Abstract:

In 1999, the transitional bilingual education model was introduced in minority education programmes in Latvia. Its purpose was a gradual transition to instruction in Latvian at all stages of education, but bilingual education was not a mandatory requirement in preschool and therefore it was implemented on the personal initiative of teachers. In 2022, it was concluded that the transitional bilingual education did not ensure quality acquisition of the Latvian language for minority children, and a decision was taken in the country– to introduce the submersion model, including at the preschool education stage, during a period of one year.

The research problem: the submersion model should be introduced in minority pre-school education programmes within one year and the transition to instruction and learning in the Latvian language should be implemented.
The research aim: find out the viewpoints of parents/guardians of minority children about the necessary support directions for successful learning of the Latvian language in preschool education programs.

As part of the research, 150 parents of children were interviewed. Having analysed the parents’ viewpoints, it was concluded that educators and parents need support for strengthening their Latvian language skills, educators need methodological support for working in a linguistically heterogeneous environment, while parents need to be further educated about the role of the family in the development of the child’s Latvian language proficiency, as well as in the improvement of the mother tongue knowledge.

Keywords:

Language acquisition by minority preschool children, preschool education programmes, viewpoints of parents of preschool children.