Tallinn
Capital of Estonia, Tallinn (445.688 inhabitants) is the leading scientific and academic centre and core of business activity in Estonia.
Well-located and communicated with a seaport, a nearby airport, railway station and easy, affordable inner-city mobility, Tallinn is a prosperous city with a growing population with only 8% unemployment rate (among them 11% youth (age 16-24) unemployment). Tourism, transport and logistics and trade are its main economic sectors. Over 60 Information and Technology companies of different sizes operate in the city, including 3 large telecommunications companies, e.g. Telia with 1.800 employees.
Tallinn is member of the Education Commission at EUROCITIES and has positioned itself as an educating city, with its sights on making kindergarten and school studies more lifelike while introducing entrepreneurship and soft skills to kids and young people. The 338M € (year 2020) for education represents the biggest part of the 752M € (year 2020) municipal budget, supporting the Education Department’s 60 staff members who coordinate education in the city involving 195 municipal educational institutions.
Achievements
During ON BOARD project, Tallinn Education Department was preparing its new education strategy “Tallinn 2035”, part of which is a separate education strategy. The Educational Innovation Network project has provided us the opportunity to embed the approach of a city-wide collaboration in education involving a diversity of stakeholders.
Throughout the ON BOARD transfer period, learning was intense and rich for the Tallinn URBACT local stakeholders, and particularly fruitful for headmasters and teachers of the target districts. Tallinn has taken advantage of this momentum and applied for, and was successful in, getting an URBACT National Practice Transfer, which will greatly expand the reach of the transfer methodology across Estonia for further mutual learning and exchange of experiences with other cities’ education communities.
Other key learning and achievements for Tallinn include:
- A tighter collaboration within the municipality and a new approach to Youth. Structurally the Education Department has incorporated the Youth Division (which was previously with Sports Department), and now manages activities with children and young people aged 0-26. This opens up opportunities for stronger and more coherent links for the Educational Innovation Network.
- A clearer view of the practicalities required in education innovation and new relationships and contacts between schools that allowed to learn about projects, tools and methods as well as skills needed for implementing them.
- Encouraged the Enterprising School program, which entails agreements with the Education Department (in line with the Educational Strategy of Tallinn City 2035).
- A more widespread understanding that all different kinds of education and non-education institutions have their own place in children’s lives and all are important. All that cooperation among different stakeholders has started in the city, the stage is set to continue.
- In turn, Tallinn has contributed with its experience of the advanced digitalised education system and with projects running in the city that have been adopted by other ON BOARD partners, for example, the Smart Month initiative that empowers children to think creatively and to collaborate, using and experimenting with exciting learning methods and digital solutions. Tallinn’s Smart Month became the Smart Week in Poznan, who has adopted the initiative to replicate locally.
Tallinn’s EducationalInnovation Network KeyCommunity Members
Ourimpact
Schools
participating
in ON BOARD
9
Teachers and principals
participating
in ON BOARD
90
Students
involved in ON BOARD projects and activities
4405
Families
directly participating in activities and meetings
10
Companies
participating in ON BOARD activities and meetings
4
Universities
that have contributed to the project
1
Local entities
participating in ON BOARD activities and meetings
6
Mayors and councillors
who have participated in meetings or events of the network
1
People from the municipal staff
involved in the project
15
Pilot Projects
initiated in your city
4
ULG
meetings
40
Tallinn voices
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