Summary of the vision documents of three expert groups - Estonian Education and Research Strategy 2021-2035

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Summary of the vision documents of three expert groups - Estonian Education and Research Strategy 2021-2035
1

Estonian Education and Research Strategy
              2021–2035

        Summary of the vision
  documents of three expert groups
Summary of the vision documents of three expert groups - Estonian Education and Research Strategy 2021-2035
2

Publisher: Estonian Ministry of Education and Research www.hm.ee
Date of issue: April 2019
Expert group leaders: Margit Sutrop (Values and Responsibility),
Krista Loogma and Marju Lauristin (Welfare and Cohesion) and
Raul Eamets (Competitiveness)
Compiled by: Aune Valk
Cover photo: Aron Urb
Summary of the vision documents of three expert groups - Estonian Education and Research Strategy 2021-2035
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CONTENTS
Introduction                                                                          4
1. What kind of Estonia do we want? Vision of Estonia 2035                            5
2. Where are we now?
   The main strengths and problems for Estonian
   education, research, language and youth                                            6
3. Changes in the world affecting education, research,
   the Estonian language and youth work                                               8
4. Where to go? Directions and goals in education,
   research, language and youth policy                                              10
  A seamless educational system that supports individual choices                     11
  Valuing the Estonian language and culture and a cohesive society                   13
  New skills and better use of skills                                                14
  Learning as collaboration and teacher as a guide                                   15
  Research-based mindset and top-level universities                                  17

                                                                     Photo: Tõnu Runnel
Summary of the vision documents of three expert groups - Estonian Education and Research Strategy 2021-2035
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INTRODUCTION
“The Estonian people have faith in educa-                   This summary is based on eight months of
tion,” President Toomas Hendrik Ilves said                  work by three broad-based working groups.1
in 2015. “We really sincerely believe that                  The Expert Group on Values and Responsi-
the best thing that parents can give their                  bility was led by Margit Sutrop, the Expert
children is a good education. Not land,                     Group on Welfare and Cohesion by Marju
houses, woods or bank accounts.” In 2018,                   Lauristin and Krista Loogma, and the Expert
the University of Tartu’s Development Plan                  Group on Competitiveness by Raul Eamets.
expressed the same idea regarding research:                 Ideas presented in this summary come from
“The Estonian people have faith in research,”               the vision documents of these working
bearing in mind that research is valuable,                  groups and are thus a joint creation. There is
useful to Estonians and fulfils a key role in               no reference behind each sentence to facil-
searching for the “truth”. Faith in the value               itate reading. Certainly, not every member
of education and research is also the reason                of the working groups agrees with every
why we think that the major challenges fac-                 individual thought and sentence. The aim
ing Estonia can be solved primarily through                 was to highlight the most important ideas
education and research, language policy and                 presented. Some of them overlapped in
youth work. Although strong buildings and                   different vision documents, some were dif-
faster connections are also important, they                 ferent, and some were in conflict. This is the
have no value without the right knowledge,                  author’s choice, agreed with the leaders of
skills and attitudes. The Ministry of Educa-                the working groups. The aim of the summary
tion and Research (MER) is currently prepar-                is to provide the reader who is interested in
ing strategies for 2035, but its goals are much             education, research, language and youth
broader than more beautiful schoolhouses                    policy with a more concise overview of the
or smarter children. The joint vision for 2035              work done by the expert groups. It is worth
for the MER’s four areas of responsibility                  reading all three vision documents to obtain
looks beyond education and research. The                    a thorough picture. In the further strategic
goal is an inclusive society of welfare and                 planning process, the vision documents
shared values, a competitive and sustainably                prepared by the expert groups serve as input
growing economy, and a viable and growing                   that is used as the basis for setting final goals
Estonian culture and language.                              for the policy fields and agreeing the course
                                                            of action by the working groups that also
                                                            involve different stakeholders. Policy field
                                                            strategies will be completed by 2020.

