Teachers union urges agreement on education reforms before government changes

Latvia should agree which education reforms to leave for the next government, the head of the Latvian Education and Science Workers’ Trade Union, Inga Vanaga, said at a government meeting on Tuesday, LSM reported.

The government postponed for one week consideration of Education and Science Minister Ilze Indrik­sone’s proposed changes to examinations and student assessment.

Vanaga said that rules should not be changed while students are already taking part in the school year, comparing the situation to changing the rules while footballers or hockey players are on the field. She said approval on September 1 would still have been acceptable, but it was now unclear whether the proposals would be considered at the next government meeting.

Indriksone expressed hope that the proposals would be discussed then and thanked those involved for their patience.

The planned reforms include allowing students to retake at least one assessment in each subject, no longer taking centralised examination results into account when awarding ninth-grade certificates, and introducing a centralised science examination in the ninth grade. Students would still need to pass their subjects to receive certificates, while centralised examination results would remain important when they enter an institution at the next level of education.