Development of Afterschool Education System in Latvia: Possible Ways for Quality Assurance in Nowadays Situation

Author(s):

Daiga Kalnina(presenting / submitting)

Conference:

ECER 2015

Network:

11. Educational Improvement and Quality Assurance

Format:

Paper

Session Information

11 SES 06 A, Internal and External Evaluation of Educational Effectiveness (Part 1)

Paper Session to be continued in 11 SES 08 B

Time:

2015-09-09

15:30-17:00

Room:

102.Oktatóterem [C]

Chair:

Jana Poláchová Vaštatková

Contribution

There are long traditions of structured afterschool education system in Latvia and other post-soviet countries, but each country developed this system in different direction after collapse of Soviet Union. The common for Baltic States is state funding for afterschool education system. Europe dimension and global changes is making a big impact on content and realization of formal education. Therefore discussions about need and realization of afterschool educational system started some years ago in Latvia.

The first research question was what society expect from afterschool education system?

As there was found three main discourses and only one of them show the new way to develop this system the second research question was how afterschool education impact on skills and career development? The third research question was what are the possible ways for quality assurance of development of afterschool education system in Latvia in nowadays situation?

Metatheoretical framework of research is system theory framework of career development as an integrative person-in-context model of career development (Patton, McMahon, 2006) and experiental learning theory (Kolb, 1984). Understanding of non-formal education (Clarijs, 2008), afterschool education and its historical development (Skatkins, 1985; Šibajevs, 2002; Izglītības likums, 1999), career development and development of career management skills (Shepard, 1984; Patton, McMahon, 1999; 2006; Jarvis, 2003; Valsts izglītības attīstības aģentūra, 2009; Arulmani, Bakshi, Leong, Watts, 2014) made the theoretical framework of research.

Method

To identify possible ways of quality assurance and development of after-school education system in Latvia the discourse analyze was made on what society expect from afterschool education system. On base of that was found that there are three main discourses: 1) afterschool education system must be without any changes, the main potential of it is to keep traditions for national traditions of singing and dancing, 2) afterschool education must be changed to use money effectively to compensate disadvantages of formal education like skills necessary for career, 3) afterschool education system is necessary as way and place to spend time safely between school lessons and end of working day of parents. The analyze of literature was made to understand what skills is necessary to develop for successful career. On base of findings of literature analyze the questionnaire was constructed and addressed to more than 300 respondents in Latvia. Respondents was from different age groups (from 16 years old to 65 years old) and with different level of education (from basic education to higher education). The questions were about skills developed in different programs of afterschool education system and other benefits of afterschool education. Data analyze was made by SPSS 22.0. For better understanding of impact of afterschool education on skills and career development the in-depth interviews was made and collected narratives was analyzed. Expert discussions were made to discuss findings and recommendations about possible ways for quality assurance of development of afterschool education system in Latvia in nowadays situation.

Expected Outcomes

Main findings: 1) Afterschool education system helps to develop career management skills and personal charasteristics important for successful career like self-awareness, problem solving skills, time management, motivation, team-work and give the opportunity to experiment with different kinds of jobs to understand what is/is not suitable for individual. 2) 97% of respondents agree that there must be state funded system of afterschool education in Latvia as it works as compensative mechanism of lacks of formal education system and gives the opportunity to try different professions to understand what kind of job person want and can to do. Main conclusion is that Latvia must keep the afterschool education system, but make changes in regulations about content of afterschool education programs to achieve learning outcomes that are oriented on development of career management skills. The main outcome is recommendations for Ministry of Education of Latvia and executors of afterschool education on possible ways for quality assurance of development of afterschool education.

References

Arulmani, G., Bakshi, A. J., Leong, F.T.L., Watts, T. (2014). Handbook of Career Development: International Perspectives. Springer Science & Business Media, 804 p. Clarijs, R. (2008). Unlimited Talents and Non-formal Education. A Contribution to the Discussion about the Future Role and Position of After-School Education in Europe. Prague, 54 p. Izglītības likums. (1999.) Rīga: Latvijas Republikas Saeima. Available: http://likumi.lv/doc.php?id=50759 Jarvis, P. (2003). Career information+ career management skills. Keys to great cereer, and a great life. Ottava, ON, Canada: National Life/Work Centre. Kolb, D.A. (1984). Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and development. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Patton, W., McMahon, M. (1999). Career development and systems theory. Brooks/ Cole Publishing Company. Patton, W., McMahon, M. (2006). Career Development and Systems Theory: Connecting Theory and Practice. Sense Publishers, 385 p. Shepard, H. A. (1984). Working with Careers. New York: Graduate School of Business, Columbia University, pp. 25–46. Skatkins, M. (1985). Skola un bērnu vispusīga attīstība. Rīga: Zvaigzne, 142 lpp. Šibajevs, V. (2002). Neformālā izglītība interešu centros. Rīga: RaKa, 351 lpp. Valsts izglītības attīstības aģentūras Karjeras atbalsta departaments. (2009). Karjeras izglītība skolā. Rīga: Valsts izglītības attīstības aģentūra.

Author Information

Daiga Kalnina (presenting / submitting)

University of Latvia

Faculty of Pedagogy, Psychology and Art

Riga

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