No. 11

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Thoughts on developments in educational life from 1990–2005

  • Martin Kaasik

    director of the Tallinn Laagna Gymnasium, chairman of the management board of the Estonian Association of School Administrators

If we think back on the last fifteen years of educational development, there was never as creative or interesting a period as the beginning of the 1990s, nor will there be again.

The fact that new textbooks had not been introduced and it wasn’t appropriate to continue Soviet-era instruction in many subjects meant that every teacher had to be resourceful. Children also adopted an unprecedented positive attitude to learning, and, like adults, believed that, with hard work, they would be able to rebuild our country. During this period, invaluable assistance for creating democratic schools came from abroad. The closest communication was with Finnish colleagues, but training and material aid was also offered by other European states, the US and Canada. Currently, progress in the educational sphere is hindered most by the lack of a consistent policy. Every time a new Minister of Education and Research takes office, he starts by reconsidering and redoing what his predecessor did, rather than continuing where the forerunner left off.

Full article in Estonian

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