1 More about working groups:
  https://www.hm.ee/et/kaasamine-osalemine/haridus-ja-teadusstrateegia-2021-2035/visiooniloome
Summary of the vision documents of three expert groups - Estonian Education and Research Strategy 2021-2035
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1. WHAT KIND OF ESTONIA DO WE WANT?
VISION OF ESTONIA 2035
The future is uncertain and unpredictable,      1. The welfare of the Estonian society
but we must be open and ready for it. The          and people is growing. The basis of
“Smart And Active Estonia 2035” Vision sets        growth is the self-realisation of every
the goal of increasing the material, social        person – the opportunity to develop
and mental welfare of Estonian society as a        and use his or her abilities and to be the
whole and of every Estonian person through         master of his or her own life. In a society,
education and research as well as youth and        commonality is created by shared values
language policy, to ensure the sustainability      and equality of opportunities for different
of the Estonian language, culture and natural      people and groups, and the freedom to
environment and the competitiveness of the         choose and take responsibility both as a
Estonian economy. Although good education          person and as a state. Welfare is not based
and top-level research are values in them-         on increasing consumption, but on the
selves, in formulating the 2035 vision, we         way of life in line with the natural envi-
focus on how, in the future, to make better        ronment and the balanced and meaning-
use of Estonia’s current high-quality educa-       ful application of technology.
tion – in comparison with other countries
                                                2. The Estonian language and culture are
– for the benefit of the people, society and
                                                   also of value in an increasingly multicul-
economy of Estonia. We are boldly stating
                                                   tural environment. The Estonian language
that we have many things that we do very
                                                   is sustainable, developing and reputable,
well when compared globally and without
                                                   while Estonian residents learn and know
regard for the difficulties of the past.
                                                   foreign languages. Culture is one of the
The vision of Estonia in 2035, which we            most important cornerstones, facilitators
think is possible to design through educa-         and binders of self-realisation, common-
tion, research, language and youth policy, is      ality and freedom – for us, the Estonian
as follows.                                        culture and language with shared core
                                                   values. It gives our activity a longer course
                                                   and goal as well as a base we can rely on in
                                                   a rapidly changing world.
                                                3. The competitiveness of the Estonian
                                                   economy is increasing thanks to the
                                                   economic development that is gaining
                                                   momentum from R&D and innovation,
                                                   widespread adoption of the latest technol-
                                                   ogy in all sectors, increase in education
                                                   and innovativeness, better application of
                                                   skills and knowledge, smart and prudent
                                                   migration policies, and sustainable use of
                                                   Estonia’s special characteristics / unique
                                                   natural environment.
Summary of the vision documents of three expert groups - Estonian Education and Research Strategy 2021-2035
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2. WHERE ARE WE NOW? THE MAIN
STRENGTHS AND PROBLEMS FOR ESTONIAN
EDUCATION, RESEARCH, LANGUAGE AND YOUTH
This chapter is largely based on Chapter 3         enough autonomy at school. Basic schools
of the Values and Responsibilities Vision          do not support the integration of children
Document, as well as Chapter 3 of the Com-         from different cultural backgrounds and do
petitiveness Vision Document.                      not provide sufficient knowledge of the Esto-
                                                   nian language to children with a different
                                                   mother tongue.
Estonian research is world-class in many
                                                   General secondary education also gives
areas, considering the size of Estonia. We
                                                   our young people very good skills in compar-
have good research infrastructure, while the
                                                   ison to other OECD countries, based on the
internationality of the research community
                                                   international PIAAC. Estonian teachers are
and our ability to successfully participate
                                                   highly qualified and there are no major dif-
in international project competitions have
                                                   ferences between schools. At the same time,
grown. The problem is ensuring continued
                                                   the shortage of teachers, especially teach-
development or even remaining at current
                                                   ers of mathematics and natural sciences, is
levels with current resources. Funding for
                                                   worsening, while teachers have little coop-
both research and higher education has
                                                   eration and low self-efficacy. Few teachers
fallen in the last five years as a share of GDP.
                                                   come to school after graduating from univer-
Due to lower funding, the wages of Estonian
                                                   sity and nearly a third of new teachers leave
researchers and lecturers are not competi-
                                                   after their first year of work. A major prob-
tive. In addition to the fact that public R&D
                                                   lem is the lack of support specialists, espe-
funding is scarce in Estonia, project-based
                                                   cially special education teachers and psy-
research funding also dominates, increasing
                                                   chologists working at school. So far, we have
uncertainty for researchers. The number of
                                                   been relatively good at supporting weaker
researchers per thousand employees is low
                                                   pupils, but children with special educational
and decreasing. In the perspective of 2035, the
                                                   needs related to talent do not receive enough
number of doctoral degrees is not enough for
                                                   attention. There is no system for evaluating
the renewal of academic positions or sustain-
                                                   and recalling school directors, who focus
able knowledge-intensive business and public
                                                   too much on administration, and not on
development needs. The State and companies
                                                   development and change management.
are not yet able to be demanding and knowl-
edgeable clients in the field of R&D.              The opportunities for cooperation between
                                                   schools and universities have improved,
In Estonia, high-quality pre-school edu-
                                                   but there is room for development in terms
cation is available for most children. The
                                                   of counseling, research and training, etc.
level of basic education in Estonia is rated
                                                   There is a need to increase the inclusion of
among the best in the world and educational
                                                   education with society at large and the links
inequality is low. At the same time, ISCWeB,
                                                   between each school and its community in
the international child welfare survey of
                                                   social, economic and cultural terms.
last year, indicates that the quality of edu-
cation is, according to pupils, better than        Vocational education infrastructure is
social relationships in the school environ-        good and vocational education is increas-
ment. According to pupils, they do not have        ingly popular among adults. At the same
Summary of the vision documents of three expert groups - Estonian Education and Research Strategy 2021-2035
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time, vocational secondary education is not          More than half of the working-age popula-
available to adults nor is it attractive for basic   tion participates in adult education each
school graduates. Selection of vocational            year, and participation has increased in
