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It’s a very important day today – schools start again. First and foremost, a milestone for the almost 15,000 who, in September 1st 2014, take this step for the first time ever. Even so, the occasion’s significance is not limited to the 137,000 pupils at general education schools – add the university students, and those studying at vocational institutions. Plus the grown-ups acquiring extra education or getting a new specialty.
Should we think of ourselves as a society wise and forward-looking, the day might give a slight inner jolt to us all. To briefly reflect on the situation of our schools and education. What are they teaching, and how? And who are the teachers?
Talking about education, we always get into reforms – be it regarding subject syllabi, schools network, teachers’ working conditions etc. From time to time, somebody says schools need to be left alone – reform fatigue is here. On the international (think PISA) arena, our kids do excellent, don’t they? Why change things, then, the whole time? On the other hand, the educational innovators are claiming our schools are almost the 19th century kind, a relic in need of fast and foundational reorganisation.
The truth, as usual, is somewhere in the middle. Surely, to be successful the educational system needs a measure of stability; even so, as the world keeps changing around us, every field needs to ride along – beginning with education. And, come to think of it, throughout its history the Estonian school has never stood still – ever.
The digital turnaround at school, the talk of all talks, cannot be completed overnight. This is no mere public procurement of tablet computers. It’s the issue of essence, not just the tools. The society is faced with a serious debate on whether to rise to compulsory school level to 18 years of age. If upper secondary education proves too much for a citizen, then let it be a vocation at least? In the education ministry, a deep analysis of the matter is hereby underway.
Painful, till today, is the question of teachers’ pay as needed to maintain and upgrade the level achieved, and to attract the brightest of young minds. In an interview to Teachers Paper, education minister Jevgeni Ossinovski said to achieve that we ought to be talking about a 30 to 40 percent raise. A society claiming to be wise should, while discussing such issues, avoid all bigotry, pot shots and selfish gain.
Thus, the teacher wages should never come as means for short-term political profit with some small scale tinkering trumpeted as historic «achievement» for a long smooth ride. Wage rise could be a topic of decided political consensus with everyone seeking for the common best. The numbers of students are in decline and, due to population processes, the school network is in need of further reform. Here, also, the decision-makers should think along – instead of throwing wrenches in competitor works in the name of popularity.