Implications of Transformation of Adult Education for Political Decisions: a Case of Latvia

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic has significantly contributed to the digitalisation of teaching and learning, including adult education. Since the spring of 2020, adult educational centres transformed the way how they work to ensure the continuity of the learning process. As a result, online adult education, which implies using various web-related technologies during the distance learning process, has experienced an unprecedented rise in replacing the traditional face-to-face teaching model. At the same time, policymakers had to react to external factors affecting the transformation of the adult education system by including the concept of online education in national regulations and policy documents as well as by providing various supporting mechanisms. The purpose of the study is to analyse the connections between the transformation of adult education caused by the pandemic and political decisions in Latvia. The tasks are formulated as follows: to review the latest trends in adult education and corresponding policy responses in the scientific literature; to analyse the political decisions made by the policymakers in Latvia in the context of the transformation of adult education during the Covid-19 pandemic; to formulate recommendations to the policymakers that address the compliance issues of recent developments of the concept of adult education in Latvia. Used research methods: to achieve the purpose of the study, the author has used a scientific literature review for analysing the latest trends in adult education and the political decisions behind them, expert interviews with the specialists of adult education in Latvia, and the doctrinal research method to examine the changes in the national regulation regarding adult education during the pandemic. The main findings of the research show that the transformation of adult education during the pandemic is partly incorporated in the main policy documents and national regulations. The policymakers in Latvia used both shorter-term and longer-term approaches to comply with the restrictions of gathering and the need for the digitalisation of adult education.