ESTONIA population: 1.3 million area: 45,339 km2 currency: Euro member of: EU, NATO, WTO, OECD, DIGITAL 7 ICT sector: 7% of GDP 15 000 general education teachers 148 000 pupils 516 schools
Estonian education system
Basic info on Estonian education system The Estonian students have been among top performers in PISA tests for several years. The share of low performers was 12% (PISA 2015 results). The national curriculum offers a framework on learning outcomes. It allows schools and teachers lot of freedom both in terms of content and methods of learning (also, in the use of ICT). Estonian schools have wide autonomy. Allocation of resources to schools (appointing and dismissing teachers; determining teachers starting salaries and salary raises; and formulating school budgets and allocating them within the school); School curriculum (i.e. choosing learning materials, deciding which courses are offered; and determining the content of those courses. Establishing student assessment, disciplinary and school admissions policies. Most of the general education schools are municipal schools. The share of private schools is 11%. The responsibility for development and maintainance of school infrastructure lies with the owner. Public expenditure on education 5,8% GDP (MoER, 2016).
Ajujaht lifelong learning strategy 2020. + changed approach to learning + competent and motivated teachers + better alignment of education provision to the labour market needs + digital focus in lifelong learning + equal opportunities and participation in lifelong learning
About us HITSA promotes the use of information and communication technology in education and supports the preparation of highly competent IT-specialists. Founded in 2013 by merging Tiger Leap Foundatioin, Eenet, and Estonian Information Technology Foundation. Government dependent foundation. Founders: Estonian Republic Tartu University Tallinn University of Technology Eesti Telekom Association of Estonian Information Technology and Telecommunications Companies Number of employees: ~ 50 Annual budget 17,4 mil EUR (2017)
Our target groups and services
Tõnu Runnel LLL strategy 2020: digital turn many different activities + robotics and programming for kids + ICT in teacher training + developing e-services for education institutions + school level innovation projects + support for upgrading infrastructure
ICT in Estonian education The importance of ICT in education has been emphasized already since the late 1990-s. Starting from 2014 the national curriculum requires that all students develop general digital competences. Schools can teach digital competencies by integrating it into the curriculum as a separate subject as well as an integrated theme. Teaching ICT as a separate subject (elective course) is done in (survey by think tank Praxis, 2017): 20% of primary schools (grades 1-4) 50% of basic schools (grades 5-9) 75% of upper-secondary schools (grades 10-12) Pilot testing of students digital competencies first time on 2017 with the aim of making it one of the mandatory assessment for all students.
Target group 25 000 teachers in Estonia 2000-4000 teachers/lecturess graduate HITSA trainings each year
ProgeTiger programme focus areas 2015-2020
ProgeTiger 2017 635 educational institutions have been active in ProgeTiger programme 85% of schools and 44% kindergardens http://www.progetiiger.ee/?q=
Students opinion about teaching of digital skills in their respective schools (2017) Source: Ministry of Education and Research, 2017
Digital materials https://e-koolikott.ee Portal for digital learning materials e-koolikott is a single web environment consisting of digital learning materials arranged by keywords on the basis of the curriculum. The portal allows finding educational materials located in different digital tool collections. The portal contains materials for basic, general and vocational education. The code is public: https://github.com/hariduspilv/koolikott
Support for the school infrastructure By the Ministry of Economic Affairs for the upgrading the local Internet connections. The aim is 35% of general schools by the end of 2018 with the plan to upgrade all schools by 2022. By the Ministry of Education and Research: Devices for teachers (i-pads, computers), ~ 4 mil eur (2017) Multimedia computers, projectors, computers, ~ 7,9 mil eur (2018) The MoER support comes with additional requirements for making ICT use in schools more intensive (i.e. introducing informatics subject).
Survey on schools: ICT in education (2013)
ICT education 745 active HE curricula in Estonia, 36 are ICT Bachelor s studies 10 Master s studies 12 Doctoral studies 3 Professional higher education 11 ICT curricula are in University of Tartu (UT), Tallinn University of Technology (TUT) and Tallinn University (TU)
Number of students
Number of ICT students 2017/18 Total 4059 ICT students 983 in diploma studies 1778 in bachelor studies 1107 in master studies 191 in PhD studies Incl. 435 mobile students (ca 11%)
Number of graduates 2017 ICT graduates Graduated 98 mobile students 67% of mobile students graduated stayed to work in Estonia
ICT education ICT studies are popular in Estonia - 9% of new entrants enrol in ICT, the highest share across OECD countries (2017). Interest towards IT and and prior experience are the most cited reasons to start ICT studies. Early experiences such as doing something exciting with the computer, solving computer-related problems, building a computer, developing software or trying to make a computer game, web page design or even breaking the computer are examples of such activities However, students drop out rate is very high. One third of IT students drop out already during their first year of studies. Important factors to contribute to drop-out according to study carried by University of Tartu researchers are suitability of studies (31%), personal, health or financial reasons (21%), study did not meet their expectations (17%), etc (Pedaste, Kori, Tõnisson, Palts, Altin, Rantsus, 2017). Share of female students in ICT is relatively high - 27% - in Estonia (OECD average is 19%, 2017). But more can be done by offering more interdisciplinary curricula in HE level or by starting separate hobby activities for girls in early ages.
IT Academy Programme background IT Academy s goal is to ensure labor force for ICT sector, help to create premise for economic growth by offering high level ICT education for Estonian and mobile students. Launched in 2012 in cooperation of state, universities and ICT enterprises Specific objectives: 1. Estonia offers high level ICT higher education and graduates knowledge and skills correspond to requirements of labor market 2. Estonian ICT graduates number correspond to the needs of Estonian economy 3. Estonia ICT is active in international cooperation and ICT higher education has good international reputation 4. Graduates of non-ict fields of studies have field-specific ICT competences Broadbased steering committee, incl. ICT enterprises and ministries
How did we get here?
Online information: www.hitsa.ee