Foreign Language Children in Estonian Schools

Overview of the situation

In connection to joining international conventions as well as Estonia becoming a member state of EU Estonian schools are obliged to provide education to children of citizens of foreign countries (excluding children of diplomatic representatives of foreign countries). These obligations refer mainly to so-called new immigrants – children of immigrant workers from EU countries, asylum seekers, refugees, also children of migrants from third countries who wish to begin studies in Estonian schools and who have resided in Estonia for less than three years.

New immigrant parents have the option to send their children to an international private school which today exist in Tallinn and Tartu, although the tuition fee in these schools might not be affordable for many families. When deciding about choosing either Estonian or Russian language school for their children, parents are mainly interested in providing their children good level education that in few years would allow the child to continue his/her educational path uninterrupted, for example in a third country. This situation raises questions about the suitability of Estonian school's curriculum for foreign language children.

Often when arriving to Estonia, new immigrants neither speak Estonian nor arrive at the very beginning of the school year. Thus, every school at some point of time might be faced with a problem of having to teach for example Spanish or Italian speaking child who him/herself doesn't speak a word of English (nor do the parents), not mentioning Estonian.
Also, families of Estonian origin that have stayed abroad for a long time have become part of the issue. Children of these families have either been born abroad or lived abroad for a substantial part of their life and therefore are having difficulties knowing Estonian.

Main problems in Estonia connected to new immigrant children are:

• Estonian schools don't have any experience in dealing with new immigrant children
• The problem stays unrecognized by the school until one day, totally unexpected, a notice of a new arriving foreign language student reaches the school
• Teachers lack the necessary knowledge/experience, also there is a psychological fear of failing to manage the situation

What has been accomplished until now?

In cooperation with Integration Foundation Center of Educational Programs (Integration Foundation CEP) and Ministry of Education and Science (MoES) several new integration projects for new immigrants have been undertaken since 2003.

Today the following materials have been issued and the following activities carried out:

• “New immigrant's children in Estonian education. Educational policy principles and educational organization.” (2004, MoES). This document introduces international and Estonian acts of law that form the basis of educational organization set up for new immigrant children. It also brings forward conceptualized trends and planned methods in educational organization for new immigrant children. The document defines the broader (first generations immigrant) and the narrower concept of a new immigrant (children of migrants, asylum seekers and refugees from the EU and third countries who wish to begin their studies in Estonian schools having lived/resided in Estonia for less than 3 years).
• Specialised courses for teachers (financed by state funds or foreign aid) that have been run at Tallinn University and Tartu University.
• Study materials. An Estonian language study book for teenager-age new immigrants ASTU SISSE (STEP INSIDE) has been printed, a teachers' book and a handbook for a broader audience targeting the problem enclosed.
• Project based funding of schools. Integration Foundation CEP has run calls for project proposals since 2004 to allow project based financing for their (extra) work connected to new immigrant children for Estonian educational institutions (kindergartens as well as schools). Project fund in both 2004 and 2005 has been 1 million kroons, financing per project has been up to 150 000 kroons. Both years 7 projects have been submitted and approved.

Integration Foundation calls for project

The purpose of the calls has been to support the teaching of new immigrant students in Estonian (state, local and private) schools and kindergartens. The proposed project must work towards the improvement of new immigrant's Estonian language skills and facilitate the Estonian language based learning of other subjects. Different activities have been financed in the framework of the calls: all kinds of retraining courses and extras for teachers; the purchase of study materials and equipment for schools; also, organizing study trips abroad etc. In the course of the call in 2004 7 projects were financed in the whole sum of 626 690 kroons and in 2005 also 7 projects in the whole sum of 994 899 kroons.