In some kindergartens there are two educators, in others — one for twenty children: the union demands change 0 11

They want to eliminate inequality

Unified guiding principles are needed to organize this area, which also concerns the workload of support staff. However, local governments draw attention to unequal financial opportunities as well as a shortage of specialists. A working group has been established in the Ministry of Education and Science (MoES) to address this issue.

In some municipalities, for example, in the Limbaži, Smiltene, and Ogre regions, there are already internal rules defining the number of educators, nannies, and support staff in preschool educational institutions. In some cases, this is done when approving the budget, meaning that the number of positions is determined at that time. One of the regions with such a procedure is Saulkrasti. But there are also municipalities where one person may perform several duties, for example, an educator also conducts music and sports classes. This is especially true for regions where kindergarten groups are small, and therefore there are not many funds for salaries.

In Riga, funding for a preschool group with 20 or more children is sufficient to cover sports and music — this was outlined by MP Česlav Batņa at a meeting of the Saeima subcommittee on higher education, science, and human capital, adding that guiding principles are needed at least for the program for five- and six-year-olds when they begin mandatory preparation for primary education. In turn, the chairwoman of the Latvian Education and Science Workers' Union (LPRO) Inga Vanaga reminded that this issue is not being considered by the Saeima subcommittee for the first time. Unfortunately, the situation has not improved and can even vary within a single municipality, leading to significant inequality in the volume of teaching positions.

It should be concluded that with the current teaching staff and support personnel working in preschool institutions, it is impossible to effectively implement the guiding principles for preschool education. LPRO recommends including a minimum number of teaching positions in the guiding principles based on the number of children, so that local governments have the motivation to address these issues.

Currently, one or two teaching positions are provided for a group, and the number of children when two educators work with them can vary greatly — from 12 to 20 or more. The positions for support staff in institutions are even fewer: for example, on average, there is 0.22 of a position for a psychologist, 0.30 for a special educator, 0.22 for a teaching assistant, and up to 1.07 for a speech therapist. One position, for example, for a psychologist and a special educator, can be established for a very different number of children — from 100 to 750, and this specialist is often not available on-site but rather at the education department or the inclusive education support center.