'Forest University': New Generation of Teachers Needs Teamwork, Creativity
At the Metsaülikool (Forest University) symposium held in Kääriku over the weekend, discussions focused on comparing the education systems of various countries, with the speakers drawing attention to the fact that to this day Estonia lacks a comprehensive education strategy.
It was suggested that the current state of pedagogical knowledge is poor in Estonia. Participants concluded that Estonian schools need teachers who know how to promote teamwork, entrepreneurial skills, and creativity in their classes in addition to teaching their subjects.
"The teachers we have in our schools today are advanced in years and the focus of their training was determined by another era and a different set of needs. What I mean when I speak about teacher training is how we train the next generation of teachers in the universities. What do we have, what can we do ourselves, and what do we actually need?" said Toivo Maimets, Professor of Cell Biology at the University of Tartu.
Despite the fact that teachers are already required to undergo more in-service training than various other specialists for lesser pay, teacher training remains the main problem in the field of education. A common complaint is that schools, in cooperation with parents, fail to equip young people with the skills needed in the society, ETV reported.
"I have a feeling that the teachers' subject-matter knowledge is very-very deep. It seems that there is not much training needed there. The problem lies in values education and the development of the students' social skills - do we know how to combine these with the teaching of subject-matter knowledge?" said Iiris Oosalu, an alumnus of the Noored Kooli foundation.
According to symposium director Triin Käpp, we have to figure out how to promote creativity and initiative in the classroom. "How do we ensure that children flourish at school? How do we combine all that and also ensure that education is not focused on cramming, but on teaching all the different aspects of life. In the end, the question is, what kind of people does the society need? We do not need school for school's sake," said Käpp.
Sigrid Maasen