Talent is evenly distributed, but opportunity is not. Two equally gifted children can end up following entirely different paths in life. One may have parents who can afford extracurricular activities and additional lessons, introduce them to professionals from different fields, and help them discover their strengths. The other may have none of these opportunities. If school does not provide a chance to explore their abilities, years may pass before that child discovers what they are truly capable of.
Throughout my career, I have met many people who only discovered talents in adulthood that they had never even suspected they possessed while at school. Not because they lacked talent as children, but simply because the opportunity to explore their abilities came much later. I often wonder how much more they might have achieved if they had discovered their strengths during their school years.
For a child whose family can invest time and money in extracurricular activities, school is not the only place to discover interests and strengths. But for a child without those opportunities, it may be the only one. That is why, when discussing educational inequality, we should look beyond differences in academic achievement and ask whether every child has a genuine opportunity to discover what they are capable of.
Grades Don't Tell the Whole Story
According to the latest Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), which evaluates the skills of 15-year-olds, the gap in science achievement between students in Lithuania's major cities and rural areas is equivalent to more than three years of schooling. This is almost twice the average gap across the countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). In Estonia and Finland, the difference amounts to less than one year of schooling.
These figures show that where a child attends school still matters in Lithuania. Family background also plays a significant role. Over the past three years, the science achievement gap between students from the most and least advantaged socioeconomic backgrounds has narrowed, but it remains substantial.
Moreover, grades and test scores reveal only part of a child's abilities. They show how well a student performs academically, but do not necessarily help identify the areas in which they might excel.
For example, a student may be fascinated by how devices work but never have the opportunity to visit an engineering laboratory or build something themselves. Another may be an excellent communicator who enjoys debating but never get to explore what journalists or lawyers actually do. Experiences like these could help children better understand their strengths and see how they might apply them in the real world.
For some children, their families provide these opportunities. For others, access depends entirely on what their school can offer.
Recognising Talent Is Only Half the Job
Together with the team at Švietimas #1 (Education #1) and ISM University of Management and Economics, we have developed the Education Roadmap, a ten-step plan aimed at ensuring that every child in Lithuania has access to the best education in Europe. One of its key objectives is to reduce disparities between schools and ensure that children receive support when they need it.
The Roadmap proposes clearer learning objectives, consistent monitoring of each student's progress, stronger teacher training, and better conditions for collaboration among educators.
These measures matter not only for academic performance. Teachers see every day which tasks engage students, where they take initiative, and what sparks their curiosity. But for a recognised ability to develop into a genuine strength, a child needs time, individual attention, and opportunities to explore their potential.
Through my work with talent development initiatives, I have identified another area that deserves greater attention in schools: early exposure to different professions and fields of work.
Even in lower secondary school, children should have opportunities to meet professionals from different industries, observe their work, take on practical challenges, and receive guidance from mentors. This would help them understand not only what careers exist but also how their own abilities could be applied.
Of course, the skills demanded by today's labour market may no longer be relevant in ten years. But the purpose of career exploration is not to push children into choosing a single career path as early as possible. Rather, these experiences spark curiosity, broaden horizons, and help children discover possibilities they may never have considered.
Lithuania already has schools where students participate in diverse projects, visit laboratories, and meet professionals from various fields. However, access to such opportunities is far from equal.
In some schools, proactive leaders and teachers build partnerships, seek additional resources, and organise activities. In others, these opportunities are much more limited.
Why Don't All Children Have Access to the Same Opportunities?
One reason is project-based funding. Many activities that help children explore careers, discover their abilities, and connect with mentors continue only as long as funding is available. Once that funding ends, even successful initiatives may come to a halt.
Working with talent development initiatives, I have repeatedly seen how transformative it can be for a young person to explore their abilities and meet professionals from different fields.
That is why I believe career exploration, mentoring, and hands-on activities should be a permanent part of education rather than an additional opportunity available only to students at certain schools. Ensuring access is particularly important in communities where children have few opportunities to gain such experiences outside school.
This does not mean that every school needs to develop its own separate programme. Schools could establish long-term partnerships with universities, businesses, professionals, and organisations that already have experience in these activities. What matters most is that such collaboration is sustained rather than dependent on a single project or an individual enthusiast.
In the Education Roadmap, we propose piloting changes, evaluating their results, and scaling up solutions that prove effective. The same approach should be applied to talent development.
Instead of constantly launching new short-term initiatives, we should focus on ensuring that proven programmes reach more schools.
We want Lithuania to have the best education system in Europe. But I would measure our progress towards this ambition not only by students' performance in international assessments.
What matters just as much to me is whether every child has had the opportunity at school to discover their strengths and understand how they can put them to use.
If we provide that opportunity to only some children, Lithuania will continue to lose talented individuals whose potential we could have helped unlock.