| The EFA 2000
Assessment: Country Reports
21. FUTURE GOALS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE "EDUACTION FOR ALL"
Lavians characteristically exhibit a high level of involvement and
participation in education; basic education is mandatory, secondary education is
nationally funded and available to all residents.
Adult illiteracy and discrimination against women in education are not
pressing problems in Latvia, and no future projects will be concerned with these issues.
The most significant measures to be taken in improving the educational
system as a whole and, by extension, the "Education for All" program, are:
- Raising the level of quality of education;
- Guaranteeing every resident of Latvia the availability of a qualitative basic education
to meet todays demand;
- 100% enrollment of school age children;
- Enforcing the mandatory nature of pre-school education;
- Guaranteeing mandatory primary education to assure the readiness of all children
entering basic school;
- Guaranteeing effective use of financial resources;
- Raising the educational level of teachers.
Taking into account the existing reforms and related problems, the
"Latvian Educational Strategy 1998 2003" proposes the following as goals
for the educational system in Latvia and, by extension, for the "Education for
- To guarantee educational quality, versatility and diversity so as to allow Latvia to
produce qualified, creative individuals, specialists in their field, who believe in
- To raise the quality of education, to fully develop a national educational standard for
all subjects and all programs of study, to implement contemporary educational methodology
and information technology in education, to develop a system of optimally objective
evaluation of student progress, achievement and skill level as demanded by todays
social and economic conditions;
- To develop an effective base of information technology and communications linking all
educational facilities in Latvia;
- To create a well-balanced, coordinated and economically based system of
- complete educational development at all levels.
- To define guidelines for spending related to construction and renovation so as to allow
for more effective use of financial resources.
- To create a flexible and qualitative system of continuing education and professional
development of educational personnel.
Goals in the area of the protection of childrens rights:
- To guarantee the protection of childrens rights in accordance with international
standards and legal procedure;
- To distribute authority among the government, local and regional jurisdictions and
Goals in pre-school education:
- To enforce mandatory pre-school education for all five- and six-year olds;
- To develop suggested methodology for teachers and parents of pre-school age children;
- To establish a national Pre-school Education Centres as well as regional consulting
- To properly train teachers for work with pre-school age children;
- To guarantee the necessary federal funding;
- To develop bilingual pre-school programs.
Goals in general education:
- To assure that general education meets the needs of individuals and the demands of
society, to orient general education programs away from accumulating knowledge to
practical application of that knowledge in every day situations;
- To develop and implement a single social science cycle (mutual co ordination of
academic course standarts in history, geography, civics, economics etc.);
- To develop of minority education programmes (development of optional parts in the course
related to the studies of the culture, history, traditions and native language of
- To develop and implement national standards of basic and secondary education;
- To develop a unified system of requirements for basic and secondary education and to
propose curriculum reforms for the next 10 years;
- To implement four directions of study in general secondary education.
Goals in student progress evaluation:
- To combine the final basic exams with high school and professional secondary school
- To develop a system of evaluating student progress in special education;
- To develop a data base of student achievement for every academic year in every academic
program of study.
Goals in implementing a "program of study" approach in
- To develop and implement programs of study in preschool education, basic
education, special education and minority education;
- To establish a registry of programs and a system of program licensing.
Goals in effective administration and quality control in general
- To coordinate the accreditation of individual educational facilities and programs; to
promote the development of a system of self-evaluation on the part of schools;
- To define the functions, duties, rights and responsibilities of general education
support facilities such as the Educational Curriculum and Examination Centre, the Teacher
Education Support Centre, the National Pre-school Education Centre, and the National
- To coordinate the accreditation of general education facilities and programs;
- To organize the certification procedures for teachers and facility directors;
- To promote the involvement of teachers, school directors and community organizations in
the educational system;
- To implement the Information Technology in Education project; to improve the procedures
for the drafting and ratification of resolutions.
Goals in development of regional school boards and assuring their
- To establish permanent regional educational organizations, which would oversee the
administrative, developmental and quality control functions of regional facilities and
which would guarantee the residents of that region access to qualitative general and
professional education programs;
- To establish independent regional school boards, which oversee the administration,
development and quality control of general education programs and which guarantee the
residents of that region the availability of qualitative general and professional
- To establish regional pre-school and special education centres;
- To organize the network of educational facilities in Latvia, to increase the number of
public high schools and regionally run educational facilities.
Goals in special education:
- Special needs children are given the opportunity to receive an education and the
necessary training to become contributing members of society at any educational facility,
assuring that their special needs will be met;
- To establish the National Special Education Centre;
- To ensure an economically grounded financing of special education;
- To establish development centres corresponding to each special education classification
group thus propelling integration processes.
Goals in raising teachers salaries:
Within three years, by January 1, 2002, to enforce the provision of the
1998 Education Law, which states that the minimum salary for a teacher with the lowest
level of professional qualification is to be no lower than the sum of two minimum monthly
To abolish ineffective spending of monies earmarked for teachers
salaries and to add the monies thus saved to teachers salary funds.
- To enforce student minimums required for each class 10 per class in rural basic
schools, 20 per class in urban basic schools; 15 per class in rural secondary schools, 25
per class in urban secondary schools;
- To merge classes at rural basic schools (Stage I) and to provide the necessary training
- To form joint classes in Basic Stage I, preparing teachers accordingly;
- To increase the number of classroom hours per week;
- To establish a system of evaluating the work of homeroom teachers as well as a system of
- To establish and implement regulations and standards pertaining to the financing of
Goals in specialty education:
- To reform financing of speciality education;
- To move to a system of regional financing based on enrollment and cost per student;
- To establish an annual subsidy to assure the children and youth of Latvia with leisure
Goals in teachers education and continuing education:
- To develop an effective and qualitative system of continuing education for teachers;
- To rework teachers qualifications and requirements based on new developments in
- To provide training of bilingual teachers training colleges;
- To develop in training courses for bilingual teachers;
- To set government quotas for number of teachers produced annually and how many are to
complete continuing education programs each year;
- To guarantee that 35% of existing teachers are fully qualified every year;
- To establish a national, regional and institutional system of continuing education
- To establish an Innovation Fund to reward the efforts of creative teachers.