Abstract:

Research context and aim:
Patriotic upbringing is a necessary prerequisite for sustainable national development and a crucial upbringing dimension, especially in vocational education, given the current socio-demographic and political situation in the Baltic States and the need to stop the human capital flight to other countries. Thus, the study aims to analyse the discourse on patriotic upbringing in the self-evaluation documents of Latvian and Lithuanian vocational secondary education institutions.

Data collection and analysis methods, research sample:
The empirical part of the study rests on the document analysis method through qualitative content analysis. The self-evaluation documents of Latvian vocational secondary education institutions are analysed to trace how they reflect the integration of patriotic upbringing in educational work.

Research findings:
According to the findings from qualitative content analysis, most self-evaluation reports by Latvian vocational schools mention patriotic upbringing and related concepts such as patriotism, civic upbringing, national identity, sense of national belonging and civic participation. As a rule, these terms are associated with events organisation and tied to the upbringing aims and objectives.

Conclusion and potential for further study:
Report analysis from all 26 Latvian vocational secondary education institutions suggests that 22 schools from the total cohort mention patriotic upbringing and thus contribute to the public discourse on the subject. The main playing field for patriotic upbringing in vocational education institutions is specified as the general sphere of upbringing. Further studies should review the upbringing aims and objectives of Latvia’s vocational education institutions and compare how they align with the claims made in the self-evaluation reports.

Keywords:

Patriotic upbringing, patriotism, civic upbringing, national identity, sense of national belonging, civic participation, vocational secondary education.