over general secondary education is heavily          recent years. The strengths of the system are
skewed, depending on the region, the learn-          the diversity of learning opportunities and
er’s gender, nationality and past learning           funding sources, the directing of training
results. For example, young people from              offers to target groups in need of state sup-
Tallinn and Tartu, girls, ethnic Estonians and       port, and the participation of employers in
young people with better learning results            funding the training. Problems include very
are under-represented in vocational second-          unequal participation in learning, depending
ary education. Only half of pupils complete          on nationality, employment status, edu-
vocational secondary education within the            cation and age; and low contributions by
nominal time. Career paths through voca-             people themselves. Compared to other OECD
tional education are not valued in society           countries, the need and readiness to learn is
and there is also a lack of awareness among          relatively high among Estonian adults, but
parents, learners and teachers.                      labour market demands and regulations do
                                                     not support learning. The adult education
Based on the analyses of the Estonian Higher
                                                     market is fragmented, and quality is uneven.
Education and Vocational Education Quality
                                                     Most of the courses offered are short and do
Agency, it can be stated that the quality of
                                                     not support major changes in learners’ skills.
higher education in Estonia is good. The
same is also true according to the PIAAC             The current strengths in the youth field
study, comparing the skills of our recent            are the high participation of young people,
graduates with graduates from other OECD             diversity of activities, long traditions of
countries. In their reports, external experts        youth work and high levels of satisfaction
acknowledge up-to-date infrastructure,               among participating young people. Improve-
strategic management of higher education             ments in the quality of youth work are
institutions, qualification and dedication           hampered by the lack of recognition of youth
of lecturers and the level of research work.         work (including low wages for youth work-
Curricula are of good quality, teaching              ers and high labour turnover) and unequal
methods are diverse and student counselling          availability based on region. More attention
systems are developed. Higher education              needs to be paid to the development of active
institutions’ cooperation with employers and         citizenship among young people and to the
the competitiveness of graduates are high-           preventing the risk of youth exclusion.
lighted. The disadvantages are the duplica-
                                                     The Estonian language has a strong posi-
tion of learning in different institutions, the
                                                     tion, including as an official language of the
shortage of foreign lecturers and a lack of
                                                     European Union and as a technologically
learning mobility for students and teachers.
                                                     developed language. The main problems are
Little attention is paid to the development
                                                     inadequate knowledge of Estonian by the
of key competences, including practical
                                                     non-Estonian population and the expansion of
skills; there are problems in evaluation and
                                                     the use of English in society. Language tech-
the planning of workload; and dropout rates
                                                     nology will require significant investments in
are very high. The achievement over the last
                                                     the future so that in 2035 we could speak with
five years can be attributed to the increase
                                                     machines in Estonian. Both kindergartens and
in the share of admissions and graduates in
                                                     schools need many Estonian language teach-
science, technology, engineering and math-
                                                     ers and teachers teaching in Estonian.
ematics (STEM), primarily at the expense of
ICT learners. The share of foreign students
has increased rapidly.
Summary of the vision documents of three expert groups - Estonian Education and Research Strategy 2021-2035
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3. CHANGES IN THE WORLD AFFECTING
EDUCATION, RESEARCH, THE ESTONIAN
LANGUAGE AND YOUTH WORK
In general terms, global trends affecting                               personal skills. New skills are increasingly
education and other key vision topics can be                            being developed outside school, in informal
broken down into the fields of technology,                              and non-formal learning.
demography and geopolitics. In addition,
                                                                     • Rapid changes in the economy, internation-
there are also independent labour market
                                                                       alisation and acting in global value chains
and educational changes. Global trends are
                                                                       increase the importance of teamwork and
more specifically discussed in the Competi-
                                                                       cooperation with external (international)
tiveness document and less in the two other
                                                                       partners in companies. The number of
vision documents. These are briefly summa-
                                                                       mobile workers is increasing. The ability
rised in the following, focusing not so much
                                                                       to acquire, adapt and apply new knowl-
on trends in themselves, but rather on their
                                                                       edge in the context of your business model
(complex) impact on the fields we focus on
                                                                       is important. This requires a very good
and, if possible, considering Estonia’s special
                                                                       domestic training and retraining system.
characteristics.
                                                                       Schools, in turn, need to include more
                                                                       people with entrepreneurial experience
                                                                       in their learning to stay competitive and
• Accelerating technological development
                                                                       keep up with the latest trends. If demand
  and automation, the emergence of new
                                                                       for new skills is constantly changing, skills
  forms of work and jobs2, and the disappear-
                                                                       mismatches will also increase. This leads to
  ance and transformation3 of several work
                                                                       the need for refresher training and retrain-
  tasks require greater flexibility and new
                                                                       ing and for breaks needed for self-improve-
  skills from employees. On the one hand,
                                                                       ment during working life. A possibility for
  technology-related skills are involved, and,
                                                                       this is provided by concentrated and short-
  on the other hand, soft skills relate to being
                                                                       term learning modules, leading to “nano-
  human.4 At least a few widespread but
                                                                       degrees,” and learning paths where shorter
  in-depth professional competencies (the
                                                                       modules form a comprehensive learning
  so-called T-shaped skills model) help people
                                                                       path that helps to adapt to the changing
  to re-orient themselves in the labour market.
                                                                       needs of the labour market.
  This skill profile reduces the risk of being
  left behind due to rapid changes and labour                        • E-learning is expanding, supported by
  market polarisation. Growing uncertainty                             machine learning and learning analytics.
  and the associated risk of mental health                             E-learning is definitely an opportunity for
  problems necessitate the development of                              Estonian universities/schools to sell their
  self-regulation, tension tolerance and similar                       top-level knowledge and skills. However,

