Search

Currently, the educational system in Latvia is undergoing a transition from a traditional to a competence-based curriculum where civic education plays an important place in pupils’ holistic development. In the context of strengthening civic education, it is important to gain experience in practising citizenship in order to promote the active participation and co-responsibility of young people in social and political processes in the country and beyond. The study focuses on the factors that influence the formation of young Latvian people’s civic identity and the role of formal education and their teachers in this process in a broader sustainability context. The article reflects the results of a study about Latvian youngsters’ involvement in political activities, their attitude and interest about political events in Latvia and the European Union.

During the social distancing, an increasing number of people use communication applications, various types of digital tools and programs. Various video conferencing platforms are regularly used in the educational environment. The study presents the analyses how intensive is the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in the educational environment and how it can change cognitive-behavioral gender differences. This is particularly important to pay a special attention to the analysis of gender as a dynamic category, to take into account the processes of gender socialization and transformation of gender identification in the changing social environment. The research methods also included a set of additional methods, such as a focus group on different aspects of gender-specific behavior in the digital learning environment, putting together collages, as well as the method of the unfinished sentence related to the impact of ICT on teachers' professional development and well-being. In the course of the study, it was recognised that the design of social models of male and female gender-specific behaviour includes more than the basic gender identity and gender stability: in today's society, there is a multiplicity of views on the similarities and differences of gender-specific behaviours, and a rapid change in the accepted social guidelines and behavioural patterns is in progress, socio-cultural norms that define the psychological characteristics of women and men, their patterns of behaviour.

The globalization and migration processes are typical features of our societies that affect policy, economy and the culture of each country. Migration involves many challenges: identity issues and well-being of migrants in negotiating new roles and values. At the social level, migration involves demographic, educational, sociological and employment aspects. The reasons of migration are numerous, including the economic as the major one. The authors employ a multidisciplinary approach by drawing on the geographical, sociological and anthropological disciplines in disclosing the narrative of returnees. The methodology employed in this study is based on semi structured interviews with seven returnee women. The study focuses on the transcultural and transnational positionality of the Latvian returnee migrants who are trying to settle down in Latvia, by revealing their hopes and struggles while relocating in a new cultural context. In this study, the authors place a particular focus on the narratives of female returnees. The main question is directed at how the returnees locate themselves at the conjuncture of diverse localities in building their transcultural identity.

The COVID-19 pandemic has influenced regular patters of career guidance. Globally everything has stopped: projects were postponed, and workplaces were closed but this situation has pushed career counselors to search for new opportunities about how career guidance could be carried out. The pandemic has intensified existing challenges in society, adding complexity for the processes of a transition of educational systems towards digitalization and have intensified the need for remote career guidance. Young people become particularly vulnerable to the digital divide. Career development support has been at risk with the emergence of an unpredictable future. However, career guidance during the pandemic can serve as a tool for understanding the situation in depth and searching for new opportunities that exist, by helping individuals to overcome anxiety. While practicing physical distancing, career counselors have kept active professional networks in assisting their clients with their needs. The operation of career guidance has been transferred mainly to the online format and has required the counselors to develop new skills and competencies. The methodology employed in this study included interviews with individual career counselors about the main challenges and solutions discovered during the lockdown. Career counselors were questioned also about how they shaped a more sustainable and flexible online career guidance system. They revealed details about their struggles and hopes encountered in the situation of crises. The authors point to critical areas for improvement that career counselor can provide to their clients during the lockdown.

There has been a significant increase in interest about a psychological well-being among the researchers, politicians, media and general public. This study focuses on a measurement on a psychological well-being of the custom employees. For the purpose of measurement of a psychological well-being of custom employees, the authors have used Ruff’s scale that includes such components as positive relationships with others, autonomy, competence, personal growth, a purpose in life, and self-acceptance. According to Ryff (2014), well-being has been investigated in relation to one’s career pursuits. The purpose in life and personal growth were found to contribute to career commitments. In the case of the Latvian custom employees, among the essential elements of a psychological well-being are economic factors, favourable work environment and career opportunities in the organization. The study focuses in a psychological well-being of custom employees during the pandemic that leads to conclude that custom employees were in the forefront alongside with the doctors in stabilizing the situation in the county and have experienced a burn out, thereforethey need a psychological support and a recognition of their efforts at work.

