Reviews of National Policies for Education R e v Education in Latvia ie w s How can Latvia improve the quality and equity of its education system and realise o f long-term effi ciency gains? This report covers the whole education system from early N Reviews of National Policies for Education a childhood education and care to tertiary education and provides an assessment of t io Latvia’s policies and practices against the best approaches in education and skills across n the OECD. This international comparison brings to the fore the many strengths of Latvia’s al P Education in Latvia education system, but also highlights the challenges it faces and provides a number of o recommendations in response. This report will be of value to Latvia but also policy makers lic in other countries looking to raise the quality, equity and effi ciency of their education ie s system. f o r Contents E d Chapter 1. Latvia and its education system u c Chapter 2. Early childhood education and care in Latvia a t Chapter 3. Primary and lower secondary education in Latvia io n Chapter 4. Upper secondary general and vocational education in Latvia Chapter 5. Tertiary education in Latvia E d u c a t io n in L Consult this publication on line at http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264250628-en. a t v This work is published on the OECD iLibrary, which gathers all OECD books, periodicals and ia statistical databases. Visit www.oecd-ilibrary.org for more information. ISBN 978-92-64-25061-1 9HSTCQE*cfagbb+ 91 2016 01 1 P Reviews of National Policies for Education Education in Latvia This work is published under the responsibility of the Secretary-General of the OECD. The opinions expressed and arguments employed herein do not necessarily reflect the official views of OECD member countries. This document and any map included herein are without prejudice to the status of or sovereignty over any territory, to the delimitation of international frontiers and boundaries and to the name of any territory, city or area. Please cite this publication as: OECD (2016), Education in Latvia, Reviews of National Policies for Education, OECD Publishing, Paris. http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264250628-en ISBN 978-92-64-25061-1 (print) ISBN 978-92-64-25062-8 (PDF) Series: Reviews of National Policies for Education ISSN 1563-4914 (print) ISSN 1990-0198 (online) The statistical data for Israel are supplied by and under the responsibility of the relevant Israeli authorities. The use of such data by the OECD is without prejudice to the status of the Golan Heights, East Jerusalem and Israeli settlements in the West Bank under the terms of international law. 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Foreword – 3 Foreword Latvia is committed to providing all its citizens with a high-quality and inclusive education and has been making steady progress towards realising this goal. Since the start of the millennium Latvia has managed to significantly improve the performance of its education system. Nowadays children start their education at a young age and many of them continue into tertiary education. These are remarkable achievements considering the socio-economic challenges Latvia has faced during this period including the economic recession that struck the country hard during 2008-10, and the ongoing decline of the student population. Sustaining this progress will be central to realising Latvia’s ambitions in education and for society as a whole. This report has been developed as an input into the process of Latvia’s accession to the oeCd. It provides an assessment of Latvia’s policies and practices compared to oeCd best policies and practices in education and skills. Covering the whole education system from early childhood education and care to tertiary education, it assesses current policies and practices against five important principles of well-performing education systems: • a strong focus on improving learning outcomes • equity in educational opportunity • the ability to collect and use data to inform policy • the effective use of funding to steer reform • extended multi-stakeholder engagement in policy design and implementation. The report highlights not only the many strengths of Latvia’s education system, but also its challenges and provides recommendations for improvement. REVIEWS OF NATIONAL POLICIES FOR EDUCATION: EDUCATION IN LATVIA © OECD 2016 4 – Foreword I hope this report will support Latvia in its reform efforts and help realise its ambitions for enhancing the quality and equity of its education system and strengthening the contribution of education and skills to economic growth and competitiveness. The oeCd is there to help Latvia in this effort. Andreas Schleicher director for education and Skills and Special Advisor on education Policy to the Secretary-General oeCd REVIEWS OF NATIONAL POLICIES FOR EDUCATION: EDUCATION IN LATVIA © OECD 2016 ACkNowLedGemeNTS – 5 Acknowledgements This report is the result of an assessment of Latvia’s policies and practices in the field of education and skills, informed by international experience and best practices from oeCd countries. The assessment process has involved a background report prepared by the Latvian ministry of education and Science, an oeCd pre-visit to help define the key areas for review, and an oeCd review visit to Latvia in November-december 2014, as well as many exchanges and consultations with different experts and stakeholders in Latvia and internationally. The review team (see Annex A) is indebted to the Latvian government which under the leadership of the ministry of education and Science has supported this review. We are also grateful to Reinis Markvast and Jeļena Muhina for organising the review visits and to Jeļena for co-ordinating the whole review process. we would like to further thank the authors of the country background report, which was extremely valuable to the review, and to convey our sincere appreciation to the many