The growing number of studies stresses the importance of social investment at an early age by showing that social investment at this period has the highest returns in human capital. The main instrument of social investment at an early age is high quality early childhood education and care services. The aim of the research was to identify whether the first signs of social investment return could be observed in Latvia, since statistic data showed that there was an expansion of early childhood education and care services over the last decades, especially for children until obligatory pre-school age. Research results showed that positive connection could be observed between pre-school attendance rate and fertility rate, female and overall employment rate, average earning, etc. However, no connection could be observed when it came to education outcomes in the short term. The author recommends conducting more research regarding service quality and investment return in the future.

INTRODUCTION In recent years, more attention has been paid to social investment policies, especially the importance of investment in early childhood. A growing number of studies have shown that social investment at an early age has the highest returns in human capital and the main social investment instrument in this period of life is high-quality early childhood education and care services (hereafter – ECEC services). The importance of social investment in early childhood has been stressed in both Latvian and EU planning documents. One of the policy priorities defined by both the EC and the EP in order to meet the Europe2020 targets is to “ensure universal provision of ECEC”. Previous research has shown that the successful implementation of social investment at an early age reduces crime, increases the future number of school graduates and skilled workers, and also brings individual benefits - better health, greater civil and social involvement. However, since most of these studies have been conducted in the US there is a lack of empirical research on social investment returns in Europe, and in Latvia,. Until now, social investment returns have not been researched in Latvia. The aim of this research is to see if early signs of positive change as a result of social investment can be observed, given that statistical data shows an expansion of ECEC in recent years in Latvia, especially for children who have not yet started compulsory education. The ECEC attendance rate has grown from 44.42% in 2010 to 54.43% in 2017. MATERIALS AND METHODS In this the study the author has analysed whether or not positive connections can be observed between ECEC attendance rate and eight indicators that have been positively connected with ECEC attendance rate in previous studies - educational attainments (3rdgrade test results), school graduation rate, average income, teen pregnancy rate, fertility rate, female workforce participation rate, overall labour-force participation rate and crime rate. To achieve the aims of the study, analyses of policy documents, previous research and statistical data were carried out. SPSS Software was used for data editing and analysis. Statistical data were analysed from the period 2010-2017, with exceptions in the case of high school graduation rate (2011-2017) and educational attainment (2012-2017) due to the lack of open access data available on these topics. To gain a deeper understanding of the research results that are connected with educational outcomes, 14 secondary school teachers from two schools in Valmiera were surveyed. RESULTS Research results show that in recent years a positive connection can be observed in Latvia between the ECEC attendance rate and fertility rate (0.879), female employment (0.981), overall employment (0.980), average income (0.955) and teen pregnancy (-0.967). Results show that ECEC services can be one of the factors that have positively influenced these indicators. A weaker connection can be observed when we look at the high school graduation rate (0.703) and crime level reduction (-0.786). However, research results showed that there is no connection between ECEC attendance rate and educational attainment (average state examination results of 3rd graders in mathematics (-0.110) and learning language (0.111)). CONCLUSION There has been an increase in social investment in early age in Latvia, and it has already had some economic and socio-economic outcomes. However, despite the fact that literature suggests the effect of ECEC on educational attainment can be observed the earliest, results showed that this is not true in the case of Latvia. Surveys of 1st-grade teachers suggested that this kind of situation may occur due to ECEC quality problems, so further studies in this field should be carried out.

Previous researches show, that social investments in early childhood (until age of 6) are very important, and one of the main types of social investment in this period of time is quality early childhood education and care services (henceforth – ECEC services). Social investments in early childhood have the highest return in human capital, especially for disadvantaged groups of the society. Literature suggests that positive effect of available and qualitative ECEC services can be observed in many areas of life, for example, through improved education indicators, increased participation of the women in the labour market, increased work productivity, higher birth rates, etc. However, the attendance of ECEC services varies considerably between different European Union (henceforth – EU) countries. The aim of this paper is to analyze social investment effect in early childhood in EU countries with high (Denmark), medium (Latvia) and low (Croatia) ECEC service attendance rates, so to find out if and how ECEC service attendance rate in these countries influences such indicators as rate of early leavers from education and training, school graduation rates and female employment rate. To see how situation may change due to the ECEC attendance rate changes in each country analyses was be carried out with imitation model options. This article describes the imitation model, which provides an opportunity to analyze the current situation and compare social investments between different EU countries. The model is designed using ISEE system STELLA MODELING and Imitation Software environment, and it is governed by the criteria that are based on literature studies, as well as analyses of statistic data. An additional benefit is that this model can be adjusted and used to evaluate other countries social investment tendencies as well. Research results show, that not all indicators that have been positively connected with ECEC attendance rate in previous studies have been positively influenced by ECEC attendance rate in chosen case study countries. Analyses showed that only in Croatia positive connections can be observed when it comes to all three indicators. Further studies should be carried out on this topic to get a deeper understanding on ECEC attendance rate effect on these and other indicators, that in the previous studies have been positively linked with ECEC attendance rate.

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For a peaceful world and society, it is essential for cultures to be developed and transformed through common values, and value education is one of the main ways to do that since core values are formed from an early age. But when society is going through a radical transformation process as it is in the case of Latvia, it is difficult to avoid anomie when different and conflicting ideas, memories and norms exist in society.The aim of the research is to explore and analyse the tendencies of the main values in the society of Latvia across different age groups, to see how the situation has developed and what are the main values that need to be stressed through value education in the ongoing educational reform process. To reach the aim of the research, a literature review as well as the analysis of the European Social Survey (2008 and 2018) data was conducted.The research results show some shift in values of the society in Latvia mainly due to priorities of younger generation in the period from 2008 to 2018: universal values have replaced self-direction values as the third most common value in the society of Latvia. In the case of younger generations value perception is indefinite. Partly this is due to the lack of focus on values in our education system since the restoration of independence. There is a need to strengthen the motivational values connected with conformity, self-direction, stimulation and universalism (tolerance) through value education.  It is desirable to highlight the values of achievement such as creativity and desire to succeed, as they are essential for the knowledge society and stimulate motivation for entrepreneurship.