Context

Estonia emerged as a top performer on PISA 2012, ranking in the top tier in science and close to the top in reading and mathematics among all participating countries and regions. By 2022, Estonia had become a top performer globally in all three subjects and the highest performer in Europe. Estonian performance is among the most equitable with respect to socioeconomic background; among OECD nations in Europe, Estonia has the highest percentage of resilient students, defined as those in the lowest quartile of socioeconomic status who perform in the highest quartile on PISA. The share of low-performing Estonian students in mathematics on PISA 2022 was less than half the OECD average.

This is a remarkable achievement for a country of just over one million citizens that gained independence as recently as 1991. Since that year, the Estonian economy has grown nearly eightfold, with its information technology sector central to that growth. Estonia deliberately created an education system equipped to support the high-tech, high-skill, high-wage economy it was focused on building. As part of this national strategy, it created the Tiger Leap project to provide all schools with computers and Internet access. The ProgeTiger program, launched in 2012, built on Tiger Leap by providing schools with instructional resources and professional learning opportunities around digital literacy. Its latest phase, AI Leap, was announced in 2025 and will provide students and teachers with AI tools for learning. The Ministry of Education will lead this work in partnership with the private sector.

In addition to its focus on technology, Estonia steadily built a new education system following independence from the Soviet Union. Key education reforms have included the development of a new national curriculum and ongoing adaptation of that curriculum to the needs of a fast-changing global economy; revamped teacher education to incorporate learner-centered and digital practices, provide mentorships for new teachers, and require a master’s degree with a research thesis; guaranteed access to highly subsidized early childhood programs for all children; and strengthened vocational education and training.

Estonia has adopted a succession of education strategies to guide its development. In 2021, the country created its first cross-sector strategy Estonia 2035: A Smart and Active Estonia. It focuses on citizen health, preparedness for change, and fostering a positive relationship with the environment. Each agency—including the Ministry of Education and Research—developed its own aligned strategy. Estonia’s current areas of focus for its education systems are deepening of learner-centered teaching and learning, modularizing learning, creating skills-based professional qualifications, and better integrating academic and vocational learning.

Estonia’s education system still faces challenges. As its teaching force ages, the country is struggling to recruit new teachers. Teacher salaries have risen in recent years, but they still lag behind those of other professionals in Estonia. Estonia also faces a sustained achievement gap between its Estonian-language and Russian-language speaking students. Until 2022, Estonia maintained a system of Russian-language basic schools alongside Estonian-language schools. Legislation passed in 2022 requires Estonian as the language of instruction for all schools. The goal is to ensure that all students are equipped for further education and high quality jobs, which generally require fluency in Estonian. The shift will require a multi-year effort to develop more Estonian teachers for Russian-speaking areas of the country and will be phased in over a period of years. The country also recently announced it will extend compulsory schooling to age 18 to ensure that all students are well-prepared for further education and the workplace.

Quick Facts

Roles and Responsibilities

Estonia’s Ministry of Education and Research oversees all education, including preschool, primary and secondary education, higher education, and adult education. Childcare was moved under the Ministry in 2024. 

For pre-school through secondary school, the Ministry sets national standards and curriculum as well as requirements for education funding and quality assessment. The Ministry initially established seven national nonprofit foundations to support implementation of its policies. These included the Innove Foundation, which was responsible for curriculum and national assessments, and the Information Technology Foundation for Estonia (HITSA), which promoted the development and use of technology skills in education. In 2020, the seven foundations were consolidated under the Education and Youth Authority.  

Each of Estonia’s 15 counties has a municipal education office that oversees schools across the country. These offices are responsible for managing school operations, including selecting school leaders and providing support for extracurricular activities and other school services. In some cases, municipalities have come together to share resources, such as teachers, services, or extracurricular facilities. Schools have a high level of autonomy for resource allocation and staffing.

While most schools are still managed by municipalities, a 2013 law mandated that the central government assume responsibility for upper secondary schools, including academic, vocational, and special education schools. The goal of this reform was to ensure quality and consistency across secondary schools, as well as to consolidate small schools scattered across municipalities into larger, regional ones. The state has built new county-level upper secondary schools in 13 of 15 counties in the past few years.  

Goal Setting and Planning

The Estonian government prepares periodic national development plans as well as implementation plans for each sector, including education. The planning process includes multiple opportunities for input from educators, students, parents, and employers, as well as from the general public. Estonia reports annually on progress towards its goals at the national and Ministry level. Estonia’s Parliament also established a Foresight Center in 2016, which researches trends that impact government policies, including the education system, and makes policy recommendations based on a range of alternative future scenarios.

Estonia shifted from sector-based plans to a government-wide strategy with its most recent strategic plan.  Estonia 2035: A Smart and Active Estonia, adopted in 2021, involved two years of consultations with stakeholders and agencies across the government starting in 2018. The strategy acknowledges the rapid changes taking place in the labour market and expects the education system to support the swift upskilling and reskilling of all age groups and provide education that meets the requirements of the labour market. Building on Estonia’s current efforts to create a robust lifelong learning system, the new strategy outlines further steps to promote lifelong learning with flexibility of learning pathways, varied and accessible learning opportunities, and diverse learning environments, with population participation targets set for 2025, 2030, and 2035. The target goal for 2025 was 25 percent, which was met.

