Mother of three children who attend Kuninga Tänava Põhikool and president of the school council

“Education is something that you can't change overnight or too quickly or too often”

This Estonian mother underlines the efforts the school makes to address the diversity of their students and defends the need that pupils have more choices a little earlier

DIANA BOTANA BARREIRO & JULIA ÁLVAREZ BARREIRO | Pärnu

Tiina Kesküla is a mother of three children who attend Pärnu Kuninga Tänava Põhikool. She is also the president of the school council and a very active parent. One of her children has special needs, but this school attends him fully and she is very happy with the results: “This school really helps, not only the child, also the family of the child with difficulties”.

—What differences are there between the current Estonian educational system and that of your generation and which one do you think is more effective and why?

―It's a really good question, because I grew up in a very different educational system and a very different political situation, obviously. I grew up in Soviet Union times, where all the kids had the same... everything: we had the same clothes also, probably, we had the same stuff at school, but we couldn't choose almost anything. The only thing we could choose at school was the second foreign language: there was a choice between English and German at my school and I chose German. Everything else was fixed. Now kids have so much more variety and so many more choices, especially after the 9th grade. Because until the 9th grade it is almost the same for every kid. But the education system now values individuality more and it also provides children with special needs with special education. Nowadays there is more variety, I guess, but the main difference between now and then is more freedom, which means more responsibility for the kids themselves.

―How does the use of technology benefit your children's education and in what subjects is it more effective and why?

―I'm personally very much still a book person. I really do believe that books are very important. I also very much believe in dictionaries, because Google translates and helps you a lot, but it only gives you one answer, it doesn't give you a variety of choices. I'm very much a book person in that sense but, on the other hand, I'm also a big believer in technology. I see some threats with Artificial Intelligence (AI), and also a lot of teachers are seeing that, because some of them have already told me that you can't tell if the work is done by the students or by the AI. It's the future and we have to be careful about that, but in things like mathematics, physics and chemistry there are a lot of things that you can use technology with. I've seen video classes with Augmented Reality (AR)  glasses, which is something really interesting and beneficial. You can do chemical tests without using chemicals, like explosions or stuff like that, so it's really cool and interesting for the kids. But you can't forget about books.

“ The main difference between now and the time I went to school in the Soviet Union times is more freedom, which means more responsibility for the kids themselves”

—In this school 5 buildings are used; some quite far from each other, but all children come and go to all of them on their own. In Spain a lot of students are driven to school by bus or by their parents. What are the safety issues they face and what are the benefits and challenges this situation has?

—I think it is good. When my kids came to this school they were in second, fifth and ninth grade. I have three children and, at first, it was kind of a surprise to me that the buildings are apart and that they had to go to different school buildings on their own. At first I thought: "Well, what's going on? Why is that?" But, on the other hand, after a month, I thought:  "Yeah, that's really good, because they can really walk between their classes and it gets their minds off the school or any problem that they might have at school". And especially for my kids, because we moved from Tallinn  to Pärnu and they didn't  know the city that well. And that gave my children the possibility to know the town, a place that was new to them. And there's also the question of responsibility: you have to get there on time; you can walk around the park, but you have to be on time in a particular place also, which gives kids more responsibility; and I think this is good.

—How do you think this school and Estonian education in general addresses the situation of students with learning difficulties?

—I have a really personal connection to that question, so thank you very much. Because one of my three children is autistic, he has a slight version of autism, which is difficult for a parent, but this school really helps, not only the child, but also the family of the child with the difficulties. Because, in the case of the education of a child with special needs, no matter if it is emotional or physical, this school really helps the kids.

—How does this school help your child in all of these aspects?

—My child is really intelligent, but at some age he had difficulties connecting with other children.  He had emotional difficulties and the school provided him with his own schedule timeline, so he did not have to spend that much time at school. He had some lessons one to one with the teacher and some lessons in smalls groups, which really helped him emotionally, so he didn't have that much contact with other children during a period. Finally, from time to time, he had more contact with other children and more lessons with bigger groups and this grew with time, so now he's in normal school with the other kids. He's eighteen right now, and it really helped him with his difficult times. And this school also has children with physical special needs and gifted students. I think it's really good because all the children need to see that we're not the same.

“It is good that children see that we are not all the same so they grow up knowing that there are people who are different and who have different needs”

—If you have to recommend the school that your children attend, what aspects would you highlight and why?

—Getting back to my last answer, I think it is good that children see that we are not all the same. They grow up knowing that there are people who are different and who have different needs and possibilities regarding their special needs.

—Looking at the present and the future, what do you think should improve in the current educational system and why?

—I think our educational system works quite well and I think that education is something that you can't change overnight, or too quickly or too often, because you won't see the results right away. Sometimes you see the results in five, ten or twenty years. So you have to be very careful with changes and, if I take a look at the big picture, I think our educational system works really well. There are some small things which can be better or more effective, but in the big picture I think it's a good system. Maybe there should be more choices even until the ninth grade, because in the 10th, 11th and 12th grades children have more choices. On the other hand, perhaps these choices could be starting earlier by giving up some classes or having less of some classes and more of other. Because some children are more interested in music, languages or mathematics, they could choose more, but we have to be really careful about this. Perhaps this can be something worth to think about, but, in the big picture, I think this is quite a good system.