Quality and Transparency in VET: New Challenges for Public Administrations in Latvia

AbstractThe main problem discussed in the paper is the new challenges for public administration of vocational education and training (VET) due to innovations and globalization. Most of the attention in the paper is paid to the readiness of entrepreneurs jointly with municipalities to participate in the preparation of future qualified specialists. Co-operation among various educational establishments, the local government and the employers is crucial. A much neglected aspect still is the co-operation between VET and higher education (HE) institutions – which the authors see as a real driving force for the success of local partnerships to promote regional economic development with respective training of modern labour force at all levels. For the empirical research focus group discussions with public administration representatives, educators and entrepreneurs, as well as survey of entrepreneurs was used. The aim of the empirical study was to investigate the employers’ opinions and readiness at regional level to support the learners – the future labour force. The discussion on ‘common language’ was initiated at the focus group discussion. This requires further investigation for application at regional level with the involvement of all the relevant stakeholders