The plan also focuses on the next generation of school and university teachers, educators, and support specialists, ensuring that candidates have flexible opportunities to enter the profession and strong preparation for their roles in a changing society, as well as professional development opportunities throughout their career. The strategy highlights the changing role of the teacher, who is increasingly expected to take a supporting role in the development of self-directed learners. The Education Ministry developed its own 2021-24 strategy to implement the education-related aims of the national strategy.  Its specific priorities are closing gaps in student learning, reducing teacher workload, supporting student and teacher mental health and wellbeing, enhancing digital skills and focus on sustainability, and supporting research in all of these areas.  The Ministry publishes an annual report on progress towards these goals.  

In 2025, Estonia also announced a new initiative called AI Leap, which will focus on putting new AI tools in the hands of teachers and students. This is the latest phase in an effort that dates back to the 1990s to make Estonia a global leader in digital technology, which included creating a digitally powered government and public services. The Tiger Leap Initiative was the first education component of this plan and over the last thirty years has driven programs to provide technology to support learning in schools and ensure that teachers and students are digitally literate.

Accountability

System Accountability

The Estonian Quality Agency for Education (HAKA) is responsible for evaluating education in Estonia.  It is an independent body under the Education and Youth Board and focuses on ensuring quality of education and teaching.  HAKA conducts external evaluations, including institutional accreditation and quality assessments of study programs for general, vocational, and higher education.  

The Ministry maintains the Estonian Education Information System, an online database that contains school, student, teacher, and system-level data on all levels of the education system. Individualized data are password-protected, so, for example, students can log in to see their progress toward graduation requirements, or teachers can log in to see their evaluation results. School and system-level data, including report cards that track schools’ progress along indicators of student performance, are available to the public. 

For primary and secondary schools, sample-based tests (called standards-determining tests) are administered at the end of grade three in Estonian and mathematics and the end of grade six in Estonian, mathematics, and one additional subject that rotates each year. The tests are administered to 10 percent of the population in order to assess school and system performance and help inform national policy. 

School Accountability

Although the national government conducted regular, comprehensive inspections of primary and secondary schools in the 1990s, the practice was abolished in 2006 in order to further school autonomy. Now, schools conduct self-evaluations every three years. In addition, the Ministry’s External Evaluation Department oversees sample-based inspections focused on specific themes, which are carried out by county education offices. The inspections examine a sample of about 10 percent of schools each year and focus on themes like teacher professional learning or support for individual students. Inspection results are shared with the public and with the Ministry; the role of the Ministry is to offer support for schools in specific areas of need, such as student assessment. Estonia also conducts a small number of risk-based inspections, which will focus inspections on a small set of schools identified as low-performing based on quantitative indicators like assessment scores and student responses to a nationwide well-being questionnaire. Following the inspections, the Ministry offers support to address the issues identified.

Schools are required to create School Development Plans based on their self-evaluations. They must engage the school community, including teachers and students and parents, in outlining goals and improvement strategies. The self-evaluation component summarizes strengths and weaknesses across domains like school leadership, teaching and learning, and educational outcomes to inform future School Development Plans. During the transition to self-evaluations, the Ministry provided counselors to assist schools, but now schools can request assistance if needed, and the Ministry has developed tools that schools can choose to use. The Ministry also provides comparison data to support effective self-evaluation. Schools must make their self-evaluation reports available to the public.

Financing

Estonia has a per-pupil education funding system for primary and secondary education, drawing on both national and municipal revenues. The central government provides more than 80 percent of total funding for primary and secondary education to municipal governments. Schools are operated by the state (common for upper secondary), municipalities (pre-schools and basic education) and private providers. All schools, both public and private, receive the same public funding.

Estonia’s school funding formula includes a block grant and an equalization grant, which is intended to ensure that all students have equal access to education. The block grant is allocated on a per-pupil basis, adjusted for the demographic and socioeconomic background of the municipality, and includes additional weights for students with special educational needs in mainstream and special schools. The equalization grant is intended to make up any shortfall between what a municipality collects in taxes and the amount needed to provide basic services, including education. Municipalities have flexibility in how they spend these additional funds.

Preparing for Long Life Learning: Preschool to Secondary

Preschool

Estonian municipalities guarantee a spot in public preschool for all children between ages four and seven, when compulsory school begins. Enrollment is voluntary, but 94 percent of eligible children take part. Almost all of these children attend public preschools for which fees are capped at 20 percent of the national minimum wage. Additional financial support to attend public preschools varies by municipality.  About 10 percent of preschools are private, but some of those receive municipal funding if there are not enough public centers to serve all students.

