VALUES OF EDUCATION IN EUROPE AFTER WORLD WAR I IN NEWLY CREATED COUNTRIES – EXAMPLE OF LATVIA

Abstract

The First World War (1914 - 1918) strengthened the idea of self-determination of nations in Europe, while the end of the war created favourable conditions for the creation of new states, including the proclamation of the Republic of Latvia on November 18, 1918. The creation of an independent Latvia State for the first time gave an opportunity to create an education system based on national interests. As a result, the Latvia education system during the period from 1919 to 1934 was transformed according to socioeconomic and political changes, creating for the first time a national education system based on the innovative pedagogical ideas of the given era. Basically, during the period of Latvia's first free state, in the democratic regime, the education system, in compliance with trends in Europe, was dominated by reform pedagogy. The purpose of the article is, based on the content analysis of periodicals and historical sources, to identify the existing values of Latvia education (school pedagogy) during the democratic period from 1919 to 1934, in the context of European educational values. As a result of the theoretical research, based on the content analysis of periodicals and historical sources, the following educational values have been identified as the most important: creativity; discipline; obedience of students; kindness; humility; individualization; personality of the teacher; professional mastery of the teacher; love of the fatherland.