Estonia: Civics and citizenship education in Estonia: Policy design, normatives, and practices

Abstract

Highlights:

• Estonian citizenship education has a clear and established curricula
• The bilingual education system is prominent and reproduces socio-economic and democratic citizenship inequality
• Teachers’ autonomy is crucial

Purpose: The main aim of this article is to analyze Estonian civics and citizenship education. We focus on multi-level policy design and implementation, teachers’ roles, and educational practices in the classroom.  In order to achieve the aim, we analyzed the national curricula from the citizenship normative perspective, conducted interviews with teachers and students.

Findings: Our main findings are related to the controversies related to theory and practice - the overload of curricula and emphasis on knowledge means that teachers play a key role in implementing citizenship education in Estonia. We conclude by giving policy suggestions related to the curricula development and separately focusing on minority schools.