Source: Eurostat Online data code: edat_lfse_30

10 60 110 160 210 260 310 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

Total school population, of which students in:

lower secondary (ISCED 1-2) general upper secondary (ISCED 3)

VET upper secondary and post-secondary (ISCED 3-4) higher education (ISCED 5-8)

Education and Training Monitor 2016 – Country analysis November 2016

Participation in early childhood education and care (ECEC) is slightly below the EU average,but is increasing. In 2014, 91.7 % of children aged between 4 and the mandatory school age were enrolled in ECEC, compared to an EU average of 94.7 %. In Estonia it is compulsory for municipalities to guarantee a place in ECEC for children between 1.5 years and the compulsory schools age - at the request of parents- , but there are some shortages, particularly in large urban areas. The unmet need for childcare was estimated at 2 335 places (3 % of the total number of children aged 1-6) in 45 local governments (about 21 % of all local governments) (National Audit Office, 2015). Since 2014, children aged 1.5 to 3 years may be placed in non- educational institutions if there are no other available places. In general, municipalities are allowed to charge fees for pre-primary education, and most do. The maximum level of fees paid by families may not exceed 20 % of the national minimum wage. To address the challenges of availability, the Estonian authorities aim to streamline the system of childcare and day-care provision. The concept was developed in December 2015. A legislative proposal will be developed by March 2017 following discussions. New childcare places will be created from 2016 until 2023 with support from the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF).

Estonia ranks very high among the EU countries participating in PISA (OECD 2013). The proportion of low achievers in reading, maths and science is small and the impact of socio- economic background on results is low. However, there are performance differences between Russian-speaking and Estonian-speaking students, and between rural and urban schools. The average performance of Russian-speaking students is lower, although the skills gap has decreased.

The Ministry of Education and Research proposed a set of measures to address performance gaps between the Estonian and Russian-speaking population, including mentorships for Russian medium-school teachers, additional support for underperforming schools, new teaching materials, innovative language learning and teaching methodologies.

The number of children with educational needs attending mainstream schools has been increasing, even though the shift is slower than envisaged by authorities (OECD 2016). In the 2015/2016 school year, 95% of SEN students with mild special needs studied in mainstream schools, as well as 27% of students with severe special educational needs (compared to a target of 35% by 2020). The number of special education schools decreased from 45 in 2008 to 36 in 2015. Recently, the procedure of allocation of a study place in a special school was changed. Although parents have the final choice, the decision will be made in consultation with specialists at the regional counselling centres established (OECD 2016).

5.

Modernising school education

Against the backdrop of high performance, the Estonian school system is faced with some challenges, such as the need to continue adapting to demographic changes. Other challenges are differences in the quality of educational services across regions and between urban and rural areas. The proportion of young people, particularly men, in the teaching profession is low, and interest in enrolling in teacher education programmes remains limited. Teachers’ salaries are low when compared to those of people with tertiary education in Estonia, and compared with other OECD countries (OECD 2016). Only about 60 % of those who have trained to become teachers actually start working in schools.

Authorities seek to raise the average salary of teachers to at least the same level as that of the average wage of a specialist with a tertiary education degree in Estonia by 2020. Already, in real terms, salaries for lower secondary teachers with 15 years of experience increased by 30 % between 2005 and 2012. The minimum teacher salary was raised each year since 2014, and reached EUR 958 in 2016. Since January 2016, a new structural change in the education grant paid per student to school owners will serve to bolster increases in teachers’ salaries. Campaigns to popularise the teaching profession will also be supported in schools and universities.

Other measures planned under the programme ‘Competent and motivated teachers and school leadership‘, adopted in 2015 as one of the main measures of the Lifelong Learning Strategy, include:

 developing a training system for school teachers and headmasters in primary, general and vocational education;

 facilitating cooperation in order to support the implementation of the new study approach;

 developing competence centres at two major universities;

 implementing a competence model for school principals and carrying out evaluations on a regular basis; and

 popularising the teaching profession though special programmes (targeting both young people and adults who intend to change profession).

The Estonian language skills of Russian medium-school teachers are sometimes low. Teachers who wish to improve their language skills can participate in state-funded language courses (at B2 or C1 level). New Estonian language-teaching activities were launched in 2015 under the Estonian Language Strategy, with funding from the state budget. In August 2015, B2-level and C1-level Estonian language courses were launched in the Ida-Viru county, which has a large Russian speaking population, for more than 200 kindergarten, general education and vocational education teachers.

