The article analyses the importance of cybersecurity in schools and the role of the school principal in ensuring a safe digital environment.
The study was conducted using semi-structured interviews with principals of general education schools. The research results revealed that educational institutions are increasingly facing cyberthreats, such as phishing emails, malicious links, or misleading messages about alleged dangers. These threats can disrupt the educational process, pose risks to data security, and damage the institution’s reputation. The findings show that school leaders’ activities in ensuring cybersecurity focus on organising preventative and interventional measures, mobilising the community, developing internal procedures and response algorithms, and cooperating with institutions. It was observed that principals often lack experience and feel psychological stress and legal responsibility for potential consequences. Different perspectives on the principal’s role emerged, from that of a key leader to one in which there is a shared community responsibility model. However, there is agreement that effective cybersecurity assurance is based on the principal acting as an educator, threat manager, prevention organiser and community mobiliser, actively involving the entire school community in building a culture of security.
This study presents an internationally (cross-border) representative picture of the school environment, atmosphere and action taken by schools aiming at the involvement of students in their actions. The study was conducted within the framework of the CaSYPoT project (Capacity Building for Strategic Youth Policy and Transnational Cooperation) under the Interreg South Baltic Programme 2014-2020 (Project No STHB.05.01.00-SE-0024/15). The main aim of the CaSYPot project was to encourage young people to get involved in local democracy, and to present youth as a resource in the development of society. Furthermore, for the design and implementation of the southern Baltic youth strategy, it is important to gain an insight into the current situation regarding the environment in schools. One section of this survey was addressed to the situation of youth in schools. The international survey for the CaSYPoT project was conducted among 1,593 students, in six towns in the southern Baltic region, in Sweden, Poland, Russia and Lithuania, from April to June 2017. The project partner’s towns carried out a survey on teenagers aged 16 to 19, identifying their needs and problems in school, and providing comparable data. The questionnaire contained questions addressing young people’s well-being and atmosphere of safety, the climate at school, and their experience in getting involved in the work of the school and their influence on decision making. To sum up, the study describes the current situation in schools, which is essential for the development and evaluation of future policies and actions. The survey covers a wide range of student opinions on school, and begins with a summary of the key findings drawn from an analysis of the survey, and strategic recommendations for the future.
Journal:Acta Historica Universitatis Klaipedensis
Volume 14 (2007): Baltijos regiono istorija ir kultūra: Lietuva ir Lenkija. Socialinė istorija, kultūrologija = History and Culture of Baltic Region: Lithuania and Poland. Social History, Cultural Sciences, pp. 175–183
Abstract
Present research is based on source materials which point at the importance of education in mother tongue to Poles inhabiting Lithuania in preserving their national identity. At the same time they disprove the thesis about the polonization of Vilnius region, which allegedly took place during the Soviet period as a result of the government’s permission for the existence of schools teaching in Polish. The percentage of students receiving education in the Polish language was always lower than the percentage of Poles inhabiting Lithuania. However, the process of russification was pressed in Vilnius region, which was stopped by regaining of the independence by Lithuania. Poles, who won the right to education in mother tongue in 1950s, in independent Lithuania opted for a traditional model of school with education in mother tongue as well. More and more students were receiving education in schools teaching in Polish, also the number of school leavers continuing studies at universities was increasing.