Education Policy Institutions’ Comprehension of the School as a Learning Organisation Approach: A Case Study of Latvia

Abstract

The economic crises of recent years, the COVID-19 pandemic and growing dissatisfaction with the quality of education have proved that national education systems throughout the world require large-scale transformations. Effective implementation of these large-scale reforms also requires highly qualified professionals. Latvia has introduced reforms targeting issues in educational philosophy, teaching content, pedagogical approach and school management. The School as a Learning Organisation (SLO) model, which envisages continuous individual and collective learning of all stakeholders involved in the education process, has currently come into the spotlight of policy makers. The SLO consists of seven dimensions: (1) developing and sharing a vision centred on the learning of all students; (2) creating and supporting continuous learning opportunities for all staff; (3) promoting team learning and collaboration among all staff; (4) establishing a culture of inquiry, innovation and exploration; (5) embedding systems for collecting and exchanging knowledge and learning; (6) learning with and from the external environment and larger learning system; and (7) modelling and growing learning leadership. It is characterised by a broad set of performance indicators, the deeper understanding of which requires academic and practical knowledge. The purpose of the current study is to examine the perceptions of representatives of education policy institutions to predict the efficacy of the SLO implementation in Latvia. Three semi-structured focus group discussions were conducted with the participants and deductive and inductive content analyses were carried out. The findings showed that policy makers highlighted “promoting team learning and collaboration among all staff” and “modelling and growing learning leadership” dimensions as the most important and best understood dimensions of the SLO. On the contrary, “embedding systems for collecting and exchanging knowledge and learning” was the least understood dimension by education policy makers. The results of the study indicate that a comprehensive understanding of the SLO model is necessary in order to implement it effectively and for its implementation to promote the transformation of education in Latvia.