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A 2026 study of Lithuanian early-childhood education institutions suggests that supporting STEAM takes more than supplying materials: resource availability, teacher competencies, professional learning, collaboration, leadership, and suitable learning environments all form part of the organizational picture. Its survey found a 30.01% provision level for specialized STEAM laboratory kits, measured against institutions’ stated needs—not the share of institutions that own kits.
What the study examined
In “Organizational capacity supporting STEAM implementation in early childhood education: a mixed-methods study,” Jovita Ponomariovienė and Daiva Žitkevičienė examined organizational conditions associated with STEAM implementation in Lithuanian early-childhood education institutions. STEAM refers to science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics. In this setting, it is framed as inquiry-, play-, creativity-, problem-solving-, and experience-based learning, rather than simply a collection of subject labels or equipment.
The study appeared in Frontiers in Education on 9 October 2026. Read the study.
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How the mixed-methods study worked
The authors combined a national survey of institutional resources with open-ended responses from education leaders. The phases addressed related but distinct questions: the survey quantified provision against reported resource needs, while the written responses explored leaders’ perspectives on resources and organizational conditions.
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- Survey: 831 of 1,116 invited institutions implementing Lithuania’s Early Childhood Education Curriculum submitted data, a participation rate of 74.46%. The Education Management Information System survey ran from 21 October to 21 November 2025.
- Leader responses: 38 leaders from institutions in the survey dataset provided open-ended responses between 15 May and 1 June 2026. Their institutions represented 11 Lithuanian localities; participation was voluntary, and the qualitative group was not a statistically representative sample.
- Analysis: The quantitative analysis was descriptive and did not report inferential statistical tests. The authors integrated the phases through complementarity and sequential interpretation, not as equivalent measures of identical concepts.
What the resource figures mean
A key detail is how the study calculated “provision.” For each institution and identified resource, it divided the available quantity by the required quantity and multiplied by 100. The national figure is the arithmetic mean of those institution-level percentages. Therefore, a provision percentage describes resources relative to stated need; it is not the percentage of institutions that possess an item.
Specialized STEAM laboratory kits had a reported provision level of 30.01% under this needs-based measure. That indicates a gap between available and required quantities in the study’s calculation; it does not mean that only 30.01% of institutions had kits.
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Provision also varied across the curriculum’s five thematic areas and between demonstration resources and resources for individual children or small groups:
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| Curriculum thematic area | Demonstration-resource provision | Individual-child or small-group resource provision |
|---|---|---|
| Me and My Community | 65.10% | No mandatory resources |
| Me in the World of Languages | 58.37% | 78.78% |
| Creating and Expressing | 85.73% | 82.31% |
| Our Health and Well-being | 65.18% | 70.92% |
| Exploring and Understanding the Environment | 66.24% | 67.52% |
All percentages in this table are the study’s needs-based provision measures, not ownership rates. “No mandatory resources” is the reported status for individual-child or small-group resources in “Me and My Community,” rather than a percentage.
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What leaders identified as important
In the qualitative analysis, material resources and digital technologies were the most frequently identified resource subcategory (n=27), followed by teachers’ STEAM competencies (n=23). These counts refer to coded qualitative responses, not numbers from the national survey or estimates of prevalence among all Lithuanian institutions.
Leaders described material barriers in two prominent forms: limited specialized STEAM resources and digital technologies (n=17), and a lack of dedicated STEAM learning spaces and laboratory equipment (n=15). The analysis also covered learning environments, professional learning, collaboration, leadership practices, partnerships, and organizational and financial conditions. Leaders referred to project funding and project-based initiatives (n=10) and collaboration with external partners (n=12).
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Why organizational capacity is broader than equipment
The study treats capacity as a combination of material provision and organizational conditions. Its account of leadership practices includes strategic leadership, professional learning, collegial collaboration, teacher motivation, and change management. In practice, this perspective directs attention to whether educators have opportunities to develop relevant competencies, plan together, and work in an environment that supports inquiry and child-led activity—not only whether a particular kit is present.
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1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsThe authors’ abstract concludes that “efforts to support STEAM implementation may benefit from addressing material provision and broader organizational conditions in combination.” This is a synthesis of the study’s findings, not evidence that one intervention or organizational factor causes better outcomes. The paper does not compare products, programs, or implementation models.
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What the evidence can—and cannot—establish
- It documents reported resource provision: the survey offers a national descriptive picture based on institutional quantities and stated needs.
- It records leaders’ perspectives: the open-ended responses identify themes leaders considered relevant, but do not directly measure classroom practice or children’s experiences.
- It does not establish causes or rank capacity factors: the conceptual framework is an interpretive synthesis, not a tested causal or hierarchical model.
- Its scope is specific: findings come from Lithuania. Survey nonresponse and voluntary participation in the qualitative phase may affect how fully the results represent institutions and leaders.
- The phases occurred months apart: because survey and leader-response collection were separated by roughly six to seven months, conditions may have changed; moreover, the phases examined complementary rather than identical constructs.
For educators and decision-makers elsewhere, the findings are most useful as a way to frame questions about local needs—materials, competencies, planning, learning environments, leadership, partnerships, and resources—rather than as a universal estimate of STEAM readiness.
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