My One Year with Educational Innovation and Leadership Programme

"Education is changing"- this phrase had no meaning for me until I started Educational Innovation and Leadership aka EduInno programme at Tallinn University. From exploring what type of learners we individually are on day one, to creating a sustainable educational innovation in schools of our home countries; this journey explores what is changing in education and what will change in the next decade. It answers the question of what works in education and why!

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I joined EduInno because this programme is equally beneficial for someone who has studied Education and for the enthusiasts who want to consider it for the first time and don't know where to start from. In the first semester, we compared our national curricula to understand the Education policies in global context; next semester, focus shifted towards understanding the innovation and leadership at a practical level, and in the last two semesters we are the change agents. We are on our way to bring a small but meaningful change in the pre-existing education set-ups. This programme allows us to understand the change management process at various levels and gives us the opportunity to practically apply the research rubrics to make a small, sustainable, and measurable change.  Keeping evidence-based innovation in focus, we are welcomed to critically analyse and evaluate the policies of leading Estonian schools. In the past few months, I have learned how to approach Education in a dynamic and ever-developing societal context. I have discovered what works now and what will work in the coming years. I have learned how to be a good teacher, a better school leader, and a great policymaker. When (notice that I have used 'when' not 'if') I'll become the minister of Education in my country, this programme and the experiences gained at Tallinn University will be the base of my trajectories.

For me, the most interesting bit about this programme has been its international diversity, where everyone brings something unique to the table. Eleven students representing 7 countries make it exciting to be among them. Not only that we receive individual mentoring and feedback from teachers, but we also enjoy the perks of arranging events as one group. National cooking sessions at one's place, movie nights, and randomly planned hangouts come with being part of a small and passionate group of people.

I must mention that this programme is not recommended if you're merely looking for something to help you in the classroom as a teacher. EduInno does deal with the aspect of the professional development of teachers and neurological development of students as learners in two of its subjects, it goes well beyond the classroom level and if you don’t plan to use these learnings, there’s no point getting them in the first place.

I feel lucky to be one of the first students of this course. It is the beginning of EduInno and I am sure that it's going to improve as our feedback and suggestions are continually being sought by the academic staff. 
 

Do you want to know more about Ali's experience at TLU? Find his contact on our Student Ambassadors' webpage!
Read more about his programme here!