Not all children in Estonia have equal opportunities for acquiring great education. There are schools in Estonia where 98% of students graduate from secondary education, but there are also schools where children leave having only acquired basic education. Dropping out of school sets severe limitations on young people’s further choices and opportunities for self-fulfilment.
In order to ensure that students do as well as possible later in life, it is vital that every child believes in themselves, wants and knows how to learn and how to apply their knowledge. The level of passing on subject-specific knowledge is already very high, whereas recent studies show that people’s education path is often cut short due to a lack of learning skills and habits.
Teach For Estonia (Noored Kooli) helps to reduce drop-out rates by bringing motivated people from other walks of life into the field of education. In two years, the participants of the Teach For Estonia development programme will receive thorough training and support from mentors of Teach For Estonia and academic staff of Tallinn University. Programme participants help reduce inequality by working as a full-time teachers in schools with an above average number of school leavers with just basic education, and by focusing on supporting students and learning skills on a daily basis.
To have an impact outside their classroom, the Teach For Estonia programme also provides participants with practical leadership and management skills. In the second year of the programme, participants conduct a collaborative project at their school that supports the school’s development as a learning environment. At the end of the two-year programme, the teachers of Teach For Estonia have great teaching and leadership skills, and 80% of them stay employed in the field of education for a long time.
The programme has 71 participants in the academic year of 2025/26; these participants will be teaching over 7,100 students in schools across Estonia. But we also need your support to implement the programme – each donation allows us to reach more students and thereby reduce inequality in education. For example:
10 euros: 1 interview with Noored Kooli programme candidate to assess their motivation and suitability to take on leading role in the classroom
25 euros: 1 hours of preparatory training for future teachers
75 euros: a Teach For Estonia programme mentor can visit a participant’s lesson and provide beneficial feedback to them
The organization is included on the list of income tax incentive non-profit organizations. Learn more about relevant tax topics: Donations and taxes
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