Values has been explored in connection to a deeper understanding of human behavior. Values provide the answer to the basic existential questions, help to provide meaning in one’s life. Values are the key aspects of one’s self-esteem. They reflect diverse aspects of one’s social identity. According to a number of scientists, ethnic identity is a part of social identity. A number of studies in psychology has a focus on the connection between ethnicity and ethnic values. There are two main approaches towards the study of values can be distinguished. On the one hand, there are values that have the existential basis for the existence of people. On the other hand, the information about ethnic values can have applied aspect. The aim of this study is to identify differences in value orientation among representatives of two main linguistic groups that live in Eastern Latvia: the group of Latvian and Russian-speaking participants. The second goal is to explore the influence of religion, age and gender on the values of the research participants. The methodology used for the purpose of this study was to determine value orientation towards family, religious and friendship. The authors discovered statistically significant differences only in relation to a value of friendship. This value turned out to be the highest among the Russian-speaking group as compared to the Latvian-speaking group, as well as in the Orthodox group as compared to the group of Catholics.

The issue of a human person, and his/her development, and particularly in connection with a social sphere is extremely relevant for our times. In psychology, this issue has been developed through developmental periods, theories of personality identity and conditions that contribute to a self-actualization of an individual. In this regard, interest is how these ideas evolved in the process of cultural and historical development of humankind, how they were understood by previous generations of scientists and philosophers, how theoretical views of past generations are interpreted by the researchers of our time. This determined the objectives of this research. The authors applied the method of content analysis of the text with the aim to discover the concept of an ideal, or perfect person in works of Aristotle, to compare this concept with the corresponding views of Plato, to determine the influence of Aristotle's concept of an ideal person on modern theories of personality. The research method is a content analysis of works of Aristotle and research done by the authors that reflect a philosophical heritage of the Greek thinker. As for both, Plato and Aristotle, the soul is the basis of life and the source of human activity. For Plato the soul appears to be an indivisible and immortal entity, then for Aristotle it has its own structure. Human soul is capable of development and improvement. The main condition for improvement, according to Plato, are correct actions of a person from the point of view of law and public opinion. Aristotle believes that in this process, education and upbringing plays major attention. Aristotle's ideas today are being developed in a deep and humanistic psychology and developmental psychology.

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has been a source of fear around the world. We asked whether the measurement of this fear is trustworthy and comparable across countries. In particular, we explored the measurement invariance and cross-cultural replicability of the widely used Fear of COVID-19 scale (FCV-19S), testing community samples from 48 countries (N = 14,558). The findings indicate that the FCV-19S has a somewhat problematic structure, yet the one-factor solution is replicable across cultural contexts and could be used in studies that compare people who vary on gender and educational level. The validity of the scale is supported by a consistent pattern of positive correlations with perceived stress and general anxiety. However, given the unclear structure of the FCV-19S, we recommend using latent factor scores, instead of raw scores, especially in cross-cultural comparisons. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

The article focuses on a discourse of resilience and remembering and its interconnectedness in teaching contested historical narratives. History mainly consists of events, remembrance, narratives, rituals, discourses, and stereotypes which can facilitate or prevent resilience. Since such purposes are part of religious and values education, a multidimensional approach is needed, which combines historical, psychological, religious, sociological, educational and literary aspects in a kind of ‘grammar of remembrance’, in order to motivate and facilitate autonomous and supervised research with discussions and sharing of experiences in different projects. The aim of this conceptual study is to facilitate interdisciplinary research and educational projects concerning memory cultures and conflict management.

Norm enforcement may be important for resolving conflicts and promoting cooperation. However, little is known about how preferred responses to norm violations vary across cultures and across domains. In a preregistered study of 57 countries (using convenience samples of 22,863 students and non-students), we measured perceptions of the appropriateness of various responses to a violation of a cooperative norm and to atypical social behaviors. Our findings highlight both cultural universals and cultural variation. We find a universal negative relation between appropriateness ratings of norm violations and appropriateness ratings of responses in the form of confrontation, social ostracism and gossip. Moreover, we find the country variation in the appropriateness of sanctions to be consistent across different norm violations but not across different sanctions. Specifically, in those countries where use of physical confrontation and social ostracism is rated as less appropriate, gossip is rated as more appropriate. Little is known about people's preferred responses to norm violations across countries. Here, in a study of 57 countries, the authors highlight cultural similarities and differences in people's perception of the appropriateness of norm violations., Swedish Foundation for Humanities and Social Sciences; Riksbankens Jubileumsfond; Czech Science Foundation; Czech Academy of Sciences; Institute of Psychology; Stockholm University

