- 2019Design
- 2020Design
- 2021Design
- 2022Design
- 2023Implementation
- 2024Implementation
Background
Vocational education and training (VET) programmes are funded in accordance with the 2007 government regulation (No 655). In October 2019, an agreement and a protocol of disagreements were signed between the Cabinet of Ministers and the Union of Local Governments of Latvia, which envisages the development of a new concept.
Objectives
To review and increase the basic funding of VET programmes.
To ensure that VET providers under the auspices of local governments and other founders are eligible to receive State budget financing.
Description
In 2019, a focus group was established to revise the basic funding for VET programmes in line with actual costs. The Union of Local Governments of Latvia, the Ministry of Education and Science, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Culture participated in the group work.
Drafting the concept for revising the VET financing model started in 2019.
A working group meeting was held in June 2020 to discuss the key concepts (to increase the basic funding of VET programmes and to develop proposals for the procedure by which VET institutions of local governments and other founders may receive State budget financing for VET implementation) and framework of the conceptual report on funding of vocational education. In November 2020, the conceptual report was submitted to the government for the first discussion.
In 2021, the draft concept was discussed with the relevant stakeholders.
In February 2022, the Cabinet of Ministers approved the concept, which includes proposals for the development of VET funding, enabling the education ministry to apply for additional State budget financing for priority measures in 2022.
Applications for priority measures were submitted to the Ministry of Finance in July 2022. These were mainly aimed at increasing base funding, the number of state-funded places in VET programmes as well as funding for the implementation of internships and work-based learning.
However, applications for priority measures in VET were not supported by the government and so did not receive funding for the implementation of the concept.
Applications for priority measures were submitted to the Ministry of Finance in June 2023. The focused on increasing the base funding, growth of the number of state-funded places in VET programmes as well as financing internships and work-based learning. The applications for priority measures in VET were not supported by the government.
However, the discussion on the funding of VET continued with the government and social partners (employers' and trade unions).
Amendments to the government regulation No 655 'Regulations on minimum costs of implementation of vocational education programmes per student' were submitted to the government for approval. They aimed to increase the base funding of vocational education by 20% in accordance with their actual implementation cost. The government accepted a partial increase in base funding given the fiscal constraints.
Cabinet of Ministers Regulation No 146, 5 March 2024 was adopted, establishing the criteria and procedure for insuring students of vocational education institutions against accidents during education process. In contrast to the previous regulation, when students were insured only for the period of apprenticeship and in certain qualifications, now VET students are insured for the entire period of study (because apprenticeships can be implemented flexibly during the study) and in all qualifications
Bodies responsible
- Ministry of Education and Science
Target groups
Education professionals
- Teachers
- Trainers
Entities providing VET
- VET providers (all kinds)
Other stakeholders
- National, regional and local authorities
Thematic categories
Governance of VET and lifelong learning
This thematic category looks at existing legal frameworks providing for strategic, operational – including quality assurance – and financing arrangements for VET and lifelong learning (LLL). It examines how VET and LLL-related policies are placed in broad national socioeconomic contexts and coordinate with other strategies and policies, such as economic, social and employment, growth and innovation, recovery and resilience.
This thematic category covers partnerships and collaboration networks of VET stakeholders – especially the social partners – to shape and implement VET in a country, including looking at how their roles and responsibilities for VET at national, regional and local levels are shared and distributed, ensuring an appropriate degree of autonomy for VET providers to adapt their offer.
The thematic category also includes efforts to create national, regional and sectoral skills intelligence systems (skills anticipation and graduate tracking) and using skills intelligence for making decisions about VET and LLL on quality, inclusiveness and flexibility.
This thematic sub-category refers to the ways VET is funded at the system level. Policies include optimisation of VET provider funding that allows them to adapt their offer to changing skill needs, green and digital transitions, the social agenda and economic cycles, e.g. increasing the funding for VET or for specific programmes. They can also concern changing the mechanism of how the funding is allocated to VET schools (per capita vs based on achievement or other criteria). Using EU funds and financial instruments for development of VET and skills also falls into this sub-category.
European priorities in VET
VET Recommendation
- VET agile in adapting to labour market challenges
Subsystem
Further reading
Country
Type of development
Cedefop, & ReferNet. (2025). Making VET financing model flexible and performance-based: Latvia. In Cedefop, & ReferNet. (2025). Timeline of VET policies in Europe (2024 update) [Online tool].
https://www.cedefop.europa.eu/en/tools/timeline-vet-policies-europe/search/36368