HOLISTIC DEVELOPMENT OF SELF-DIRECTED LEARNING SKILLS IN PRIMARY SCHOOL FOR CLASS 1 TO 3 STUDENTS: CASE STUDY EXAMPLE

Abstract

The paradigm of the 21st century education focuses on the development of each person's ability to adapt to life in the rapidly changing world. Latvia has been implementing a comprehensive education reform since 2016, the aim of which is to ensure the transition to competency-based education. Purposeful development of transversal skills, including self-directed learning, has been acknowledged as important.Self-directed learning skills have traditionally been associated with adult education (Knowles, 1975; Saks & Leijen, 2014). However, currently the issue of the development of self-directed learning skills at an early school age is increasingly being raised and considered.A gradual transition to the new curriculum model in the Class 1-3 group has been taking place for the second year since 2020, whereas no in-depth research has been conducted on the effectiveness of the initiated reform in the context of self-directed learning skills development.At the theoretical level, the development of self-directed learning skills in an educational institution is associated with teacher-student interaction, where the role of the teacher in the learning process management decreases over time, but planning and support remains at three levels: school-teacher-student.The goal of the research: with the help of case studies, provide feedback on the progress of the initiated reform in relation to the efficiency of self-directed learning in the Class 1-3 groups at three levels: the school is represented by representatives of education management, teachers - Class1-3 teachers, who have secured their expertise of the educational process in training methodological seminars, but students' performance, skills and attitudes have been collated on the basis of document analysis.Applying quantitative and qualitative research methods with the analysis of surveys, interviews and documents, a comparative analysis has been performed in order to approbate and prepare the methodological basis of a comprehensive research for the study of self-directed learning in Latvia general education schools.