Students request global education courses for all schools in Estonia

Global education shares knowledge about how global issues affect the daily lives of individuals, communities and societies and how each of us can influence the world.

"In one way or another, values similar to global education have already been integrated into general education schools, but to a small extent. In our school, global education is a compulsory separate subject for everyone. Projects, research, group work and many other tasks are integrated into the course, during which we can investigate and discover society's concerns, their consequences and possible solutions,” wrote Cordelia Violet Paap, Loore Lisette Sesmin and Kevin Kerret Terras in the text introducing the petition.

"Our dream is that global education would be offered in a larger number of Estonian educational institutions, that knowledge of its true potential would be more widespread and that in the future, there would be more enthusiastic global citizens in Estonia," they continued, sharing their vision of the future of global education.

"Estonian society today has to deal with global crises that have brought unexpected changes and uncertainty. Global education is an important opportunity for adapting to and coping with this situation. The PERG student petition is a very good example of a new generation that is flexible, open-minded and clearly concerned about our common future. They look for opportunities to act meaningfully and create positive change on their own initiative. This has been very inspiring to see," said Maria Sakarias, head of the Mondo Global Education Centre.

ESTDEV supports global education in Estonia

As a result of the Pelgulinna National High School project, which received support from last year's application round, a global education module consisting of three courses was created in the high school curriculum. Educational materials (subject and lesson plans and video materials) were also developed within the framework of this module, and teachers were trained to increase their competence in preparing and conducting global education courses.

"Increasing awareness in the wider society is important because every person can change the world for the better by being open to conscious and purposeful action. Global education projects supported by ESTDEV focus primarily on equipping young people with the necessary skills, knowledge and values to help them cope with the challenges of the 21st century," said Kristi Kulu, ESTDEV's programme manager for education.

This year, ESTDEV’s global education request for proposals again seeks projects designed to support the development of children's and young people's skills, knowledge, and attitudes to meet global citizenship competencies. Applications can be submitted until April 10.

The Competency Model for Global Citizenship was completed in 2022 with support from ESTDEV. Its purpose is to support the addition of a global dimension to the competencies outlined in the curriculum and to relate them to the learning outcomes of different subjects.

ESTDEV also supports the increased awareness of the importance of development cooperation through its global education activities. For example, ESTDEV awards special prizes at the national student inventor competition to schoolchildren whose works support the planet's sustainable development and promote an economical way of life.

ESTDEV's cooperation partners in global education are the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Education and Research, NGO Mondo and the Mondo Global Education Centre, the Estonian Roundtable for Development Cooperation, and the Estonian National Commission for UNESCO.

Photo credit: Mondo Maailmakool