2 Increasingly important jobs include e.g. machine and artificial intelligence specialists, big data experts, process automation
  experts, digital security specialists, user experience managers, human-machine interaction experts, robotics engineers and
  blockchain specialists (World Economic Forum 2018, Competitiveness Report).
3 According to McKinsey’s Future Work Report, nearly half of the work tasks in 2016 will be automated by 2030, including
  nearly 60% in low- and medium-skill jobs, and a quarter of high-skilled jobs.
4 These include e.g. empathy, creativity, initiative, critical thinking, persuasion and negotiation skills, detail perception skills,
  resilience, flexibility, and the ability to solve complex problems. In addition, emotional intelligence, managerial skills and social
  influence are mentioned as more important than before. (World Economic Forum 2018, Competitiveness Vision Document).
9

                                                                                   Photo: Erik Riikoja

 the expansion of e-learning will lead to         grow our position in global value chains.
 increased competition in education.              If we want to see a structural change in the
                                                  economy and move towards more com-
• In Europe, including Estonia, the propor-
                                                  plex jobs, the skills and knowledge of the
  tion of working-age population is falling in
                                                  workforce need to be developed in the way
  relation to dependents, which increases the
                                                  of advance for some time, thus increasing
  need for lifelong work and education.
                                                  mismatches of skills to the needs of the
• Europe’s aging population and the rapid         labour market.
  growth of the number of young people
                                                 • In parallel with real migration, a global vir-
  in Africa, as well as the growing income
                                                   tual labour market and platform economy
  gap, also increase migratory pressure.
                                                   are emerging, increasing the need to work
  Migration by climate refugees is increasing
                                                   in multilingual and cultural virtual teams
  alongside economic migration. Estonia’s
                                                   and develop the skills required for this.
  attractiveness as a destination for migra-
  tion is increasing. From an educational        • Changing geopolitical power lines in the
  perspective, greater migration means the         world are increasing instability across
  need to learn different languages, to learn      the entire international system. In such a
  about different cultures and religions, to       situation, it is important, on the one hand,
  be prepared to teach and integrate people        to see the possibilities for Estonia and, on
  from different cultural backgrounds, and         the other hand, to be alert to the dangers.
  to prevent radicalisation and instability        Uncertainty is exacerbated by the rapidly
  through education and youth work.                changing technical environment, the risk
                                                   of natural and social disasters and infor-
• The education market is internationalising,
                                                   mation pollution. This, in turn, leads to
  and there is increase in Estonian students
                                                   threats of the growth of protectionism and
  moving abroad and students from other
                                                   extreme nationalism. In order to maintain
  countries moving to Estonia. The challenge
                                                   the cohesiveness of society and a demo-
  for Estonia and higher education insti-
                                                   cratic state based on the rule of law, it is
  tutions in Estonia is to find ways to bring
                                                   important that education addresses value
  Estonians that have studied abroad back to
                                                   development – seeking common values
  Estonia after the end of their studies and
                                                   and promoting critical thinking and a
  to link foreigners studying here with the
                                                   responsible attitude towards society. Value
  Estonian labour market.
                                                   development is not just about the content
• In the global labour market, countries and       of learning, but also about school culture
  cities compete for talent. Estonia must hit      and management, the learning environ-
  the right moment to create an ecosystem          ment and learning methods.
  suitable for global talent in Estonia and to
10

4. WHERE TO GO? DIRECTIONS AND
GOALS IN EDUCATION, RESEARCH,
LANGUAGE AND YOUTH POLICY
Considering the changes that are taking              • learning as collaboration, and the teacher
place around the world and our current                 as a guide;
strengths and weaknesses, five main goals
                                                     • research-based mindsets and top-level
have been formulated for 2035:
                                                       universities.
                                                     Figure 1 summarises the image of the future
• a “seamless” educational system that               Estonia from the three expert groups (com-
  supports individual choices, i.e. smooth           petitiveness, values and responsibility and
  transitions;                                       cohesion and welfare) in aspects that can be
                                                     influenced by education, research, youth and
• valuing the Estonian culture and language
                                                     language policies, trends affecting Estonia’s
  and a cohesive society;
                                                     development and major new policies.
• new skills and better use of existing skills;

