Kopelovich (Kopelowitsch) (née Maizel) Anna Zalmanovna (b. 1938) — educator, pedagogue, professor.

Anna Kopelovich was born into a teacher’s family. In 1956, she graduated from Riga Secondary School No. 34. In 1961, she completed her studies at the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of the University of Latvia. She began her teaching career immediately afterward, working at an evening school in Valmiera. From 1963, she taught at Riga Secondary School No. 2, where she later served as deputy principal for academic and educational affairs.

In 1973, she entered postgraduate studies at the USSR Academy of Pedagogical Sciences and, in 1976, defended her Ph.D. (Candidate of Sciences) thesis on methods of teaching physics. The same year, she began working at the Institute for Teacher Professional Development, later transferring to a research institute, where from 1986 she headed the Department for Labor Education.

Starting in 1988, she lectured at the University of Latvia. In 1990, she was elected Associate Professor of the Faculty of Education. In 1992, she earned a Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences degree in Latvia, and in 1993 was awarded the degree of Habilitated Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences for her dissertation “Formation of Personality in the Process of Labor Training within the General Education System.”

Since 1995, she has been Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Education and Psychology at the University of Latvia. For many years she has taught general pedagogy and didactics, and supervised doctoral, master’s, and bachelor’s theses.

In 1991, together with H. Bregman and A. Losev, she co-authored the foundational principles of the Jewish national school in Latvia. She has participated in numerous international conferences and symposia and is the author of two monographs and about 100 scholarly publications on various aspects of pedagogy.

Selected works:

Organizational and Pedagogical Problems in the Work of Inter-School Educational and Production Complexes (Организационно-педагогические проблемы деятельности межшкольных учебно-производственных комбинатов). Riga: Ministry of Education of the Latvian SSR, 1981.

Labor Education and Training in Inter-School Educational and Production Complexes (Трудовое воспитание и обучение в межшкольных учебно-производственных комбинатах). Riga: “Zvaigzne,” 1986.

Some Contradictions and Prospects of Jewish Education in Latvia Jews in a Changing World (Некоторые противоречия и перспективы еврейского образования в Латвии Евреи в меняющемся мире). Riga: Shamir Foundation, 1998.

Jewish Education in Latvia in the 1920s under the Parliamentary Republic (with L. Zhukov) Jews in a Changing World (Образование евреев в Латвии в 20-е гг. в условиях парламентской республики Евреи в меняющемся мире).(with L. Zhukov) Riga: Shamir Foundation, 2002.

Skolotāju izglītība dažādos Latvijas vēsturiskajos posmos Skolotājs. 1999, No. 5. Skolotāju izglītība Latvijā līdz 1940. gadam (with L. Zhukov) Skolotāju izglītība Latvijā. Vēsturiskās pieredzes rakstu krājums. Rīga: RAKA, 2001.

Pedagoģijas zinātnes priekšmets un apakšnozares (with L. Zhukov) Latvijas Zinātņu Akadēmijas Vēstis, 2001, Vol. 55, No. 1/2 (No. 612/613). Studentu aktivizēšanas iespējas studiju procesā (with L. Zhukov) Izglītības zinātne un pedagoģija mūsdienu pasaulē: LU PPF Zinātniskie raksti. Rīga: Latvijas Universitāte, 2002.

Entwicklung der Verantwortungsfähigkeit zukünftiger Lehrer (with L. Zhukov) LU Zinātniskie raksti, Vol. 635, “Izglītības zinātnes un pedagoģija mūsdienu pasaulē.” Rīga: LU, 2001. Literature: Staris A. Anna Kopeloviča Pedagoģiskā doma Latvijā no 1940. g. līdz mūsu dienām. Rīga, 1998.