Preschool is based on a national curriculum and is designed to support the physical, mental, social, and emotional development of the child. The National Curriculum for Preschool Child Care Institutions outlines the skills that children should develop by age seven in five broad areas: general skills; play skills; cognitive and learning skills; social skills; and self-management skills. It also sets developmentally appropriate educational goals for progress in areas like language and speech, mathematics, art, music, and movement. In collaboration with parents and teachers, preschools are responsible for developing their own school curricula within the guidelines set at the national level to help children develop these skills. The National Curriculum also includes guidance for serving children with special educational needs, including gifted children, as well as Estonian-language learners.  

Access to services from speech therapists and special education teachers is guaranteed for preschool students who need them. Estonian preschools create individual transition plans for children as they move from preschool to primary school. Preschool teachers develop and administer school-readiness assessments to each child, then communicate the child’s developmental progress to primary schools so that those teachers can prepare to meet the child’s needs. 

Primary and Secondary Education

System Structure

Compulsory education in Estonia starts at age seven and is required until students reach age 18. Basic school, which includes both primary and lower secondary education in Estonia, covers grades one through nine. Upper secondary school, for which students choose either an academic or a vocational program, covers grades 10 through 12.  Students in Estonia typically stay with the same teacher in early elementary grades and stay together as a class as they progress through basic school grades.  

Estonia’s Basic and Upper Secondary Schools Act allows students to enroll in a public school in their own residential school district or in another district. Almost all families choose public schools over private ones because although private schools also receive government funding, they can charge additional fees and make up about 10 percent of general education schools in Estonia. The system for allocating enrollment in basic school varies across municipalities. Typically, in rural areas, students are placed in the school of their choice in the order in which they request to enroll, as there are limited options available. In urban areas, students rank their preferred schools in their residential district, and places are allocated based on factors like sibling enrollment and proximity to the school. A very small set of elite public basic schools have additional admission criteria, which can include entrance exams. 

Students earn their basic school certificate by completing the curriculum and passing a set of graduation exams at the end of grade nine. They then have the option to continue to academic upper secondary general education or vocational education. At the upper secondary level, each school sets its own admission criteria, which may include students’ grades during basic education, scores on the basic school graduation exams or school-designed entrance exams, or interviews. Competitiveness of admission varies by school and geographic region, with general upper secondary schools located in cities among the most competitive. The proportion of upper secondary students enrolling in vocational programs has been rising in recent years, reaching 40 percent in 2022. The remaining students were enrolled in academic programs. 

Standards and Curriculum

In a bid to shed Soviet-era ideology and prepare students for the future economy, Estonia’s Ministry of Education and Research developed a new national curriculum in the 1990s emphasizing problem-solving, critical thinking, and information technology. In addition to providing detailed content and learning objectives for traditional academic subjects, the new curriculum incorporated student competencies by grade span (grades one to three, four to six, seven to nine, and 10 to 12) and introduced a set of cross-curricular topics to be embedded and taught across subject areas.  Estonia was among the first countries globally to do this.  Estonia’s curriculum specifies the amount of time to be spent on each subject at each grade span but leaves it to schools to organize grade-level allocations.

Early revision of the national curriculum cut back on required content to leave more time for development of competencies, divided the curriculum into two parts—one for basic education (grades 1-9) and one for upper secondary education (grades 10-12)—and introduced new graduation requirements: a cross-disciplinary creative project for graduation from basic school and a research project for graduation from upper secondary school. A 2014 revision updated the competencies and specified that they should be taught across as well as within subjects, through out-of-school learning experiences such as those offered by museums or cultural institutions, and through extracurricular activities. Estonia’s latest revision of its curriculum was implemented in 2023. It increased time spent on physical education as well as arts and technology subjects and Estonian as a second language. 

Estonia’s national curriculum for basic education includes eight compulsory subjects: language and literature, foreign languages, mathematics, natural science, social studies, art and music, technology, and physical education. It also includes four elective subjects: religious studies, informatics, career education, and entrepreneurship. Schools are required to teach digital literacy but have the option to treat it as a stand-alone subject or integrated into other subjects. The national curriculum for basic education sets required instructional time for each compulsory subject as well as for elective subjects, which amount to about five to ten percent of total instructional time, depending on the grade level. The national curriculum for upper secondary education includes seven compulsory subjects—language and literature, foreign languages, mathematics, natural science, social studies, art and music, and physical education—as well as six elective subjects—religious studies, national defense, economic and business studies, philosophy, career education, and “bases of inquiry” or investigative research. At the upper secondary level, about two-thirds of students’ total course load is compulsory and the rest is elective. 

As they develop their own curricula, schools must adhere to the national curriculum and follow certain requirements: for example, a broad range of stakeholders must be included in the development process and specific elements, such as school values, must be integrated into the curriculum. The Education and Youth Authority provides optional resources and advisory services to assist individual schools in meeting the requirements of the curriculum development process.