Figure 1. Smart and Active Estonia 2035: ultimate goals (in the middle), main topics (blue background),
premises and trends at both personal and national level (orange background) and main policy directions
(grey background)
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A SEAMLESS EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM
THAT SUPPORTS INDIVIDUAL CHOICES
In the Estonian education system, the flex-       youth, social and other fields to find and
ibility of all study levels and directions is     implement interventions for welfare.
increased and quality is harmonised. Edu-         Talented pupils have the opportunity to
cation is seen as a continuum in the human        complete several school years in one year,
life cycle and a system of life-long learning     participate in university courses and work
is created that motivates people to maintain      in research groups while still at school.
their learning habits. The education sys-
                                                 • (Mandatory) secondary education that
tem supports fast retraining and provides
                                                   integrates vocational education and
(refresher) training for people of all ages.
                                                   general education, takes into account the
There is no obstacle to continuing a learning
                                                   individual characteristics of both the dura-
path regardless of the time or reason for the
                                                   tion and content of learning, and allows the
interruption in education. Learning path-
                                                   most talented to proceed to higher edu-
ways have become more individualised from
                                                   cation. This requires the nationalisation
kindergarten to postgraduate refresher train-
                                                   of secondary education and a thorough
ing. This is due to the lengthened study times
                                                   overhaul of basic and secondary education
and work paths and increasing job mobility.
                                                   curricula. A small proportion of young peo-
The topics and activities that are important
                                                   ple who are not able to complete secondary
for fulfilling the vision are as follows:
                                                   education will receive a short (6 months
                                                   to 1 year) internships from companies or
                                                   a company and an educational institution
• Flexible individual learning and a
                                                   to learn a simpler profession. Vocational
  community approach to education.
                                                   training will be organised in 2035 on a
  Children, young people and adults of one
                                                   large scale in cooperation with companies
  region are offered diverse learning oppor-
                                                   and in companies.
  tunities. The learning environments of
  general education and vocational schools,      • Vocational/professional education is
  adult education institutions, cultural and       not understood as a separate education
  youth institutions, workplaces, etc. are         sector, but as part of learning at dif-
  thus combined, and local businesses and          ferent levels of education and learning
  civic organisations are actively involved.       environments, starting from secondary
  Individual learning paths are developed          level and ending with an industrial master’s
  by combining these and considering the           / doctoral degree. In order to develop voca-
  learning in different environments. The          tional fields and update learning, it is expe-
  curriculum can be (partly) completed in          dient to establish vocational development
  a virtual Estonian-wide or international         centres – competence centres where all
  study environment. The involvement of            relevant training in the field is concentrated
  parents in school life and the capacity of       – that combine the competences of voca-
  local governments to organise the educa-         tional education institutions, professional
  tional landscape grows significantly.            higher education institutions and universi-
                                                   ties. The centres analyse training needs and
• More attention to early awareness of
                                                   future trends and carry out applied research
  learning difficulties and other special
                                                   for companies in the field.
  needs and networking between education,
12

                                                                                  Photo: Renee Altrov

• The boundaries between professional             Young people are informed and provided
  higher education and post-secondary             with knowledge, and opportunities are
  vocational education, and professional          created to enable them to speak, above all,
  higher education and academic higher            in decisions concerning them.
  education are redefined. Increasing
                                                 • It is possible to learn not only at school,
  the level of post-secondary vocational
                                                   but increasingly also in other environ-
  education to the same level as profes-
                                                   ments: at work, in youth work (including
  sional higher education and continuing
                                                   hobby education), acting in different com-
  to increase the share of internships will
                                                   munities and by gaining experience. The
  improve job opportunities. At the same
                                                   share of learning in the work environment
  time, short courses for the acquisition of
                                                   increases in lifelong learning. It is agreed
  vocational skills are maintained.
                                                   between the social partners how responsi-
• In higher education, the requirements for        bility (including financial responsibility)
  different degrees should be diversified          for workplace learning is divided between
  and a legal framework should also be created     the learner, employer, school and state /
  for nanodegrees, to be received upon the         local government. Learning in different
  completion of 3- to 6-month study modules.       environments is acknowledged and rec-
                                                   ognised and the competence of instruc-
• Various forms and ways of youth work
                                                   tors in the workplace is increased.
  support greater participation of young
  people in society. Youth work helps young      • The skills demand and supply evalua-
  people to best realise their development         tion system is further developed, which
  potential by providing a trustworthy, sup-       allows the state to obtain an overview of
  portive and secure environment for young         the profile and skills of the labour force. It
  people. Those who leave school or work are       also gives people knowledge of what skills
  brought back to school or work in cooper-        are worth learning. In addition, a lifelong
  ation with educational, youth and social         learning system with financial support is
  work institutions. The state creates more        developed, which also provides retraining
  flexible legislation to support young            opportunities at a later stage.
  people starting work after their studies.
13

