Speaking on ETV show "Vikerhommik," Rakaselg said schools are currently not obliged to notify the Ministry of Education and Research that they are conducting school tests in the first grade.  According to the ministry, the number of schools doing so can be counted on the fingers of two hands.

Rakaselg said school testing at that stage is a problematic phenomenon.

"As a result of this type of pre-selection, segregation starts to increase. This is inevitable. It has happened in all countries that have allowed this system. This is certainly not what the ministry wants to see. Educational inequality in Estonia is increasing considerably," said Rakaselg.

Citing examples from other countries, Rakaselg suggested one option for assigning school places to children could be a form of lottery. "We also need to consult with local authorities. We will probably not take a major step in two years, but we will take a several small steps," Rakaselg added.

Looking at the issue from the children's perspective, Rakaselg says it is hard to say that school tests at such a young age are good for them.

"There seem to be a lot of adults out there who really care. Having your own child has become a peculiar self-fulfillment project. They are prepared to put a lot of effort into it, hiring lawyers, for example, in order to access a limited resource. This includes the assumption that all other schools are bad and poor. That's something I would certainly not dare to say," explained Rakaselg.

According to Rakaselg, there are a number of unpleasant things that go hand in hand with using testing in first grade to pre-select children for more exclusive schools.

"In schools that have made an effort to create a more elitist or hard-to-access environment, strange processes begin happen, starting with the fact that children whose parents are financially better off are much more likely to get places there. The reason for admission is not the child's ability, but whether the family has the capacity to prepare the child thoroughly, to educate them," said Rakaselg.

According to Rakaselg, the ministry is currently monitoring theses processes, but is not rushing to introduce a law banning this form of testing in schools outright.

"Although that is one of the things we can do. However, we are looking into what is fueling this phenomenon, and we are looking first and foremost at the causes, because otherwise this phenomenon will hide itself more cunningly and we will not be able to catch it at all," Rakaselg said.

Rakaselg noted that schools are currently prepared to use all forms of legally available methods, including asserting influence on people, to remove students who could bring down their average scores in state exams, and thus help them maintain a strong academic reputation.

"We see this quite systematically in some schools. It is difficult to approve of this because it is extremely unethical behavior , whereby aim is not the development of a particular child but the reputation of the school," said Rakaselg.

"A school may indeed appear to have one characteristic on the basis of which it is assembling a classroom. However, after a while it may turn out that these children have other characteristics that make them not such a homogeneous group and there will then be deviations from the average, which also need to be addressed," he continued.

Rakaselg said that the ministry does see that in schools which use testing to pre-select pupils there are far fewer children who d not speak Estonian as a first language. However, those schools do have more children who are socio-economically better off, as well as those who need less support from the school. Nevertheless, there are no guarantees that these children will not need additional help and support from outside the school.

"In the ministry's view, children's needs for psychological support in particular, to cope with stress, pressure and expectation, are quite problematic and are causing us concern," said Rakaselg.

Rakaselg added that parents choose schools for their children, according to the criteria they personally think is most important, rather than what best suits the child.

"The media also amplifies the idea that the indicator of a school's superiority is the average results in state exams. However, these lists show nothing – judging whether a school is good or not on the basis of them shows nothing. But because there is a demand, they are given this. The ministry can't just keep standing by and watching for long, something has to be done. One option would be to ban this, and perhaps we should be more alert to the negative consequences as well as the limits. In some of the more popular schools, class sizes are increasing to 40 children. We see the danger signs are getting worse, but we need to develop this plan more first," the official said.

---

Follow ERR News on Facebook and Twitter and never miss an update!