Content and structure of education programmes

Latvia maintains a bilingual education model with instruction available in seven minority languages: Russian, Polish, Hebrew, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Estonian and Lithuanian. At least 60% of all subjects must be taught in Latvian at the upper secondary level, whether general or vocational, although every school can decide which subjects are taught in Latvian.

General upper secondary

The content of general upper secondary education is determined by MoES. Since Latvia gained independence in 1991, there has been a process of educational reform that has introduced subject standards to codify the secondary curriculum and specify subject aims, content and assessment.

In 2008, the National Standard of General Secondary Education and the Subject Standards of General Secondary Education were introduced. They stipulate the length of the school year (35 weeks in Grades 10 and 11 and 38 weeks in Grade 12), the number of lessons (not more than 36 per week) and the length of lessons (40-45 minutes).

They also instigated a major change by organising programmes of study into four fields (or “directions”):

• • general education
• • humanities and social sciences
• • mathematics, natural sciences and technology
• • programmes with a vocational/professional orientation (e.g. arts, music, commercial science, sports).

This reorganisation addressed concerns that students were given too much choice over the subjects they could study. Previously, only 5 subjects (out of 12) were mandatory, with students choosing a further 7 from a wide range of options. This was seen as problematic for two related reasons:

• 1. too few students choosing to study sciences; and
• 2. as a result, students were limited as to what they could go on to study at university (Kangro and James, 2008).

Nowadays, all students take eight mandatory subjects and each field of study requires between three and six additional mandatory subjects (Table 4.2). Schools can also offer further optional subjects, taking up 10-15% of the study time or offer additional in-depth programmes covering one of the mandatory subjects.

All students can also take two further optional subjects: basic computer programming (105 hours) and graphic art (70 hours). The total number of study hours is reduced for evening and extramural students. The curriculum places a strong emphasis on creating a Latvian identity whilst at the same time enabling students from different ethnic backgrounds to preserve their ethnic identities.

Several people that we interviewed - at various levels of the system - expressed their concern that the upper secondary curriculum and teaching methods have not kept pace with the changing times. Several noted that the curriculum had become too subject-heavy, even “saturated”. A reform of the upper secondary curriculum that is to promote a competency-based approach is scheduled for the period 2018-20.

Table 4.2. Curriculum subjects and number of hours for general upper secondary

education (full-time)

Note: * Subject to state general secondary education standard set.

Source: Cabinet of Ministers (2013), Noteikumi par valsts visparejas videjas izglitibas standartu, macibu prieksmetu standartiem un izglitibas programmu paraugiem [Regulations Regarding the State General Secondary Education Standard, Subject Standards and Sample Education Programmes], Regulation No. 281, Cabinet of Ministers, Republic of latvia, Riga, http://likumi.lv/doc.php?id=257229.