DEVELOPMENT
The pdf-version - Eesti Koostöö Kogu
The pdf-version - Eesti Koostöö Kogu
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
Table 1.3.4<br />
The quality of education according to the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI 2012): Estonia and the top 5 countries in<br />
the world<br />
Measures supporting efficiency<br />
Measures supporting<br />
innovation<br />
Conformity of<br />
education to<br />
the economy<br />
Level of<br />
mathematics and<br />
sciences teaching<br />
Level of schools<br />
of economics and<br />
management<br />
Availability of<br />
the Internet<br />
in schools<br />
Availability of<br />
high-quality<br />
training services<br />
Training and<br />
development<br />
of workers<br />
1 Switzerland Singapore United Kingdom Iceland Switzerland Switzerland<br />
2 Finland Finland Belgium Estonia The Netherlands Finland<br />
3 Singapore Belgium Switzerland Finland Austria Singapore<br />
4 Qatar Lebanon Spain The Netherlands Germany Luxembourg<br />
5 Belgium Switzerland Canada Singapore Belgium Japan<br />
Estonia among<br />
144 countries<br />
49. 19. 48. 2. 39. 46.<br />
The following educational risks for Estonia should be<br />
mentioned: the small percentage of men among the students<br />
at all educational levels and the meagre positive<br />
effect of education on positions in the labour market.<br />
Estonians with higher education more often have jobs<br />
that do not conform to their educational qualifications,<br />
and higher education also does not have the same positive<br />
effect on salary levels as it does in other countries.<br />
Keeping Estonia’s small population in mind, a serious<br />
concern is the percentage of young people with only<br />
Figure 1.3.12<br />
Assessment of the role of school in the development<br />
of entrepreneurial attitudes, as well as knowledge and<br />
skills, % of the respondents that agreed that school<br />
plays a positive role.<br />
Attitudes<br />
Turkey<br />
China<br />
Finland<br />
Switzerland<br />
Czech Republic<br />
USA<br />
Denmark<br />
Rep. of Korea<br />
Austria<br />
Slovakia<br />
Slovenia<br />
Estonia<br />
Netherlands<br />
Hungary<br />
Ireland<br />
Japan<br />
Skills-knowledge<br />
Percentage 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70<br />
Source: Flash Eurobarometer 354, 2012<br />
basic education or less, which is statistically equal to<br />
the European Union average. A drop-out rate of 10–11%<br />
means 10,000 young people aged 18 to 24 who only<br />
have a basic education, if that. Only 6% of them are<br />
employed, which means great economic losses to the<br />
society in the form of unpaid taxes and increased social<br />
costs, as well as the indirect costs for ensuring security<br />
and health (European Parliament 2011).<br />
We should keep an eye on the changes in Estonia’s<br />
position in the rankings of educational indicators.<br />
For instance, Estonia’s results in the 2009 PISA tests<br />
were poorer than in 2006 (Kitsing 2011). Secondly,<br />
there is no decline in the measures of education that<br />
are based on expert opinions related to competitiveness<br />
and the public’s assessment of the role of school<br />
in the development of entrepreneurship has improved<br />
between 2009 and 2012. Therefore, the data on the<br />
quality of education are somewhat contradictory and<br />
today there are too little of it to draw any fundamental<br />
conclusions.<br />
International impulses have significantly shaped<br />
Estonian education policy (Heidmets et al. 2011). During<br />
the last decade, Estonia has adopted the European Union’s<br />
educational guidelines, and also actively learned from<br />
neighbouring countries. At the same time, the arguments<br />
and instruments for the adoption of polices have rapidly<br />
developed; among other things, learning from our neighbours,<br />
has made learning from international organisations<br />
less important (Toots 2009). One reason could be that<br />
Estonia’s accession to the European Union and the OECD<br />
came at a time when greater importance started to be<br />
placed on the measurement of the efficiency of indicator-based<br />
education systems.<br />
Besides the things that are on the international<br />
agenda, topics are prevalent in Estonia’s educational policy<br />
debates that do not seem to be justified by Estonia’s<br />
international position (see Table 1.3.5). This confirms<br />
that external influences have been multifaceted and are<br />
mediated based on domestic interests. Secondly, it seems<br />
that domestic policymakers have not always known how<br />
to assess Estonia’s situation based on the international<br />
reference system, and therefore, some topics have been<br />
over-amplified while others have not received sufficient<br />
attention.<br />
Estonian Human Development Report 2012/2013<br />
39