The Law on Education establishes that the public school head (except for secondary schools), is appointed through public recruitment and selection for a 5-year contract with the institution implementing the rights and obligations of the owner vacancy. Requirements for the qualifications and procedures for this process were established by the Minister of Education, Science and Sport.

The head of the state or municipal educational institution is appointed through open, public recruitment. The heads of non-state schools are selected, appointed and dismissed according to Labour Code guidelines.

The Ministry of Education, Science and Sport monitors the activity of state schools at the national level. Schools owners monitor the activity of schools, if needed with external assessors.

The Ministry of Education, Science and Sport has defined the procedure for the recruitment and selection of a new head of school. This includes the announcement of the vacancy, what qualifications are needed, the submission and admission of relevant documents, and the appointment of the selection committee and its remit.

The Minister of Education, Science and Sport specifies the procedures for the recruitment and selection process, and the qualification requirements of the applicants.

The head of a state or municipal school is appointed through a public selection opportunity . The heads of non-state schools are selected, appointed and dismissed according to the guidelines in the Labour Code.

The applicant must meet these requirements: a university degree or equivalent (from 1 September 2024, at least a master’s degree), necessary professional qualifications and pedagogical experience, general and leadership competencies, no less than a year’s experience in leading a group of people, experience of using IT, a good command of Lithuanian, possess at least one of the European Union working languages at level B1 or higher (English, French, or German), and an impeccable reputation.

Competencies of applicants are evaluated according to the common criteria. Professional HR specialists, representatives of pupils, parents/guardians and teachers are included in the process. In order to pass the selection, the applicant has to succeed several rounds of assessment:

• Preparation. In this round, the selection committee discusses questions, the planned structure of interviews and other aspects, and checks if all the required documents have been provided and if applicants meet the requirements.
• Analysis of written data. In this round, the committee analyses the documents provided and takes notes on applicants’ competencies.
• The applicant’s interview. In this round, the committee questions the applicant to evaluate their competencies. All questions are the same for all applicants.
• Evaluation of the applicants. In this round, the committee discusses main notes and each member evaluates the applicant’s competencies using a 1-5 scale
• Score calculation.

The Law on Remuneration for Employees of the State and Municipal Institutions and Members of Selection Committees, states that the salary of a school head is comprised of fixed and variable parts. The fixed part is based on the number of pupils in the school, pedagogical experience and the complexity of activities. The variable part can be added based on the results of the previous year.

(In basic amounts[1])

The fixed part coefficients can be increased due to the complexity of activity, if a school has children with special learning needs, foreigners who don’t know the state language and other cases covered by legislation.

The school head may also receive material support or be reimbursed for some expenses (driving to and from work, rent for accommodation, etc.)

The work week for a school head is no longer than 36 working hours. They receive 56 calendar days of annual leave

There is no specific legislation regulating the statutory dismissal of educational staff once they have reached the official retirement age. According to the Labour Code, heads of schools may retire by mutual agreement. Pensions for heads of schools are paid in the same way as they are for employees in other fields. A pension consists of a basic part that is the same for all beneficiaries with the required number of years of service and an additional part that depends on years of service (years of social security payment) and wages earned, from which contributions to the social security fund were paid. 

Education legislation requires that the school heads should endeavour to improve their qualifications no less than 5 days a year.