sustainability Article Knowledge Management Practice in General Education Schools as a Tool for Sustainable Development Jurgita Raudeli ¯ unien˙ e* , Manuela Tvaronaviˇ cien˙ e* and Milda Blažyt ˙ e Business Technologies and Entrepreneurship Department, Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, 10221 Vilnius, Lithuania; milda.blazyte@stud.vgtu.lt * Correspondence: jurgita.raudeliuniene@vgtu.lt (J.R.); manuela.tvaronaviciene@vgtu.lt (M.T.) Received: 3 April 2020; Accepted: 11 May 2020; Published: 14 May 2020   Abstract: The already scarce and further dwindling natural resources, increasing environmental pollution, and other environmental, economic, and social challenges that transcend national boundaries necessitate the continuous pursuit of the more responsible implementation of the principles of sustainable development in the public and business sectors, especially in general education schools, as the future and welfare of the society depend on education results. Therefore, the implementation of knowledge management practices in general education schools is one of the efficient ways of achieving the principles of sustainable development and their positive outcomes for society and the state. This research aimed to evaluate the peculiarities of applying knowledge management practices in general education schools for sustainable development. Research methods such as analysis of scientific literature, multiple-criteria assessment, survey, and expert evaluation were used to achieve the goal of the study. The results of the study showed that there is a high potential in general education schools for the application of knowledge management practices to achieve sustainable development. However, general education schools still face a lack of teachers’ motivation and a lack of financial resources to apply knowledge management practices and improve knowledge infrastructure for sustainability. Keywords: knowledge management; knowledge management practice; sustainable development; sustainability; general education schools; evaluation 1. Introduction Globalization, technological development, environmental, economic, and social challenges and the associated transformation processes from the information society to knowledge society are affecting structural changes in the public and business sectors. With this type of transformation, both public and business organizations are looking for ways to implement knowledge management practices for sustainability [1–4]. Although many scholars justify the benefits of knowledge management practices for both the public and the private sector, there is still a lack of complex research in the scientific literature related to knowledge management practices in the public sector [2,5], especially in the general education sector [6], on the results of which the future and well-being of the state and society depend. The transformation from the information to the knowledge society in general education schools has changed not only the roles of the teacher and the student and the approach to implementing the concept of lifelong learning but the concept of sustainable development as well [7]. The dynamism of the environment, the transformation processes, and the changing information needs of society have also created preconditions for structural changes in general education schools: the content of knowledge Sustainability 2020, 12, 4034; doi:10.3390/su12104034 www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability