Latvia needs a reference point for Adult Education (AE) in Europe, where news, experience, pedagogical material, national policies and good practice in the field are described and accessible. It will also be the point where Latvia can share country-specific information and resources, policy decisions on AE, events in other projects related to AE, contributing to multilingualism of the EPALE platform The integration of social media will ensure that all communication activities are spread not only across Latvia but also Europe and world wide.

The objectives of the project are:

• improving the quality of AE through internationalisation of AE and training organizations and professional development of the staff,

• hosting communities of practice in the various field in AE and between all stakeholders,

• facilitation of creation and sharing of educational resources to be used when teaching adults,

• supporting activities to increase AE participation rate,

• increasing awareness of AE.

Project’s specific objectives are:

• bringing EPALE to adult learning community in Latvia,

• Supporting Central Support Service.

The National Support Services for EPALE will consist of the project team and the national coordinator for AE in Latvia.

The main activities of the project team will embrace: promotion of the platform and recruitment of users, contribution to the content and activities of EPALE, participation in general implementation of EPALE.

Sanda Roze

Project manager
sanda.roze@izm.gov.lv

Ivo Kamalis

Project web administrator
ivo.kamalis@izm.gov.lv

Daniela Diure

Project communication and content expert
daniela.diure@izm.gov.lv

Adult Learning in Latvia

Adult education policy in Latvia is set by Education Development Guidelines 2014– 2020, based on the vision that education must be available for the whole length of life and it is a component of our daily life, an informed choice and necessity. The supreme goal of education policy is “qualitative and inclusive education for personality development and sustainable growth of the country“. Basic principles of the education policy provide for the creation of the future where a person and his gains are the biggest value and education choices are created based on the needs for a person’s growth and self-fulfilment.

The adult education policy in Latvia is closely related with almost any area of importance for the country development, but most of all with economy, business and employment. Along with the Education Development Guidelines 2014–2020 there are several other policy planning documents that determine the directions for the education development.

The most significant policy planning documents of Latvia and EU that determine the adult education policy of Latvia are as follows (for more see http://www.muzizglitiba.lv/izglitibas-politika/29):  

• Model for Growth of Latvia: Human Being in the First Place (approved by the Parliament of Latvia on 26 October, 2005) – a long-term conceptual document that envisages a personality-oriented growth model for Latvia and emphasizes knowledge, intelligence and skills as well as their application as a resource for growth. The priority long-term task stipulates improvements in the education system: (1) everybody is guaranteed the opportunity to acquire secondary education and everybody is guaranteed the opportunity to acquire qualitative tertiary and vocational education, (2) significantly increased output of the highest qualification specialists (with master and doctoral degrees), the increase of technical and nature sciences in all levels of the education system.

• Strategy for Sustainable Development of Latvia until 2030 ("Latvia 2030") (approved by the Parliament of Latvia on 10 June, 2010) – this is the hierarchically highest national document of long-term development and it comprises the conclusion about the necessity for the change of the education paradigm. Education must be qualitative, available all over the life and focused on creativity that would allow reacting to global competition and changes in demographics, and would be one of the pre-conditions for the change of the economic model. The priority long-term action directions: availability of education and changes in the organization of the education process, school as a centre of social networking, contextual education and changes in the teacher profession, e-school and use of information technology, lifelong learning.

• National Reform Programme of Latvia "EU 2020" implementation strategies (NRP) .

  To provide for achieving the goals of the "Europe 2020" strategy, NRP provides for the measures that promote the implementation of the lifelong learning principle, structural changes in the vocational education, modernization of tertiary education, development of the research potential, modernizing of the material and technical infrastructure of tertiary education and raising of the efficiency of resource use, provision for equal  availability of tertiary education, improvement of the study and research quality, provision for the availability of the basic and secondary education and introduction of modern study methodology.

National Stakeholders

• The Ministry of Education and Science
• The Ministry of Welfare
• The Ministry of Economics
• State Education Development Agency
• The Latvian Association of Local and Regional Governments (LALRG)
• Employers’ Confederation of Latvia (LDDK)
• Latvian Adult Education Association
• Free Trade Union Confederation of Latvia (LBAS)
• Latvian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI)
• UNESCO Latvian National Commission (LNC UNESCO)
• European Parliament Information Office in Latvia
• Society Integration Foundation
• NGO "Shelter “Safe House”"
• Non-governmental organisations
• Accredited universities and colleges
• Vocational education institutions
• Libraries in Latvia
• Museums in Latvia