In the frame of the European Social Fund project No. 8.2.2.0/18/I/003 “The perfection of academic staff of Liepaja University in the areas of strategic specialization – speech therapy, preschool education and primary education” from 1st September assoc. professor Daiva Kairiene from Vytautas Magnus University has started to work at Liepaja University. Daiva Kairiene is not only giving classes to students and doing a research work in Lithuania, but also work as speech and language therapist in kindergarten, therefore assuring to students lectures which combines theoretical knowledge and practical experience in the field.
In this study semester Daiva Kairiene is providing lectures of the course “Introduction to Speech and Language Therapy“ to the 1st year bachelor level study program “Speech Therapy” students and lectures of the course “Articulation and Phonological Disorders” to the 2nd year students.
About first teaching impressions she says: “It’s very interesting experience. Atmosphere at Liepaja University is very warm and welcoming. All students are really nice, curious to learn, open for discussions and creative. After the first lectures, I found that both 1st and 2nd year students are really interested in the speech and language therapy field”.
Assoc. professor maintains, that it is not the first visit at Liepaja University. She remembers that ten years ago assoc. prof. Baiba Trinīte was the person which invited her as a young teacher of speech therapy programme to come to Liepaja to meet members of European speech therapy association (CPLOL, now – ESLA) and this is how the cooperation between Lithuanian and Latvian speech and language therapists’ started, with the very meaningful outcome of this collaboration – tradition of organization Scientific Congresses of Baltic States’ Speech and Language Therapists’.
This is the 1st experience for the associated professor to teach for longer period abroad, but she has previous international academical experience by giving lectures or preparing presentations in various international courses and conferences for speech and language therapists. Daiva Kairiene has been studying speech and language therapy in all three levels – bachelor, master and PhD – at Šiauliai University (now – Vilnius University Šiauliai Academy). At the moment she is working in the new bachelor level study programme Special Educational Support (Speech and Language therapy) at Vytautas Magnus University, Education Academy.
The involvement of foreign academic staff in LiepU academic work and scientific research in strategic areas of specialization is one of the objectives of the project, which allows the LiepU to ensure the quality of the content of these areas and to extend the international partnership network.