Developments in the labour market point to the need to prepare for change, as today\u2019s economy demands very different skills from those required decades ago. Individuals must be ready to upskill or to acquire entirely new competencies. Lifelong learning is indispensable for remaining competitive.<\/p>\n\n
Participation in adult education has increased rapidly in Estonia, placing the country among the leading European nations. Significant investments have been made in education, learning pathways have become more flexible, educational inequalities are narrowing, and more people are engaging in reskilling and continuing education. The educational landscape and modes of learning have evolved and continue to evolve.<\/p>\n\n
As in other European Union countries, participation in adult education in Estonia follows a familiar pattern: those with higher prior educational attainment or other supportive resources are more likely to engage in learning. More ambitious goals are therefore needed to support lagging groups and reduce inequality. <\/p>\n\n
How can resilience and development be ensured?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n The decision to extend Estonian as the language of instruction to all schools is historic, above all because it lays the foundation for a shared value space that also extends to adult education. Once such far-reaching decisions have been made, the focus must shift to supporting their implementation. This will be one of the key priorities in the coming years and is directly relevant to adult education as well.<\/p>\n\n The continued development of adult education requires the contribution of all stakeholders, including entrepreneurship policy, retraining opportunities, labour market services and social protection measures.<\/p>\n\n Supporting the motivation and self-confidence of vulnerable target groups and reducing segregation are essential.<\/p>\n\n Greater flexibility in education is also needed, including micro-degree programmes, micro-qualifications, broader application of the principles for recognising prior learning and work experience (V\u00d5TA), work-based learning, and regionally tailored programmes.<\/p>\n\n Existing strengths must be maintained and further developed. Cooperation with universities and researchers should continue, as should initiatives such as the OSKA labour market monitoring and future skills forecasting.<\/p>\n\n Practitioners and collaboration networks should be supported and strengthened. Greater emphasis should be placed on communicating what works well; criticism is rarely in short supply.<\/p>\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"parent":1467,"menu_order":0,"template":"","chapter":[2],"class_list":["post-1466","article","type-article","status-publish","hentry","chapter-haridus-murdepunktis"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/2026.inimareng.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/1466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/2026.inimareng.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/2026.inimareng.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/article"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/2026.inimareng.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/1467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/2026.inimareng.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/2026.inimareng.ee\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/chapter?post=1466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}