Projects

Current Projects

1. Horizon 2020 project Scaling Up Educational Innovations in Schools

The project Scaling Up Educational Innovation in Schools (SEIS) will significantly strengthen educational innovation research not only in Estonia, but in the Baltic states and in wider Europe by taking educational research and innovation to the next level. The project will present new perspectives on educational research by turning traditional "knowledge transfer" approaches into research- and technology-driven societal innovations (research-to-innovation-to-practice knowledge transfer), establishing an international virtual Research Lab on educational innovations, facilitating the inclusion and capacity building of the new actors in the field and encouraging exchange of knowledge and experiences among stakeholders and top research groups in the field. 

2. Understanding the concept of student agency among Estonian and Russian speaking students: What is the experience and attitude of students towards agency in upper secondary schools in Estonia? 

This research project was developed out of the need to understand better the cultural differences in practices and attitudes towards student agency as perceived by students in Estonian and Russian language upper secondary schools in Estonia. The research follows a mixed methods approach where in the first stage, qualitative focus group interviews are conducted with students in Form 10. Using the qualitative data as an input for the second stage, a quantitative survey is administered in both types of schools. The results would help to design pedagogical interventions and teacher trainings to promote student agency. 

3. Developing and enhanching the teaching quality of inclusive education curriculum

The aim of the project is to equip both acting and future teachers with knowledge, skills and competencies necessary to promote inclusiveness and decrease segregation of SEN students. The objective is to enhance inclusive education and promote the development, testing and implementation of innovative practices in the field of teacher training in inclusive education. The project will help to identify and address the causes that prevent teachers from supporting SEN pupils´ integration into regular classrooms and implementing the principles of inclusive education, as well as to strengthen the competencies and capacity of the Estonian universities in this field.

4. Co-Creating inclusive school communities

The main aim of the project is to support schools in strengthening inclusive school communities in which every participant is welcomed, respected, valued and given a voice and that embrace and appreciate diversity in culture, religion, gender, ability or socio-economic background. Within this project, the focus is on the social environment where all school community members are given a voice. Through inclusive school communities, schools can increase engagement with actors within and outside the school community and are more likely to secure sustainable improvements towards the best and equal opportunities for all learners.

Eve Eisenschmidt Kätlin Vanari   Berit Silvia KondratievPiret Oppi  Reet Sillavee Krista Keedus

5. Social inclusion through pupils' participation

The purpose of the project is to allow teachers to explore and develop professional work based on pupils' perspectives and experiences on social inclusion to firstly deepen professional knowledge and competence on best practices and collegial international exchange, secondly to create didactical and educational material and thirdly to evaluate strategies where teachers and researchers in cooperation develop learning opportunities that support pupils' social belonging and agency which then can be shared in the professional community.

Mari-Liis Lind
Tiiu Tammemäe 
Rain Mikser Egle Hollman Mailis Ostra

6.Vocational education and workplace training enhancing social inclusion of at-risk young people

The main research goal is to investigate, how can vocational education and training (VET) enhance social inclusion of young people at-risk, both in terms of combating school drop-out and promoting transitions between various (social) learning contexts, such as school-work transition. 

7. Inclusive and Innovative Pedagogies for Educators

Inclusive and Innovative Pedagogies for Educators aims to close the gap between policy and practice. We firmly believe that “the quality of an educational system depends upon the quality of its teachers” (Teaching in Focus Brief 2, OECD, 2012) and so educators are at the heart of our work. Our suite of training resources will provide educators with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to create genuinely engaging learning experiences for students, in three key areas: diversity and inclusion, innovation for 21st century skills and digital technology.

Meidi Sirk
Meril Ümarik
Reeli Liivik
Sirje Rekkor

8. International Civic and Citizenship Study 

The purpose of the International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS) is to investigate the ways in which young people are prepared to undertake their roles as citizens in a wide range of countries.

9. Professional Teacher of Estonian Language in Russian Speaking Group

Development and implementation of trainings for kindergarten teachers and teams, development and implementation of pilot group monitoring studies. 

10. Development of digitalisation in teacher education 

The overall aim of the digiTED@EU project is to promote and facilitate digitalisation among teacher educators in Europe (and beyond). The project aims to 1) develop a hybrid programme for professional development that enhances the digital skills, competences and creativity of teacher educators; promotes the readiness of teacher educators to teach online and to design and organise digital courses; provides resources for tech-based assessment and feedback for teacher educators. 2) empower teacher educators to become more involved, creative and active in their own learning and development 3) stimulate transnational and interdisciplinary collaboration on all levels in regard to digital teaching practices of teacher educators 4) promote the creation of a European Digital Education Hu. 5) provide concrete recommendations for policy-makers to generate practice-oriented digitalisation strategies on a European, national, and also institutional level 6) help teacher education to become more professional and reputable. 

