Training
Latin-speaking monastic schools and other church schools
were opened as early as the 13th century. After the
Reformation, the Protestant church organized homeschooling
for peasants to learn to read the Bible. During the Swedish
era, parish schools and the first teacher seminar were
founded under the leadership of BG Forselius. During the
19th century, primary school education became compulsory. By
the end of the century, literacy was greater in the Baltic
Baltic provinces than in any other part of the Tsar empire.
A greater number of Estonian (and Latvian) young people
could then start studying at the University of Tartu
(Dorpat), which Gustav II Adolf had founded in 1632, the
second oldest university in the then Swedish state.
During the period of independence between World War I and
World War II, one fifth of the state budget was spent on
education. The minorities were granted cultural autonomy,
which is why a number of Swedish, Russian, German and Jewish
primary schools could operate as well as a Swedish and
German educational institution. During the Soviet era,
investment in education continued, although many teachers
were deported during the Stalin period and the teaching aids
were subjected to severe censorship even after this period.
Within the general elementary school, students were able to
choose from hundreds of electives. Talented students were
admitted to special language schools and other special
education. The compulsory schooling in Estonia was a year
longer than in the rest of the Soviet Union for students to
also be taught Estonian history, geography, language,
literature and music. See TOPSCHOOLSINTHEUSA for TOEFL, ACT, SAT testing locations and high school codes in Estonia.
During the national liberation in the late 1980s,
military education as well as Marxism-Leninism courses in
public schools, and the military faculties of universities
and colleges were discontinued, while Christianity teaching
was again allowed. Foreign language teaching, especially
English, has been expanded since the independence gained in
1991 and the teaching of Russian has decreased
significantly. School duty prevails and children start
school the year they turn seven. Most pupils read after the
nine-year compulsory school at the three-year high school or
vocational school.
Estonia has a well-developed university education. In
addition to the University of Tartu, there are several
colleges: the Agricultural Academy in Tartu and the Tallinn
Technical University, the Pedagogical Institute, the School
of the Arts and the School of Music. Since the 1990s,
several smaller, private colleges have been added.
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