VALUING THE ESTONIAN LANGUAGE AND
CULTURE AND A COHESIVE SOCIETY
Global mobility in both the labour market and      • The transition to the single Estonian
private life is increasing and the impact of the     school/kindergarten reduces national
digital environment on culture, intrapersonal        segregation and increases the future
communication and equality of opportunity            competitiveness of children. The single
is increasing. Top-level research and higher         Estonian school can work according to dif-
education are international. All this presents       ferent models, but it is important to provide
a challenge to the Estonian language and             a primarily Estonian-language environment
Estonian cultural space. It is important to see      based on early integrated subject and lan-
language and culture as, on the one hand,            guage learning, to support multilingualism
consistent and, on the other hand, constantly        (i.e., mother tongue and other languages),
changing – alive and evolving. The goal is that      and to value the state identity of Estonia and
in 2035, the Estonian language will continue         the preservation of cultures of origin as well
to be reputable, protected, researched and           as the capacity for intercultural mediation.
developing. Estonian is flexibly adapted to the      The challenge for a school that combines
rapid development of science and technol-            pupils with different home languages and
ogy. The Estonian language skills of people          cultural backgrounds is to create a new kind
with Estonian roots living abroad have been          of school culture and to unite the parental
preserved. The teaching and skills of different      community, considering the interdepend-
foreign languages have expanded.                     ence of relationships, cultures and identities
                                                     and preventing conflicts.
The cohesiveness of society is manifested
in the ability of people from different back-      • In addition to the Estonian-language
grounds and cultures to work together, in            school, (paid) English-language and
the adherence to common goals and rules, in          other language schools based on inter-
social responsibility and in support to each         national curricula operate in major cen-
other. Cohesion is enhanced by a common              tres to support transnational mobility and
language and identity, but also by knowledge         make Estonia an attractive place to work
of other languages, shared values, mutual            and live for highly qualified workers.
trust, universal human rights, and equal
                                                   • In higher education, international-
access to different services and benefits. The
                                                     isation grows primarily through the
topics and activities that are important for
                                                     increased involvement of foreign lectur-
fulfilling the vision are as follows:
                                                     ers and short-term learning mobility.
                                                     Estonian is the main language of learning
                                                     at the first two levels, but teaching in sev-
• Estonian residents mainly use Estonian
                                                     eral languages is normal. Foreign students
  as the language of communication and
                                                     are taught the Estonian language and cul-
  of study, administration, information
                                                     ture and are encouraged to integrate into
  and work. At the same time, foreign lan-
                                                     the Estonian labour market. The require-
  guages are learned and there is tolerance for
                                                     ment to acquire Estonian language at a
  speakers of other languages. Estonia also
                                                     level that allows participation in the daily
  has a place for the languages and cultures
                                                     activities of the university is established for
  of national minorities. Lifelong learning
                                                     full-time foreign lecturers.
  provides high-quality education in Estonian
  and learning of the Estonian language.
14

NEW SKILLS AND
BETTER USE OF SKILLS
The Estonian labour market currently                opportunities for social development and
places little value on top skills. Our people       are familiar with modern methods of data
have more skills than they use in the labour        collection and analysis. New technolo-
market, according to the PIAAC study, which         gies are acquired as separate skills and as
compares the information processing skills of       integrated into other subjects. In addition
adults in different countries. It is a message      to technological skills, curricula strike a
for the education system, where, in addition        balance between the artificial and natural,
to good knowledge and skills, the application       humanitarian and social.
of skills and entrepreneurship should be
                                                   • Adaptation and self-management
taught. It is also a message for a labour mar-
                                                     capability, social skills, critical thinking
ket that is based on cheap rather than smart
                                                     skills and creativity, entrepreneurial
labour. Management and work organisation
                                                     attitude and perseverance are important
skills are becoming increasingly important.
                                                     at every level of education, as the environ-
Three topics lie at the heart of the OECD’s
                                                     ment is changing at an ever-increasing
skills strategy: developing the right skills,
                                                     pace. In order to acquire these skills, it is
using skills effectively, and involving people
                                                     important to change teaching methods and
with skills, through both wider employment
                                                     environments and find opportunities to
and migration. The main directions of the
                                                     evaluate skills. The increasing importance
strategy are: increasing people’s involve-
                                                     of these skills in the future indicates that,
ment through health promotion and active
                                                     in addition to learning in the work environ-
citizenship, increasing work efficiency, high
                                                     ment, training courses, including courses
employment in good jobs, supporting skills
                                                     that integrate specialised and general
development with a clear division of respon-
                                                     skills, are still needed.
sibilities, and information based on demand
and supply for decision makers. The topics         • Estonia manages labour resources
and activities that are important for fulfilling     wisely, considering both maintaining and
this vision are as follows:                          increasing the labour market activity of
                                                     the Estonian population and better appli-
                                                     cation of their skills, as well as targeted
• Learning focuses more on the acquisi-              recruitment of highly qualified labour from
  tion of skills and on the willingness and          abroad. This is done by setting targets for
  ability to apply (independently) what has          the internationalisation of higher educa-
  been learned, not just on the acquisition of       tion and supporting remigration. In order
  knowledge. It is important to increase oper-       to better apply the skills of our people,
  ational capability and this allows a person        attention is paid to job opportunities for
  to be the master of their own life: to under-      young people, to retraining older people
  stand the nature of the problems, to set           and to integrating other native speakers.
  personal goals, to plan activities to achieve      Flexible forms of work and remote work
  the goals, to make the planned happen.             are widespread and the ability to create
                                                     virtual teams, work in and manage them
• The future education system must
                                                     becomes important.
  “produce” technologically literate
  people that implement and create new
15

