After several years spent in Ireland, filled with both professional challenges and significant personal life events, Kristīne Balta has returned to Latvia to contribute her international experience to the development of education in the region. Having won an open competition, she has recently begun her work at the Aizkraukle Municipality Education Administration.
Ireland was not unfamiliar to Kristīne. Already during her university years, she travelled there during summer breaks to earn money for her studies. Later, after getting married, she and her husband Jānis moved to Ireland with a clear goal – to work and save in order to build their own home in Latvia. During this time, their two sons – Hugo and Juris – were born. Kristīne expresses deep gratitude to Ireland, acknowledging that it was there that her family had the opportunity to welcome their children at a time when it likely would not have been possible in Latvia.
The family returned to Latvia when Kristīne’s husband was diagnosed with a serious illness. After several years of fighting the disease, Jānis passed away, and since then Kristīne has been raising her sons on her own. Two years ago, the family returned to Ireland once again – this time for the future of her eldest son, Hugo. He had decided to pursue higher education in Ireland, and to give him the best possible chances of entering his chosen university, Kristīne moved back to Ireland together with both sons.
Currently, Hugo is finishing secondary school in Ireland and is preparing for his final exams to achieve the required scores for university admission. Kristīne notes that while it is technically possible to enter Irish universities with a Latvian secondary school diploma, the existing recognition system significantly limits access to more prestigious study programmes. While Kristīne and her younger son have now returned to Latvia, Hugo, having reached adulthood, has remained in Ireland to complete his studies and continue his path toward higher education.
Kristīne is one of the few education professionals who has worked within and gained hands-on experience in both the Latvian and Irish education systems. Her professional background includes roles as a teacher, school principal, mentor for young teachers, and expert at the University of Latvia, as well as, over the past two years, a position as an administrator at a secondary school in Ireland. This experience has given her a nuanced perspective on the strengths and challenges of both systems.
She emphasizes that commonly heard claims about one country’s education system being superior to another are often superficial. In Latvia, education is broader and more comprehensive, while in Ireland it is more academically in-depth. In Latvia, students study a wide range of subjects simultaneously, whereas in Ireland a smaller number of subjects allows for deeper understanding – often at a level comparable to higher education in Latvia. At the same time, Kristīne highly values Latvia’s system of free consultations and the wide range of extracurricular education opportunities, which provide additional support and development paths for children.
Returning to Latvia, Kristīne brings not only international experience but also a clear belief in the importance of education for societal development, the prestige of the teaching profession, and the need to build respectful relationships between schools, parents, and students. She believes that education is not just a system or programme – it is a shared responsibility and a long-term investment in the future.
This experience is now being put into practice in her new role. At the end of January, Kristīne took a step toward new challenges and began her work as Head of the Education Administration of Aizkraukle Municipality.
Kristīne Balta’s professional and personal journey demonstrates that international experience and strong roots in Latvia can not only coexist but also complement one another.