The average age of teachers in Valmiera is 47.7 years, with the majority aged between 50 and 60. A recent study concluded that the most difficult situation will be in three years' time, when many teachers will retire.
"The vacancies are primary education teachers, teachers of STEM subjects including chemistry, physics, biology, geography, and mathematics. Support staff are also being sought - a psychologist, a social worker, a special needs teacher and a speech therapist," said Sandra Purmale, deputy head of the Valmiera Regional Education Board.
There are constant advertisements inviting teachers to work, but it is not easy to find new teachers.
In the new school year, Strenči Primary School will have about 190 pupils. Several solutions have been found to provide them with a complete curriculum. For example, it is "organizing cyber lessons together with Datorium specialists, which means that instead of a colleague teaching a lesson remotely alone to several hundred young people in Latvia, it is a team effort, with a professional person delivering the content," explained Dace Gaigala, Director of Strenči Primary School.
"The second one is moderating an interactive conversation with each of the participants. Studio moderator. And the third is the person who works with the demonstrations during the narration. Fantastic visualization!" said Director Dace Gaigala.
The second solution is for schools to work together, allowing teachers to work in more than one educational institution. And the third is to attract students.
"Young students prefer to start methodologically and collaboratively in a medium-sized class like we have - up to, say, 22-24 pupils," said Dace Gaigala.
In Valmiera, 13.6% of all teachers are pre-retirement age. 7.2% are retired. According to the teacher vacancies portal "Esi skolotājs!" portal, there are 429 vacancies in Latvia.