11. "Digiloping Teachers" - Digital competences development and mentoring for teachers

With "Digiloping Teachers" program goal is to help the digital transition from multiple angles. We want to address the three major groups in the learning process: teachers, students, and schools. We want to develop a comprehensive solution that gives the participants of the learning/teaching process (teacher, student) a helping hand to develop digital competence, to promote the development of a digital resilient society. We are collaborating to design a converging curriculum focused on learning and teaching 21st-century skills at schools. Sharing content on online platforms in every country and training educators in its curricular methodology. Grounded in the European Digital Competence Framework “DigCompEdu”, the initiative aims to drive the innovative use of digital technologies for educative purposes in schools and out-of-school settings as well as its confident, safe, and creative use by students and educators alike. 

12. ENhanced Learning and teaching in International Virtual ENvironments 

As a result of the project, progressive course modules will be created for the development of digital competencies for learners and teaching staff. There will be also created guidelines for creating innovative and inclusive international learning environments in virtual, blended or technologically enhanced learning contexts.

Janika Leoste Mart Laanpere  Marika Kutškova Maire Tuul   Sirly Väät Egle Hollman 

13. Towards a quality oriented system of initial teacher education to increase teacher professionalism in Kosovo

The project aims at enhancing quality of design and delivery of initial teacher education (ITE) towards increasing the professionalism bar for teaching profession in Kosovo through the implementation of European-inspired quality assurance mechanism that produce teacher professionalism aspired by teaching profession in Kosovo. 

14. Preparation of development program for school teams to support student mental health promotion in schools 

The purpose of the project is to prepare a methodology and action plan for the development program for the school team, which:
- understands how and why learners' mental health problems arise, what risk and protection factors can be prevented or reduced by influencing them, and what preventive measures to use and how to implement them;
- devise an action plan for collaboration with the whole teaching staff, starting with needs assessment and goal setting and moving towards sustainable implementation and evaluation of evidence-based prevention. 

15. Development of school environment surveys 

Guidelines and specifications will be developed to support the use of self-directed assessment tools 1) for supporting teachers to become sel-directed learners 2) for students to become self-directed learners in grades 4, 8 and 11. 

16. Testing the intervention "Mental health promoting schools" in 2021/2022 in 5 Estonian schools

In the course of development program the management team formed in the school sets the goal of the change related to mental health and prepares a constantly updated success plan with the necessary analysis and research tools.

17. Integrated leadership in school practice

The project aims to explore ‘integrated leadership’ and to stimulate school teams to realise more integrated leadership within their school

18. Adaptation and development of the VEPA Behavioral Skills Game methodology according to the context of Estonian kindergartens

Adaptation and development of the VEPA Behavioral Skills Game methodology according to the context of Estonian kindergartens. Project includes the preparation of recommendations for adapting the VEPA methodology in the Estonian context, the training of VEPA teachers and evaluating the methodology in kindergartens.

19. Research group for studying the kindergarten learning environment and teachers’ teaching practices 

The aim of the project is to study the social climate, teaching and instructional practices in 50 Estonian- and Russian-language kindergartens using the Early Childhood Classroom Observation Measure (ECCOM). A research group is formed with researchers from Schools of Educational Sciences and Natural Sciences and Health for achieving the aim of the project.

20. Upgrading pre- and in-service teachers’ digital skills with online STEAM hands-on training modules

The proposal seeks to provide the appropriate background for the improvement of the penetration of technology-based methods and activities into mainstream education through upscaling pre- and in-service teachers’ digital skills through modules in higher education courses.

21. A Framework for Efficient and Engaging Hybrid Education in Lower-secondary Schools

The FreeEd project defines a framework for hybrid education (combining learning in school with distance learning), including best practices in the project countries (most of them
European "pioneers" in education technology integration such as AT, EE and FI), to help lower secondary schools, specifically teachers, face the challenges presented by the current sudden shift from classroom-based education to online, distance and hybrid learning. 

22. WINnovators "Boosting entrepreneurial and STEM/STEAM capacity of young Women in higher education institutions for sustainable development and INnovation"

Increasing entrepreneurship and STEM / STEAM capacity in higher education, focusing on sustainable and innovative development. Particular attention will be given to promoting gender equality and addressing differences in relation to the access and use by underpresented groups. Target groups are: HEI educators and students from future educators in HEIs disciplines; young underprivileged women between 18 and 30 years old, from rural communities, or outskirts; innovation and entrepreneurship organisations and HEIs with digital, STEM/STEAM and sustainability competences and with associated partnership with STEM/STEAM tech SMEs.