Incorporating education for sustainable development (ESD) into the curriculum is one of the main priorities of education policy in Latvia and internationally. Implementation of ESD relies greatly on individual teachers’ beliefs, enthusiasm, theoretical knowledge and practical expertise. It is widely recognized that teachers’ beliefs influence their decisions about the curriculum, pedagogy and assessment. While teachers’ beliefs and general pedagogical knowledge receive considerable attention in teacher education research worldwide, novice teachers’ beliefs and knowledge regarding sustainability and ESD are not widely discussed despite the widespread assumption that teacher’s preparedness and intention to teach ESD tend to be motivated by the beliefs and knowledge a teacher holds. Some education researchers argue that novice teachers tend to have limited understanding of sustainability and ESD. The aim of the research described in this article was to reveal the range of ways in which a sample of 32 volunteer novice teachers in Latvia perceive, understand and experience ESD, as well as how ESD relates to their professional practice. A phenomenographic approach is applied in this study. Data collection methods include semi-structured interviews, written questionnaires, and focus group discussions. The study revealed a range of ways in which novice teachers conceptualize sustainability and ESD. The insights from this research might serve to inform teaching and learning practices in the undergraduate and postgraduate teaching courses and to prepare teachers more adequately to implement ESD.

The issue of tolerance has been actively discussed in psychology. Psychological science has to solve a number of important methodological problems related to the etiology of this term. Adolescence is the time then one’s identity is being formed. This can be assumed by the authors that the pupils with a positive identity are more tolerant towards "others." The hypothesis of the study: Positive attitude influence the perception of “tolerant” schoolchildren by the “other” to a greater extent. The perception of the “other” by “intolerant” schoolchildren is more subject to negative stereotyping. For the purpose of the study, a methodology for measuring tolerance was developed. It included scales of measuring interpersonal and intergroup tolerance. In addition, expert teachers avaluatio n of pupils were used. Based on their assessments, two groups of pupils were formed. One of them experts rated as “good” pupils. They received higher marks on the tolerance scale. The second group of pupils, according to the experts’ evaluation, had serious problems with discipline at school. They received low marks on the tolerance scale. This group of pupils was called "hooligans." The results of the study indicate that tolerant students have no significant differences in the perception of “themselves” and “strangers.” The perception of “hooligans” shows a polarization effect: “they” are perceived only positively but "strangers".

Ethnic identity is an important component of a person’s personal identity. Many studies indicate that a strong and secure ethnic identity positively correlates with an adequate self-esteem, coping mechanisms, and optimism. In this study the authors intend to analyse the socio-psychological theories of the ethnic group, ethnic identity and the relationship of ethnic identity and ethnic culture. This article reflects findings gained as a result of a comparative analysis of the characteristics of ethnic identity and its connectedness with ethnic culture among the students of Eastern Latvia. The authors identify what is common for the ethnic groups of the region, as well as point to the differences in the perceptions of their ethnic identity and its manifestation among the respondents. Research methodology: The authors developed a methodology that combines quantitative and qualitative methods of processing the results. This article reflects part of the data obtained as a result of conducting inquiry, where respondents were asked to name literary works in which their ethnic character is reflected most vividly, as well as to name traditions that corresponds to their ethnic identity. The results of the study suggest that there is an idea of the ideal ethnic character and its manifestation. The ethnic traditions, mentioned by the respondents who has Latvian as their native language, were associated with nature, cyclical rhythms in nature and religious symbols. As for the respondents who had Russian as their mother tongue, the most significant were such public holidays such as the New Year, as well as traditional religious festivals.

