Search

This paper focuses on the state of the art for recognition of prior experiential learning in European universities. Although recognition of prior learning and prior experiential learning have been officially stated as being important aims by national ministers of education in their Bologna Process communiques, implementation in the majority of countries is moving rather slowly. The paper discusses assessment and accreditation of prior and experiential learning (APEL) as a political aim in European higher education and describes examples from France, the UK, Norway and Estonia. The final section includes an overview of the main obstacles for wider application of APEL, ending with conclusions and recommendations for action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose — The purpose of this paper is to describe the experiences of the Institute of Information Studies of Tallinn University in introducing ICT, including Web 2.0 technologies, in library and information science education, and to explore the role that these can play in new models of learning and teaching. Design/methodology/approach — Web 2.0 applications are reviewed in this paper and the role that these can play in new models of learning and teaching. The introduction of new technologies into library and information science (US) education is examined through a case study at the Tallinn University. Findings — Web 2.0 is influencing the way in which people learn, access information and communicate with one another. The Institute of Information Studies of Tallinn University has a long history in using ICT in its teaching and learning. Experiences with open and distance learning and e-learning have transformed teaching and learning, provided new alternative delivery modes, and helped to reach new target groups. Recently the staff have been experimenting with Web 2.0 technologies and a few have successfully adopted them in teaching and learning. Practical implications — The paper suggests that in order to be successful in our modern society US educators should take advantage of new ICT and consider the learning preferences of digital natives as well as digital immigrants. Web 2.0 supports constructivist approaches to learning and has great potential to socialise online learning to a greater extent than we have previously seen. Web 2.0 technologies should be implemented taking into account pedagogical perspectives. Originality/value — This paper supports the idea that integration of information and communication technologies, including Web 2.0 technologies, into LIS education is an important challenge for LIS educators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to present a descriptive overview of patterns and labour market outcomes characterising the labour market entry in Estonia compared to the EU countries. The assumption that labour market institutions and educational systems have an impact on the labour market entry process makes up the starting point for the formulation of the hypotheses. The hypotheses have been formulated on the basis of the comparison between the educational systems as well as labour market institutions in Estonia and in the EU countries. The paper draws upon data from the Estonian Labour Force Survey (ELFS) 2002 and from the 1997 ELFS’ macro level data about the EU countries. The paper will present evidence concerning differences in labour market outcomes between new entrants and experienced workers. Based on macro level data, the analysis will attempt to empirically identify distinct country clusters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper will analyse the differences in the rate of unemployment between labour market entrants and experienced workers, the incidence of unemployment among labour market entrants in the light of individual educational achievement, and how the educational stratification of unemployment varies across the countries. The countries to be compared are Estonia and the EU countries. The starting point for the formulation of the hypotheses is the assumption that labour market institutions and educational systems have an impact on the labour market entry process. Comparing the educational systems as well as labour market institutions in Estonia and in the EU countries, will help us to formulate the hypotheses about labour market entry process in Estonia using the classification results from previous studies. The paper draws upon data from the Estonian Labour Force Survey 2002 as well as from the ELFS 1997 concerning the European Union countries published in Cedefop report. Labour force outcomes were measured as unemployment risks. Following the first description of the phenomenon in different countries we will explore the role of educational achievement. In addition, we will observe both exit from and vulnerability to unemployment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we try to unravel some of the unintended and intended academic effects associated with post-Soviet educational reforms by focusing on three cases: Estonia, Latvia and Russia. We have chosen this comparison because a unique ‘natural experiment’ in the three countries allows us to compare the changing academic performance on an international test of a largely similar population in the three countries—Russian origin students attending Russian-medium schools—subjected to three variations of post-Soviet reforms. We find that relative to students in Russia, Russian-medium students in the Baltics made significant gains in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) test. In Latvia, these appear to be an unintended effect of somewhat ‘softened’ state language policies, the conditions surrounding minority rights, and the general context of maintaining social cohesion. In Estonia, the (later) relative gains of Russian students appear to an intended effect of locally grown educational (and language) policies and increased, more effective cooperation with Russian medium schools to further improve PISA performance in a relatively high scoring, PISA-focused country. