Expression of communicative competences of the leaders of educational institutions in the context of educational changes

Rapid changes, stimulated by globalization, spreading of information (knowledge) society and integration into the European Union economical, cultural and educational space, conditioned the changes in the educational system of Lithuania. The new requirements for the system influenced the development of the management competence model. In the context of the general (transferable) competences, communicative competences are given top priority, development of which in life long learning becomes the most essential challenge for every leader of an educational institution. Therefore, the research question has been raised- what communicative competences the leaders of educational institutions have. Both competences, in foreign languages and information communicative technologies, were being taken into account. The question of which of the two competences manifests stronger in the leadership practice has also been analyzed, the motives and forms of the development of these competences were being questioned. The aim of the research is to analyze the expression of the communicative competences of the leaders of educational institutions in the context of educational changes, revealing the motives and forms for the improvement. Analysis of the theoretical works and documents of foreign and national scientists about the role of communicative competences in the context of educational changes has been carried out and presented in the paper. The place of the communicative competences- foreign languages and information technologies- in the structure of the general (transferable) competences has been researched. The results of the empirical research of the leaders of educational institutions in regard of the communicative competences they have, both in foreign languages and information technologies, are presented. In summarizing the paper the following conclusions can be drawn: the competence of information technologies among the leaders of educational institutions in their practical work manifests itself stronger than the competence of foreign languages, the level of the competences and the motives for the improvement correlate with different needs for the usage of the above mentioned competences in practice.Švietimo akademijaVytauto Didžiojo universiteta