THE DIVERSITY OF EDUCATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL MODELS OF LATVIAN RURAL SCHOOLS

Abstract

Theongoing changes that are connected with demographic, economic, social and eveneducational crises influence the action of Latvian rural schools and thereforeendanger their viability and sustainability in the future perspective. There ishappening the schools’ network optimization that affects Latvian rural schoolsthat is why they are reorganized or closed in rural areas of the country. Theauthors of the article have been researching Latvian rural schools’ fluctuationbased on the ecological approach and the following viewpoints that rural schoolis: 1) an educational environment; 2) a live organism that tries to survive inchanging conditions; 3) an educational environment as self-organising,self-developing, self-evaluating system of educational environment. The aim ofthe article is to popularize the results of empirical researches in theconnection with the diversity of educational environmental models of Latvianrural schools. KEYWORDS:educational environmental models, ecological approach, educational environment,rural schools, sustainability, viability.