The decreasing number of the Lithuanian residents has strong impact on the educational system: the number of pupils is decreasing, the schools are getting closed. School is considered to be the provider of educational services, so it is necessary to search, how to preserve and attract clients – pupils. The growing competition induces search for distinctiveness among the schools. According to the theory of generations of William Strauss and Neil Howe, now we have to educate representatives of generation Z, who do not like violence, restrictions, want to be distinctive and are open to the world of technologies. The teacher faces the challenge when s/he wants to convey mathematical skills to these pupils. The profile teaching followed by training based on individual curricula provided more choices for the pupils. This freedom led to the dead-end of mathematical literacy and forced to return to a compulsory national final exam of Mathematics and to change the indexes for the persons entering studies of the first cycle and integrated studies. In the article, mathematics achievements and situation in schools in Lithuania as well as the measures taken to improve mathematical literacy in the country are described.

The constructivist approach is based on the idea that knowledge can never be passed from one person to another. The only way to acquire knowledge is to create or construct them. The constructivist approach changes also the role of the teacher in the educational process, the task of them is to organize the environment so that the student himself can construct the cognitive forms that teacher wants to give him. In the paper, the nature of the constructivist approach is identified, different aspects regarding mathematics education are analysed as well as the potential impact on the development of mathematical competences in the context of sustainable development is discussed. The study process and learning methods appropriate to constructivist approach also were studied. In order to illustrate the need for a constructivist approach in mathematics education, the survey of students from Latvia University of Life Science and Technologies (LLU) and Riga Technical University (RTU) were carried out, the results of which proved that mathematics learning at universities has to be changed. The current study proved that the constructivist approach radically changes the process of teaching and learning mathematics, connecting it with daily life, rather than teaching only abstract formulas and using a creative approach to mathematical tasks solving. This study shows that using constructivist approach to the teaching of mathematics, the competences needed for sustainable development are boosted.