A new English language school will open in September
Estonian Ministry of Education and Research issued an education licence to the International School of Tallinn that will start providing English speaking school based on the globally recognized International Baccalaureate (IB) curriculum in the Ülemiste City campus this autumn.
“We established the international English language based IB school in Ülemiste City because we saw a clear need for it in the market. People from more than 50 nationalities work in Ülemiste City every day and in addition to that, Estonian migration statistics have been positive in the last couple of years and we expect significant growth in immigration,” explained Kadi Pärnits, the chairman of the management board of Mainor AS, founder of the school.
The aim of the International School of Tallinn in perspective is to provide a full cycle by providing education from primary classes until the end of upper secondary school to ensure that children of all ages who have come to Estonia due to their family migrating have the possibility to receive international education.
The new school has placed a lot of emphasis on multidisciplinary integration, developing general competences, problem solving skills and creative and science-based teaching. To create additional motivation for studying, different digital solutions will be used.
In 2017, the school will start with two composite classes on the first floor of the Estonian Entrepreneurship University of Applied Sciences building. In 2018 two new classes will be opened and the school will move to a new building in Ülemiste City.
The school is developing a joint action plan with Ülemiste City campus to establish a modern and innovative school complex to Ülemiste City in the near future. The complex would host International School of Tallinn as well as Kalli-Kalli kindergarten and Emili school.
„Foundation Innove and the Ministry of Education and Research have played a significant role in the fast start of our school. They gave us quick feedback, constructive proposals and had a positive attitude towards our endeavour,” Kadi Pärnits said, adding that Estonian general policies on foreign workforce still play an important role in the successful development of the school.
According to Pärnits, internal resources of Estonia’s labour market are mostly exhausted and it is inevitable that people from outside the country have to be involved. According to her, so far right steps have been taken to address the problem, but to achieve considerable results, a more forceful and systematic approach has to be adopted. “We need a smart and productive migration policy which would enable to involve people into Estonia whose expertise we are lacking, who would help to support our country and who would carry our culture here as well as in the whole world.”
She said that more attention should be given to how the adaption of the people who have arrived in Estonia has been organized, because right now, there are many shortcomings in this field. “It is important to agree on common purposes and to join forces in the public and private sector, so that the foreign specialists who have arrived in Estonia and their families would feel welcomed in Estonia – only that way they will stay with us for a longer period of time and will contribute to the development of our country,” commented Kadi Pärnits, the chairman of the management board of Mainor Group, saying that the new international IB school is a step towards this goal.