A number of studies are focusing on interrelations that exist between teachers’ subjective well-being and financial well-being, occupational stress and other factors that influence teachers’ happiness at work. The aim of this study is to explore the factors influencing teachers’ psychological well-being. This involves teachers’ engagement with their professional development. Psychological well-being is conceptualized as a psychological state of mind of teachers in balancing expectations and ability to meet those requirements, a desire for a mindful and meaningful involvement with their work, as well as resilience and competency to deal with the challenging requirements at the workplace. Teachers’ well-being and happiness at work positively influences their performance and a well-being of pupils as well. As a rule, teachers’ profession is associated with high stress, heavy workload, high demands on management in the classroom, high demands on pupils’ academic achievements, and the additional pressure placed on teachers’ engagement with further education. The authors carried out a questionnaire among the teachers from Latvia (n=247). They filled in a questionnaire on a voluntary basis about their subjective well-being in relations to their involvement with the pedagogical work. The authors explored correlation between teachers’ engagement with the research, their educational level, involvement in administrative work, teachers’ personal growth, their view on pupils as open systems and their well-being. It was concluded that all teachers who took part in this study is a relatively homogenous group. Considering their diverse experience of work, educational level and involvement with the scientific and administrative work, their psychological wellbeing can be evaluated higher as average.

Objectives: The Dark Triad traits (i.e., narcissism, psychopathy, Machiavellianism) capture individual differences in aversive personality to complement work on other taxonomies, such as the Big Five traits. However, the literature on the Dark Triad traits relies mostly on samples from English-speaking (i.e., Westernized) countries. We broadened the scope of this literature by sampling from a wider array of countries. Method: We drew on data from 49 countries (N = 11,723; 65.8% female; Age Mean = 21.53) to examine how an extensive net of country-level variables in economic status (e.g., Human Development Index), social relations (e.g., gender equality), political orientations (e.g., democracy), and cultural values (e.g., embeddedness) relate to country-level rates of the Dark Triad traits, as well as variance in the magnitude of sex differences in them. Results: Narcissism was especially sensitive to country-level variables. Countries with more embedded and hierarchical cultural systems were more narcissistic. Also, sex differences in narcissism were larger in more developed societies: Women were less likely to be narcissistic in developed (vs. less developed) countries. Conclusions: We discuss the results based on evolutionary and social role models of personality and sex differences. That higher country-level narcissism was more common in less developed countries, whereas sex differences in narcissism were larger in more developed countries, is more consistent with evolutionary than social role models.

Responses to a measure of the four humor styles of affiliative, aggressive, self-enhancing, and self-defeating from the Humor Styles Questionnaire (HSQ; Martin et al. Journal of Research in Personality, 37(1), 48–75, 2003) were collected from individuals (N = 8361) in 28 countries encompassing 21 different languages. The purpose of this global collaboration was to examine both differences and similarities of humor styles across nations at the descriptive level. Across the countries, typically the highest scores were for the affiliative humor style. When each humor style was examined, some country samples demonstrated differences in mean scores. For example, the samples from Hungary, Indonesia, South Africa, and Serbia had high self-enhancing scores and Japan scored the lowest. In contrast to mean differences, almost all of the countries demonstrated positive inter-scale correlations, similar sex differences, and similar correlations with age, suggesting more similarities than differences. As discussed, some of the samples had low internal consistency values and poorly fitting factor structures for the humor style scales, suggesting that those results should be interpreted with caution. © 2019, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature. National Foundation for Science and Technology Development, NAFOSTED Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation: 0101/DIA/2017/46 National Foundation for Science and Technology Development, NAFOSTED 501.01-2016.02

Sustainable education and education for sustainable development (ESD) have witnessed a deserved number of research studies in the recent years. The present article proposes a holistic research framework for the research on sustainable education and education for sustainable development in the 21st century. The article aims to choose a more holistic research perspective by avoiding a piecemeal approach in education research. Moreover, it proposes some strategically important ideas about the use of approaches and methods for sustaining the generational readiness for sustainable development. The paper proposes a general framework for pedagogy and practice for ESD research which is open, holistic, strategic, sustainable, and integrated. A broader perspective has been developed as the relation of the ecological–cultural–social environment aspects seen in a broader adaptive evolutionary sense as a condition necessary for the development of a human species and the development of these conditions in the evolutionary process. The choice of a broader perspective is proposed by relating it to an observational study on Generation Z that many educators, social scientists and the populations have already started recognising as one of the participants in the intergenerational process. The phenomenon of Generation Z is new; its features have not fully revealed in their apparent form, yet. Furthermore, the generation has not reached its maturity yet, but the development of this phenomenon is inextricably related to the issue of generational commitment, which is also related to the evolutionary development. The observational study has been carried out by involving participants from VECC Daugavpils Vocational School. The evaluation of the participants’ real experience in a wider and broader framework has been used to draw strategic conclusions, which will help keep focus on the need to sustain generational readiness for sustainable development in the harmonisation of the choice of pedagogical approaches and methods.

