Challenges to national defence in contemporary geopolitical situation

This study examines the formation of the professional identity of future officers in the context of contemporary defense challenges, with a focus on pedagogical competence. A quantitative study was conducted using a questionnaire developed by the author. Cadets rated pedagogical competence as no less important than tactical and technical competence; however, they indicated that psychological competence is not sufficiently developed. The study’s findings contribute to research on officers' professional identity by emphasising the educational aspect of military professionalism. Pedagogical, leadership, and psychological competencies should be systematically integrated into officer training programs to strengthen professional identity. In this article, pedagogical competence is defined as an essential element of the professional identity of future officers, helping them respond to contemporary defense challenges.

This article focuses on describing and providing a basic overview of approaches to teaching military history at the Armed Forces Academy. Based on a content analysis of the curriculum and literature devoted to history, authors offer insight into selected approaches to teaching historical subjects. They describe three fundamental theoretical approaches through which history can be taught. They examine the differences between these approaches as well as their potential integration, which may help expand students’ ability to understand the various stages of the historical development of warfare. Authors analyze selected theoretical approaches, namely the chronological approach, the four generations of warfare approach, and the civilization waves approach. They outline their main characteristics and attributes. By combining these approaches in teaching, it is possible to help students develop a more comprehensive understanding of historical development within the process of training a professional soldier.

National security and sustainability are the main priority of any state. Therefore the Republic of Lithuania as well as any other state follows its National Security Strategy which establishes the interests of national security, directions of its evolution, the security and defence policy in general, means and types of risk factors and threats to the national security. This study investigates the issues of legal preparation in the military high school. The topical issues directly related to the national defence and security which arise in the run of the training course for the military, especially junior leaders at the institution of higher education in the sphere of providing them with the basic legal knowledge, are presented and examined in the article. In the process of training and upbringing of a junior leader more attention is paid to their professional skills and competencies, and a leader’s and subordinate’s personality, therefore, a system of legal preparation and training provided for students of this kind of educational institutions, its role and degree of influence on personal qualities of a future leader have not yet been studied and described in scientific publications. The above mentioned observations determined the rationale for choosing the topic for the research paper. Its relevance is without doubt. It has been concluded that a leader who is politically correct and competent in the legal sphere can ensure that the decisions made are well-reasoned, consistent and adequate, and they are aimed at the elimination of possible disagreements which might emerge in the sphere of human resource management, management of military units in the run of resolving their daily tasks, holding negotiations at any levels, as well as enhancement of the army’s defensive power in general.

This article is devoted to development, adaptation and approbation of the methodology for analysis and assessment of an inclusive educational space in a higher education institution which implements education for students with limited health abilities. Relevance of the topic is determined by the importance of implementation of effective inclusive education to ensure sustainable development of society. The validity of data presented in the research is provided by the representativeness of sample and the use of such methods of data processing and analysis as factor analysis, cluster analysis, and classification tree analysis. The five factor structure of the researched phenomenon presented in the research allows analysing the inclusive educational space at a higher education institution from different points of view. The formation of homogeneous clusters in the space of identified clusters will make it possible developing targeted programs for working with teachers and other participants of the educational process in the higher education institution, which will help to create a high-quality inclusive educational environment in the higher education institution and increase the effectiveness of inclusive education.

The relevance of this article is based on the aim to fulfil the lack of understanding of public perception on nuclear energy in Lithuania. The results of the empirical survey (public poll carried out in 2013) are used to explain the public perception of nuclear energy and its contextual aspects (safety, economic benefit, possible new challenges, personal knowledge). To show the distribution of the attitude among the public cluster analysis was performed through which respondents were divided into two groups. The 1st cluster represents that part of the public which is well educated, actively working and actively contributing to the state economy. Meanwhile the 2nd is less educated, less active economically and more dependent on social security programs part of the public. The cluster analysis reveals small, but statistically significant differences in attitude between the clusters.