The current period describes the impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing economic crisis on businesses and the lives of citizens. It has accelerated digital transformation in all areas. The work and learning of many individuals have moved to the digital environment. In order to use digital technologies, employees need to acquire new knowledge and skills. The aim of this research study is to perform an analysis of the development of digital transformation and relevant competencies for employees and to identify the opportunities and challenges in Latvia. The research methodology applied for this research study is based on examining relevant theoretical concepts and publications of the EU regarding digital transformation. A survey method was used to find out the opinions of Latvian employers regarding the importance of digital transformation and relevant competencies for employees. The analysis of the research indicated that the majority of the respondents surveyed rated the level of implementation of digital transformation as high or medium-high, which shows that this is a good trend, and the digitalization process continues to progress. However, about a third of enterprises are only at the early stage of digitalization, while some have not yet begun it. The problem is the development of human capital competencies and digital skills. This is a specific research study that expands and provides insights into the situation in Latvia on the possibilities of implementation of digital transformation, which is closely linked with the development of human capital competencies and digital skills. This requires maintaining a holistic approach to targeted digital transformation management.

This systematic review explores key characteristics of effective vocational education and training (VET) teachers’ professional development and the transfer of its results into educational practice. Through thematic analysis of 24 journal articles indexed in Scopus and/or Web of Science from 2014 to 2024, the review identifies ten features of effective professional development and eight attributes supporting its transfer to practice. Effective professional development and its transfer emphasise reflection, engagement in professional communities of practice, and targeted approaches that address VET teachers’ needs. While effective professional development focuses on providing relevant, active, and collaborative learning experiences, effective transfer to practice places additional emphasis on teachers’ capacity, transformative leadership, personally significant, authentic, transformative, and supportive learning experiences that ensure new knowledge and skills are effectively applied in daily professional activities. This review offers recommendations to enhance the systematic organisation of professional development, promoting more targeted approaches to improve teaching quality in VET.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to identify the problems and possibilities for development of innovative start-ups in Latvia.Design/methodology/approach: To achieve the aim of this study, a survey of Latvia’s high school students in 2015 (n= 5,910) was undertaken by an online questionnaire within a financial skill built-up contest “New Financial Expert 2016” held by the Financial Institute of Swedbank (Swedbank survey, 2016). Further, Latvia University of Agriculture master students (n= 97) were interviewed in the year 2016 to identify master students opinion about necessary support for entrepreneurship, future services or goods with potentially high added value and find out their readiness for innovative action.Findings: A comparative analysis of data of the master student interviews and the survey of Latvia’s high school students showed that most of the youth associated their entrepreneurship prospects with innovative ideas, new technologies and new skills. The results of the research indicated that the foundation of start-up enterprises in Latvia led to positive results and gave an impulse to increasing economic activities as there were the necessary preconditions for their development.Originality/value: The studies are mostly dedicated to start-ups that are less likely to innovate and have linked the concept of the start-up with business incubation. Unlike other studies, this is a specific research that provides insights into the situation in Latvia and is directed toward building innovative start-up enterprises that should be linked with the growth-oriented new technology, globalization and global market with a focus on innovation. Thus, research findings contribute to extant research on the possibilities of development of innovative start-up enterprises in Latvia and advance the present understanding of the main problems in the creation of new innovative start-ups.

The economic crises of recent years, the COVID-19 pandemic and growing dissatisfaction with the quality of education have proved that national education systems throughout the world require large-scale transformations. Effective implementation of these large-scale reforms also requires highly qualified professionals. Latvia has introduced reforms targeting issues in educational philosophy, teaching content, pedagogical approach and school management. The School as a Learning Organisation (SLO) model, which envisages continuous individual and collective learning of all stakeholders involved in the education process, has currently come into the spotlight of policy makers. The SLO consists of seven dimensions: (1) developing and sharing a vision centred on the learning of all students; (2) creating and supporting continuous learning opportunities for all staff; (3) promoting team learning and collaboration among all staff; (4) establishing a culture of inquiry, innovation and exploration; (5) embedding systems for collecting and exchanging knowledge and learning; (6) learning with and from the external environment and larger learning system; and (7) modelling and growing learning leadership. It is characterised by a broad set of performance indicators, the deeper understanding of which requires academic and practical knowledge. The purpose of the current study is to examine the perceptions of representatives of education policy institutions to predict the efficacy of the SLO implementation in Latvia. Three semi-structured focus group discussions were conducted with the participants and deductive and inductive content analyses were carried out. The findings showed that policy makers highlighted “promoting team learning and collaboration among all staff” and “modelling and growing learning leadership” dimensions as the most important and best understood dimensions of the SLO. On the contrary, “embedding systems for collecting and exchanging knowledge and learning” was the least understood dimension by education policy makers. The results of the study indicate that a comprehensive understanding of the SLO model is necessary in order to implement it effectively and for its implementation to promote the transformation of education in Latvia.

The purpose of the study was to examine the relationship between the school as a learning organisation (SLO) and teacher job satisfaction in general education in Latvia. This study also examined teacher job satisfaction depending on the school type (primary, elementary and secondary school), school size, the geographical location of the school, the teacher’s work experience, the teacher’s workload and whether the teacher’s has one or more jobs. A structured questionnaire on the eight dimensions of the Latvian SLO model was used, which was developed within the project, “A model and tool to support the implementation of the approach school as a learning organisation in educational institutions”. The study sample included 478 teachers from 62 general educational institutions in Latvia. A significant relationship was found between all SLO dimensions and teacher job satisfaction in general education in Latvia. A significant relationship was not found between teacher job satisfaction and the school type, the school size, the geographical location of the school and the teacher’s work experience and workload; however, the data reveal that teachers who have almost full-time or full-time employment at school and those who work in only one school are more satisfied with their work.

The aim of this study is to carry out an analysis on the implementation of the principles of sustainable leadership in the tourism information centres of Latvian State cities in order to promote the visibility of the territory they represent. This article presents an analysis of the literature on sustainable leadership and visibility of the territories, and provides characteristics of the sector represented by the tourism information centres of Latvian State cities. To identify the possible solutions to the improvement of sustainable leadership principles in the tourism information centres of Latvian State cities, we analysed the following: the implementation of sustainable leadership principles; and the views of the cooperation partners on the visibility of the tourism information centres in their areas, and the promotion of the territory they represent. The results of the study indicate that, based on the assessment of the cooperation partners, the principles of sustainable leadership are generally applied in only three (out of ten) tourism information centres. It was concluded that the application of sustainable leadership principles in the tourism information centres would promote smooth entry into priority target markets and the fastest possible initiation of promotion activities in secondary target markets, which soon could potentially rank on the list of priority target markets, in order to replace one audience with another due to the changing geopolitical situation in the world.