Education equity: an evaluation of present conditions

COVID-19 resulted in school closures on a global scale. However, the most significant closures appear to be in North America. Educational disruption is anticipated to impact educational attainment in terms of drop-out rates but more significantly with respect to exacerbating pre-pandemic educational inequity and corresponding poverty. This discussion evaluates the impact of COVID-19 on the United States through a case-study review of Sri Lanka, Turkey, and Latvia. The case studies highlight that poor and marginalized populations irrespective of geography are vulnerable to economic shocks. Further, COVID-19 has prompted greater transparency of the inequities faced by marginalized groups and by doing so, increased the visibility of the need for intervention. Through an evaluation of literacy, the discussion addresses the impact of normalized US racism on educational equity and economic growth and highlights how a legacy of race-based policies may impact the resiliency of the United States specific to the present pandemic.

The Challenges of Digitalization of the Teaching/Learning Process During Covid-19

At present teachers are facing a number of challenges caused by the reform processes in education that require acquisition of new competencies. Digital competence, that includes both technical skills needed to manage the software and cognitive skills that are related to education, has been gradually introduced in the curricula over the past decade. Teachers’ digital competence includes the ability to use technologies efficiently, developing digital content and inspiring students to work in a digital environment. This also requires a wider conceptualization of digital competence in the context of re-conceptualization of flexible learning. The methodology employed in this study is three focus group interviews with forty-three teachers of comprehensive and vocational schools in Latvia on their experience in integrating digital technologies into the remote teaching process during the emergency situation due to coronavirus disease COVID-19 from March until June 2020. The study focuses on digital transformations in education process at schools in Latvia and is aimed at exploring difficulties and challenges faced by teachers while ensuring remote teaching/learning process. COVID-19 was a big push towards the introduction and wider usage of technologies into education process that also greatly impacted the level of pressure and stress experienced by educators due to the demand to adapt to urgent and swift shift. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Interplay of Traditions and Innovations in Teaching Sustainability Issues: National and Global Discourses

The article discusses the necessity of gradual and meaningful integration of innovations in education by respecting cultural and educational traditions of the local context. Sometimes, the crises require urgent action to be taken to sustain the educational process, like digitalization of the educational process caused by the Covid-19. The international praxis shows that the most recent models of educational development lead to innovations and change for achieving sustainable forms of development. The author argues that Latvia needs to adopt sustainable discourses and practices for the local context. Currently Latvia is undergoing transitions towards competence-based curriculum at all levels in education by placing higher emphases on quality education. The transition is taking place towards deep learning, higher autonomy of students, transdisciplinarity, transversal skills, and integration of ITC technologies in order to meet the reality of a contemporary learner by building their competence as responsible global citizens. The author analyses teachers’ perspective: Their concerns and difficulties while designing and implementing a new competence-based curriculum oriented towards quality education and other innovations while teaching sustainability issues. The methodology employed in this study are the focus group interviews supported by the in-depth interviews with the individual staff members who are integrating sustainability issues in their teaching. The focus is on how innovations and traditions can be understood from the perspective of the competence-based approach while teaching sustainability issues. It is concluded that Latvia needs evolutionary policies and strategies for implementing sustainable development based on flexible management and risk minimising approach for implementing innovative practices in education. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Education Equity: An Evaluation of Present Conditions: Will the US Be Able to Be an Educational Leader?

COVID-19 resulted in school closures on a global scale. However, the most significant closures appear to be in North America. Educational disruption is anticipated to impact educational attainment in terms of drop-out rates but more significantly with respect to exacerbating pre-pandemic educational inequity and corresponding poverty. This discussion evaluates the impact of COVID-19 on the United States through a case-study review of Sri Lanka, Turkey, and Latvia. The case studies highlight that poor and marginalized populations irrespective of geography are vulnerable to economic shocks. Further, COVID-19 has prompted greater transparency of the inequities faced by marginalized groups and by doing so, increased the visibility of the need for intervention. Through an evaluation of literacy, the discussion addresses the impact of normalized US racism on educational equity and economic growth and highlights how a legacy of race-based policies may impact the resiliency of the United States specific to the present pandemic. Copyright © 2021, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.

Sustainable crises management in education during COVID-19

COVID-19 has been a global disruptor. In many cases due to uncertainty and limited information, the pandemic has created chaos across business and private activity;education is no exception. The reality of the limited flexibility of existing systems of teaching was immediately acknowledged by the closure of physical facilities and the subsequent migration to online teaching. However, in spite of technologies to enable remote participation, it has become apparent that the capacity for learning in an autonomous environment is not homogeneous. From this perspective the pandemic created an opportunity to assess education infrastructure in real time as part of on-going crisis management. This paper explores aspects of crisis management in education as precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic in Latvia and relates the mitigation and adaptation policies subsequently adopted to a holistic sustainability agenda for education. The research method employed in this study consists of semi structured interviews with the management team members from eight educational institutions. The interviews focus on the crisis management strategies and approaches implemented in their schools during the COVID-19 pandemic. The discussion concludes with a connection between crisis management and educational sustainability and sets an agenda for future research. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021.