Global education, knowledge of how global issues affect the daily lives of individuals, communities and society, and how everyone can influence the world, has been promoted in Estonia for 15 years.
Schools can choose elective courses, take part in themed weeks and projects, and such content has been integrated into various subjects, but according to those involved, this has been done in a fragmented way.
Meelis Niine, project manager at the non-profit organization Mondo, told ERR that in the future global education could be described more clearly in the general sections of the national curricula and in subject syllabi, and that global citizenship competencies could also be set out more specifically.
“If there were a separate emphasis specifically on global citizenship competencies, it would help make global education a clearer and more integral part of formal education. What do I mean by global citizenship competencies? On the one hand, it means that young people should understand different global challenges, their local dimension, and how global challenges are reflected locally. At the same time, it is also important to care about these issues and to take active action,” he said.
Niine thinks this is a weak point because many young people in Estonia may be fairly well informed about global issues, but they make relatively few active choices in their daily lives or engage in civic activism.
Madli-Maria Naulainen, chair of the Estonian History and Civics Teachers’ Association, said that global education is certainly already part of civics classes, but that does not mean it could not receive greater emphasis.
“At the moment, a great deal depends on the individual teacher – some choose to address these topics more, others less,” Naulainen explained. “I very much agree that the topic of global education should be highlighted more and should not depend solely on teachers’ individual choices.”
According to the chair, the association has worked closely with Mondo all along and has helped distribute the educational materials created by Mondo for use in civics lessons.
“That line of cooperation certainly exists now, but in a situation where teachers can choose which topics they use to achieve particular learning outcomes, a specific section in the curriculum would provide a better guarantee that everyone has gained some knowledge in this area,” Naulainen argued.
Ministry: Schools have a lot of autonomy
Adviser on general education policy at the Ministry of Education and Research, Mare Oja, said there is no contradiction in the current situation. The principles of global education are already included in the national curriculum’s general competencies and core values.
“We have universal human and social values, which include both solidarity, civic engagement and seeing oneself as a citizen of the world. In Estonia, the national curriculum is a general document on the basis of which schools develop their own curricula, and our schools have a great deal of autonomy,” she said.
She added that in upper secondary school, 63 of the 96 courses are determined by the national curriculum, while schools design the remaining third themselves, creating their own profile and deciding what they want to explore in greater depth. Some focus on economics education, others on financial literacy, and some on global education. As a result, the situation is diverse.
“In fact, all these principles are already included. Specific topics are covered in geography and civics. For example, when we talk about cultural diversity, foreign languages, language and literature, and certainly history all support that,” Oja said.
Teachers: Schools may lack broader perspective
Madli-Maria Naulainen of the History and Civics Teachers’ Association noted that although several school subjects touch on global education, what may be lacking is a broader perspective that would help students understand globalization and give them an idea of what development cooperation is and why it is necessary.
“In today’s globalized world, it is inevitable that we must keep up with these issues. Understanding and solidarity toward others are also areas that could certainly be better addressed through these topics,” Naulainen said.
Maari Ross, adviser at the Humanitarian Aid Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said some European countries also look to Estonia’s education system for inspiration, but at the same time, the issue of fragmentation still needs to be addressed.
“One important area is regional support and cooperation networks. In Estonia, we actually have several very strong schools and competence centers working on global education. The question is how to ensure and improve the sharing of their experience with others. Another important area is research and evaluating the impact of global education – how to increase the interest of Estonian researchers in studying global education,” Ross said.
According to Naulainen, civics is expected to provide good citizenship education, while in reality the subject has a fairly limited place in schools.
“Civics as a subject is taught only in the sixth, ninth and 12th grades. We have discussed whether the volume of civics education should perhaps be expanded, because expectations have increased and there are visible signs of polarization and extremism in society,” the association’s chair said.
At the end of last year, stakeholders in the field produced a vision document, and on that basis they are now moving toward drafting an action plan.
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