This document summarizes education in Estonia, with a focus on the country's success on PISA exams and its transition towards greater digital learning. It notes that Estonia has consistently ranked high in math, reading, and science on PISA tests. It explores factors that may explain this success, such as school autonomy, qualified teachers, and equal opportunities regardless of socioeconomic status. The document also outlines Estonia's "Digital Turn," with initiatives to equip all students with individual computers and transition towards a new learning paradigm centered around ubiquitous technology. It shares experiences from a project to help schools fully adopt digital tools and innovative pedagogies through a whole-school approach.

1. Education in Estonia:
PISA & digital turn
Mart Laanpere, PhD
Senior research fellow
Centre for Educational Technology
Tallinn University

2. Call me Mart
O I am third-generation mathematics
teacher
O Principal of a rural K-12 school 1992 –
1996
O Researcher in the Centre for Educational
Technology, Tallinn University since 2003
O Research interests: digital competences,
pedagogy-driven design of online learning
environments, digital textbooks, online
assessment, smart schoolhouse, learning
analytics, didactics of informatics

3. Estonia: facts & figures
O Population: 1,3 million
O Tallinn: 450 000
O Area: larger than
the Netherlans
O Estonian is the mother
tongue: 65%
O In NATO: since 2003
O In EU: since 2004
O In Schengen: since 2007
O EURO currency: since
2011
O 520 K-12 schools, 14 000
teachers, 148 000 pupils

5. Teacher’s salary

6. PISA results
2006
World / Europe
2009
World / Europe
2012
World / Europe
Maths 14 6 17 7 11 3-6
Reading 13 8 13 5 11 3-6
Science 5 2 9 2 6 1-2

7. PISA results 2012
O Results in Russian-speaking schools
have improved, but still lagging behind
O Gender differences: boys are much
worse in reading, but slightly better in
maths
O Equal opportunities: socio-economic
status does not affect the results, school
compensates
O The share of low-performing students is
the smallest in Europe

8. In addition
O Estonian pupils are the most active users of
e-school and school web site
O Only 66% of Estonian pupils feel happy at
school
O Only 14% on the level 5-6 in maths (55% in
Shanghai)
O Students have generally positive attitude
towards school
O Qualified, but ageing teachers (avg 47 y),
radical gender imbalance among teachers

9. Explaining our success in PISA
O High autonomy of schools
O Highly qualified teachers
O Schools provide equal opportunities, no
difference between urban and rural schools
O More books at home
O Metacognitive learning strategies
O Increase in educational expenditures
O Very few new immigrants

10. Teacher education in Estonia
O Initial teacher education: on the Masters’ level, 120
ECTS (incl. thesis)
O Tallinn University and University of Tartu are the
largest providers, others are teacher colleges in
Narva, Rakvere, Haapsalu, also music and arts
academies as well as Tallinn University of
Technology
O Successful “Teach First” programme
O In-service teacher education: teachers are
expected to attend 160 hrs within 5 years, funded
by MoER
O A dedicated 80 hrs programme “Teacher of the
Future” based on ISTE NETS-T digital

11. Teacher education: innovation
O Centres of educational innovation in Tallinn &
Tartu
O Curricula renewed to meet the new teachers’
professional qualification standard, more and
earlier practice in schools
O Experimental curriculum for science teachers
O New portal eDidaktikum.ee, created by the
consortium of teacher education institutions
O Educational technology: DigiTurn programme for
school teams in TLU, sponsored by Samsung
O Digital textbooks, eSchoolbag platform

12. MA Programme: Ed. Technology
O Intake: 15 experienced teachers enroll every year,
based on competence-based e-portfolio
O Envisaged jobs: educational technologist,
technology integration specialist, instructional
designer, HRD
O Blended learning: blog-based Personal Learning
Environment + contact hours: every second
weekend
O Duration: 2 years, 120 ECTS
O Structure: general courses 8 ECTS, specialisation
courses 66 ECTS, free electives 16, thesis 30
ECTS
O Instructional design; Learning environments;
Digital learning resources; Knowledge

13. Your impressions
O Based on your impressions today, how
would you explain the success of Estonian
schools in PISA?
O In case you are interested in comparing
your national curriculum with the Estonian
one: https://www.hm.ee/en/national-
curricula

14. Digital turn in
Estonian schools
Towards 1:1 computing and new
learning paradigm

15. IEA SITES 2006-2008

16. Technology generation shifts
InshopInschool
?

17. National ICT strategies for
education in Estonia
O 1986: Juku computers, programming is the
second literacy for a citizen of the Soviet
Union!
O 1997: Tiger Leap: school computerisation
O 2001: Tiger Leap+, ICT integration
O 2006: DigiTiger, e-learning
O 2012: learning and teaching in the digital
age
O 2014: National strategy for lifelong learning,
digital turn towards 1:1 computing & BYOD

18. Action plan for Digital Turn
O Digital turn in formal education system: digital culture
into curricula, bottom-up innovation, sharing good
practice, educational technologists in schools
O Digital learning resources: digital textbooks, OER,
quality management, recommender systems
O Digital infrastructure for learning : 1:1 computing,
BYOD, interoperable ecosystem of services, mobile
clients, school-wide digital turn (first in 20 pilot schools,
then in others)
O Digital competences of teachers and students:
competence models, self-assessment tools, mapping
with course offerings and accreditation procedures,
updating initial teacher education curricula

19. Old and new pedagogies
Tech
use
Pedagogical
capacity
Content knowledge
Master required
content
Outcome:
Content
mastery
OldNew
Outcome:
Deep
learning
Teacher Pupil
Discover and master content together
Pedagogical
capacity
Create and use new
knowledge in the
world
Ubiquitous technology
(Fullan 2013)

20. Configurations of digital
textbook 2.0
Planetary system
model
Linux
model
Lego
model
Stabile
core
Dynami
c core
No core
at all

21. Experiences from Samsung
Digital Turn project
O Whole-school digital turn: focus on change
management and pedagogical innovation (Fullan)
O Every school found their own focus (20 schools)
O Learners as creators: Kahoot, Geocaching, Digital
storytelling, learner-created textbooks
O Systemic and sustainable change: formative
assessment with e-portfolios
O Leadership: digital language immersion, regional
lead
O Digital maturity self-assessment tool, peer-
assessment between schools

22. Helsinki University: future
classroom

24. Thank you!
O Questions?