FEWL dissemination

Academic Publications

• Harteis, C., Goller, M. & Gerholz, K.-H. (2022). Digitalization of work: Challenges for workplace learning. In L. Cairns, M. Malloch & B. O’Connor (Hrsg.), The SAGE Handbook of Learning and Work (S. 329-341). London: Sage. Read full article.

• Maria Erss, Krista Loogma & Anna-Liisa Jõgi (2024) The effect of teacher agency support, students’ personal perseverance and work experience on student agency in secondary schools with Estonian and Russian instructional language, Cogent Education, 11:1, 2314515. Read full article.

• Näkk, Anne-Mai and Timoštšuk, Inge, The Relationship between Learning Context and School Burnout at the End of Primary Education. Learning, Culture and Social Interaction. Read full article.

• Uppin, Helene ja Timoštšuk, Inge (2024). "Eks me oleme kõik natuke idealistid." Muuseumite ja keskkonnahariduse õppeprogrammide juhendajad. ["‘We are all slightly idealistic": The on-site educators of museums, science centres, and other similar institutions]. Mäetagused 88(1), 53-94. Read full article in Estonian. (See the abstract in English at the end of the article).

Conference Presentations

• Maria Erss presented her research titled "Student agency as cultural and gender phenomenon: The role of teacher support and work experience in predicting agency" on August 22nd at Europe's largest education conference ECER in Glasgow. The presentation was part of a symposium on the agency of children and young people which had participants also from Germany and the UK. The research of Maria Erss revealed that teacher support and previous work experience of students are positively correlated with student agency. Further, student agency is influenced by school culture and gender. Students from schools with Estonian instructional language and boys expressed higher levels of agency and rated the support of teachers to their agency higher than students from schools with Russian instructional language and girls. In order for the youth to have the courage and will to be proactive and make independent decisions in school, students' choices and the freedom to express their opinions and make suggestions have to be supported. The self-confidence that is attributed to agency can also be increased by work experience. Therefore, opportunities must be offered for the youth to gain work experience. 

• Anne-Mai Näkk, an early-stage researcher from the FEWL project’s Estonian team, presented on August 22nd 2023 the joint presentation with Inge Timoštšuk titled “Integration of everyday life aspects in classroom learning” at the EARLI conference in Thessaloniki, Greece.

She presented her research where last year primary school students (N=966) who are being taught by primary teachers and subject teachers were asked to what extent their teachers integrate everyday life aspects (such as practical usefulness, importance, value) in classroom learning. The cluster analysis revealed four profiles including Integrators (20.6%), Explainers (29.2%), Subject-oriented (17.6%), and Inconsistent (32.6%) profile. The results indicate the need to emphasise the value of balancing personal contexts and curriculum in classroom teaching practices to support students’ meaningful learning.

• Kaidi Nurmik, an early stage researcher of the FEWL project’s Estonian team, and her supervisor, professor Inge Timoštšuk, participated in March 2023 in the 17th International Technology, Education and Development Conference in Valencia, Spain, where they presented their paper “Supporting primary students’ agency at school through life-world experiences.”

Since involving students´ life-worlds such as personal interests, hobbies, after-school activities, and parents' professional lives and interests in the learning process could support the development of agency, their aim was to understand how primary teachers have involved students’ life-worlds in the learning process and what impact they have noticed on the students' learning. Semi-structured interviews with 11 primary school teachers indicated that teachers have involved students' life-world experiences for the purpose of enriching school life and supporting relations with broader social context through examples of new and exciting activities. Although enriching the learning content is not the focus, it could be concluded that by implementing life-world activities, teachers have recognised the possibility of supporting student agency.

FEWL in the Media

• "Is it necessary to learn how to work?"
  The FEWL project researchers Maria Erss and Krista Loogma were on 5th of July invited guests on the radio program "Huvitaja" in Vikerraadio where they talked about questions such as whether working is a skill that needs to be learned, what young people get from working alongside school and whether the curricula of general education schools should involve some kind of work experience. The interview in Estonian is accessible here.
• Maria Erss discussed on January 31st in the Tallinn University talk show "Expert on air" among other topics student agency and its relationship with work experience which is also the focus of the project "Enhancing research on formal educational programmes and workplace learning". Watch the recording in Postimees TV here. More detailed discussion of the relationship between student agency and work experience will be available in the soon to be published research article of Maria Erss, Krista Loogma, and Anna-Liisa Jõgi (2024) "The effect of teacher agency support, students’ personal perseverance and work experience on student agency in secondary schools with Estonian and Russian instructional language". Cogent Education. DOI - 10.1080/2331186X.2024.2314515

• “Is early work experience making young people bolder and more self-confident?”, Estonian Teachers’ Newspaper, 10.02.2023 ("Kas varane töökogemus teeb noored julgemaks ja iseteadvamaks? Eesti ja vene noorte võrdlus." Õpetajate Leht, 10.02.2023) Author: Maria Erss.

  This article summarizes the research of Maria Erss on the relationship between work experience and student agency in secondary schools with Estonian and Russian instructional language. The author ascertained that these students who work during school breaks in paid jobs, youth work camps, as volunteers, or in other ways are also reporting more agentic engagement in the classroom and have more courage to express their opinions or stand up against perceived injustice at school. Read the article in Estonian.

• “The gap of skills and experiences” ("Oskuste ja kogemuste lõhe"), Maria Erss and Krista Loogma in the Vikerraadio talk show „Huvitaja“, 08.02.2024.  

  Maria Erss and professor Krista Loogma introduced the Twinning project of Tallinn University,  “Enhancing Research on the Integration of Formal Educational Programmes and Workplace Learning” (FEWL) which deals with the question of how to reduce the gap of skills and experiences in order to achieve a better match between knowledge and skills learned at school and needed in real work life.  They also discussed how to ensure that everybody has equal opportunities and access to knowledge. Listen to the radio programme.

• “About the need of uniting work experience and general education: Examples from the practice of teachers and schools” by Maria Erss in Teachers’ Newspaper, 13.02.2024 ("Töökogemuse ja üldhariduse ühildamise vajadusest: näiteid õpetajate ja koolide praktikast." Õpetajate Leht 13.02.2024),

  How could schools and teachers help to reduce and prevent the existing and future gaps of work experience? Formal education does not often keep up with the rapid changes in the economy and society, which makes learning outside of school, at the workplace, in extracurricular activities, museums and other cultural and memory sites even more important. Learning also happens through real or virtual contacts with knowledgeable and skilled people or by self-education. The educational researchers of Tallinn University, Inge Timoštšuk, Krista Loogma, Triin Roosalu and Maria Erss, are currently researching within the European Twinning project FEWL how to better integrate school education and workplace learning. Read the article in Estonian.

Repository for FEWL Documents

• Working paper on contemporary theoretical foundations and methodology of research of integration of school learning and WPL

​​​​The first collaborative publication of the FEWL team gives an overview of the current state of the art of research on integrating school-based and work-based learning. The working paper focuses on theories, terminology, methodologies, the personal and social impact of workplace learning, and the contexts in which learning occurs. Furthermore, some practices on how to integrate work-related learning into formal education and their influence on student agency are introduced.