PROJECT OBJECTIVE

In line with the provisions of Ventspils City Development Programme, the key priorities of the municipality in education sector are the improvement of general knowledge of its citizens, the quality of acquisition of value-education and life skills, the extension of education attainment opportunities to various groups of population, and the strengthening of the education quality and governance capacities. In this context, Ventspils City municipality identified a necessity to acquire an objective assessment of the current situation in education sector by drafting Ventspils City Education Sector Development Strategy and Action Plan 2015 - 2020 (hereinafter - Strategy), giving a relevant assignment to the team of experts of Dynamic University.

PROJECT SOLUTION AND RESULT 

As per the methodology for the Strategy development proposed by Dynamic University, a series of research activities were undertaken for the needs of Ventspils City education sector analysis:

• Statistical data from various statistical data sources, as well as Ventspils City Council Education Department, Ventspils City Municipality Institutions “Ventspils Digital Centre” and Ventspils education institutions were collected and analysed;
• Literature available both in paper and electronically on Internet was collected and analysed;
• Individual interviews with various education sector stakeholders were undertaken;
• Visits to all Ventspils general education institutions were organised and interviews with the respective headmasters were undertaken;
• On-line surveys of headmasters and teachers of Ventspils general education institutions were undertaken;
• A self-assessment questionnaire was drafted and forwarded to all education institutions founded by Ventspils municipality; the acquired detailed data on the current state of infrastructure, material and technical basis were analysed;
• Telephone surveys of merchants of Ventspils City, as well as the districts Ventspils, Kuldīga and Talsi were carried out;
• An on-line survey of 8^th- 12^th grade students of Ventspils City, as well as the districts of Ventspils, Kuldīga Talsi and general education institutions was organised;
• Population surveys undertaken in the city to date were analysed, analysing data pertaining to education services in the city;
• Data of parent opinion survey undertaken in 2012 and 2014 were summarised and analysed.

Based on the status quo research results, a comprehensive analysis on the following major topics was developed:

• EDUCATION SECTOR GOVERNANCE AND RESOURCES IN VENTSPILS, by characterising and illustrating the roles and influences (powers) of various stakeholders, the dynamics and efficiency of financial resources at the disposal of education institutions, as well as the support mechanisms available for education needs in Ventspils City, as well as the districts of Ventspils, Kuldīga and Talsi;
• ASSESSMENT OF EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS, by providing an analysis on primary education institutions, general education institutions, non-formal and professional orientation education institutions, as well an overview on professional, higher education and life-long learning opportunities in Ventspils City;
• DEMOGRAPHY AND NATIONAL ECONOMY, by characterising the current demographic trends, the conformity of education sector with the overall situation in the city, as well as presenting the segmentation map involving the vocational and higher education acquisition opportunities in Ventspils City, as well as the districts of Ventspils, Kuldīga and Talsi in terms of the regional planning of the respective municipalities;
• SWOT ANALYSIS;
• DEVELOPMENT OF EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS’ NETWORK, by defining the understanding of what the quality of education means in Ventspils, explaining the need to reorganise the current network of schools, as well as identifying the assessment criteria of general education institutions and the consequential development scenarios and options thereof, including the indicators that would aid in assessing the network of schools of Ventspils City in the forthcoming years.

Moreover, the STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK was developed characterising the Strategy’s linkage with the development planning documents, as well as illustrating the strategic map with the overarching objective, goals, performance indicators and areas of action. For the purpose of attaining the defined overarching objective, the Action Plan for the period 2015 – 2020 was drafted involving the total of 46 tasks and 129 actions.

The Strategy was submitted to Ventspils City Council Education Department in July 2015.