PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS IN ADULT EDUCATION IN LATVIA: CASE STUDY OF THE ZEMGALE PLANNING REGION

Adult education is vital in a postmodern society; it allows not only to improve the individual's personality, but also to maintain competitiveness in the labour market.Latvia has not fulfilled its task in adult education -there is no umbrella law (Adult Education Law) in place that would allow for the planned organization of education in each Latvian municipality.The coordination of adult educators in each municipality differs, preventing interested individuals from developing and engaging in lifelong learning evenly.There is also a question about the financial aspect, about accessibility in terms of distance to the place of study, about the availability of tools for a quality training process.By learning, a person affects not only his own quality of life; he also affects the quality of life of the entire society.Adult education implies processes, structures, and institutions that are created to promote adult education.Research aim is to explore issues and solutions in adult education within the Zemgale planning region, in order to develop proposals for improving adult education from the perspective of stakeholders.The study, which took place in 2024, used qualitative research methods, focus group interviews with learners and semi-structured interviews with other stakeholders -Latvia's Adult Education Association and the agents from municipalities of the Zemgale planning region.The research concludes that the most widespread problem in adult education is a lack of strategy at all responsible levels, with main issues including coordination deficiencies among providers, difficulties in reaching the target audience due to logistical matters, and insufficient resources allocated to adult education.The results indicate that municipalities in the Zemgale planning region display significantly different models in the planning and organization of adult education processes in the districts, which leads to suboptimal use of local institutions for promoting adult education availability and long-term unbalanced approaches to adult education policy and management by sectors and regions, including the planning and implementation of European Union resource grants by state institutions not delegated to planning regions and municipal NGOs.The proposed solutions include better coordination at the regional level, strategic planning, and investment in adult education resources, as well as innovative approaches to engaging the community in adult education processes.