Diana Rumpite
President of the Latvian Association of Language Teachers
(LALT)

As remarked by Professor Ina Druviete, the Latvian Co-ordinator of the European Day of Languages, the focus of this year’s event has been on lifelong learning. Lifelong learning is becoming a guiding principle in every sphere and leads to fundamental changes in prospects and practices of education. All inhabitants of Europe should be given equal opportunities to adapt themselves to the changing social and economic environment and to take an active part in building the future of Europe.

The participants of the Conference devoted to the European Day of Languages heard a welcoming address by Valdis Egle, Deputy Secretary of State for the Ministry of Education and Science of Latvia.

This year, for the first time ever, Latvia as an applicant country for the EU membership participated in the “European Label of Innovative Initiatives in Language Teaching and Learning” supported by the European Commission. This initiative plays a significant role in the EU activities devoted to language teaching and learning, the aim of which is to achieve that every European citizen should try to learn at least two Community languages in addition to his or her own. This new initiative includes identification, assessment and dissemination of innovative and effective language learning activities. Helena Kalve, the Chairperson of the Judging Committee for awarding the European Label, named and awarded the winners:
Ogre Gymnasium - project “Get to know everybody, help everybody, grant success in English to all”;
Rembate Primary School -  project “Step by step”;
Dagda Secondary School, the Kraslava District – for creativity in teaching German;
Malpils Professional School - project “The European dimension in learning the professional language”;
Faculty of Educational Science and Psychology, Department of Foreign Language Teaching Methodologies, the University of Latvia - project “The research conference of foreign language students”; and
Culture and Education Centre (branch office SIA “Mirte”) - project “Language barrier as a barrier to a carrier”.

A special guest at the Conference held at the Latvian Society House was President of the World Federation of Language Teachers (FIPLV) Denis Cunningham (Australia).

In his presentation he mainly described the role of the FIPLV, its lines of activity and processes of language promotion. One of the main aims of the FIPLV is to encourage co-operation of all language teachers of the world, to stress the special place and significance of every national language, and to improve language learning by making it accessible to all (www.fiplv.org ). The FIPLV also deals with issues of language policies and language rights; it has established close contacts with the UNESCO. FIPLV members are several international monolingual language teacher associations and federations, like IATEFL – International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language and others, including multilingual associations of some countries, for example, associations founded in countries like Australia, Canada, Denmark, Bulgaria, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Holland, Norway, Sweden etc. Recently the Latvian Association of Language Teachers (LALT), which was founded in September 2001 and became the first association of the kind in the Baltic countries, joined their number.

Denis Cunningham analysed the specific character of English as a global language spoken by 25 percent of all the world’s population and at the same time discussed the trends of development and extinction of other languages. The President of the FIPLV also discussed the profession of a language teacher, the existing trends of teacher training and in-service training as well as the drafting of effective training programmes. The participants of the Conference came to the conclusion that many countries encountered similar problems, and this became even more evident in the second part of the Conference when the round table discussion was held about subject standards, curricula and further education of teachers in Latvia.

With respect to the newly founded Latvian Association of Language Teachers (LALT), it should be noted that its basic goals are to establish intercultural and professional contacts embracing various language-related organisations in Latvia and worldwide, to promote introduction of innovative language teaching experience in Latvia, and to disseminate the achievements in science and teaching of Latvian language specialists on an international scale. The LALT website www.lvasa.lv is one of the ways these goals will be achieved by providing information in several languages about topical issues of language learning and teaching; it is planned to include also the best teaching materials, programmes etc. developed by Latvian language teachers, thus making this information accessible to a wide range of people in other European countries. Currently the main aim is to improve the programme of co-operation between various regional units in Latvia and to develop a well-organised system where language teachers and experts who are enthusiasts in their field could be invited to participate with their initiatives and imagination and to address problems of common interest. (Anybody interested in this initiative is welcome to participate and send their proposals to lvasa@latnet.lv ).

Evija Papule, Head of the Integration Division of the General Education Department of the Ministry of Education and Science spoke about Latvia’s co-operation with the Council of Europe in language teaching and learning. The speaker focussed attention on the main lines of activity of the European Centre for Modern Languages, the growing interest and involvement of Latvian Language experts and teachers in the activities of the Centre, thus gaining new knowledge and contributing their own pedagogical and research achievements.