23. Discovery trail: Systematic use of digital outdoor learning tool 

The partners of the "Discovery Trail" project from Estonia, Finland, Greece and Austria bring together the fields of education, psychology, ecology and educational technology and explore the possibilities of using the digital solution of the Discovery Trail in nature education. In the course of the project, we will translate the Discovery Path application into different languages, develop technical solutions (to be more user-friendly), and introduce the application and paths created with local and international training to teachers and nature education centers in the participating countries. In addition, multilingual examples will be developed in the field of biodiversity to support the meaningful use of the application, and their potential impact on changing students' perceptions of biodiversity will be explored.

24. Application for the development of green and smart city

CitiesGoGreen aim to bring together environmental education, the method of gamification and STEM as an educational tool. The main objectives of the project are the following: 1. To cultivate the environmental consciousness of pupils together with other transversal skills and competences. 2. To develop a theoretical framework based on which it will cultivate the environmental consciousness of primary school pupils of age 10-12 years 3. To engage pupils with STEM and to develop the key skills of pupils through STEM 4 To design a state of the art game that will combine ENVIRONMENTAL CONSCIOUSNESS, Gamification and STEM 5. To develop an assessment tool that will be used prior and after the game to measure the skills gained through the game. The main focus of the assessment tool is the assessment of environmental consciousness. However other skills developed through STEM and through gamification will also be developed. The objective of this project is to educate pupils in the age of 10-12 years old on the importance of being green, and demonstrating sincere interest in the environment.

25. Relationship between students' interdisciplinary knowledge and career awareness in science

The aim of this research project is to develop pedagogically grounded instruments for measuring problem-solving and decision-making skills in the context of science-based and career-oriented learning. The goal is to improve the Cmap methodology for using in the learning process and for assessment.

26. Developing Competencies of Teachers to integrate Climate Literacy Education in European Schools

The project aims at enhancing teachers' profiles to coach students effectively in European Secondary schools to raise the level of climate literacy by developing:
-Educational Content for Climate Literacy
-Open Online Course to allow teachers to promote climate literacy at schools
-Online Teacher Community including activities developed to assist them to bring the topic of climate change into their classrooms.

Grete Arro
Liisa Puusepp
Maarja Hallik Mihkel Kangur Egle Hollman

27. Building a European Zero Waste Academy 

Our overall aim is to create a European Zero Waste Academy with two main objectives:
- To create a strong curricula for advancing the zero waste cities movement in Europe
- To kick-start a European network of zero waste trainers to implement this framework in their local communities and increase the scale and impact of our work 

28. Supporting young people to succeed – Building capacities to better integrate non-formal and formal learning in Estonia

The aim of the project is to analyze and the develop actionable recommendations to better integrate non-formal and formal learning. Fully adapted to the Estonian education system and context, our approach does not rely on a one-size-fits-all global methodology. Continuous stakeholder engagement, senior technical capabilities and a deep understanding of the Estonian education system and context (notably from within) are central features of our approach, and will be combined by best practices from other European countries in better integrating non-formal and formal learning. The ASCENT team is led by ICF and delivered in cooperation with Praxis, Civitta and Tallinn University. 

29.Educational changes in Estonia and their reflection in the experienced teachers' life histories: a developmental analysis from the late Soviet period until today

The project aims at completing a monograph on the successive educational changes in Estonia throughout the last decades of the late Soviet period unitl the early 2020s. The primary sources of analysis are the written documents - scientific, legislative and popular - from the period under discussion and the life history interviews with teachers whose teaching career expands over most of the period. The monograph, intended to be published in Estonian, can be used both for research as well as teaching purposes in the field of educational studies and beyond.

The project is based on the general goal of education to develop a learner-centred and inclusive education system based on common values, which offers learning paths that support society's needs. The project activities focus on how the learning experiences in different environments and the integration of learning content are related to primary students' learning engagement.

31. Development of e-assessment tools for entrepreneurial competence at primary and  secondary school level.

Tasks and scales will be developed to assess  entrepreneurial competences at school level II and III.

32. Development and training of the national defense education module 2021/2022

Preparation and implementation of the national defense education module in the academic year 2021/2022, which includes the development of the national defense education curriculum and the training of national defense teachers at Tallinn University.

33. From I to We, enhancing social relations by creativity 

The goal of this project is to clarify, both theoretically and in practice, how action methods based on psychodrama, sociodrama and sociometry, can best be used to enhance sociometric potential in adult learning groups (both online and offline), and to formulate the concept, develop the training for it, carry it out and measure the efficacy. We will use participatory collaborative development and co-creation as methodology to offer adult educators and researchers a genuine opportunity to participate and have an impact on our project and in their own work.