Report: Many Estonian parents do not send their children to their school of residence

Eneli Kindsiko, an expert at the Foresight Centre, said that large-scale educational migration affects the quality of Estonian education and deepens polarisation. “Many parents in Estonia do not send their children to their nearest schools of residence, because they increasingly look at the reputation and rankings of the schools, as well as whether the schools can provide a child-friendly, bullying-free learning environment,” said Kindsiko. “Parents also consider the schools’ support for special educational needs to be important.”

In Estonia, 45% of primary school students and 59% of upper secondary school students do not attend the school closest to their home. In the cities, the choice of school mainly depends on how well the school is doing in competition with others. In rural areas, however, with fewer schools to choose from, schools that offer all-day school activities, such as various hobby groups, are preferred. In the case of upper secondary schools, the selection is primarily made considering the school’s academic results and reputation.

“Unfortunately, extensive educational migration means that for many families, the journey to school is longer and it takes more time for their child to commute to school, hobby groups and then back home on a daily basis,” said Kindsiko. “This, in turn, can force parents to work part-time and especially puts mothers at risk of dropping out of the labour market.”

The Estonian schools’ unequal burden is also the consequence of extensive educational migration and it makes it quite difficult for municipalities to plan their education network. “If many parents send their children to schools other than those closest to home, it makes planning and ensuring quality of education a major challenge for municipalities,” said Kindsiko.

Educational migration exacerbates educational inequality and socioeconomic polarisation as well. For example, due to their limited resources, families of lower socioeconomic status prefer local schools, whereas children of more affluent families are able to go to reputable schools in large cities.

In both Tallinn and Tartu, educational migration is considerably higher than the Estonian average, depending on the level of education. The educational migration in the neighbouring municipalities of big cities is also considerably higher than the Estonian average, which indicates that many of their students go to schools in the big cities.

The Foresight Centre based the analysis on the data of 348 primary schools and 73,709 primary school students. In the case of upper secondary schools, the data of a total of 124 schools and 21,333 students were analysed. The students’ routes from home to school along the streets and roads of Estonia have been calculated based on the maps of the Land and Spatial Development Board. The students’ residences have been determined using a location index based on the population data of the Statistics Estonia. The analysis does not include private schools.

The short report ‘Estonian Internal Educational Migration in General Education’ (in Estonian) is a part of the Foresight Centre’s research stream ‘The Future of Spatio-temporal Accessibility of Public Services’. The purpose of the research stream is to map the availability of public services now and in the future and discern the most suitable future models of service provision.