Last fall, schools with Russian as the language of instruction began the transition to Estonian-language education, starting with the first and fourth grades. This fall, the rising second and fifth graders will be joined by the next first and fourth grades.

It has now become clear that this new situation is also influencing school preferences among families whose home language is Russian.

Speaking to ERR, Aleksei Jašin, Tallinn's deputy mayor for education, said that last year, during the first year of the switch to Estonian-language instruction, no major changes had been observed yet in school preferences.

"There were ultimately maybe a hundred students whom we expected would start going to a transitioning school, but [their families] wanted an Estonian school," he recalled. "Today, things are considerably different."

To date, the capital city has received applications from nearly 3,200 parents wanting to enroll their children in their local schools. Of these, 2,265 want their child in an Estonian-language school, and 980 in a former Russian school — which are now transitioning schools.

"Looking by district, there's a very clear trend in Haabersti and Lasnamäe," Jašin noted.

"Two Estonian-language schools in Lasnamäe are very popular, but transitioning schools there have been losing applications for two years running," he continued. "In Haabersti, two Estonian-language schools have been receiving more and more applications, while two or three transitioning schools have been losing applications. You can see that in the percentages."

Currently, 200 fewer applications have been submitted to transitioning schools this year than last year.

"On the one hand, there's a demographic decline — there are a couple hundred fewer total school applications overall," the deputy mayor acknowledged. "But beyond that, we can see that over the past two years, there have been 350 fewer applications to transitioning schools, and around 300 more to Estonian schools."

Hundreds of new first graders still unassigned

Even so, as of last week, the City of Tallinn had not yet received school preference applications for 700 children set to start first grade this fall. The city is trying to contact their parents by early May to assign them to their nearest local school.

In 2023, applications for spots in transitioning schools made up 38 percent of all first grade enrollment applications. Since then, however, that figure has dropped to just 30 percent. Thus, transitioning schools have lost around 8 percent of students across the city.

According to Jašin, the city government initiative to open four district-wide classes in transitioning schools for children who speak Estonian as a native language has helped reduce this loss by about one percent.

"We tried to find schools with teachers already prepared for the transition, to attract children with excellent Estonian language skills to neighborhood transitioning schools — where the level is actually already very good," he explained.

In the long run, however, the city will have to address the problem that a number of transitioning schools are losing students as regional Estonian-language schools are overcrowded, the deputy mayor said.

This means that more and more Estonian-speaking students will have to attend transitioning schools. Jašin also noted that even this year, these schools will need to hire additional teachers who are either native Estonian speakers or C1-level proficient in the language.

A total of 88 teachers currently proficient at the B1 level were granted an extension, and must retake the language proficiency exam by August. Should they fail, Estonian-speakers will have to be hired in their place.

"The process is underway for transitioning schools to become fully Estonian-language schools," the deputy mayor emphasized. "It's a signal that these schools offer a fully Estonian-language environment."

He did, however, acknowledge that the current situation is what it is.

According to Jašin, the only school currently facing an actual shortage of space due to this situation is one in Lasnamäe that has received too many applications — from families for whom it is their neighborhood school, meaning they have the right to enroll there.

"But when it comes to needing to teach some children in Estonian as a native language and others initially as a second language, that requires smaller groups and splitting up classes," he explained. "This is being supported by national and city-level salary and per-student subsidies. When non-native speakers are studying in Estonian, there's a higher coefficient and more funding, so it's possible to provide more Estonian language lessons."

Jašin believes schools have coped very well with the new situation so far. He cited Tallinn Järveotsa High School in Haabersti as well as Laagna High School and Kuristiku High School in Lasnamäe as examples of schools where things are running increasingly smoothly, though discussions are still needed on whether additional resources may be required.

"Since the current city government won't be drawing up next year's budget, that's something the next city government will have to discuss," he noted, referring to the next local government elections coming up this fall.

Transitioning schools should be promoted

In conclusion, transitioning schools should, over time, become fully Estonian-language schools, and according to the deputy mayor, this opportunity is what needs to be shared with parents.

He also suggested that school principals, teachers and Estonian teachers should visit kindergartens to speak to and invite children to attend transitioning schools.

"More effort is needed to this end, because there has been a societal stigma that it is impossible for a native Estonian-speaking child in a former Russian school, so the situation is varied," Jašin said, adding that he remains optimistic about the city's transitioning schools.

Tallinn city government has set a goal of keeping class sizes within the legal limit of 24 students. According to the deputy minister for education, with 700 parents still yet to submit school applications, there are currently four schools in town where assigning students to 24-student classrooms is already proving a serious challenge. One of these schools is searching for temporary additional space nearby.

"Traditionally, schools that are over capacity aren't the ones involved in the transition process; they're [Tallinn] School No. 21, and Gustav Adolf High School (GAG)," he explained. "These are simply very popular schools that are in high demand by both students and parents. We need to build up and make all other schools more popular."

He believes that local schools should be good enough that not all families want to bypass them in favor of city center schools.

Jašin doesn't believe that finding teachers proficient enough in Estonian will become an issue; he thinks it's entirely doable.

What does concern him, however, is the declining share of qualified teaching professionals. Last year, when the transition to Estonian-language education began in the first and fourth grades, half of the teachers recruited lacked professional teaching certifications, and the overall number of certified teachers in the Estonian capital has decreased by one percent.

"That's a major challenge affecting many schools," the deputy mayor acknowledged. "I'm confident we'll find Estonian-speaking people with degrees to stand at the front of classrooms, but the next big step is for them to study, train and earn their teaching qualifications within a year or two or three."

Tallinn is currently looking to hire 200 education staff by September, including teachers and support specialists.

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