Estonian Human Development Report
Estonian Human Development Report - Eesti Koostöö Kogu
Estonian Human Development Report - Eesti Koostöö Kogu
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social context explains 19% of the variance in the results<br />
of the students, while in Estonia and Finland these indicators<br />
are 9.3% and 8.3% respectively. Thus, the PISA<br />
shows unequivocally that a good educational system can<br />
compensate for the impact of low income and problematic<br />
home situations. In the best educational systems,<br />
monitoring and intervention has been brought to the<br />
school level, where it is possible to detect students who<br />
need help and to consistently support their needs (Barber;<br />
Mourshed, 2007: 48).<br />
As the final report of the PISA study (OECD 2007)<br />
emphasizes, the social and monetary price of educational<br />
failure is very high. Young people who lack the necessary<br />
competence to cope in today’s society give rise to great<br />
expenditures for health care, welfare and care institutions,<br />
and are detrimental to the security of the society as<br />
a whole. Therefore it is very important to analyze the factors<br />
that cause the differences in the results of schools and<br />
students, and thereby to mitigate the inequality of learning<br />
opportunities.<br />
Challenges for <strong>Estonian</strong> education<br />
based on PISA<br />
The PISA 2006 study confirms that in the field of natural<br />
sciences Estonia’s students have sufficient knowledge<br />
and proficiency to recognize and explain natural phenomena,<br />
and they also managed well with searching for proof<br />
and using it in everyday situations. The current natural<br />
sciences curriculum and teaching methods as well as the<br />
basic and in-service training of the teachers have provided<br />
fertile ground for this. However, a series of problems also<br />
appeared that await fast and effective solutions, as well as<br />
subsequent in-depth studies.<br />
In the analysis of the results, the small ratio of talented<br />
students has already been discussed. In addition, the<br />
regrettable but expected fact appeared that <strong>Estonian</strong> students<br />
have very low interest in professions related to sciences.<br />
The students’ answers show that 26% of our students<br />
want to work in professions related to natural sciences<br />
(this included all fields of activity related to natural sciences,<br />
such as engineering and medicine), 22% wish to<br />
continue studies in the natural sciences after completing<br />
secondary school and only 14% would like deal with scientific<br />
research work. All these indicators are lower than the<br />
average among the participating countries. A somewhat<br />
surprising general trend was that the motivation to study<br />
natural science subjects and to tie one’s future to them was<br />
highest in countries where the general level of achievement<br />
was lower. On the other hand, a relatively negative attitude<br />
toward natural sciences was characteristic of countries<br />
that ranked among the top ten. The interest in natural<br />
science specialization in universities has also suddenly<br />
decreased in these countries. This presents a challenge<br />
to the schools: to find new teaching methods in order to<br />
make the study of natural sciences more attractive.<br />
Figure 1.3.3. Percentage of students according to proficiency<br />
level in the PISA 2006 natural sciences test<br />
100%<br />
80%<br />
60%<br />
40%<br />
20%<br />
0%<br />
ESTONIA<br />
Finland<br />
latvia<br />
Source: PISA website: www.pisa.oecd.org<br />
The third challenge for <strong>Estonian</strong> education resulting<br />
from the PISA is related to the future of the local Russianlanguage<br />
schools. A uniform national curriculum, textbooks,<br />
teacher training, school financing, etc. create equal<br />
expectations for both <strong>Estonian</strong>- and Russian-language<br />
schools. Nevertheless, the PISA study revealed a statistical<br />
difference depending on the language of instruction in both<br />
the average results and the achievement scores. Of <strong>Estonian</strong>language<br />
school students, 5% were included in the first- and<br />
below-first-level group in natural sciences (non-acquisition<br />
of basic proficiency), while 13.6% of Russian-language students<br />
were in this group. Of <strong>Estonian</strong>-language students,<br />
14% attained the highest score (fifth and sixth level), while<br />
only 6.3% of Russian-language students did so. This points<br />
to differences in the schools’ teaching content and form<br />
and narrows the choices of Russian-language students after<br />
the completion of basic school. Numerous studies confirm<br />
that the expertise of teachers affects learning results more<br />
than any other factor. The students of top-quality teachers<br />
develop faster than those of ineffective teachers (Barber;<br />
Mourshed, 2007: 12). The quality of Estonia’s Russian-language<br />
educational system can also not be better than the<br />
teaching quality of the teachers. The key to this lies in the<br />
initial and in-service training of the teachers at schools with<br />
Russian-language instruction.<br />
The 2009 graduates are our first generation to have<br />
completed the PISA test and their choices and careers will<br />
demonstrate the effectiveness of our education and ability<br />
to cope with the circumstances that have changed during<br />
the last decade. We can only include ourselves among<br />
the top educational systems when the educational success<br />
of Estonia’s students is matched by increased interest and<br />
joy of learning.<br />
Lithuania<br />
Russia<br />
Germany<br />
USA<br />
OECD<br />
average<br />
Below-first level 1 st level 2 nd level 3 rd level 4 th level 5 th level 6 th level<br />
Higher and technical education in Estonia<br />
A very topical indicator (% of students specializing in science<br />
and technology among students at the tertiary level)<br />
has been highlighted by the <strong>Human</strong> <strong>Development</strong> <strong>Report</strong>’s<br />
statistical table dealing with education. The value of this<br />
indicator in Estonia was 23%, while at the same time this<br />
indicator was highest – 40% – in North Korea. This indicator<br />
was higher than Estonia in exactly half the EU states:<br />
Finland (38%), Greece (32%), Spain (30%), Czech Repub-<br />
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