The Estonia Page > SocietyNon-Estonian education and non-Estonian schools in Estonia(Paper delivered on the conference Multicultural Estonia in Helsinki, 26.12.1998) Contents: The Current SituationStrictly speaking, non-Estonian education in Estonia means Russian language education Apart from Estonian, education throughout the state-run system is not provided in any other language but Russian. There are opportunities, if one should wish, to receive education in Russian from kindergarten to secondary school. In the previous school year, that is, in 1997/98, there were 111 Russian-language schools and 23 mixed-language schools (the latter including both Estonian and Russian-language tuition). Out of the total number of schoolchildren (217,501) 30.36% or 66,023 study in Russian. There are also opportunities to continue study in Russian. The percentage of pupils in Russian-language vocational schools is the same as in secondary schools - 31%. Russian-language tuition is also available at universities as well as other higher educational institutions. Russian-language education has recently been the source of much tension. The tensions have arisen because Russian schools, and Russian-language education in general, are undergoing a change. The biggest change is the transition to Estonian-language tuition on secondary level in state and municipal schools. According to secondary school law this should have happened by the year 2000. As the preparations for the transition were inadequate, the deadline has been postponed until 2007. There is a lot of controversy about the planned changes; and unfortunately the whole process has been strongly politicized. It is difficult to understand the problems of Russian-language education if we do not look at them in the perspective of past history and restrict ourselves to the current situation only. The problems that we are confronting today took root decades ago, and we cannot overlook them while trying to find solutions. ^ back to top1. Background.As a result of the Second World War and the subsequent Soviet takeover, Estonian society underwent major changes. Before the war the Estonian population was fairly homogeneous. According to the 1934 census non-Estonians made up 8% of the whole population. Because of the alteration of the frontiers by the Soviets, non-Estonians constituted even less - about 4% of the whole population. The ethnic composition of school children was similar to that of the whole population. The educational system was unified. The basics of the state language policy in education were laid out in the Constitution of the Republic of Estonia, which made Estonian the official language. Estonia as a democratic nation-state had set bilingualism as an objective for educating children from minority groups. To promote the continued use of mother-tongues, a programme for the protection of minority languages was introduced which guaranteed native language tuition until graduation from school. The majority of children received tuition in their native language. Apart from monolingual schools, there were mixed-language schools where two, or even three languages were used for tuition (Estonian-Russian, Estonian-German, Estonian-Swedish, Latvian-Russian, Jewish-German-Russian schools). Immediately before the Second World War, in 1938/39, 86.9% of primary school pupils studied in Estonian schools, 6.9% in Russian schools, 0.8% in German schools and 3.5% in Estonian-Russian mixed schools. 84.8% of schoolchildren attended Estonian secondary schools (gymnasiums), 5.8% Russian secondary schools, 8.2% German secondary schools and 0.5% Swedish secondary schools. 0.7% of pupils attended Hebrew-language school. The teaching of Estonian as the official language was considered to be of utmost importance in non-Estonian schools. It was a compulsory subject and it was taught as the first foreign language. The classroom hours allotted to it equalled those for tuition in the native language. After a presidential decree in the 1930s, a few other subjects came to be taught in the official, that is, the Estonian language. The Estonian language requirements at graduation from secondary school were fluency in writing and speaking. Estonian language proficiency had to be on a near-native level. In state-run universities the language of tuition was Estonian, as formulated in the university law (1937). It was not possible to teach the same specialist subject simultaneously in Estonian and in some other language. According to the resolutions issued by the Ministry of Education tuition in other languages was permitted for a few subjects (§ 5). The same requirement was laid out in the law relating to the Tallinn Technical Institute (1936, § 3). This requirement was not extended to private universities. To sum up, we can say that in 1918-1940, that is, in the period of construction of the Republic of Estonia, the educational needs of minority groups were fully taken into account. By law they received education in their native language until graduation from secondary school. This guaranteed the preservation of a minority language on the level of the standard language. Simultaneously, it was necessary for the graduates of non-Estonian schools to speak and write Estonian fluently. For this purpose there was a carefully planned state programme and the teaching of Estonian was monitored by the