LEARNING AS COLLABORATION
AND TEACHER AS A GUIDE
The lifelong learning strategy for 2020 aims       • The teacher’s profession is becoming
to renew the learning concept. Learning is           more diverse. The teacher is a learning
learner-centred and collaborative, focused           professional that possesses modern knowl-
on empowering and supporting each learner,           edge of learning and teaching. When work-
self-realisation and coping in different roles.      ing in different learning environments, the
Significant keywords include the mean-               teacher can independently evaluate and
ingfulness of learning, learner and teacher          decide, in collaboration with colleagues
autonomy, close cooperation, and conscious           and parents, how best to support and
and systematic feedback between all partic-          develop each learner. The teacher is also
ipants in the learning process. Joy in school        increasingly a value educator that con-
– the subjective well-being of learners and          sciously develops the learner’s attitudes
teachers in the learning process – is more           through communication, choice of meth-
valuable than before. As the learner’s free-         ods, and so on. Methodological and assess-
dom of choice and responsibility increase,           ment tools for learning are developed to
the risk of exclusion of the weaker will also        focus on the development of skills and
increase. The ability of the teacher to be           value attitudes alongside the acquisition
a tutor, to mentor pupils, to contribute to          of knowledge. The focus of the content of
forming the learning path and support its            the teacher’s work moves towards guiding
successful navigation, is important. The             learners, directing information choices and
topics and activities that are important for         activities, and feedback. On the other hand,
fulfilling the vision are as follows:                there are more people in the teacher’s
                                                     profession that do not have pedagogical
                                                     education, but who bring practical skills
• By 2035, national curricula for pre-               and work experience to the general educa-
  school and general education will be               tion system as well as to higher education.
  redesigned. The goals of a modern learn-           Movement between the teaching profes-
  ing concept are thus used throughout to            sion and entrepreneurship, for example,
  support the development of self-directed           must be supported by a variety of support
  learners that are open and ready for lifelong      schemes, one of which aims to develop
  learning, are motivated, and are able to find      teaching skills.
  opportunities for self-realisation. One of
                                                   • One of the most important goals of col-
  the major challenges is a profound change
                                                     laborative learning, while taking indi-
  in national syllabi based on the values and
                                                     vidual differences into consideration,
  competences described in the general part
                                                     is to increase the teachers and learners’
  of the basic and upper secondary school
                                                     welfare, both physical and mental. Welfare
  curriculum, and the introduction of more
                                                     at school also affects overall satisfaction with
  collaborative and problem-based learn-
                                                     life, academic success of students, probabil-
  ing methods. Learners move on their learn-
                                                     ity of graduation and continuing education.
  ing path at their own pace, which could be
  “normal,” “faster,” or “slower.” The curricula   • In a technology-rich and individualised
  for all grades and types of education have         learning environment, the teacher’s work
  room for close-to-life choices to develop          becomes data-based. By using data on
  some professional or vocational skills.            pupils’ choices and progress on their study
16

