Tiltai

Economic sustainability based on the triple bottom line is not new, but topical in the scientific discussion on the development of economic growth. International organisations globally, together with governments, budget an increase in funding for education as the main tool for sustainable annual economic growth. On the other hand, it is difficult to measure the outcome of financial effort, as it is an intangible asset. The current research is based on interviews with 20 professors and 20 students at Klaipėda University and LCC International University, to learn how they understand their role in economic development, and to verify the dependency of their desire to contribute more to their awareness. The findings of the qualitative research show that productivity by both students and educators depends on their awareness of their economic role. On the other hand, as the study shows the limitation of participants’ perception of their economic role, its promotion is suggested.

The de-institutionalisation of the last two decades brings a poignant focus on social inclusion, exclusion and how to facilitate informed lifestyle choices among people with intellectual disabilities. This study explores some of the developments and challenges in participatory inquiry involving lay experts such as people with intellectual disabilities, their advocates and service staff in sheltered occupational sites. The core outcomes in this study are the collaboration between all involved actors identifying and implementing the service improvements needed. It was concluded that an inclusive joint research methodology may be a key and fundament for the development of supporting and empowering social care practice for this said population.

Positive orientation has become widely recognized in many scientific fields during the last decade. Possible nature of positive orientation in social work could be derived from positive psychology. However this topic is just starting to be discussed and researched in Lithuania and other European countries. In this article the authors represent complementary social work approaches that are proved as effective in a contradiction to most applied and dominant in practice nowadays problem-oriented model of social work. Therefore, the aim of the article is to overview social work practices as a ground for starting modeling Positive Social Work (PSW). Literature analysis was employed to ground different approaches of social work and set the basis for possible Positive Social Work beginning.