Klaipėdos universitetas

Scientific journal Tiltai / Bridges / Brücken published by Klaipėda University (established in 1991) is devoted to the issues of social sciences, and seeking academic dialogue, also to other human and society functioning-related humanities and biomedical sciences, with expand and interpret different social phenomena and current issues from an interdisciplinary perspective. The publications attempts at analysing and solving actual problems of economy, management, demography, social geography, geopolitics, political sciences, history, education, religious, regional planning and land use, other social problems. Science has no borders. Therefore scientific cooperation is one of the most important elements in the progress of world’s community. Scientists from different countries of the world are kindly invited to write for and contribute to the journal.

Laimutės Žalimienės ir Eugenijaus Dunajevo monografijos „Socialinės paramos struktūros dilema – tarp autonomijos ir paternalizmo“ recenzija

The paper presents the discourse of the social work professionalization from the viewpoints of practice, research, academic activity, and professional identity, by revealing the expression of social worker competencies in the changing society. By means of evaluating the 20-year-experience of social worker training in Lithuania, the authors reveal the identity of social work at two levels: professional (academisation and practice) and legal (profession and study status). For the purpose, a novel approach to the formation of the social work theory, study methods, and the education of intercultural communication and lifelong learning is employed.

This article presents the aspect of the social work professionalization which responds to the new challenges of a global society that is the refugee migration. The refugee problem in the European Union has recently become one of the important social problems. Due to the political situation in Africa South European countries are already unable to manage the daily flow of refugees. EU Parliament is trying to solve this problem. Lithuania has to be ready to solve this problem as well. The country which receives refugees not only has to have the legal regulation of this process, but also the professionals who could ensure the success of their adaptation. The authors, using different empirical research materials which were conducted in Lithuania in the years 2011–2014, reveal the depth of the needs and the possibilities of the social work services while implementing these needs in the context of social services in Lithuania. This is the presentation of the experience available. This article can help you to assess the situation and the opportunities that are ahead for the Lithuanian society when helping to solve the problem of today’s refugees in the European Union. At the same time this article reveals one more aspect of the identity in the social work profession, revealing the depth of the social worker’s competencies in a changing society and his ability to operate in unspecified situations.

Šios Kristijono Donelaičio „Metų“ eilutės mums primena liūdną, bet, deja, neišvengiamą tikrovę – visi atėjusieji privalo išeiti. Su tuo esame priversti susitaikyti. Vis dėlto išsiskyrimas visada yra ir netikėtas, ir skausmingas. Ypač, kai išeinama per anksti, kai ant darbo stalo lieka ir niekada nebebus pabaigta dar viena knyga, kai kartu su žmogumi išeina ir jo sumanymai, ketinimai, viltys, brandintos idėjos…

The article deals with the problem of domestic violence against women and assesses the expression of this phenomenon in the context of a society approach. The statistical construct of this phenomenon confirms the assumption that the establishment of legal fundamentals for protection against violence is linked to a process of changing the society approach to this issue. The analysis of theoretical and legal discourse of domestic violence reveals that the consistent implementation of the strategy of legal protection of victims against domestic violence has enabled the creation of a specialized comprehensive assistance infrastructure system throughout the country, which provides access to appropriate medical, psychological, legal assistance and at the same time entitles the society to develop prevention programmes that help to establish intolerance towards violence. The Republic of Lithuania Law on Protection against Domestic Violence (2011) has laid strong foundations for the establishment of specialized assistance centres and implies the development of necessary infrastructure.

In this article authors present the development of intercultural competences as a part of study process. Organization of study process in the modern world is not confined within one institution or one country. Possibilities to study in different joint programmes or choose Erasmus courses are open for many students. Not only the language abilities, but also intercultural awareness and competences influence the quality of communication and level of understanding by the representatives of other cultures. Intercultural competences are one of the very important abilities that are also presented as the outcomes of new methods of education that should prepare students to cope with intercultural environment. Study process requires students to obtain various abilities (application of knowledge, research, special, personal, social). All these abilities are particularly important in conducting comparative research and adopting foreign experience. The article emphasizes that intercultural competencies in modern study process can be assessed on two levels: the level of intercultural communication and intercultural level of scientific research.

This article presents findings of the study on the structure of social representation of lecturers’ activities and their dynamics on the basis of the credibility of a source of information. The study is sought to find out what constitutes central and peripheral elements of social representation of lecturers’ activities in view of survey participants (undergraduate programme students of Klaipėda University), whether the said elements change upon reliable and unreliable sources of information, and what determines potential dynamics of elements of the representation. Answers to the above questions will significantly help to understand lecturer-student relationships, to change negative or adverse communication attitudes into positive ones. Insights of this study can be applied in lecturers’ activities so as to better understand today’s students, a role of lecturers, formation of positive attitudes in students towards lecturers’ activities and communication.

The aim of the article is to give a social portrait of Lithuanian youth in the context of youth policy, and to consider such unsettled segments as unemployment, emigration (migration), the attitude towards family, social participation in societal possibilities, and the strengthening of intergenerational solidarity. These problematic segments cause the social exclusion of young people, thus requiring an appropriate strategy for training professionals who work with young people and who can develop models for the positive (skilful) socialisation of young people. The article evaluates Lithuanian and European youth policy guidelines and success in solving problems, as well as the response to public expectations regarding participation in future life. It provides an analysis of existing feasibility studies that reveal the current situation, and insights into the question. The results obtained foster the formulation of a strategy for training social professionals focused on youth work. The article concentrates on a new European Union programme, the ‘European Solidarity Corps’, which aims to give young people opportunities to contribute to local and global problem-solving within the framework of personal and professional career design for youth. It has been prepared within the framework of the project ‘Social Professions for Youth Education in the Context of European Solidarity’*, with the participation of Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish and Swedish universities that deliver programmes for training social professionals.

Society’s value system forms gradually, and every society has its own culture, its own dominant value system. Fundamental values such as honesty, fairness, compassion and kindness have been preserved through the centuries, and they are the core values of today. Organization values are invisible organizational culture, the deepest layer of the organization. The internal culture of institutions is the system of values and traditions, work environment, which is an important condition for staff satisfaction and performance efficiency. Latvian public administration declared value is incorporated into the code of ethics, also included in the organization documents, thus addressing not only their employees, but also society as a whole, what is the profession of the required values, as well as what human values should be never lost. In this study, in order to identify the predominant values and intrinsic values of institutions based on publicly available data and information sources, Latvian State Administration Policy declared value are discussed and analyzed.