasks rather than providing direct support to children.
“If we want inclusive education to be more than just a slogan on paper, we must urgently turn our attention to those who work with children on a daily basis. Educational support specialists and teaching assistants cannot perform their duties to a high standard when, on the one hand, they are trying to manage several complex cases of behavioural difficulties across different classes, while, on the other, they are forced to fill in endless, constantly changing reports. The audit results clearly show that reducing the administrative burden and filling vacant posts would not only improve the availability of services for pupils but would also fundamentally change the well-being of the specialists themselves, which is currently bordering on professional burnout. We must eliminate methodological chaos and provide schools with practical tools and competitive remuneration in order to attract the necessary skills,” emphasises Auditor General Irena Segalovičienė.
Heavy workloads – the biggest obstacle to helping children
The audit figures clearly illustrate the systemic shortage of specialists. In 2025, 52 percent of general education schools were short of at least one educational support specialist, and each specialist was responsible for between 16 and 337 pupils, depending on the school. Although as many as 76 percent of the selected local authorities implement various measures to attract or retain specialists, there is still a critical shortage of them in the labour market. In 2025, employers across the country were seeking 1,157 educational support specialists, while the number of jobseekers was almost three times lower.
A survey of educational support specialists carried out by the National Audit Office confirmed that excessive workloads are the single greatest obstacle preventing the provision of high-quality support to children. Due to a shortage of staff, existing specialists are forced to deal with a significantly excessive number of pupils, leaving critically insufficient time for direct, individual support.
Heavy workloads for specialists affect not only the children who need support, but also the teachers. In a survey carried out during the audit, as many as 41 percent of the teachers surveyed stated that they did not receive sufficient support from educational support specialists, as the latter are either fully occupied at school or their posts are simply unfilled.
Bureaucratic burden takes time away from children
Educational support specialists themselves cite the administrative burden as one of the biggest obstacles to their work. According to the National Audit Office’s survey, as many as 69 percent of educational support specialists stated that administration, preparing for meetings and other indirect activities account for a moderate or significant proportion of their daily work. The specialists also highlighted this issue during the auditors’ visits to schools. According to them, educational support specialists spend a large part of their working day filling in assessment tables, preparing and refining individual education plans, writing minutes and reports, completing constantly changing assessment forms, and carrying out other administrative tasks.
In the schools’ view, reducing the administrative burden would allow specialists to devote considerably more time to direct interaction with children, improve the availability of support, and reduce the emotional and professional strain on the staff themselves.
The work of educational support specialists is also hampered by a lack of methodological guidance and clear working standards. In the absence of standardised assessment tools and clear methodologies, they are forced to work according to varying practices, adapt to changing requirements and devote additional time to documentation. This increases the administrative burden and reduces the time that could be devoted to the children’s needs.
Teaching assistants also face heavy workloads
Similar systemic problems also weigh heavily on teaching assistants. In the survey, they indicated that a single assistant is often assigned to support 3–4 pupils in different classes, or to look after as many as 6–8 children with special educational needs in a single class at the same time. This means that a single staff member is often faced with several particularly complex cases of behavioural or emotional difficulties at once.
Teaching assistants emphasise that children need support not only during lessons, but also during breaks, in the canteen, after school or during extracurricular activities; however, their working hours are usually scheduled exclusively for lessons. For this reason, they are physically unable to be where help is most needed, meaning that some pupils and teachers are left without any support during lessons.
The lack of clarity regarding their duties also causes additional stress – as many as 24 percent of the teaching assistants surveyed stated that they carry out additional tasks that are entirely outside their remit, such as standing in for teachers who are ill or absent, preparing assignments or marking pupils’ work. The teaching assistants themselves emphasise that clearer regulation of their duties and stronger support from teachers and the school administration would allow them to focus on their core mission – providing high-quality support to children in the educational process.
To retain specialists, it is not enough simply to attract new ones: the National Audit Office offers its recommendations
With a view to preventing staff burnout and ensuring that the support provided genuinely meets children’s needs, the National Audit Office has made specific recommendations to the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport (MESS) and its subordinate institutions. First, in order to create an effective educational environment and systematically address the problem of staff shortages, the Ministry is recommended to introduce open-class models. To this end, it is necessary to update the criteria under which a second teacher or a person providing educational support must be assigned to certain classes in primary and basic education.
It is also necessary to ensure continuous monitoring of the provision of educational support so that policy decisions are made on the basis of real data. To achieve this, it is recommended that schools be required to record, in the Pupil Register, the actual extent of support provided by the recommended educational support specialists to each pupil.
Finally, in order to eliminate methodological inconsistencies and ensure that specialists from all educational psychology services and schools across the country assess pupils’ needs in a uniform manner, it is recommended that the Lithuanian Centre for Inclusive Education develop and implement a uniform standard for the pedagogical and psychological assessment of children and ensure the procurement or development of the necessary assessment tools.