How minority pupils in Estonia view and cope with studying Estonian and via Estonian

Abstract

In those secondary schools in Estonia, where Russian has been the language of instruction, a lengthy process of reforming the language of education has taken place. In 2012, the obligatorily study 60 % of content subjects in Estonian was introduced for upper secondary levels (years 10–12). In the elementary levels, the teaching largely still takes place in Russian. Such minority schools constitute 17 % of all secondary schools. The main group influenced by this change are pupils, since it has an impact on the quality of their education. How they cope with studying in the second language depends on their motivation, the methodology and study materials used as well as the support and counselling they get. In this writing, the current situation, its achievements and shortcomings are discussed from the pupils’ view.