CONFERENCE
On 19 August 2026, the fifth meeting in the “Learning School” series of experience-sharing seminars was held at Draudzīgā Aicinājuma Cēsu State Gymnasium, bringing together school leadership teams from more than 60 schools across Latvia. The seminar was organised in cooperation with the IT Education Foundation “Start(IT)” to promote discussion on implementing the “school as a learning organisation” (SLO) approach in the management of Latvian educational institutions.
For the second consecutive year, the IT Education Foundation, together with experienced school leaders and representatives of leadership teams from Draudzīgā Aicinājuma Cēsu State Gymnasium, Rīgas Teikas Secondary School, Limbažu State Gymnasium and other schools, has been running the “Learning School” seminar series. Its aim is to strengthen school leadership teams’ understanding of the school as a learning organisation by offering both theoretical insights and practical solutions and examples for their implementation in schools’ day-to-day work.
The focus of this meeting was one of the key dimensions of the SLO approach – fostering team learning. Participants had the opportunity to explore current research findings on teachers’ professional learning and its importance in developing a learning organisation.
The seminar featured a presentation by Associate Professor Dr paed. Gunta Siliņa-Jasjukeviča of the University of Latvia, who introduced participants to the key findings of the State Research Programme “Education” project “Elaboration of evidence-based solutions for effective professional competence development of adults and assessment of the transfer of its results into practice in Latvia” (project No. VPP-IZM-Izglītība-2023/4-0001). The presentation highlighted the research findings on teacher team learning, as well as the tools developed to assess the transfer of professional development outcomes into practice.
The seminar demonstrated growing interest in an evidence-based approach to teachers’ professional development and school development, highlighting the importance of collaboration and team learning in ensuring high-quality education.
