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

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 ci...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Nikolai Kunitsõn, Leif Kalev, Triin Ulla
Format: Article
Language:deu
Published: Bielefeld University 2022-12-01
Series:Journal of Social Science Education
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.jsse.org/index.php/jsse/article/view/5368
Description
Summary: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.
ISSN:1618-5293