The aspect of culture in the social inclusion of ethnic minorities: evaluation of the impact of inclusion policies under the open method of co-ordination in the European Union ; assessing the cultural policies of six member states ; final report Latvia

Abstract

'The aim of the project is the evaluation of the cultural policies of the National Action Plans (NAPs) on Social Inclusion under the European Union's Open Method of Coordination (OMC) in six member states: Estonia, Latvia, Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, Slovenia and Sweden. The project evaluates the effectiveness of cultural policies of the NAPs aimed at the social inclusion of ethnic minorities by identifying appropriate indicators - a set of Common Inter-Cultural Indicators (CICIs) feasible for cost-effectiveness analyses, and using a cost-effectiveness evaluation approach. Latvia is traditionally a multiethnic society. Before restoration of independence in 1990 and as a result of the ethnic policy of the USSR, the proportion of multiethnic minorities comprised of 48% of the total population. It has diminished since, but ethnic and social integration is still a very important part of the national policy. Societal integration is oriented towards the individual and mutual understanding and cooperation between different groups, based on Latvian language as the state language as well as on the loyalty towards the Latvian state. For an individual, integration is an increased opportunity to experience one's human rights and freedom, as well as to increase participation in social and political life. Of the minority cultural policies - culture, education, mass media and social participation - that are aimed at social inclusion of minorities, the Latvia language and education policy has been the most important recently, as education reform has been implemented and bilingual education programmes, which began in 1999, have been introduced in minority schools. In this report, we will first provide a brief overview of the ethnic composition of the population of Latvia. Then, we will explore the relationship between the language, education and social inclusion policies in Latvia, and NAP (2004-2006) and related policy documents regulating the minority culture and social inclusion policies in Latvia. Then, we will describe the situation of the education system in Latvia and the history of implementation of bilingual education policy as well as the legal acts regulating the process. We will also discuss the methodology applied to the focus groups and for the choice and calculation of cost-effectiveness analysis indicators. It is important to use both the qualitative evaluation method as well as to calculate the indicators, as implementation of the education reform is still on going, and only evaluation of mid-term results can be given. Finally, the results of the focus groups and cost-effectiveness analysis of the implementation of bilingual education in Latvia along with relevant conclusions will be drawn both on the implementation of the policy and the indicators to be applied for evaluation of effectiveness of the education policy.' (excerpt)