Survival of organizations nowadays depends on their ability to learn properly and quickly increase their efficiency and their performance and to adapt to the changing environment. Creating an organizational learning culture (OLC) could achieve an increase in the survivability of organizations. This paper examines the OLC questionnaire, the developed research methodology, adapted andapproved by Israeli local authorities. This study analyses 529 questionnaires filled in by municipalitiesi employees. The aim of the research: the development of a mechanism for increasing the efficiency of the local authorities by influencing the behavior of employees through the creation of Organizational Learning Culture (OLC).

ObjectiveThe Mental Health Continuum-Short Form (MHC-SF) is a brief scale measuring positive human functioning. The study aimed to examine the factor structure and to explore the cross-cultural utility of the MHC-SF using bifactor models and exploratory structural equation modelling.MethodUsing multigroup confirmatory analysis (MGCFA) we examined the measurement invariance of the MHC-SF in 38 countries (university students, N=8,066; 61.73% women, mean age 21.55 years).ResultsMGCFA supported the cross-cultural replicability of a bifactor structure and a metric level of invariance between student samples. The average proportion of variance explained by the general factor was high (ECV=.66), suggesting that the three aspects of mental health (emotional, social, and psychological well-being) can be treated as a single dimension of well-being.ConclusionThe metric level of invariance offers the possibility of comparing correlates and predictors of positive mental functioning across countries; however, the comparison of the levels of mental health across countries is not possible due to lack of scalar invariance. Our study has preliminary character and could serve as an initial assessment of the structure of the MHC-SF across different cultural settings. Further studies on general populations are required for extending our findings.

Considering the gender identity as a crucial aspect of the culture that shapes our daily life and recognising the research gap on this topic in the context of sustainable education, the paper describes the quantitative cross-sectional study on gender identity of students and teachers comparing the respondents by their age and sex. Three age groups (106 female and 62 male) participated in the study: 18-19-years-old pupils from comprehensive and vocational schools (n=59), 20-15-years-old university students (n=52) and 24-64- years-old teachers working at respective schools and universities (n=57). The original Bem Sex Role Inventory was administered to measure the individual gender identity types of masculinity, femininity, and androgyny. The majority of respondents from all age and sex groups described themselves as androgynous. Male and university students featured the scattering of scores more toward masculinity, while the scores of female, pupils, and teachers were more inclined toward femininity. No statistically significant differences were found among the three age groups, while sex appeared to be more influential factor causing significant differences between male and female in terms of gender identity with male’s inclination toward masculinity and female’s inclination toward femininity. Dominance of androgynous individuals challenges the current approaches to the gender education in the context of sustainable development.

Sustainability is becoming an integral part of vocational schools since schools are called to respond to the environmental crises and unsustainability issues in the community as well as to an unsustainable economic development. Vocational schools have to play a significant role is re-orienting students’ frames of reference towards sustainability for a well-being of the Earth. The aim of the article is to explore teachers’ views on their gains of integrating sustainability and the use of sustainability pedagogies as a result of participation in three years long international project. The article reflects on teachers’ efforts of reorienting the curriculum of a vocational school towards sustainability within the framework of the international Erasmus+ project “Methods for ESD – competencies and curricula” (MetESD), led by Vechta University.

Norm enforcement may be important for resolving conflicts and promoting cooperation. However, little is known about how preferred responses to norm violations vary across cultures and across domains. In a preregistered study of 57 countries (using convenience samples of 22,863 students and non-students), we measured perceptions of the appropriateness of various responses to a violation of a cooperative norm and to atypical social behaviors. Our findings highlight both cultural universals and cultural variation. We find a universal negative relation between appropriateness ratings of norm violations and appropriateness ratings of responses in the form of confrontation, social ostracism and gossip. Moreover, we find the country variation in the appropriateness of sanctions to be consistent across different norm violations but not across different sanctions. Specifically, in those countries where use of physical confrontation and social ostracism is rated as less appropriate, gossip is rated as more appropriate.

