Skola 2030: 32 years of reforms in Latvian education
What the statistics record — and how it was discussed publicly.
The competency approach will let pupils prepare better for life and work in a changing world.
In audit Nr. 2.4.1-65/2024 (published 18.02.2026) the State Audit Office concludes that Latvia and its municipalities have not established preconditions for every child to receive equally high-quality basic education in the school nearest to their residence. The common standard is implemented unevenly: lesson volume, assessment approaches and access to support staff differ substantially. The audit issued 10 recommendations to the Ministry of Education and Science.
After the VK audit, State Education Development Agency head Dita Ozola publicly affirmed that the agency has no plan to draft a wholly new basic-education standard — the existing one will be amended gradually through 2030. Minister Melbārde in the same period speaks of developing a 'new standard', but no such plan exists at agency or Skola2030 level. The foundations of the competency approach remain; the changes are clarifications (intended outcomes, AI integration, reorganisation of topic sequences in mathematics). This position parallels the 2017 Skola 2030 launch-time argument that the competency approach is an 8–12 year structural change whose results appear only long-term.
In a TV3 publication of 18.02.2026 the audit's outcome is interpreted as the failure of the Skola 2030 reform. The responsible ministry, by the authors' assessment, hides behind funding-shortage excuses and refuses responsibility for the reform's outcome. This is a media frame echoed by jauns.lv, LV portāls and others; it is stronger than the State Audit Office's own formal finding. As of 2026-05-24 the original TV3 headline is no longer visible on the live page — the publisher has softened it to 'A worrying trend…', but the URL slug preserves the original framing and the existence of the frame is documented.
In a clarification of 19.03.2026 the State Audit Office emphasised that the audit evaluated only two elements — the basic-education teaching process and management — but not the content and environment of teaching. The office also stated that it did not recommend developing a new basic-education standard. The media framing of 'Skola 2030 failed' is not the audit's finding.
LIZDA chair Inga Vanaga (quoting a Latvian Radio interview retold by LSM on 11.03.2026) emphasises that teachers are burnt out after Skola 2030 was rolled out without the necessary teaching materials. Drafting a new standard, however noble and well-funded, would become 'yet another shake-up of the sector' — additional disruption, not a solution. LIZDA calls for a 'cosmetic refit' — refining the existing standard rather than starting from scratch. At the same time the union demands clear accountability for which people who drafted the previous Skola 2030 standard would become the authors of the new edition.
"to foster the formation of a competent, competitive professional"
The competency approach will let pupils prepare better for life and work in a changing world.
The draft law's goal — "to foster the formation of a competent, competitive professional" — was embedded in the 1998 Education Law's foundation and the 1999 General Education Law's standards. But "competency approach" was never operationalised in detail — that was left to standards and methodologists. Between 1995 and 2000 the Ministry was led by nine different ministers. The term "competent" settled into documents and returned 22 years later as Skola 2030's central slogan.