The speaker particularly emphasised the common efforts made by the Ministry of Education and Science and the Council of Europe experts in developing and implementing an educational policy for minorities. During seminars of all levels, experts have expressed their appreciation of Latvia’s achievements and the implemented change, and have suggested proposals for further development. Such contacts have essentially contributed to the fact that Latvia’s experience was assessed and properly appreciated on the international scale.

Besides, Evija Papule underlined that all preconditions have been met for Latvia to be involved in pan-European projects like the European Language Portfolio (embracing all the 44 member countries of the Council of Europe). Participation in this particular project will enable Latvia to achieve a joint system of language teaching for children and adults. The result will be a common and objective understanding of language proficiency levels and elimination of a subjective approach to the assessment of language skills.

Professor Andrejs Veisbergs from the University of Latvia analysed language learning aspects from the EU perspective and presented interesting data about the languages in the world and their use; he characterised knowledge of languages in the EU and in Latvia. The professor explained the basic trend of the EU language policy, i.e., to recognise all languages and to promote their development. Professor Veisbergs suggested that, besides studying English, German or French, more attention should be paid to other European languages.

Project co-ordinator Sandra Zusina from the Ministry of Education and Science expressed concern about the current situation in the Latvian language learning at school.

The speaker, who co-ordinates a development project of the educational system in Latvia, said that between February 2000 and April 2004 the Latvian Government was using a World Bank credit line to implement an extensive project aimed at developing an educational system (ISAP). Within this project, essential aspects of education quality are considered, including such components as subject standards, centralised assessment of pupils’ progress, assessment of schools, educational policy and building of public awareness.

A study is under way to follow the process of assessment and implementation of subject standards. When looking at the suitability of curricula and standards of the Latvian language as the national language to the needs of pupils with various degrees of aptitude, participants of focus groups have recognised that the varying aptitude levels create a problem, which is often manifested as poor interest and dislike. Representatives of school management admit that the more gifted pupils turn out to be losers in forms with a large number of pupils. At the same time teachers regard the curricula of forms 1, 4 and 7 as suitable to the pupils’ needs.

Silvija Karklina, Director of the Public Service Language Centre, emphasised that regardless of the still existing problems, the demand for language training courses was growing every year. There is interest in new languages, and the traditional foreign languages are learnt at a better level. Social partners play an important role in promoting language learning in Latvia. Silvija Karklina mentioned such social partners in Latvia as the British Council, the Goethe Institute, the Press and Culture Department of the U.S. Embassy, the Embassy of France etc.

Silvija Karklina deserves credit for organising the Public Service Language Centre in Latvia as well as an exhibition of school teaching aids and programmes. Among the participants at the exhibition were also sales representatives of Latvian publishers. Those who visited the exhibition had an excellent opportunity to familiarise themselves with informative materials reflecting the work of each language school and the programmes they offer as well as different training materials, which have been professionally developed and based on the experience of many years.

After the break the participants attended the round table d i s c u s s i o n s; the first discussion was devoted to language teaching standards and curricula; the discussion was focussed on the current situation and solutions. The discussion was facilitated by Prof. Irina Maslo, Dr.habil.paed. The invited experts were Evija Papule (MoES)), Inta Tilla (Embassy of Austria), Vesma Ludrihsone (MoES), Skaidrite Ivanisaka (MoES), Ineta Spolite and Rota Vizule (National Programme for Latvian Language Training), and Vita Kalnberzina.

Several conclusions were reached at the discussion:

1. Standards and programmes of language subjects are basically made available for the teachers’ needs, but this is not guaranteed in every case. It is advisable to make them more widely available for every teacher.Standards reflect the Government policy in the field; they are drawn up by experts and experienced practitioners. Curricula, however, are developed by teachers or methodology units. Alternatively, also sample programmes are offered by the Ministry of Education and Science (developed by experts or experienced practitioners employed by the Educational Standards and Examination Commission) and may be used by teachers. Therefore it is important to keep in mind the sequence of actions: the teacher will choose his or her approach in compliance with the standards, and then develop a programme and select the teaching aids. The problem is the teacher’s ability to find his or her own individual approach to programmes and realisation of standards.
   