Objective - In this research, gender differences of Latvian males and females in the stage of adulthood are determined and distinguished on the grounds of a theoretical analysis of socio-psychological, scientific and methodological literature and legislative documents as well as empirical findings. Methodology/Technique - A survey by Bem (1974) has been adapted in this study for measuring how an adult individual sees him-/herself from the gender perspective. This was done with an aim of determining the place of gender in the cultural context rather than in the personality of a separate individual. 109 women and men from different regions of Latvia aged 20 to 64 took part in the study. The data were processed with the 23.0 version of SPSS, the data processing program. Findings – The obtained results indicate that the gender patterns on male and female behavior are similar. No differences in male or female behaviour were established. The behavioral peculiarities of male and female gender are determined not by age, but by sex. It can also be concluded that research of Latvian male and female gender behavior led to Bem's androgyny theory, which argues for the ability of men and women to execute both – male and female behavioral patterns in ontogenesis. Novelty - The understanding of gender as a discursive construction caused a confusion between these notions. This study contributes in literature of gender psychology with its original data. Type of Paper - Empirical Keywords: Identity; Gender; Stage of Adulthood; Gender Differences, Latvian Males, Latvian Females. JEL Classification: J16, J21.

The paper presents a study of focus groups conducted in schools of Latvia involving teachers of grades 1 – 6 (n=76). The first stage of research presents the analyses of teachers’ discussion what a contemporary learner is like, while at the second stage of the study focuses on finding of what the future society will be like when the present-day primary school learners have left the school, what teachers must change in their work in the process of learning to meet the needs of the future.The data and outcomes of this study are based on the outcomes of focus group discussions and the analysis of the experience in other papers. According to the acquired outcomes of the study, contemporary learners on the one hand are braver, ready for an active action, they use various opportunities, they are aware of their worth, on the other hand, they accept diversity, spend much time watching TV, using the global network, that does not facilitate social communication. Conclusion: For the process of learning to meet the needs of the future, learners must be given an opportunity to construct such knowledge, skills, and attitudes that make it possible to view processes holistically, grasping the mutual interaction of different aspects.

The need to focus on a transdisciplinary approach in education for sustainable development (EDS) has been reflected in research and especially action research as a possible solution, which can open a new perspective for understanding and interpretation of the complex phenomenon of sustainability as well as for developing new open continuing education programmes by integrating research and learning activities in the context of open transdisciplinary research. The content structure of the article: (1) it describes the experience that has evolved at one faculty and its subordinate scientific institute and has been proposed to be used within the entire institution; (2) it generalises issues arising from the extensive experience, which in action research manifest themselves as issues relating to the appropriate perspective choice in terms of sustainability, approaches that in education make it possible to understand the sustainability phenomenon, as well as features that help identify sustainability at different levels. Well-known cases in the history of science, philosophy of science, and systems development research have been used to highlight the relationship among the dynamic interaction of complex problems that can systematically appear as sustainable or unsustainable. Therefore, the article provides insight into a specific relationship among science development, integration and Anthropocene phenomena with sustainability / non-sustainability phenomena and their interaction; (3) it offers the experience necessary for the creation of participatory action research ideas and research base to expand the cooperation of university and its graduates using a stakeholder approach and connecting it with a transdisciplinary research framework, which envisages an activity around the sustainability phenomenon and its deep relationship to the openness for the evolution of sustainability consciousness as concerns individuals and societies; (4) it describes the first three activities of the first phase of the undertaken action research, which allowed determining the participants’ motivation to take part in the action research, identifying participants’ attitude and understanding sustainability and Anthropocene phenomena, as well as establishing a strategic vision of open transdisciplinary framework benefits and opportunities through participatory action research to develop open evolutionary study programs for continuing education, which would extend and deepen the cooperation of university and its graduates for social innovation creation and achieving quality education for sustainable development by reorienting the society and education towards sustainability and sustainable development. The present article aims at establishing an open transdisciplinary research framework, which is necessary for undertaking action research, and outlining a strategic vision for developing continuing education programs in the participatory action research that will help reorient continuing education to sustainable development.

