In September 2024 Estonia will begin the transition to delivery of all education in the Estonian language. While most schools in Estonia deliver education both in Estonian and Russian, the transition will be particularly challenging for Ida-Viru because most (90%) of its population is Russian-speaking. This programme was designed to support the transition in Ida-Viru by facilitating teacher and student engagement with the Estonian language in different contexts, namely cultural institutions. 

The programme organises trips for teachers to cultural sites around Estonia, so that they might learn about the cultural diversity of different regions. These trips help teachers to develop ideas for student trips that are later organised by the individual participating schools. All trips are conducted in Estonian, so that students can practice their Estonian interactively while engaging with Estonian culture.

Teachers and students at general education schools, vocational schools, and other interested schools participate in the programme. Cultural trips are organised for teachers (2-3 per school) who teach Estonian language and history: they visit museums, art institutions, theatres, and so on. Then they are able to use their new knowledge and understanding to engage with their schools to develop and organise trips for students.

38 schools in Ida-Viru county participated in the ambassador programme, and the student trips involved visits to approximately 60 cultural institutions across the country. Teachers said they appreciated the broad (geographical) nature of the programme, and widely agreed that the teacher trips provide a good foundation for the development of the student trips.

Given the collaboration between the teachers and the cultural institutions, students were treated to ‘behind-the-scenes tours’, meaning they were able to visit and see more of the cultural institutions than if they had come as 'regular' visitors.

Feedback has been positive from both teachers and students. Teachers appreciated being able to visit places in Estonia they had not been to before and knew little about; students enjoyed the trips and the opportunities they gave for interactive learning. The unique access to cultural insitutions granted by the connections of the project made the trips even more special in the eyes of the students.

The main beneficiaries were Estonian language and history teachers in Ida-Viru County and their students, including both Russian-speaking Estonian communities and communities of third-country nationals (TCNs), most of whom are students displaced from Ukraine.

The programme had a budget of 400 000 EUR and was nationally funded.