Assessment and Credentialing

Student performance is assessed by national exams, sample-based national tests, and regular classroom assessments. Prior to grade one, there is a short school readiness assessment. This is used to communicate children’s developmental progress to their primary school teachers and identify those who need additional support in the early grades. Tests to monitor national progress are administered to a sample (10 percent) of the student population at the end of grade three in Estonian and mathematics and at the end of grade six in Estonian, mathematics, and one additional subject that rotates each year. There are no consequences attached to the results for students or schools.

Unofficial versions of the test are made available to schools and many teachers give the test to all students in order to check student progress against national norms. 

National exams are administered at the end of grade nine, which is the end of basic education. There are three exams: Estonian, mathematics, and a third exam students may choose from among a foreign language, science, or social science field. The exams include multiple-choice and essay questions and are graded by committees of teachers at each school. Passing the exams in all subjects allows students to graduate from basic school and move on to upper secondary school, although students who do not pass an exam can advance to grade 10 with a teacher’s recommendation or by passing an alternative, school-based exam. In order to graduate from basic school, all students must also complete a school-designed and graded creative project during grades six through nine. 

Students who opt for academic upper secondary school take a set of national graduation exams after grade 12. Students must take exams in Estonian, mathematics (a narrow or extensive version, depending on the student’s coursework), and foreign language (English, French, German, or Russian). Twelfth graders also must pass an exam developed by their school (but based on the national curriculum) and complete a research project in order to graduate. For students who want to continue to university, the application process varies by program of study but generally includes scores on the national graduation exams (often focusing on the subject most closely connected to the program to which a student is applying), additional university-designed subject exams, or interviews. Admission criteria for institutions of professional higher education, which award technical bachelor’s and master’s degrees, vary by school and program and may not include the national graduation exams. 

A focus in recent years has been to digitize the national assessment and pilot a range of new exams focused on broader learning skills such as digital skills, communication skills, and self-management. 

Digital Resources

Estonia has long been a global leader in technology, including in its schools. As early as the 2000s, the Tiger’s Leap Initiative provided all schools with computers and Internet access and offered professional learning and educational resources to build teachers’ and students’ technology skills. By 2014, the national school curriculum was amended to require that all students at all grade levels develop digital literacy. Schools have flexibility to teach digital literacy as a stand-alone subject or incorporate it into content areas. Most schools in Estonia employ a full-time educational technologist, who is an experienced teacher with a second master’s degree in educational technology responsible for supporting other teachers in the integration of technology into teaching and learning. In 2025, Estonia announced a new initiative called AI Leap, which will focus on putting new AI tools in the hands of teachers and students. The first phase will roll out in upper secondary schools. Estonia has also been piloting the use of robots in early childhood education settings to create personalized and engaging lessons for students.

Teachers nationwide use an online platform called e-Kool (“e-School”) to streamline their daily teaching tasks, including communicating with students and families, uploading instructional resources to use or share with other teachers, and posting homework and other assignments for students. Students use the e-School platform to submit completed assignments and create electronic portfolios of their work. E-School is designed to support in-person classes as well as enable teachers, students, and families to shift key aspects of the teaching and learning process online.  Estonian schools shifted to distance learning quickly because this system was in place.  Even before the pandemic, many schools had already begun scheduling “digital days” to ensure teachers and students—as young as elementary age—felt confident integrating online and independent learning into their regular school experience. More schools have since incorporated digital days into their schedules.

Estonia has also prioritized making teaching and learning resources available online. In 2016, the Ministry of Education and Research launched an online resource library called e-Koolikott (“e-Schoolbag”) with a full range of primary and secondary education resources available in digital form. The resources in e-Schoolbag are searchable by subject, grade, and resource type, and teachers can compile, save, and share their own “learning kits” of related resources. The resources available in e-Schoolbag come from teachers, subject specialists, universities, textbook publishers and other ed tech providers. Since 2015, Estonian law has required that all new textbooks be made available in digital form. 

Most schools in Estonia employ a full-time educational technologist, who is an experienced teacher with a second master’s degree in educational technology responsible for supporting other teachers in the integration of technology into teaching and learning.  Estonia will be introducing new AI tools and resources to schools, starting with upper secondary schools, in the 2025-26 school year.

Learning Supports

Struggling Learners

All schools are required to conduct a yearly development interview to gauge progress and set goals for each student and implement appropriate support measures for students who are struggling academically. The development interview is structured as a conversation that, in addition to the student and teacher, can include the student’s parents, other school staff, and support specialists such as psychologists. Teachers are also required to observe student development on an ongoing basis and differentiate instruction as needed. For students who need short-term academic support to catch up with their peers, schools provide supplemental instruction or services from specialists like psychologists or social workers. 

The national government also provides additional resources to all primary and secondary students and adults in training who do not have a basic school certificate, regardless of income level, such as providing hot school lunches, books, and learning materials. These are funded through separate grants. 

