The purpose of the study is to determine the possibilities of teachers to contribute to educational quality in ESP (English for Special Purposes) study course in higher educational establishments of Latvian Republic. The objectives are to investigate present situation concerning role of teachers in quality assurance of the given course. Present situation involves common practice and views and opinions of the teachers. Theoretical background includes such authorities as N.A.West, F. O’Connell Rust, Martin, Ch.J.Craig, A. Liberman, P. McCaffery, D.Blūma etc., who have contributed in outlining new roles and competencies of teachers, as well as works by P.Ramsden, and Dominowski, who dealt with teaching in higher education establishments and those by, e.g. R.Carter and M.McCarthy, who have researched teaching and learning techniques in modern language learning. Context of the research is quality management in 1 study course in Latvian Republic HEIs. In order to raise the reliability of the results besides questionnaires and interviews should be used videos of classroom practice. The proposed model of process management in language study courses could be used in raising awareness about present state of quality management in language courses in higher education establishments, language courses and possible ways of improving it.

Research consists of the estimation of teachers’ contribution to education quality according to 7 blocks – aim setting, teacher’s activities, teachers’ opinions, students’ activities, teacher’s opinions about students activities, assessment activities, quality assurance procedures. The opinions are researched with the help of 4 point Likert scale. The study activities are evaluated according to their diversity and the depth of mental processes involved. In this paper we will discuss only blocks of quality assurance connected with study process, namely student and teacher activities and opinions and their contribution to total quality management. Research (structured interviews of 32 teachers, 210 students) was implemented in study years 2006 and 2007/2008 in 11 HEIs (higher eduaction institutions) of Latvian Republic. Data were collected during 2 study years. They were analyzed with the help of Excel program, determining average values and differences of the mentioned aspects of quality management process in 3 different kinds of Latvian HEIs, as well as between teachers’ and students’ opinions.

Although we found several cases of statistically significant differences between various aspects of process management in different types of HEIs and between students’ and teachers’ opinions, the results testify that the process of change of transit from teaching to learning is still rather slow, many resources and repertoires of teachers’ activities in leading students’ learning process remain unknown and not used.