Ministry of Education. These conditions granted children from minority groups equal rights with Estonian children so that they could succeed in life and be able to apply their potential in their future careers. ^ back to top2. The Second World War and the Subsequent Soviet OccupationAfter Estonia was occupied the educational system was thoroughly overhauled. The educational system in Estonia, as part of the Soviet educational system, was made to serve the communist ideology, and the chief instrument for disseminating this ideology was the Russian language. In the Soviet Union the Russian language had a special status as a language for international communication, which in practice meant that it was given the function of an official language. Through secondary education the basis was laid for the general introduction of Russian into Estonian society. The changes could be summarized as follows:
For the above-mentioned reasons two distinct types of school developed in Estonia - the Estonian-language school and the Russian-language school, which differed from each other both in the use of the language and in the content of education. After graduation from secondary school it was possible to continue studies in Russian as both local and federal needs were taken into account in vocational and higher education. Both Estonian and Russian were used for teaching in those institutions. For strategic specialist subjects tuition was only in Russian. For example, naval subjects were taught in Russian. The Tallinn Naval College admitted students from all over the Soviet Union. There were many specialist subjects that were not taught in Estonia, and to receive education in these one had to seek for opportunities elsewhere, in another Soviet republic. As a result of planned mass migration and the language policy, a large Russian-speaking immigrant community was created in Estonia. According to the 1989 census, Estonians made up little more than three-fifths of the whole population. By that time Estonians were in the minority in 13 cities. (This is true even today.) The percentage of non-Estonians was 38.5 of the whole population. The majority of them were Russians, whose numbers had grown ninefold since 1945. Because of the educational language policy they did not know any Estonian. This was still the situation in August, 1991 when Estonia regained independence. The ethnic and linguistic division of the society was reflected in education and in schools. ^ back to top3. The Russian Language School in Independent Estonia.After Estonian independence was reinstituted and the Estonian language received the status of official language, the social situation of Russians and the whole of the Russian-speaking community changed radically. The status of the Estonian and Russian languages was reversed. Russian lost its former importance. Once the official language of a superpower, the language of the majority, it was now seen as a minority language and Russians became a minority in Estonian society. The change of status brought with it a narrowing of the functions of the Russian language. This was a major change and the numerous Russian community found it hard to accept the situation. 3.1. The Necessity for Reform. The Estonian educational system was also changed so that it addressed the needs of an independent state with Estonian as the official language. Reform in Russian schools became a necessity. The previous type of school where Russian was taught as a majority language did not meet the new requirements. Russian was to be taught as a minority language. Two major tasks had to be performed:
These three aspects have been taken into account in legislation regulating Estonian educational policy. 3.2. The Difficulties of the Situation. These were certainly major changes for Russian schools. To address these tasks, it was necessary:
The tasks were formidable because of the following conditions:
In the first school year after Estonia regained independence (1991/92), pupils in Russian-language schools made up 36.78%. For various reasons (emigration, transfer to Estonian schools, the declining birth rate) there has been a steady decrease in the number of Russian-speaking schoolchildren so that in 1997/98 it was down to 30.36%. The number of children entering Russian schools has also decreased: in 1991/92 it was 41% , in 1997/98 it was 24.9%. The situation differs in different areas. The majority of Russian-language schools are located in the cities, the country schools being attended by only 802 Russian children or 1.2% of all Russian schoolchildren. The largest number - 43.75% - of Russian schoolchildren attend Tallinn schools where they make up nearly a half ( 47.4%) of all schoolchildren. 35.7% of them are concentrated in Ida-Virumaa. In the cities of Ida-Virumaa they are in an absolute majority, Estonians making up about 2%. In Kohtla-Järve Estonian children make up a fifth. Many children from other ethnic groups also attend Russian-language schools. Table
^ back to top3.3. The Reformulation of Language Policy The restructuring of education, like that of other areas, was begun with legislation. In 1992-1995 a whole package of laws concerning education was passed in the Estonian parliament, making up the judicial framework within which education in Estonia is organized. From the point of view of general education the most important are the education law (1992), the pre-school education law (1993) and the secondary education law (1993). They are all based on the Constitution of the Republic of Estonia (1992), which has given the Estonian language the status of official language. According to the language law (1995) all other languages in Estonia are regarded as foreign languages. According to Estonian laws:
The application of the above-mentioned principles has been a painful process. The attainment of the objectives has been much more difficult than was foreseen. The integration of Russian schools into the Estonian system of education means the replacement of most of the textbooks and other materials. Textbooks published in Estonia are being introduced. But there is still a great need for new textbooks as nearly half the textbooks in current use were published in Russia and need replacement. Another major obstacle has been the Estonian teachers poor knowledge or even lack of knowledge of Estonian in Russian-language schools. Most of them have been trained outside Estonia and have worked in total isolation from the rest of the society. They have little knowledge of Estonian society, they are not able to get professional information in Estonia, let alone take part in seminars or receive further training in their specialist subjects. About ten years ago the language requirements for Russian teachers were enforced by the language law (1989). But the implementation of these requirements has not been strictly observed, and this has created a situation where teaching without knowing any Estonian is possible. The majority of teachers in Russian-language schools are not even able to communicate on a day-to-day basis. The first steps toward the integration of Russian schools into the Estonian educational system have been taken: the Russian schools are partly adopting the national curriculum which has been introduced into Estonian schools. This will reduce the isolation of Russian schools from the Estonian educational system. In future children from Russian schools will be able to go on to study in Estonian schools if they have the required language skills. ^ back to topThe Improvement of Estonian Language TeachingThe improvement of Estonian language teaching and the performance of the integrative function of school in society have been even more formidable tasks. The school serves as an impediment to integration rather than its facilitator. The graduates of Russian schools do not know enough Estonian. According to law young people who graduate from Russian-language schools should be able to continue their studies in Estonian, but this is not the case. The continuing trend for the graduates not to know any Estonian makes the linguistically split society a reality. Segregation is a fact. One of the main reasons for this is that Russian-language education has not been reformed during the past seven years. The Soviet model of educating Russian schoolchildren as the majority language group has persisted:
So far it has been possible to graduate from a Russian-language school without knowing any Estonian. The state has not fulfilled its main duty - to guarantee proficiency in the official language for minority groups. There are a number of programmes we could introduce. Our choice should depend on the following:
In the current situation the best thing to do would be to introduce bilingual tuition in Estonia and to create a language environment at school. Finland has been quite successful in introducing this programme. It is called a language immersion programme and has been practised under the guidance of Vaasa University for a decade. One of the reasons for the low level of teaching is insufficiently qualified and trained Estonian language teachers According to the data provided by the Ministry of Education, Estonian language teachers have the lowest professional qualifications. Most of the Estonian language teachers are non-native speakers and their knowledge of Estonian is insufficient. Nearly half the teachers cannot write Estonian. The paradox is that the low level of Estonian language skills is in accordance with the language requirements imposed by the government. Under the circumstances many Russian parents have lost their faith in the schools. Nobody doubts the need for the Estonian language and parents wish their children to learn it at school. The present type of school is supported by fewer and fewer people. Most parents favour a bilingual education and the teaching of at least some subjects in Estonian. An increasing number of parents wish to send their children to Estonian schools. In January 1998 the Estonian government approved a programme entitled "Developing the Non-Estonian School" designed by the Ministry of Education which aims at reforming the non-Estonian schools. In this the Ministry outlines plans for the next ten years, and determines the duties of the state and the local government to reach the goal by 2007. The development programme foresees radical changes, including the introduction of bilingual education. Silvi Vare ^ back to topThe Estonia Page > SocietyThis fact sheet is published by the Estonian Institute and is intended to be used for reference purposes. It may be freely used in preparing articles, speeches, broadcasts, etc. No acknowledgement is necessary. |
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