Special Learning Needs

Under Estonian law, a student with special needs is any student who requires additional support due to a range of factors, including health status, disability, long-term absence from school, behavioral disorders, language learner status, or giftedness. There are three tiers of support: general support, enhanced support, and special support. General support is available to all students and can include additional teacher instruction or access to specialists; this level of support is organized and provided by schools. The second two tiers include more intensive interventions, such as an individualized curriculum, and require formal identification of special needs. As of 2019-20, about 13 percent of students received general support and 6 percent of students received enhanced or special support. 

Estonian policy states that students with special needs should be educated in mainstream schools and classrooms to the extent possible. More than two-thirds of students formally identified as having special needs are enrolled in mainstream schools. The Ministry has established 16 state-run schools for students with special needs who require more intensive support, and municipalities and private organizations also run special schools. All schools in Estonia have coordinators who facilitate cooperation among support specialists and teachers on behalf of students with special needs. The coordinator is responsible for making recommendations to teachers, parents, and the school leader regarding how best to support each student. 

Gifted students are also considered to have special learning needs and schools are obliged to organize programming to align with their talents. Many programs are organized by a nonprofit called the Estonian Talent Center established in partnership with the University of Tartu. The Center develops and delivers (both in person and online) courses intended to challenge learners that are used across Estonia. It also runs summer and holiday camp programs. Gifted students are also encouraged to participate in academic competitions and Olympiads or are allowed to study independently to accelerate or deepen their studies.

Estonia has also established a nationwide network of regional counseling centers providing out-of-school supports for school-age students. These centers, called Pathfinder Centers, provide guidance for students with special needs and other learning difficulties, including coordination of services; specialist services such as speech therapy, psychological counseling, or social work services; and career and education counseling for young people up to age 26. Pathfinder Centers also support rural schools, which may not have full-time school-based support specialists, to offer students a wider range of support services.

CTE and Long Life Learning

Secondary and Postsecondary CTE

The Ministry of Education and Research oversees vocational education in Estonia. Several advisory bodies and industry organizations—including the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Employers’ Confederation, and the Confederation of Trade Unions—advise the Ministry on vocational curriculum and programming. 

There is at least one vocational school in every Estonian county, for a total of 30 schools nationwide, and almost all of these are operated and funded by the national government. The remaining vocational schools are either municipal schools, which receive some funding from the national government but are funded primarily at the municipal level, or private schools, which generally require students to pay tuition. Vocational programs are available at the upper secondary and postsecondary levels at these schools.  

Prior to 2018, the national government determined which programs vocational schools would offer and set enrollment quota for each program. More recently, the government has shifted this responsibility to schools, so that they may react more quickly to local labor markets. A national labor forecasting system known as OSKA, introduced in 2015, issues annual reports providing 10-year forecasts by the economic sector. Vocational schools use these reports to guide their programming decisions. While schools typically develop programs in fields for which there are existing national curricula and professional standards, providers can also apply to develop programs in other fields based on consultation with stakeholder groups, including employers and professional associations. 

Vocational schools offer two types of secondary vocational education and training (VET) programs to graduates of basic education of any age:

• Comprehensive VET. More than half of the basic education graduates who pursue vocational education choose comprehensive VET programs. These are three-year programs that include both vocational and general education. At least 35 percent of the program is work-based learning, which can take place either in school or in businesses. Graduates receive a certificate of secondary education and can pursue postsecondary VET programs or higher education (see below). As of 2025-26, these programs will be extended by six months to a full year, in order to add more general competencies to the curriculum. Curricula for each program are being revised.
• VET-specific programs. Graduates of basic education can also enroll in programs that focus exclusively on vocational skills and do not include general education. These programs last 2.5 years and devote at least 50 percent of their time to work-based learning, which is split evenly between in-school experiences and on-site training in businesses. Graduates receive a certificate of vocational education and can either enroll in upper secondary general education; complete the additional requirements of a comprehensive VET program (see above); or enter the workforce. They cannot continue to postsecondary education or training directly.  

Graduates of comprehensive upper secondary VET programs also receive a formal upper secondary education qualification, which qualifies them to continue to a postsecondary VET program, a bachelor’s degree program at a university, or a technical bachelor’s degree program at a university of applied science. To continue to higher education at the bachelor’s degree level, however, students must take and pass the same national upper secondary graduation exams that students in academic education take at the end of grade 12.  These exams cover Estonian, mathematics, and foreign language. Comprehensive VET program graduates can opt for an additional “bridging year” of upper secondary education to help them prepare for these exams.  

Postsecondary VET programs last six months to 2.5 years, depending on the field of study. They are open to comprehensive VET program graduates.  These include advanced programs provided by vocational schools or certificate and degree programs in universities of applied sciences.   

All VET programs require work-based learning; the government is also working to expand opportunities for apprenticeships, in which at least two-thirds of program time is spent in paid work-based learning in businesses. Beginning in 2015, the Estonian government launched an initiative to promote and expand apprenticeships. The initiative provides funding for training for apprenticeship coordinators in schools and apprenticeship supervisors in businesses; developing guidelines and resources for creating and evaluating apprenticeship programs; and collaborating with other European countries with leading apprenticeship programs. The percentage of paid apprenticeships for VET students has risen from 5 percent to 9 percent over the last five years and there are goals to increase this further.

