On June 18, 2015 several substantial changes were made in Latvian laws regulating education. For instance, the Education law of Latvia was amended where the article on Latvian Qualifications Framework (LQF) was added in accordance with the European Qualifications Framework. Amendments were also made to the General Education Law. In addition, several proposals were discussed regarding the salaries of educators, requirements for the heads of educational institutions, question of the inclusion of the study about the virtue and ethics in schools, and others.
Legal basis of education law in Latvia
Education in Latvia is mainly regulated by several Laws and Regulations of the Cabinet of Ministers. The main legal acts are: the Education Law, which provides a framework of general information for all levels of education; General Education Law; Vocational Education Law; Law on Institutions of Higher Education; Law on Scientific Activity as well as several Regulations adopted by the Cabinet of Ministers. The main decision making bodies of Education law in Latvia are the Parliament, the Cabinet of Ministers and the Ministry of Education and Science.
Amendments to the Education Law and General Education Law of Latvia
There were made several essential changes in the Educational Law and General Education Law of Latvia. Education law was supplemented by the Latvian Qualifications Framework. Since the amendments have been made to the Education law, the education system is divided in eight levels that include all types and stages of education in order to determine what knowledge exactly the graduate has obtained.
The levels included in the Educational law are adjusted to the levels determined in the European Qualifications Framework. Each of the levels determined in the Education law are described in the Article 81 while including all stages, such as basic, secondary and higher; and types of education – general, vocational, academic. In addition, other professional qualifications are included in this system.
In the June meeting of the Parliament amendments also were made in the General Education law while expanding the options of founding secondary education institutions by adding a possibility for the higher education institutions also to establish a secondary education institution according to Article 7. Previously only the state, municipality or a private person was able to found a secondary education institution. In such cases where the founder is higher education institution, the secondary education institution will form a part of it.
Both major amendments came into force on July 16, 2015.