   
2. In order to meet the requirements of the standards, appropriate teaching aids should be provided for all of the languages, for example, also for Latvian as the native language. Diverse teaching materials oriented to various target groups should be developed to conform to the set standards, curricula and textbooks. Development of sets of teaching aids in conformity with the standards is an acute need.
   
   
3. In some cases teachers do not comply with the demand that the teaching materials should be adapted to the needs of the target group. By paying attention only to texts and themes, the specific character of the pupils due to their age is ignored.
   
   
4. The national standards of primary education provide that there are three stages of education: forms 1-3, 4-6, and 7-9. It has been recommended to begin teaching of the second foreign language in form 7 instead of form 6, because this would then cover the last stage of the primary education. This may cause difficulties particularly when pupils change schools at that stage.
   
   
5. It is advisable to publish information on the Internet, for example, at the Latvian Association of Language Teachers (LALT) website www.lvasa.lv , or in the newspaper “Izglītība un Kultūra” (Education and Culture) some training programmes and to exchange experience on drafting such programmes. In this way teachers will be given an opportunity to use experience accumulated by other schools and to co-operate with colleagues when they wish to use a creative approach to programme development.

The second round table discussion was devoted to the development of a further education/in-service training system for teachers; Prof. Tatjana Koke, Dr.paed., facilitated the discussion. Invited experts were Nicolas Auzanneau (Embassy of France), Sue Mace (British Council),  Kay Janke (Goethe Institute), Arija Berzina (MoES), Valija Vahere (Association of German Teachers), Inta Baranovska (MoES), Ilona Kiukucane (National Programme for Latvian Language Training) and Aija Lejas-Sausa (MoES).

The discussion led to the following conclusions:

1. It was stated during the discussion that a further education system for teachers was being put in place. At the Ministry of Education and Science (MoES)  there is the Further Education Committee, which evaluates the further education course programmes in accordance with priorities set each calendar year, the most urgent needs of target groups and the resources allocated from the national budget. There are three levels of in-service training/further education: national, district (supervised by Education Boards) and individual educational establishment level. Currently the collected information is processed concerning further education needs of teachers in all the country in 2003 and priorities for this time period are being set according to changes in the situation. The educators’ database is being further developed. The decisive role of the educational establishment’s manager was emphasized in assessing the need for further education of each teacher and in organising such education in each specific establishment. At the same time teachers should use their initiative in seeking further education opportunities.
   
   
2. The Further Education Committee of the MoES receives proposals for implementing courses of in-service training. When the MoES awards tenders for such courses, frequently there is a disparity between the offers made by higher educational establishments and the wishes of the Ministry. Bids for tenders are evaluated according to such criteria as their content, theme coverage and the professional level of the lecturers. It is advisable to compile a general database of themes and available lecturers.
   
   
3. In the future, innovative approaches, new forms of work and the new information technologies should become part of the further education system.
   
   
4. There is a need to organise courses for mentors of further education. Mentors’ work should be based on studies of teaching practices. Higher education establishments should co-operate closer with schools in implementing teaching practices.
   
   
5. A system of credit points should be introduced for the purpose of assessing teachers’ work (including self-education), and the result should affect the teacher’s salary.
   
   
6. Opportunities must be sought to attract new inter-governmental resources for the needs of further education of teachers.
   
   
7. In the context of European languages, Latvian is still to be prioritised as the national language, and improvements are to be made in teaching and learning Latvian as a spiritual value, part of national identity and general culture during the personality development process.

The organizers of the European Day of Languages were the Ministry of Education and Science, the State Language Commission, and the Latvian Association of Language Teachers (LALT). The supporters of the event were the Ministry of Education and Science, and the State Language Commission; special gratitude should be expressed to Uldis Krastins, Director of the Information Office of the Council of Europe for his co-operative attitude. Due to Mr.Krastins’ responsiveness and the materials provided by his office  it became possible to create an Internet homepage of all language teacher associations of Latvia. We are also grateful for the informative support provided by the Latvian radio and the newspaper “Diena”.