Curriculum and Credentials

The Ministry of Education and Research provides national VET curricula in 21 broad fields of study—such as Accommodation and Catering or Information and Communications Technology—that are based on national professional standards. Each national curriculum covers several specialties, including required vocational subjects for each specialty as well as required academic subjects, which are common across all upper secondary vocational programs. Based on the national curricula, VET schools develop their own program curricula in these specialty areas. Because the national curricula include both vocational and academic content, only comprehensive upper secondary VET programs must follow them. VET-specific programs, which cover only vocational content, are developed based on the national professional standards.

Students who complete either type of upper secondary VET program must pass a national exam to earn a vocational qualification at the end of their program. National-level qualifications committees consisting of employees, employers, professional associations, and training providers approve the assessment criteria and procedures for each qualification. In fields for which a professional qualification exam is not available, students must pass a school-developed final exam. The eight-level Estonian Qualifications Framework defines the competence requirements for all professional qualifications.  

Adult Education and Upskilling

Estonia has a long-standing policy commitment to lifelong learning for adults. Most basic, vocational or advanced programs are free for adults; when there is a fee or tuition, upskilling training is often tax deductible.  Also, many companies and workplaces grant study leave with pay for adults who enroll in a training program.

Adults without basic or upper secondary education can enroll in adult secondary schools to gain these qualifications. These programs are free for adults.  VET programs at vocational schools are also open to adults and vary by the percent of basic education offered: one option offers 30 percent basic education and 70 percent work-based learning while the other offers 50 percent of each. Programs with 50 percent basic education lead to a higher level certificate than those with less basic education.   

Estonia announced in 2025 that it will begin to charge tuition for adults who enroll in vocational programs who already have a higher education degree; who recently completed a post-secondary vocational program; or who are not enrolled in what are called government subsidized slots, which are reserved for high need jobs and professions. The rationale is to save government resources for those adults who need training in order to qualify for a job or for those jobs that are of critical importance to the national economy. Still, the government is investing more heavily in vocational schools than in previous years, adding €5 million in its 2026 budget.  Estonia is planning to develop micro-credentials for the upskilling of adults and has commissioned international comparative studies of other countries that have already made these investments. 

Adults can also enroll in continuing education, sometimes in career-focused areas, at municipal hobby schools, which also offer youth enrichment and recreation programs.  

Higher Education

In Estonia, higher education is divided into academic and professional branches.  Academic higher education generally takes place at one of Estonia’s six public and one private research universities.  Professional higher education is at one of the seven public and four private universities of applied sciences.  Some of the professional institutions are specialized — such as the Estonia Business School or the Estonia Aviation Academy — and some are general institutions such as Tallinn University of Applied Sciences.  Both academic and professional institutions offer bachelor and master’s programs, although the ones offered at the professional institutions are applied degrees; only research universities offer doctorate degrees.  Most professional education programs — such as medical, veterinary, architecture, and basic school teacher — require enrollment in combined bachelor-master degree programs usually at an academic institution.  Students enrolled in first time bachelor or masters degrees do not pay tuition.  Students in second degree programs or programs in English do pay tuition.

Joining Forces to Ensure All Learners Thrive

Supports for the Well-being of Young Children and Families

All families raising young children in Estonia are eligible for financial support, beginning with a one-time childbirth allowance. Families receive an ongoing monthly allowance per child per month until the child turns 19, provided the child is enrolled in education or training.

Estonia also provides universal comprehensive health coverage, including young children and their families. The Public Estonian Health Insurance Fund covers all employed Estonians as well as all pregnant women, and children up to age 19. As part of this coverage, infants receive monthly health monitoring as well as at least three appointments with a nurse during their first year. During these appointments, the nurse provides families with information on child nutrition, safety, and other topics. Before enrolling in primary school at age seven, all children also receive a school readiness health checkup in order to identify and address any health or developmental needs. Children who require additional support are referred to specialists, such as speech therapists.  

Parental leave benefits in Estonia are among the most generous in the OECD. Estonia currently provides 140 days of paid maternity leave, 30 days of paid paternity leave, and approximately one and a half  years of paid parental leave that can be used by either parent until the child turns three-years-old.

Because of Estonia’s generous parental leave policies, children in Estonia are generally cared for at home until age one and a half. Families can then choose whether to enroll their children in childcare. Municipal governments guarantee a public childcare spot for all children beginning at age one and a half, and fees are capped at 20 percent of the national minimum wage. Some municipalities provide additional subsidies to further reduce fees for all children, or for specific groups of children. A small number of children are served by private childcare providers, which charge higher fees. Estonia also guarantees subsidized spots in preschool for all children through age 7.

