RIGA - The education system is a hot topic in Latvia. Teachers and students have taken to the streets to protest low wages and poor scholarship opportunities in the past couple of months. The quality of the education system has also become a topic of widespread debate as an increasing number of university students choose to get their degrees at cheaper and higher quality institutions in Western Europe.
Equally controversial is the languages schools teach in. By way of example, in 2003 a proposal to phase out state funded education in the Russian language drew nearly 15,000 protesters 's at the time making it the largest protest since the country regained independence.
There is one private international school in Riga, however, that stands apart from the general trends of the education system in Latvia. The International School of Riga (ISR), located on Kipsala Island, has about 150 students despite the relatively high entrance fees.
Though founded by a group of Diaspora Latvian parents 's it was first created as The International Playgroup in Riga in 1995 's the majority of students today, some 67 percent, hold Latvian passports. The rest of the students come from a variety of backgrounds and includes Americans, Germans, Irish, Koreans, Slovaks, Czechs, Austrians, Swedes and others. Many of the students hold dual citizenship.
The youngest members are two-years-old in the Toddler Group, and the oldest are in sixth grade. The school continues to consider plans to expand courses and to introduce a middle-year program for higher grades. This change would happen when the school is prepared and the demand is there.
Marina le Clere, the Chairwoman of the Board of ISR, told The Baltic Times the level of education is not any higher or lower than in other Latvian schools 's it is simply a completely different education than offered elsewhere.
"It is more international. Our goal is to have kids who enjoy learning. Of course, you can be taught a lot of facts about history, but you will not remember much, if you were just pushed to do it? Kids should grow up requiring and trying to find out what they are interested in," she said.
Founders and school administration said the school aims to develop curious, knowledgeable and caring young people who will help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect.
"I believe the way we teach students is unique in a few ways. First, we teach in English with teachers who are fluent or native speakers. A key philosophy of our program is giving students the love of learning rather than teaching them just specific facts or figures. What we want to produce are students who have the creativity, skills and ability to solve real world problems," John Crockett, deputy director of the school, told The Baltic Times.
The other thing that makes ISR unique is the concept of world citizenship, Crockett said.
"It is very important, especially for those kids who are going to move to a new country every two or three years. As for Latvian students, such a global view encourages them to look at the bigger world and we believe they will have the skills and attitudes to be successful in any country," the deputy director said.
Le Clere, meanwhile, explained that the school focuses on each student individually.
"For example, throughout the teaching year, we may assign five or six different themes to each student, giving them six or more weeks to deal with each one of them. That way, each student develops his own unique learning experience in a real world context."
"For example, in math my seven-year-old son will learn about how old he is, then use simple math to determine the age differences of the other students in his class and the school. This inquiry based program, the Primary Years Program is widely used around the world and our school is fully licensed by the International Baccalaureate Organization to use it," she said.
"There is a big responsibility on the students to be in charge of learning and not just reproducing what the teacher says. We work in small classes usually 10-15 students. Every student gets individualized attention. ISR also does not focus on conventional testing or comparing students in a ranking system. The reports that we provide to the parents contain detailed feedback from the teachers about each student's strengths and weaknesses. It is very personalized," Crockett said.
The school also naturally focuses on language acquisition skills.
"Taking on a new language for new students can be a big challenge. If a new student comes to the school without any language proficiency, ISR provides a full range of in class and out of class support through the English as an Additional Language program (EAL), EAL lessons provide students with the basic language skills that allow them to succeed in the classroom," le Clere said.
PRICE TAG
The education does not come cheap, however, and it could be seen as out of reach for the general populace of the country. The prices are higher, in fact, than many of the less-expensive university education programs that can be found in the country.
As a result of the economic crisis, the school has had to lower its prices, in addition to lowering costs for new students by waiving its one time membership fee.
The annual fee for toddlers and pre-school students is dependent on the amount of days spent at school per week. The total price is 3,900 lats for students studying three days per week, 4,600 lats for four days and 5,300 lats for five days. Kindergarten costs 6,200 lats.
The primary school program, which extends from grades one through six, is priced at 7,600 lats per year for five days of instruction.