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, we develop a multi-level comparative approach to analyse Trends in International Mathematics and Science Survey (TIMSS) and Programme of International Student Achievement (PISA) mathematics results for a country, Russia, where the two tests provide contradictory information about students’ relative performance. Russian students do relatively well on the TIMSS mathematics test but relatively poorly on the PISA. We compare the performance of Russian students with different levels of family academic resources over the past decade on these tests compared to students with similar family resources in Russia’s neighbours and to Russian students studying in Latvian and Estonian Russian-medium schools. These comparisons and interviews with educators in Latvia and Estonia help us understand why students in Russia may perform lower on the PISA and to draw education policy lessons for improving international test performance generally and Russian students’ PISA mathematics performance specifically. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Since the 1980s, growing globalisation and economic restructuring coupled with expansion of tertiary education contributed to tremendous change in the labour market entry process in Europe. Most previous studies have been quantitative, concentrated on the supply aspect and analysed the role of education as the explanatory variable of youth labour market outcome equations. By contrast, the demand aspect has gained less attention. In this paper, using Estonia as a case study in both perspectives – employers’ practices and graduates’ experiences – are combined to answer the question: how employers use information provided by tertiary education credentials in the recruitment process. Semi-structured interviews with the 15 biggest employers and focus groups consisting of 63 recent graduates comprise the base data of our study. The results reveal that it is useful to examine the mechanisms why education affects recruitment processes separately among service providers and goods producers as well as in different stages of recruitment (pre-selection, getting a job offer). In all sectors, the educational credentials were used in the pre-selection process as a screening device. However, in a job offer, service providers emphasised the role of credentials as signals of trainability while for goods producers credentials informed employers about their job-specific skills. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper deals with the processes in music education of German-language secondary schools in Estonia during the period 1860-1914. Many researchers have pointed out that in order to get an understanding of the school textbooks, we need to consider the social context they are stemming from. The approach to the domain from the Baltic German perspective - by way of exploring the processes in schools where the language of instruction was German - will enrich the history of music education throughout Estonia and thus the respective cultural history. The textbooks used in these schools formed the developmental environment for all students in the student body and shaped their education. The presentation focuses on the following research questions: (1) what kind of processes can be observed in music education in German-language secondary schools during the chosen period; and (2) how the social and socio-cultural reality specific to the period influenced the selection of songs and the teaching of singing in German-language schools from 1860 to 1914. The present research relies mainly on source material collected from archives and libraries in Estonia and Germany between 2008-2013. Due to Baltic privileged legal order the educational system of Baltic provinces was distinct from the one dominating in Inner Russia. Therefore, the content of education was shaped by a Western-European, particularly Prussian educational culture. The period after 1887 marked a big socio-cultural change. Research revealed that the modernisation process characteristic of the 19th century caused tensions that were reflected in the subject matter of the teaching of singing and in music education literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to study the adoption of national curricula by vocational teachers. In the paper, we review the process of vocational education and training curriculum reform in Estonia over the last 20 years, and, in particular, the introduction of national curricula. As teachers should be considered the key agents of curricular change, we look at how teachers have perceived the changes and make sense of them. The analysis of qualitative interviews with 24 vocational teachers in Estonia revealed very different perceptions towards the process of reforming vocational education and training curricula. Resulting from the analysis, five categories of teachers were identified: enthusiastic innovators, constructive-critical innovators, normative adopters, norm ignorers and bitterly disappointed. The Everett Rogers theory of innovation diffusion as well as the concept of ‘sense-making’ has been made use of when explaining the uneven adoption of curriculum change among teachers, and different reactions to potential changes in their work practices. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper investigates ethnic educational inequality in Estonia focusing on second-generation Russians. In Estonia, contrary to many other European countries, the overall educational attainment of second-generation immigrants has, compared to their parents, diverged from the educational attainment of the native population. Our results from logistic regression analysis indicate that the odds of Russians continuing in general secondary and higher education are lower compared to native Estonians. Parental economic, cultural, and host country specific resources do not account for ethnic differences in educational transition. Adolescents’ own language proficiency and citizenship have a strong impact on educational decisions. We conclude that the Estonian education system contributes to the emergence of ethnic differences. While basic and secondary schools function in either the Estonian or Russian languages, the curricula in public higher education institutions are taught mainly in Estonian, which might lower expectations of success amongst Russian adolescents. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

