2019

Biology Teacher of Zemgale Secondary School Receives the Excellence Award

The energy and inspiration that teachers give to address their students every day, urging them to get up from their usual school benches and lift their eyes up from the textbooks are worthy of the Excellence Award. Encouraging school students to acquire different subjects and forest management sciences in nature, JSC "Latvia's State Forests" (LVM) has the honour to congratulate Sintija Valucka, biology teacher at Zemgale Secondary School - the recipient of the Excellence Award. Congratulations!

Zemgale Secondary School biology teacher, who is also an active member of the “Mission Possible” movement, is happy to spend her free time walking in the forest, capturing the beauty of nature in photographies. It gives both inspiration and opportunity to discover and study.

"By supporting the best teachers in Latvia, we, JSC "Latvia'a State Forests" (LVM), promote awareness of the growing role of forest resources in solving today's environmental problems. More than half of Latvia's territory is covered by forests, and foresters centuries long have been taking care of them. We implement sustainable forest management in state forests, thus meeting both today's and future requirements," says Līga Abizāre, Head of LVM School Programme.

Of the more than 300 applications received by teachers from all over Latvia this year, the finalists of the Excellence Award met at Riga Teika Secondary School on 19 February to demonstrate their classes. Biology teachers in an innovative and exciting way held a class on human impact on ecosystems.

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At the award ceremony that took place at the University of Latvia, the President of Latvia Raimonds Vejonis emphasised that the Excellence Award is a great opportunity to thank the teachers. He also appreciated that every teacher of engineering sciences and natural sciences is looking for a modern approach and new ways to interest students in learning how to discover students' talents and develop them to bring the name of Latvia to the world.

Winners of the Excellence Award 2018:

The Excellence Award is awarded for teachers' work in the classroom, not depending on the results achieved by students in examinations or competitions. Candidates for this award are proposed by current and former students, colleagues, school management, as well as other interested persons.

LVM highly values the work done by teachers; therefore, each year the company organises professional development courses for teachers. In these courses, company's experts share their experiences and tell the participants about the processes taking place in the forest, about sustainable forest management, which is ensured in the areas managed by LVM, as well as offer ideas for learning outside the usual school premises - in nature. Technologies, cooperation, understanding of regularities in life - perhaps these are the values that encourage the majority of young people to be active and reach more and more. Every year, LVM invites school children to make a short video story for the LVM Forest Game educational game contest; in turn, secondary school students have an opportunity to create educational posters for the the LVM Bio-economy scholarship contest.

The Excellence Award is organised by the Interdisciplinary Centre for Educational Innovation of the University of Latvia in cooperation with the National Centre for Education; donations were administered by the Foundation of the University of Latvia.