The article presents the analyses of the textbook for the primary school children in math “Rita, Raitis and numbers” designed by J. Mencis (Sen.) and D. Draviņa who emphasize the importance of developing basic math notions for the primary school children as seen in the context of sustainable education. This is essential to recognize the importance of teaching basics that need to be developed at the primary stage of education in preparing children for school. The aim of the study is to offer a detailed study of methods offered by J. Mencis (Sen.) and D. Draviņa for pre-school children and its applicability nowadays. The authors offer suggestions about the most efficient approaches in teaching math for the primary school children. The book designed in 90’s is still efficient today. Therefore, the authors present a detailed analysis of the methods and contents of the school subject suggested by the scientist J. Mencis for the contemporary purposes in preparing children for schools. The authors have used a content analysis to study how the interests and the needs of girls and boys are being met in stories, revealed in the content of exercises and in the choice of hand-outs. Particular attention in this study has been paid to a representation of the role of family in preparing children for school, as well as to a gender dimension in the textbook. The main research problem is to reveal the suitability of the textbook for the purposes of a contemporary pupil. The aim of the study is to prove that the contribution of J. Mencis (Sen.) and D. Draviņa in teaching math is of national value and how it corresponds to the criteria of a contemporary textbook. The objectives of the study is to 1) explore gender portrayal in the book, 2) its suitability of us by the families in training the child for the schools, as well as 3) the plot of the textbook and it’s suitability for children. The book has been used by several generations of teachers, it corresponds to the criteria required for the contemporary textbook in math, and can serve as bases for further use. Keywords: basic notions in math, pre-school children, family representation, gender balance, sustainability perspective. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15823/p.2015.046

The article points to new competencies required from basic school teachers, reinforced by the reform processes in the educational system in Latvia, the quality assurance of educational process, and modernisation and critical re-evaluation of educational materials and standards. The authors view sustainability as an integral part of reform processes in the country. The aim of the study is to evaluate the perspective of basic education teachers from the diverse regions of Latvia on the use of holistic approach for shaping the content of basic education. The authors have analysed basic school teachers’ understanding of a holistic approach towards teaching and a learner. By means of a survey the authors have explored the features of teachers’ perception of a holistic approach to their teaching. The authors conclude that sustainability cannot be left to the initiative of individual teachers but should be implemented as a whole-school policy.

The present study investigates the career choice of 8th graders in the context of reform processes in Latvia and changing demands of the job market. Career planning in this article is seen as a spiralling and dialectic process that is influenced by multiple factors, the process that involves planning, generating options, evaluation of options and making decisions. Reform processes in Latvia requires career counsellors to help young people to maintain an attitude of acceptance while choosing a career path, and in addition to develop meaningful and professional life changing discussion on available career options in order to become significant adviser while guiding pupils on adapting to changing requirements of a job market. The aim of the study is to explore the main influences determining the career choice of the 8th grade pupils as well as to explore the sources of information that determine them on making such decisions. Research methodology: For the purpose of this study the authors chose a pilot questionnaire in order to explore the career path of the 8th graders. The study draws on tendencies of youngsters’ choice of a career obtained in Latvia and Czech Republic. Research findings: Considering the changing demands of a job market, the teachers need to consider an adaptive career managing processes for the youngsters by taking into account a dialectic interplay of multiple influences on pupils’ career choice and to foster a more sustainable career path in helping pupils to gain career maturity in decision making and developing competencies needed for the future.

To analyse the similarities and differences in personal meaning of academic experience associated with intrinsic and extrinsic academic motivation, the conceptual ideas of Self-Determination theory were blended with methodological elaborations based on the Dialogical Self Theory. The Academic Motivation Scale to identify intrinsically and extrinsically motivated graduate students and the Self Confrontation Method to disclose the important experiences in past, present and future related to the graduate studies were administered to 128 graduate students at the Daugavpils University. Both the quantitative and qualitative data analysis contributed to the understanding of relationships between the types of academic motivation and personal meaning of academic experience. The main differences in students’ personal meaning of academic experience, expressed in narrative themes were following: self-development, ideas about the further studies and factors inhibiting graduate studies were more frequent for intrinsically motivated students, while external support from influential persons, work/career, and past experience influencing current academic life were mentioned more often by extrinsically motivated students. The obtained results may help to develop more effective teaching strategies and institutional support of graduate students.