Abstract:

Cultural education plays a relatively prominent part in Latvia’s education system. The thematic analysis of curricula provides an opportunity to analyse how “cultural heritage”, “participation”, “identity” and “diversity” are reflected and which cultural concepts are the most important in the Latvian curricula that manage the educational process.

A systematic search for curricula examining cultural education in formal education system was carried out using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) framework. The curricula or parts of the curricula relating to the age group 14-18 years, i.e. pupils of grades 8-12 (2 basic education grades and 3 secondary education grades), were selected. A thematic analysis of the documents was undertaken using an iterative, inductive approach to the generation of codes and themes guided by the review aims and objectives. Coding was performed using NVivo software.

The chronological approach in acquiring knowledge about culture is used in the Latvian educational system. This approach focuses on the culture of the past, but contemporary cultural developments are often not considered. The curricula have the traditional structure with a strict division in subjects and a specific number of lessons for each subject. Various manifestations of culture are touched upon in the following subjects: Languages (Latvian, ethnic minority languages, foreign languages), literature, visual arts, culturology, as well as to a negligible amount in some other subjects of the humanities and social area, e.g. geography, social sciences and history. The learning process in these subjects focuses on the acquisition of particular knowledge in the specific area. This knowledge is relatively deep but narrow, there is no connection between subjects, and the ability of pupils to use knowledge in real life is not highlighted.

Cultural education in Latvia differs depending on the educational programme. At secondary school level, it is possible to choose a variety of educational pathways, which offer wider or narrower knowledge in the field of culture (the most extensive knowledge can be obtained by following a humanitarian and social sciences related programme). Culturology is the only subject dealing with general cultural developments and topical issues in the socio-economic and political context of society development. Other subjects raise cultural awareness by going deep into one specific area (Art, Music, History, etc.), utilising the chronological approach. The origins of the knowledge-based, traditional education model go back to the period of Latvia’s first independence. The model, which was also pursued in Soviet-time education, undergoes changes today through the introduction of the education reform.

Keywords:

Cultural education, thematic analysis, curricula, programme, subject, concept.