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National Framework for the Development and Implementation of Training Policies - Estonia
Source: European Training Foundation
The Ministry of Education is responsible for all aspects of education including:
national programme development;
planning;
the administration of initial vocational education and training;
the approval of school courses and study programmes;
the approval of admissions;
inspection of schools;
the supervision of final certificate awards; and
the organisation of research work.
Training for the unemployed and for redundant workers is the responsibility of the Ministry of Social Affairs.
To implement the policy developed by the Ministry of Education, an Education System Management Centre has been founded in Tallinn with the State Assets Administration Bureau and the State Schools Network Bureau as its core units.
In 1998, the Government of the Republic approved the Vocational Education Strategy, the policy document which lays down the framework for reorganising the vocational education and training system in accordance with labour market needs.
The vocational councils, which were set up when the National Employee Qualification System was being established, have actively involved representatives of the social partners in the planning process.
The main idea behind the reform is that the implementation of new curricula, which are consistent with vocational standards, will ensure the training of a competitive labour force.
The overall objectives are:
the extension of pilot programmes and the development of regional training centres in all the regions of Estonia;
modernisation of both vocational education and the teacher/trainer training system and the establishment of a vocational counselling and guidance system; and
the further development of the higher vocational education programmes and institutions.
In order to speed up and strengthen the reform process, an "Action Plan for developing the Estonian VET system 2001-2004" (focusing on initial VET) was adopted by the government in June 2001, setting ambitious development directions and targets until 2004 which will be monitored closely by the Ministry of Education. Its coherent implementation has been defined as a high priority.
The action plan has set quantitative and qualitative targets in different areas to be achieved by 2004, emphasising access to VET, quality and equal opportunities, and identifying the strategic balance between provision of different schooling levels (general upper-secondary, secondary VET):
Increasing the number of students in the VET system by 8 % annually. For 2004 it is foreseen that the opportunity to acquire VET should be guaranteed for 50 % of the age group of the graduates from the basic school (incl. basic VET), and for 50 % of the graduates from general secondary school;
Decreasing the drop-out rate from VET schools by one percentage point per year (the current rate of drop-outs is 13 %);
To double the volume of foreign language teaching in all programmes by 2004;
To increase the share of VET programmes meeting the requirements of vocational standards from 30% to 100%;
To rationalise the student/teacher ratio from 12:1 (2000) to 16:1 (2004) and to address the absence of a modern integrated vocational teacher/trainer training system. By September 2003, all the teachers must have speciality or pedagogical higher education. Efficiency criteria will be included to the salary calculations for the VET teachers, starting in September 2002;
Establishment of Accreditation Committees at national level by occupational sectors. They will consist of representatives of employers, professional unions and other organisations and will evaluate the quality of teaching and efficiency.
The lack of a comprehensive system of vocational counselling and guidance will be partly addressed by the VET regional centres but also professionally trained counsellors working in the VET schools are foreseen;
A large scale municipalisation/privatisation of VET schools is planned (the target of 30 % of the currently public VET schools to be transferred into municipal or private ownership has been set);
The action plan foresees continuing restructuring of the school network by merging further VET schools. Some of the merged vocational educational institutions will start functioning as regional vocational educational centres to offer more support to the development of regions with critical employment situation.
Law on the Vocational Education Institutions
The adoption of the Law on the Vocational Education Institutions and the Law on Applied Higher Education Institutions in July 1998 was a major breakthrough.
The Law on Vocational Education Institutions (1998) provides for:
integrated financing of vocational education and training institutions;
the setting up of tripartite sectoral bodies (vocational councils), which will deal with skill needs analyses and vocational standards;
the allocation of greater responsibility to school managers and the tripartite school boards; and
the development and application of more flexible programmes.
The legal framework for VET was adjusted in June 2001 (amendment to the Vocational Education Institutions Act and Applied Higher Education Institution Act), in order to provide an improved basis for practical training agreements between employers and VET schools, for better co-operation between VET schools and applied higher education institutions, for introducing basic VET for risk groups, more clear state supervision and for continued restructuring of the school network in order to achieve greater flexibility in the ownership of VET schools.
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