The School Reform Has Been Evaluated. Now a ‘Latvian Environment in Educational Institutions’ is Required 0 7

The People at Desks – United!

But teachers will not be taken at their word. Therefore, the State Service for Quality Control of Education received funding from the Cabinet of Ministers under the item "Funds for Unexpected Expenses" (as if no one in the authorities has heard about the linguistic innovations in schools?), and inspected 110 educational institutions (40 of which are kindergartens) to see how the initiative is progressing. Because: "The introduction of a unified school approach is a strategically important reform of education policy aimed at strengthening a unified educational space, ensuring the use of the Latvian language as the state language at all levels of education, as well as strengthening social cohesion and internal security."

The Minister of Education and Science, Dace Melbarde ("New Unity"), presented a report to the government in March on how the notorious reform has been progressing:

"It has been established that the transition to education in the Latvian language is generally being carried out lawfully and with gradual progress: approximately two-thirds of educational institutions are transitioning in accordance with the set goals, while about one-third of educational institutions need improvements. To ensure this, most educational institutions have engaged teaching assistants, speech therapists, and teachers for after-school programs, whose activities are generally assessed positively." Surveys conducted among teachers, parents, and students showed that more than 70% of respondents believe their knowledge of the Latvian language has improved, with some reporting significant improvements.

When assessing the quality of educational institutions, 30.7% received a rating of "very good," 55.7% – "good," and 13.6% – "needs improvement." No ratings of "outstanding" or "insufficient" were identified.

Analyzing the survey results – the average rating across all surveyed educational institutions exceeds 4 points on a 5-point scale. The highest rating is given to the "determination of the transition to a unified school with a clearly formulated achievable outcome" (an average of 4.3 points), its "effectiveness and democratic nature" (4.2 points), as well as the fact that "there is active and meaningful participation of people" (4.2 points). A slightly lower, but still high, rating is recorded for "resource provision" (4.1 points).

What is Missing for Perfection

The inspecting authorities saw the strongest desire among respondents to contribute: 95% of teachers "indicated that the transition to a unified school is one of the main priorities in their work plan, confirming broad institutional determination."

Of course, there are also a number of wishes:

"1) a Latvian environment in the educational institution, where there is a sufficiently large number of teachers and students whose native language is Latvian;

2. the quality of change management/professionalism of the institution's leader – the ability to make competent decisions, organize work, and engage others in achieving common goals;

3. the willingness of parents to provide support and real assistance to children by increasing the use of the Latvian language outside of school hours, including classes in interest-based education, sports, music, and art schools in Latvian;

4. the ability of teachers to work in a linguistically heterogeneous environment. (This last term now refers to Russian-speaking children – note by N.K.)

5. additional support for students, which, if necessary, is provided by teaching assistants, speech therapists, and teachers working in after-school programs."

You’ll Understand Even Without Translation

So, we now have vienota skola. But why then such a passage in the report:

"At the same time, it is noted that starting from the 2024/2025 academic year… an increasing number of students from former national minority educational institutions continue their education in Latvian language institutions." A rather significant statement, yet it is not developed further. How should this be understood, positively or negatively? However, my younger son, back in the distant bilingual times, befriended a boy who transferred from a "Russian" school to the elite 1st Gymnasium, and everything went fine.

Here’s how inspectors assessed the educational process itself: "The frontal and teacher-centered method of teaching still dominates, which limits the active use of the Latvian language by students." "A significant challenge is teachers' reliance on translation as a primary support strategy, which does not align with modern approaches to learning a second language."

"The service's conclusion that the concept of a 'Latvian environment' in educational institutions is understood and implemented very differently is also important. The Latvian environment includes not only language lessons but also everyday communication practices among students, professional communication among teachers, the digital environment, and collaboration with parents."

Chitchat in Line!

And one cannot say that not enough money was allocated – for the last academic year, the "unified school" alone cost the budget 3,369,814.00 EUR. Interestingly, only 60-70% of the funds were utilized, which is related to numerous vacancies for teachers. There is a shortage of professional speech therapists in 40% of schools, special educators in 41.5%, and teaching assistants in 26%.

Moreover, there is a deficit of what cannot even be bought with money:

"The most common challenges are: (I) mutual communication among students in other languages outside of school hours; (II) professional communication among teachers and support staff, including teaching assistants, speech therapists, and teachers in after-school programs, does not always occur solely in Latvian; (III) the presence of the Latvian language in the digital environment and in informal activities is limited."

Your author fondly recalls how the graduation ceremony for his son in the 12th grade was held at a high ideological and artistic level. Tikai latviski! Well, when the youth and parents finally reached the rented 5-star hotel in Jurmala, the region began to celebrate, singing popular songs from the neighboring country, and even exhibiting some signs of merchant culture. But overall – they celebrated as free people who now owe nothing to the general education system.