A particular challenge arises from the fact that the Estonian language skills of students graduating from schools with Russian as a medium of instruction often fail to meet the requirements of upper secondary education, where at least 60 % of the subjects are taught in Estonian. In 2015, only 64 % of Russian basic school graduates from these schools had reached the B1 level (Ministry of Education 2016), but the goal is to reach at least 82 % by 2019. In order to facilitate access to further education, higher education institutions provide Estonian language courses to non-Estonian speakers. Estonian is generally not a prerequisite for applying to study programmes (i.e. Russian speaking students can apply with exams taken in Russian). Students are also allowed to take up to a year of extra study time at higher education level to achieve the required skill level in Estonian, and some higher education institutions allow students to start their studies in Russian, while learning Estonian in parallel.

Provisions concerning ICT competencies are included in the 2020 Lifelong Learning Strategy and the Estonian Development Plan of Information Society 2020, such as:

 improving information technology studies in basic schools, upper secondary schools and vocational curricula to guarantee the basic level of graduates’ digital skills; arranging for students’ digital competencies to be assessed at the end of different stages of school;

 offering training courses for teaching personnel;

 supporting the acquisition of better ICT skills among different professional curricula (ensuring professional knowledge of ICT skills);

 applying ICT competency requirements to professional standards;

 access to informal education in the field of very specific IT skills (i.e. robotics, 3D printing, etc.) for children in pre-school and primary education.

With regard to the state of implementation, the authorities reported that the approach and understanding of digital competence are agreed upon by schools, while the process of elaborating e-assessment instruments for digital competences of students in general secondary education and teachers is ongoing. Regarding teachers’ skills, the challenge is to prepare and encourage teachers to use tools for subject related tasks more often and in areas where this is uncommon. The Estonian authorities are also planning additional measures to amend the curricula and qualification standards, as well as in teachers’ career programme development. This measure aims to address the need to increase IT competences and technological literacy beyond the IT sector.

The Lifelong Learning Strategy 2020 outlines a new learning approach that supports each learner’s individual and social development, the acquisition of learning skills, creativity and entrepreneurship at all levels and in all types of education. The Strategy also aims for 100 % of students to use computers at school, 100 % of basic education graduates to have their ICT skills assessed and certified and for 100 % of year 8 students to be in digitally supportive

Education and Training Monitor 2016 – Country analysis November 2016

schools and in schools with a virtual learning environment. With regards to entrepreneurship, planned measures include developing leadership, teamwork and financial literacy skills in entrepreneurial studies, developing entrepreneurship issues in teacher training, and organising various events and activities to popularise and support the development of entrepreneurial studies.

Box 2. Upper secondary school network reform

Estonia has recently started a process of recentralising general upper secondary schools due to quality concerns and the slow and incomplete adjustment by municipalities to demographic trends. A 2014 study commissioned by the Ministry of Education and Research concluded that by 2020 less than 1/3 of the current number of gymnasiums would be needed to accommodate students at that level of education (Praxis Centre for Policy Analysis 2014). In practice, a large number of small upper secondary schools owned by municipalities were in operation. Some of these, mostly in rural areas, did not provide high quality, inclusive and diverse education. The recentralisation process entails establishing a network of 24 state-owned upper secondary schools (grades 10 to 12) by 2020, while reducing the number of facilities operated by municipalities.68 _{By the start of the 2015/16 school year, nine state-owned gymnasiums had}

been opened, with three new ones opening in September 2016. Between 2014 and 2020, funding for this project will total EUR 241 million, including EUR 204.8 million from the European Regional Development Fund.

The new School Network Programme was launched in 2015 as part of the Lifelong Learning Strategy. In addition to establishing state-owned upper secondary schools, the programme also aims to modernise/reconstruct basic schools to help local governments improve the efficiency of the school network and reduce costs, so that municipalities can concentrate and invest more in improving the quality of basic education.

6.

Modernising higher education

Estonia’s tertiary educational attainment rate for the 30-34 age group is well above the EU average (45.3 % compared to 38.7 % in 2015). It increased by 17 percentage points between 2004 and 2015, and already exceeds the national Europe 2020 target of 40 %. In 2015, women continued to perform significantly better than men (56.7 % vs 34.5 %). The employability of recent tertiary graduates69 _{continues to be high: 86.1 %, above the EU average of 81.9 % in}

2015. The admission of foreign students to Estonian universities has also increased. The goal for 2015 – to admit 2 000 foreign students was achieved, while in the 2015/2016 academic years almost 3.500 foreign students were studying at Estonian universities, 6.8% of the total student body at Estonian universities (National Institute for Statistics 2016).