ABCs and FDI: Estonia's International Schooling Dilemma
It's a straightforward formula: If you want to attract foreign investors and experts to your country, you need to provide decent, international schooling for their kids. In Estonia however, investors complain that there's only one real option currently available and it's too pricey. Government efforts to address the issue, meanwhile, have missed the mark.
It's a dilemma with which Martin Breuer, chairman of the Foreign Investors' Council in Estonia, is familiar, and one he's raised with political leaders on behalf of the chambers of commerce he represents.
“One of the important ways for Estonia to grow in the coming years is to interact with the outside world; that means we need foreign direct investment,” he said. “But foreign direct investment isn't just about the money [...] it's about the foreign talent that comes with the money. If we want them to find Estonia an attractive place for short-term, medium-term and in some cases even long-term settlement, then we have to offer foreign professionals the possibility for their kids to get an education that transfers freely internationally.”
In Tallinn, the place they currently get that education is the International School of Estonia. Since it opened in 1995, the school has been the main - and for all practical purposes only - institution providing international-style primary and secondary education to the families of diplomats, business people and internationally-minded locals.
It's everything one would expect from an international school: classes are taught in English, the kids hail from 25 different countries and teachers are recruited from the international circuit. Dozens of national flags line the corridors. The atmosphere is, for want of a better description, international.
More importantly, the curriculum follows the International Baccalaureate system – the high quality programs that have become the gold standard for international schools around the globe.
“It's considered the most rigorous, most difficult program in the world,” explained the school's director Don Fitzmahan. “So no matter where you are on an IB program, you can go to the best universities.”
“At our school we run the Diploma Program [the IB module for the upper secondary school level]. We are the best in the nation for this, we've run it the longest, and our results at the school actually beat out worldwide results on diploma exams,” he said.
That, coupled with an enviable teacher to student ratio of 1 to 5, would make sending their kids to the ISE seem like every parent's dream.
The problem is the hefty price tag. Annual tuition for grade school students at the ISE runs from 15,000 to 16,700 euros.
“The headline that gets launched is that we are the most expensive school in Estonia, and if you just look at euros and cents, the fact is yes, the tuition is the highest. It's the cost of international schools, which is primarily the cost of international teachers,” said Fitzmahan.
ERR News' comparison of similar international schools around Europe showed that the ISE's tuition rates were indeed about average. But unless you're among the 50 percent of ISE parents who have their children's tuition covered by an embassy or a company, you may find yourself struggling to make the payments.
That's exactly what has been happening since the start of the economic crisis, which has been a contributing factor to the school's shrinking enrollment. Since reaching its pre-crisis peak of 135, the number of students has fallen to just 105, Fitzmahan said. There have been no staff cuts or reductions in services so far, but the school, a non-profit entity, is definitely feeling the bite.
“It's actually on a very tight budget. No one's making any money anywhere. The scale of the operation is small but they have to do many of the things that normal [sized] schools have to do,” said Robert Gilchrist, an ISE board member who is also deputy chief of mission at the US embassy.
Given Tallinn's small market, simply lowering tuition in hopes that more students will come isn't a viable option, Gilchrist said.
For a time though, it looked like the school's problems might be solved. Last year, when the Ministry of Education was making noises about responding to investors' needs and putting some government money into international education, the ISE lobbied to be the provider.
“When that happened, we started working with the ministry and saying what the industry wants, what the foreign investors want, already exists. It's here. This is a school that's been here for 15 years, providing the highest quality international education,” said Fitzmahan.
Based on these arguments, the ISE proposed that the money be given to it as a subsidy. That would have allowed the school to cut its tuition in half, making it more affordable for both investors and locals.
“Unfortunately that was not met with a positive response from the ministry,” Fitzmahan said.
What the ministry ended up doing instead was giving the money to two elite public schools – the Tallinn English College and the Miina Härma Gymnasium in Tartu – for the implementation of new IB programs there.
Maie Soll, curriculum division councilor for the Ministry of Education, told ERR News that the reason the ministry went that route was that the ISE is a private institution, and that they decided it was more appropriate to give the funds to state schools.
She pointed out, as had Fitzmahan, that the ISE actually already receives ministry support in the form of the building it has been given as well as some maintenance funds. Like all schools in Estonia, the ISE also receives a per-student payment from the government.
This chunk of Estonian tax money, the government has decided, will be used to create an international component within the public school system.
Apples and Oranges
“This has been our school's primary aspiration for years now,” said Katrin Rahi, IB coordinator at the English College, speaking of plans to eventually offer the international courses in all grades.
Two years ago, with the help of Foreign Ministry funding, the school started an IB Diploma Program for its 11th and 12th graders - the first Estonian state school to do so. This year the English College expects to get about 128,000 euros from the Ministry of Education to start an IB program in the first grade, and probably expand year by year.
While the consensus is that the new IB program will be a huge benefit to Estonian students and should definitely be implemented, the government's answer is not a real solution for foreign families, say those involved in the ISE.
“People try to compare the ISE to the English College, but they're apples and oranges,” said Gilchrist. “One is essentially an Estonian school that focuses on English, the other is an international school that operates in English with an international student body.”
Kathleen Naglee, the ISE's upper school principal, echoed his concerns, expressing doubt that an IB program at the English College would be seen as a real alternative for international students.
“When a parent finds out they're moving abroad, they're looking for a place that is going to give their children a chance to have a true international experience in terms of education.
“[These kids] often come from very different countries, they've moved two or three times, and they're often looking for some kind of continuity in their education. The role of ISE is to support those families. And unfortunately I think in Estonia at the moment they're missing the value of this school, because they think, 'let's put in an IB program, then that's fine, we've done it.' But these kids need special support,” she said.
There are other problems with the state school plan as well. Even if the government steps up funding for the implementation of the IB program, it may be years before it's offered to all grade levels. And, initially at least, the primary focus will be on providing an international education to Estonian kids rather than to foreigners, Rahi said.
Assignment Incomplete
The story is far from over. Gilchrist and those at the ISE are still hoping to work with the government to find ways to lower the school's tuition.
“I don't want to in any way sound critical because I'm not. The Estonian government has been committed to ISE and I'm sure it will remain committed, [...] but when we want to reduce tuition and bring in more Estonian students, any help or interest from the Estonian government will be good,” he said.
“There's nothing to indicate that the Estonian government doesn't want the same thing ultimately that we want, which is a strong environment for international education. I think that right now they're looking at what to do next and where the ISE fits in.”
That next step could take on a couple of different forms.
There is some hope that a new bilateral agreement that the US State Department is trying to forge with the Estonian government will create tax breaks for the school, allowing it to lower fees.
There's also talk of creating an EU school, which Estonia has agreed to set up in connection with its hosting the EU IT Agency. Fitzmahan said that's another area where the ISE and the government could cooperate.
For now though, all those at the ISE can do is continue their lobbying efforts.
“We're continue to dialogue with them, but we don't know where that's going to lead us,” said Fitzmahan.
Until it leads somewhere however, potential investors will continue to face limited options for affordable schooling in Estonia.