Schools to hire 101 new Mācītspēks teachers this year

Schools across Latvia will employ 101 new teachers from the one-year Mācītspēks teacher training programme this school year, LSM reported. The participants will work at schools for up to four days a week and study at their chosen university on Fridays.

Mathematics, foreign languages and natural sciences are the most widely represented fields among this year’s participants.

The short-cycle Mācītspēks programme accepts professionals from different fields and qualifies them as primary and secondary school teachers within a year while they study and work in schools.

The University of Latvia said 21 participants would study mathematics, 13 natural sciences and 12 technology. A total of 32 participants would study Latvian, English or one of the European Union languages currently in demand in schools: French, Spanish or German.

Social sciences are represented by 12 participants, while eight will train to teach subjects in culture and the arts. Three participants will become physical education and health teachers.

The new teachers will study at the University of Latvia, which has 91 participants, Daugavpils University, which has three, or Riga Technical University in Liepaja, which has seven.

The participants come from all regions of Latvia: Riga and its surrounding area, 59; Vidzeme, 16; Kurzeme, 14; Zemgale, eight; and Latgale, four.

To give the future teachers the knowledge and practical skills needed to work in schools, the University of Latvia organised two weeks of intensive summer training from July 27 to August 7.

Enno Ence, the University of Latvia’s vice-rector for development, said the Mācītspēks programme had shown year after year that the teaching profession was increasingly being chosen by talented and motivated people with diverse professional experience.

He said this strengthened Latvian schools and enriched the learning process because students gained teachers who brought both knowledge and real-life experience into the classroom. Ence also welcomed the particularly high number of participants choosing STEM and foreign-language fields, where schools have the greatest demand for specialists.