After the re-establishment of independent Estonian statehood in 1991, Russian lost its privileges as the dominant and official language in Estonia, and Estonian continued as the only official language. This paper attempts to map the position of a Russian-speaking teacher within the sociological categories of power and language, based on the analysis of legislative acts and strategic documents within the domain of language policy and language legitimization practices in historical retrospective. The main focus of the study stresses an attempt to elaborate on to what extent the low self-efficacy of Russian-speaking teachers as the agents of legitimization of the Estonian language in Russian-speaking schools, and their low position in power relations within the Estonian education system, can be explained in the categories of power and language, as conceptualized on the basis of the social theory of Bourdieu. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: This paper studies the incidence and consequences of the mismatch between formal education and the educational requirements of jobs in Estonia during the years 1997–2003. We find large wage penalties associated with the phenomenon of educational mismatch. Moreover, the incidence and wage penalty of mismatches increase with age. This suggests that structural educational mismatches can occur after fast transition periods. Our results are robust for various methodologies, and more importantly regarding departures from the exogeneity assumptions inherent in the matching estimators used in our analysis. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper presents an up-to-date overview of language policies and practices in Lithuania, paying particular attention to the latest developments that have taken place in national educational contexts. Against the background of recent socio-demographic changes in the three Baltic republics, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, it analyzes issues pertaining to educational measures chosen in support of both Lithuanian and other locally used languages. In tracing re-evolving individual multilingualisms amongst majority and minority populations around EU accession, it will be shown that these are symbolic of changing orientations, which are socially, politically and economically motivated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Academic history of Estonia goes back to 1632 when Academia Gustaviana was founded in Tartu. In this paper the state-of-the-art of the Estonian science (R&D) system will be given, its functioning in the national socio-economic framework analyzed and the bottlenecks to be overcome identified. It will be concluded that Estonian science is well fit to adjust itself to these new demands if they emerge and able to contribute to national economy and the society at large. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is dedicated to the 370th anniversary of the foundation of the University of Tartu (1632), 200th anniversary of the reopening of the University (1802) and 160th anniversary of the creation of one of the first chairs of pharmacy in the world (1842). The topic has been treated as consisting of the following three periods: the first period--from the foundation of the University (1632) to the beginning of the nineteenth-century; the second period--the Russian czarist state until 1918; the third period--the Estonian-language university since 1918. The main focus is on the people connected with teaching through the centuries (in particular, D.H. Grindel, E.F. Giese, E. Siller, C. Claus, G. Dragendorff, I. Kondakov) and their activity in the context of the history of the University of Tartu. The establishment of one of the first independent (i.e. separate from chemistry) pharmacy professorships in the world in Tartu in 1842 and the issues connected with teaching and research activities at the Institute of Pharmacy are reviewed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous research results show that today's society is characterized by deep and unresolved issues which have also found their way into the school life and influence the pupils' well-being and how well they cope in the school environment (Kast 2010: 3). In searching for a solution, what is usually lacking is a systematic and holistic approach. Estonian scientists find that the starting point for the changes that have taken place in the Estonian education system over the last decades has not been the comprehensive development of the education policy and the changes that have occurred have not been systematic and consistent enough in their assessment (Rinne et. al. 2008: 15). Under the pressure of the politics of new liberalism that dominated concessions were granted in the education policy that were more characteristic of a free market economy and which were guided by the ideas of competition, the free choice of the client, and sponsorship. In parallel with the triumph of liberal ideology in the 1990s, what also began was the forceful moving of postmodernist discourse next to and in place of modernist discourse. The research results of K. Aava, however, show that in educational texts, liberal discourse is weakening whereas conservative discourse is gaining in strength (Aava 2010). Yet, studying only discourse that can be found in educational texts might not give enough relevant material for analysis because, for example, research done by K. Lukk reveals that there exists a significant chasm between theory and practice in Estonian educational reality. What is more, the values of parents and teachers do not coincide which makes it difficult to set common goals in a child's development (Lukk 2008: 4-5). It is no secret that an effective cooperation between the school and the home is first and foremost based on good relations (Sutton 2006; Vincent 1996). Good relations in turn are rooted in trust. Building this, however, is a long and complicated process and it is dominated by two main aspects: shared values and communication. K. Lukk points out in the conclusion of her research that it is necessary to create a new way of thinking - instead of being strictly connected to specific forms and methods, the school and home should work together to find a form of cooperation for each individual child and higher family (Lukk 2008: 4-5). The field of education as a whole urgently needs a new way of thinking and what mostly hinders this is getting stuck into established patterns of thinking and attitudes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]