Estonia is one of the most advanced countries in the field of E-Government. The small Baltic country is also far ahead in the digitalisation of education. Estonia regularly ranks among the best in Europe in the international performance comparison PISA. What is the secret of the Estonian education system’s success? Diplomatisches Magazin talked about this with the Estonian Ambassador to Germany, H.E. Alar Streimann.
DM: In May, there was a special PISA study by the OECD that compared the reading skills of 15-year-old pupils. For Germany, the results are not very flattering: the more digital use at school, the less reading skills. This seems to be quite different in Estonia. There, digitalisation actually promotes educational competence. What is the reason?
H.E. Alar Streimann: Indeed, Estonian students have performed very well in recent PISA studies, actually not only in reading but also in mathematics and sciences. However, I have no proof at hand, how much it might have to do with teaching at schools by digital means. In fact, they potentially have to do with some quite old and traditional attitudes. Since the 19th century and even until the post-war period, Estonia was mainly a rural country. It was a very broad understanding among farmers that sending their children to town schools would help guarantee an easier life than their ancestors lived. There have been kilos of Estonian literature written about it. It seems to me this attitude is still there – that good education is a way to success. That also means that teacher’s occupation is very much respected in Estonia (albeit not so well paid). Another reason might be, that the Estonian school system is very egalitarian – there are hardly any private schools, all schools, starting with small municipalities and ending up with the capital Tallinn, are state owned, and get equal support and attention. Large scale use of computer-classes was introduced into Estonian school system in mid 90-s. Generations who went to school then, are now in their 30s – they have no need to be taught how to use computers. Perhaps it makes it easier for them also to pass this confidence on to their children today. We should neither underestimate, that for a small nation like Estonians, mother tongue is the main element of identity – therefore much attention is paid to learning it at school, and that also means a lot of reading. On the other hand, you are right – Estonian school system uses digital solutions quite extensively, but they still remain as the means not the goal – either in school management, teacher-parent communication, and also making teaching subjects more interesting, interactive, easier manageable for the teachers etc. So these good PISA results must be a combination of all this.
DM: Have Estonian students and teachers managed the pandemic better than the rest of Europe because they have many years of experience with the digitalisation of the education system?
H.E. Alar Streimann: I have no comparison with other countries, and unfortunately, the pandemic is not over yet. So we should not hasten with conclusions. But it seems to me, yes, switching over to home-schooling, or distance-schooling was never a technical problem in Estonia. As said before, both teachers and students have good computer skills. However, lack of social communication was as serious problem for Estonian students as for anybody else. After all, we are all used to obtaining our knowledge together, in groups, advancing together, comparing our progress with our classmates, and also learning from them, and not only teachers. So mentally, it was a very difficult year for Estonian schoolchildren. Of course, it was equally difficult for the teachers – how do you keep an eye on 20 or more students on screen simultaneously? In classroom the situation is more under the teacher’s control. But I have read some very positive feedback also from Estonian teachers – how they became adapted and had to develop themselves. By the way, recently a special cluster was established, which promotes Estonian digital solutions in education and which I strongly recommend: https:// www.edtechestonia.org There is also a special ambassador at the Estonian MFA who advises and helps other governments who wish to learn from our digital learning experience.
DM: It takes a lot of idealism to be a teacher. Young people who want well-paid jobs tend to go into the IT sector. What strategies does Estonia have to attract young people to the teaching profession?
H.E. Alar Streimann: It is interesting that it used to be more difficult in Estonia maybe ten-fifteen years ago. Obviously, the salaries in schools can never compete with the highly paid private sector, and maybe this is the reason why most teachers in Estonia are women. But it seems that today the trend is reversing – maybe there are simply more and more young people coming out of the universities who are not so income oriented, are more idealistic! Teachers in Estonia were never paid highly, but in combination with three month summer vacation, and not to mention the young spirit of optimism around you, it has its own attraction.
DM: Digital education in Estonia is not only limited to school and education, but also part of everyday life in Estonia. How has Estonia managed to make its citizens fit for digitalisation, especially the elderly?
H.E. Alar Streimann: It has happened step by step, since we started in 2001. New public digital services have helped to build up confidence among the users, and users in their turn have become adapted to getting high quality services from the state. As to the elderly, in the beginning of milennium we ran free starter courses in village libraries for elderly and retired people, which were very popular. Another important milestone came in 2008 with electronic digital prescription and digital patient portal. I think today it is very difficult to find in Estonia someone who does not have at least essential computer literacy. A key to success was also that all public services, today more than 3000, are available over mobile network strictly speaking all over the country, in even the remotest corner. It also has to be remembered that in Estonia digitalisation of public services was never a goal in itself, but a means to make daily life easier. This also means that there is a whole landscape of big and small Estonian companies who have almost 20 years of experience in developing practical, consumer oriented solutions. ICT sector today makes up almost 10% of Estonian GDP and 5% of the labour force.
Interview: Marie Wildermann