participants in the review visit who provided a wealth of insights by sharing their views, experience and knowledge. The courtesy and hospitality extended to us throughout our stay in Latvia made our task as enjoyable as it was stimulating and challenging. The oeCd review team was composed of marco kools, who also led the review, Anna Pons, Hiroko Ikesako and desiree wittenberg. The external experts on the team were Lorna Unwin and Aims mcGuiness. The review team acknowledges the support from Andreas Schleicher, director for education and Skills; richard Yelland, Head of the Policy Advice and Implementation division; elizabeth Fordham, Senior Advisor, Global relations; and Arno engel and Hendrickje Catriona windisch who provided in-depth feedback and advice at critical stages of the drafting process of the report. we are also grateful to our colleagues in other parts of the organisation, in particular the colleagues of the directorate for employment, Labour and Social Affairs, the economic department and the Legal directorate. rebekah Cameron provided administrative support, Sally Hinchcliffe edited the report, and rachel Linden and Camilla Lorentzen organised the publication process. REVIEWS OF NATIONAL POLICIES FOR EDUCATION: EDUCATION IN LATVIA © OECD 2016 TAbLe oF CoNTeNTS – 7 Table of contents Abbreviations and acronyms ....................................... 12 Executive summary ............................................... 15 Chapter 1. Latvia and its education system............................ 19 Context........................................................ 20 The Latvian education system – a brief overview ...................... 25 main trends in access, quality and equity ............................. 29 Cross-cutting issues in Latvia’s education system ...................... 37 Annex 1.A1. key indicators ........................................ 54 references ..................................................... 58 Chapter 2. Early childhood education and care in Latvia ............... 65 Introduction .................................................... 66 Context and main features......................................... 66 key policy issues ................................................ 83 Policy issue 1: despite good progress, enrolment of the youngest children is relatively low and unequal across Latvia................... 83 Policy issue 2: barriers to developing a high-quality and motivated eCeC profession............................................... 89 Policy issue 3: Strengthening the systematic data collection, monitoring and use of data on eCeC............................... 95 Policy issue 4: Governance and financing hamper equal access to quality eCeC ............................................... 101 recommendations ............................................... 103 references ..................................................... 107 Chapter 3. Primary and lower secondary education in Latvia ............ 117 Introduction .................................................... 118 Context and main features......................................... 119 key policy issues ................................................ 138 REVIEWS OF NATIONAL POLICIES FOR EDUCATION: EDUCATION IN LATVIA © OECD 2016 8 – TAbLe oF CoNTeNTS Policy issue 1: The need to improve teacher and leadership quality ....... 138 Policy issue 2: disparities in equity across the Latvian school system..... 145 Policy issue 3: Underdeveloped assessment and evaluation arrangements.... 154 recommendations ............................................... 160 references ..................................................... 164 Chapter 4. Upper secondary general and vocational education in Latvia ... 173 Introduction .................................................... 174 Context and main features......................................... 175 key policy issues ................................................ 198 Policy issue 1: Improving the quality and relevance of vocational education ... 198 Policy issue 2: Stark divide between upper secondary general and vocational pathways......................................... 206 Policy issue 3: developing lifelong learning ......................... 212 recommendations ............................................... 220 references ..................................................... 224 Chapter 5. Tertiary education in Latvia .............................. 233 Introduction .................................................... 234 Context and main features......................................... 234 key policy issues ................................................ 252 Policy issue 1: System capacity is not aligned with demographic decline, fiscal reality and labour market needs ....................... 252 Policy issue 2: Inadequate tertiary education funding.................. 259 Policy issue 3: Concerns about the quality of tertiary education and science ................................................... 263 Policy issue 4: Underdeveloped capacity for leadership and sustained implementation................................................ 269 recommendations ............................................... 275 references ..................................................... 279 Annex A. The authors ............................................. 285 Figures Figure 1.1. Internal migration in Latvia (2007-12)...................... 21 Figure 1.2. Unemployment rate and real GdP growth in Latvia, compared to eU-28 average, percentage (2006-13)..................... 22 Figure 1.3. The Latvian polycentric development structure .............. 25 Figure 1.4. The Latvian education system ............................ 27 Figure 1.5. PISA performance across all subjects (2000-12) .............. 32 Figure 1.6. mean mathematics performance in PISA 2012, by school location, after accounting for socio-economic status........... 35 REVIEWS OF NATIONAL POLICIES FOR EDUCATION: EDUCATION IN LATVIA © OECD 2016