Supports for the Well-being of School-aged Children

Estonia also places a strong emphasis on making sure that all students, including those with economic disadvantages, have the support they need to learn. All primary and secondary students receive free lunch and textbooks, and schools aim for economic integration as part of the school assignment system, which pulls students from different neighborhoods. All children up to age 19 are entitled to health insurance coverage through the Public Estonian Health Insurance Fund. Primary care is free, and school nurses generally provide health screenings at grades 1, 3, 7, and 11. They can refer families to a primary care physician or specialist as needed. Dental care is also free for all children up to age 19. 

Estonia has long been focused on addressing wide gaps in performance between students in Estonian-language and Russian-language schools. Russian speakers are the majority-minority population in Estonia and make up about 20 percent of the population. Estonia traditionally provided the option for students to attend Russian-speaking basic schools but as of 2022 moved to an Estonian-only school system due to concerns that all students need proficient Estonian in order to access equitable education and work opportunities. The transition from a dual system is scheduled to be complete by the 2029-30 school year.  

Supporting Ukrainian refugees has become a focus for Estonia since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Tens of thousands of students and their families arrived in Estonia as refugees. Parliament allocated funds to integrate these students into Estonia’s education system. The Ministry of Education and Research created additional places in schools and offered language immersion programs, summer camps, psychological and educational counseling, and a one-time school support allowance.

High-Capacity Educators

Teachers

Recruitment and Retention

Teaching in Estonia has traditionally been well-respected, as teachers are seen as having played a key role in helping the country establish itself after independence. Since the early 2010s, however, when this pivotal teaching corps from the 1990s began to age into retirement, the country has faced a shortage of K-12 teachers.  All salaries in Estonia are low by OECD standards, but salaries for teachers, who are required to earn an advanced degree, have failed to keep pace with similarly educated professionals.  This shortfall has made the recruitment of talented young people difficult, as has the emergence of well-paid jobs in the technology sector. 

In response, Estonia has focused on raising teacher salaries and has addressed the issue more broadly by making teaching more competitive and recruiting a broader set of candidates into the profession.

The national government instituted a minimum salary for teachers in 2012 and nearly doubled their pay by 2020. In 2020, the Ministry of Education and Research set a goal for teachers to be paid at least 120 percent of the Estonian average wage, a goal which was reached by 2024. In 2024, the government announced that there would be minimum salary requirements for a four-stage career model, with a rise in salaries at each stage.  Policymakers also developed new professional standards for the teaching profession, created secondary career pathways into teaching, and made teacher work schedules more flexible.  Close to 40 percent of teachers work part-time.

Recognizing the importance of early childhood education, in 2018 Estonia’s central government began supplementing municipal preschool teachers’ salaries; the average preschool teacher’s salary is now equivalent to that of a basic teacher. Recruitment of teachers for early childhood education has risen significantly in recent years.

Preparation and Induction 

Teacher training in Estonia is a five-year program culminating in a master’s degree. In 2012-13, Estonia eliminated tuition for all full-time higher education programs as well as part-time programs in shortage fields, including teaching, and simultaneously raised the standards for admission to teacher education programs. As a result of these reforms, the average upper secondary school performance of teacher education program applicants has risen significantly during the past decade. The Ministry has also established a merit-based study allowance per year to further incentivize high-performing candidates to pursue a teaching qualification. 

Teacher preparation program curricula have been reformed and updated to align with the teacher competencies laid out in the teacher professional standards. As part of the effort to increase recruitment into the profession, a new accelerated program was developed in 2015 that allows graduates with a master’s degree in another subject area to earn a teaching qualification by demonstrating teaching skills through a portfolio review process. This review process is based on the teacher’s professional standards. 

Initial teacher education is primarily provided only at two major research universities in Estonia: the University of Tallinn and the University of Tartu. Students are admitted to the programs based on grades and “professional aptitude,” which can be assessed on the basis of a school-designed entrance exam, scores on the national upper secondary graduation exams, an interview, or a group discussion. Specific entrance requirements vary by program. There are more applicants than spaces in primary school teacher programs, but more spaces than applicants for subject-area teachers in upper grades.

Teacher training includes three components: general education studies; study related to specific subject(s); and professional study (education science, psychology, pedagogy, and practical training). For primary teachers, this instruction is concurrent; for lower and upper secondary teachers, instruction in professional study follows subject-area study. Teachers prepare to be class teachers, those in grades one through six who teach all subjects, or subject teachers, who are prepared to teach two subjects in grades seven through nine in basic education schools or grades 10 through 12 in upper secondary schools. Class teachers complete an integrated five-year bachelor’s and master’s degree program designed specifically to prepare teachers, while subject teachers receive a bachelor’s degree in their subject followed by a master’s degree in education. Preparation includes at minimum a 10-week practicum, overseen by a specially trained mentor teacher. Graduates are awarded a teaching qualification. Once they begin working in schools, new teachers receive a full year of induction support from another trained mentor teacher, generally selected based on experience and ability to guide new teachers’ professional growth. 

Teachers of academic subjects in vocational schools must complete the same preparation as subject-area teachers in general education schools. For teachers of vocational subjects, preparation is generally at the bachelor’s degree level, although vocational schools can employ teachers who do not have a formal teaching qualification as up to one-fifth of their teaching workforce. The goal of this policy is to allow schools to employ industry experts with professional experience in the subject area. 