 paths, and the quality and speed of solv-         supporting the life skills of learners and
 ing tasks, the teacher can monitor student        take care of mental and physical health.
 progress, provide personal feedback, and
                                                  • In 2035, the professions of teachers,
 guide further action. To be able to operate
                                                    school directors, support specialists,
 successfully in a technology-rich seamless
                                                    youth workers and lecturers are prestig-
 educational space, the teacher is assisted
                                                    ious and well-paid, and include contin-
 by educational technicians and educational
                                                    uous opportunities for self-improvement
 logistics if necessary. Teachers’ reporting
                                                    and feedback.
 burdens are reduced through e-solutions.
                                                  • Regional teacher shortages can be alle-
• Teacher training focuses more on how to
                                                    viated by reorganising school and edu-
  develop teachers’ skills to develop learners’
                                                    cation networks and by creating flexible
  key competences and values, to guide the
                                                    forms of work, expanding virtual learning
  learner-centred individualised learning
                                                    and rotation of teachers. This requires an
  process, to develop learners’ self-manage-
                                                    infrastructure that allows for working even
  ment skills, and to create an empowering
                                                    at relatively long distances.
  and integrative educational environment.
                                                  • In a changing education system, the
• The learning process focuses more on
                                                    school director has a key role in creat-
  developing a personal learning path. The
                                                    ing an evidence-based learning culture
  learner must receive effective support for
                                                    that supports autonomy and welfare in an
  learning and career choices, to discover and
                                                    organisation that supports learner-centred
  develop talent and to develop self-manage-
                                                    and collaborative learning. School direc-
  ment skills. The assessment provides moti-
                                                    tors must be evaluated and, if necessary,
  vational feedback to support the learner in
                                                    recalled. The capability of educational
  taking further steps. In a learning environ-
                                                    institutions to analyse their activities
  ment that brings together different learn-
                                                    increases, and the critical analytical
  ers and yet follows individual differences,
                                                    bystanders are used to better notice the
  the role of support specialists and their
                                                    strengths, weaknesses and development
  collaboration with teachers increases.
                                                    resources of educational institutions.
  Support specialists are also involved in
17

RESEARCH-BASED MINDSET
AND TOP-LEVEL UNIVERSITIES
Research has several major and irreplaceable        • The funding of research and higher educa-
roles. Research is part of culture, providing a       tion is based on the integrity of universities
scientific way of thinking and understanding          as institutions of teaching, research and
of how the world works. Research is the basis         development, and motivates cooperation
for research-based education, both in con-            between universities. In order to solve the
tent creation and in shaping the educational          funding problems in higher education
process, and a precondition for innovation            and for the fairer allocation of the respon-
and economic competitiveness. The role of             sibility of the individual and the state for
research and related innovation in the future         the choices made in higher education,
will grow both in the economy and in other            the inclusion of private money and the
areas of life, including organising health            learner’s contribution for higher edu-
and education. The major challenge soon               cation studies are increased. The system
is to turn the scientific mindset and evi-            includes state-guaranteed student loan and
dence-based world view into a universal value         conditional repayment schemes.
that actually guides us. Research-based, fact-
                                                    • The state ensures the training of specialists
and evidence-based approaches are essential
                                                      to provide public services. On the other
for the development of society’s competitive-
                                                      hand, uncertainty and the range of choices
ness, health and welfare as well as education.
                                                      increase and learning paths are individ-
High-quality higher education is expen-               ualised. How should responsibility for
sive, international and competes globally             educational choices be divided between
for talented students as well as lecturers. At        the state, universities and people? In the
the same time, Estonian universities have a           future, specialty choices will be directed
leading role in the development of the Esto-          by providing better information on
nian language and culture. If we want to be           demand for skills and labour market
among the world’s leading countries, we need          developments and by supporting learn-
to find ways to increase funding and improve          ers in evaluating their skills. In addition,
the organisation of higher education. There           the choices can be directed through tuition
is no higher education without research, and          fees and related credit policy.
without the natural replacement of Estonian
                                                    • Public expenditure on R&D accounts
academic staff, higher education cannot be
                                                      for 2% of GDP in 2035. The private sector
offered in the Estonian language. The topics
                                                      finances R&D at least on the same scale.
and activities that are important for fulfilling
                                                      The share of project-based funds has
the vision are as follows:
                                                      decreased. Funding takes into account the
                                                      fact that it also supports research-based
                                                      higher education.
• In order to reduce the duplication of spe-
  cialties taught, promote the pooling of           • In addition to increasing public funding
  research infrastructure, use existing financial     and reducing project-based funding, sup-
  and human resources efficiently and increase        port is also given to cooperation and net-
  the competitiveness of our researchers and          working between businesses and research
  research institutions, the consolidation of         institutions. Skills in adapting research
  higher education continues.                         results and applying them outside the
18

 academy must increase significantly. Tech-     development, a system is created to help
 nology transfers and the intensification of    provide bridge funding for the financial
 development cooperation is supported, for      gap between the education system and
 example, by a mobility support system          private capital.
 that supports researchers in a company for
                                               • As a prerequisite for and consequence of
 a certain period.
                                                 cooperation between universities and busi-
• To support business ideas emerging             nesses, the development units of large
  from entrepreneurship training and             corporations are attracted to be estab-
  research projects and their pre-market         lished in Estonia.

                                                                            Photo: Kaarel Mikkin

     In summary, we are aiming for a balanced and cohesive society in Estonia by
     2035, and for inequality to decrease and welfare to increase. In terms of eco-
     nomic development and productivity growth, it is essential that it is broad-
     based, knowledge-based, and respects Estonia’s special characteristics – that it
     values and adds value to our environment and nature. We value every human
     being and his self-realisation, and we maintain and develop Estonia’s language
     and culture. In order to achieve these goals, education, research and innova-
     tion must be prioritised not only in words but also in actions and budgets, and
     to develop a smart skills policy and a seamless education system that lever-
     ages the development of every person.
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