A New Opportunity Landscape: Analyzing Estonian State Policy for an Equitable Upper Secondary School Network

• In Event: Thursday Roundtable Session 12:40 pm
  In Roundtable Session: Examining State and National Policy Change: National and International Perspectives (Table 16)

Abstract

The Estonian school system is undergoing a significant reform designed to enhance access to high quality schooling. We examine the state’s strategy to create a new opportunity landscape for upper secondary-level education across Estonia and in the northeastern city of Narva. Informed by spatial theories, we investigated key elements of the state’s plan for a more equitable educational system with a focus on school buildings, personnel, and curriculum. Through a critical policy analysis of Ministry documents and school social media posts, we found the state’s new opportunity landscape, and the process to create it, especially in Narva, depends on a series of “policy interruptions and adjustments.” Our research contributes to understandings about (de)centralization in education reform as a spatial project.

Authors

• Kadri Koreinik, University of Tartu

• Laura Kirss, University of Tartu

• Kara D. Brown, University of South Carolina