Preschool teachers are required to have a bachelor’s degree, and more than one-fifth of the preschool teacher corps has a master’s degree. Estonia’s investment in preschool teacher salaries has made the profession increasingly attractive, and admission to preschool teacher preparation programs consequently more competitive, with multiple applicants for every available place. 

Roles and Career Progression

The Ministry introduced national standards for the teaching profession in 2005. The first version, which focused on instructional competencies, interpersonal competencies, and professional development, was used primarily to support induction of teachers. Estonia does not have a formal national career ladder for teachers, but since 2013 the government has organized a multi-stage competency framework based on updated national professional standards. The framework serves as a guide for teachers interested in developing higher levels of professional competency. Participation is voluntary.  

The 2013 framework set out standards for three levels of teachers: teacher, senior teacher, and master teacher. It aimed to promote development through the progression of a teacher career.  The 2019 update focused on aligning teaching standards with the vision laid out in the new strategies: promoting learner-centered teaching as well as collaboration and reflection on a teacher’s practice. A 2024 update added a beginning teacher to the phases of teachers.  

The framework defines the stages of teacher competency development: teachers move from beginning teacher to full teacher, senior teacher, and finally master teacher. Teachers can apply to advance through these stages, and the Estonian Association of Teachers, a teachers’ professional body, is responsible for determining whether they do so. Teachers recognized as senior or master teachers are expected to demonstrate deeper levels of knowledge, more effective teaching, and leadership roles in the school. There is a separate competency framework for teachers of vocational education. Schools vary in their adoption of the competency framework, however, and competency development does not have a direct impact on salary, as principals maintain authority over teacher pay.

The Ministry sets overall regulations for teachers; they work 35 hours a week, with a recommendation that 21 hours be spent teaching.  There is a limit of 24 students per class in basic schools, although there is flexibility for school directors to raise this limit if needed, except in the case of classes for special needs students.

Evaluation and Professional Learning

Principal and teacher evaluation is the responsibility of municipalities for municipal schools and the central Ministry for state schools. There is a national set of principal competencies, but municipalities can decide whether or how to use these in conducting evaluations. There is also an online tool to help principals conduct self-evaluations on a voluntary basis. Teacher evaluation is the responsibility of the principal. Principals conduct regular appraisals of teacher performance and provide them with feedback. Although schools are encouraged to use national teaching standards, there is no requirement to do so and evaluations can vary widely from school to school. 

Prior to 2013, teachers were required to complete a minimum of 160 hours of professional development during every five-year period. For vocational teachers, the requirement was a minimum of two months of professional training during every three-year period. In 2013, Estonia updated its professional standards, prioritizing “continuous education of teachers” but eliminating specific requirements for duration of training. Instead, teachers became responsible for assessing their own professional learning needs and collaborating with their principal on which professional learning opportunities to pursue. It is their obligation to update their skills and be informed about new developments in education.

About one percent of national government funding for teachers’ salaries is set aside to fund professional learning opportunities, and municipalities can choose to provide schools with additional funding. About two-thirds of total funding for teacher professional learning is used to provide programs aligned to national education priorities, which are currently using new technologies such as AI and promoting learner-centered pedagogies. These programs are most often provided by universities but there are also other training providers, and teachers can access them for free. The remaining funds go directly to schools, where they may be used to support professional learning and the School Development Plan. 

Leaders

Roles and Responsibilities

Principals in Estonia have considerable autonomy and are seen as responsible for advancing national priorities.  They hire teachers and set their salaries, lead the development of a school-based curriculum and a school development plan. They also decide on the use of professional development funds and are responsible for organizing professional learning for teachers. Principals are also given authority over school policies on student discipline and assessment and are responsible for creating a positive learning environment and culture.  They also have responsibility for the budget and relationships with the community. 

Principals are required to hold a master’s degree, which can be in any subject, and to demonstrate the competencies necessary for school leadership.  These competencies are defined at the national level, but their assessment is left to the school’s operating body, generally the municipal government.  Aspiring principals also have opportunities for internships, including at companies, to learn organizational management skills. Schools currently recruit and hire principals based on guidelines set by their operating body. In 2024, new legislation directed the Ministry of Education and Research to create a national credentialing system for principals. This is expected to be implemented in 2026 and will then become a basis for hiring. Principal salaries in Estonia are slightly below those of similarly educated professionals, however, and Estonian principals are paid only about 30 percent more than teachers, a lower premium than in many other OECD countries.

Recruitment, Preparation, and Development

Professional learning opportunities for principals align with the nationally defined competencies. However, there are no requirements for the amount or frequency of continuous professional learning, and principals determine for themselves what types of professional learning to pursue. Principals can apply for face-to-face or virtual coaching through the Education and Youth Authority, which provides education policy implementation support for the Ministry of Education and Research. There is also an online tool for principals to conduct voluntary self-evaluations.