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Seems to be much less high stakes national testing in Estonia (10% sampled). Thinking about the implications of this on their curriculum. It seems to have allowed for more breadth in curriculum, plus the focus on things they value highly like entrepreneurship and digital skills.

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1.   An interesting history! The mafia tag is truly innovative in itself - a platform to encourage start-ups! How open are our youths to the vocational route?

How is the VET route perceived by the Estonians? It is similar to the country our syndicate has visitied - Netherlands

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A. Similarities: drive to be smart nations
Differences: our ecosystem

B. Estonia & the Netherlands - both are innovative nations but innovation is approached very differently. Estonia has programmes but NL relies on deeper social/cultural & economic structures. Programmes are optional

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I wonder:
i) As we strive to broaden our definition of success and merit, would we at some point unwittingly converge and land on another narrow definition of success and merit for our charges, for our society?

How might we then afford opportunities to inclusify (Johnson, 2020) and for our students and staff to stand out and yet fit in in our contexts?

ii) A lot had been said, observed and learnt about how autonomy is exercised in different contexts in Estonia, how their MOE & Research adopts a light touch in translating the national policies, leaving the schools to contextually attune and enact the policies. Similarly, the Estonian social construct also privileges the provision of space and time for their youths to explore, learn on their own, reflect through their experiences and broadening their perspectives.

While such a stance had perhaps spark about a streak of entrepreneurial dare and thus innovation, I am mindful that giving space and time without providing the support especially for our high needs students whom we need to strengthen their protective factors, is just as detrimental as curtailing their autonomy. Hence, as school leaders, our leadership actions can no longer be enacted in a binary sense but rather in a  frame of both/and where we embraced both ends of such polarity (Lewis & Emerson, 2019) while seeing the interdependence (Petrie, 2014) of things.

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Woven Weapons for four wind instruments and percussion (2021, premiere)

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Woven Weapons for four wind instruments and percussion (2021, premiere)

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Modern-day jazz with Estonian roots

Maria Faust (EST) was born in Estonia 1979 but lives currently in Copenhagen, Denmark. After the short conducting studies in Academy of Music in Tallinn, she continued her education with saxophone in conservatory in Esbjerg Denmark. Part of the Danish jazz music scene, the music of Maria Faust group is a mixture of many different styles drawing on the legacy of her Estonian roots, rock, 20th century classical music and jazz with an emphasis on the band’s four horns.

The music piece Woven Weapons is inspired by epigenetics and traditional Estonian knitting patterns. Estonian traditional folk costumes were worn daily until as recently as in the last century. The patterns on the clothes had multiple meanings – they functioned as a language, conveying beliefs, heritage, worldviews and cultural background. They were not merely embellishments but also served as symbolic protection from evil. Epigenetics is the study of heritable changes to DNA that do not involve alterations in DNA sequences. Simply said, heritable traumas are passed on from parent to child – for example, slavery, starvation, wars, and violence… also alcoholism and depression. DNA carries with it the weight of historical events and symbols in the same way knitting patterns do. Paradoxically, something that protects you can also destroy you.

Just as the Estonian composers and musicians encourage listeners to explore this idea as they sail down the banks of the Emajogi River, I wonder what kind of language (verbal or visual symbols), conveying beliefs, heritage, worldviews and cultural background have has been passed down in Singaporean homes and societies, that may not change our DNA sequence but can change how our bodies reads the DNA sequence, or how our minds process what we hear and see around us.  What thoughts and dispositions do we want our students to have that will both preserve them and allow them to flourish?

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Maria Faust Sacrum Facere- Sacrum Facere

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A magical horror comedy without spoken language, the themes - hope, aspiration to transcend current circumstances, disappointment, tragedy - cut across boundaries of space and time.  The hopes of the Alchemist in the play reminded me of the many Estonians (and the national goal as articulated by the PM) whose dreams were to transform their lives - from rags to riches - by being the founder of the next unicorn.

The references to the German alchemist, together with the music by Handel (Arrival of the Queen of Sheba and aria from Rinaldo) reminded me of how for centuries, Estonians were not rulers of their country - the main nobles were Germans and they owned the vast swathes of farmland worked by Estonian peasants.  The Upper Town in Tallinn today still serves as a constant reminder of that life of servitude under foreigners.

Kellerteater is Estonia’s first mystery and thriller theatre in an old and mysterious gunpowder storage building.  In addition to theatre performances, Kellerteater is also a place for literature, meet-and-greets with authors, art exhibitions and movie experiences.  It was interesting to see how Estonian organisations have innovated in Covid times.  While the ticket is a modest 9EUR, probably much cheaper than if we were to watch the play on location during non-Covid times, they were now able to reach a much wider audience with online sales. That is the Estonian spirit of never giving up and always trying to find the way forward.

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Estonian Educationa Tree - shared by Education Estonia

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- If Education was a Tree, outsiders see only the fruits - the students who graduate to the labour market - but the vast proportion of the mass is hidden - inside the trunk, and below the ground. We also have a Learn for Life Tree, but at the root of Estonian's Educational Tree is a "Strong Estonian Family". According to UNICEF, Estonia is one of the most family-friendly countries in EU and OECD, and Estonians see strong family ties as one of their most important values - we see this Õie, the startup founder in Chasing Unicorns, who hails from a rural background. Education starts with the family. Kristel Avrel, from Enterprise Estonia, shared that despite the Soviet repression, the Spirit of Estonia carried on within its homes, which were, as she put it, "secretly breathing Estonia" -  firing its youth with dreams of what could be done the moment they could be "set free". Imagine if the Spirit of Singapore is something alive and strong in every Singaporean home, and our youth were similarly fired up to make a difference!

Inside the Estonian Educational Tree are the teachers with a strong community can-do spirit. Kristel shared about her elderly mother, a teacher who was thrust into the internet age by Estonia's decision to go digital. The mother adapted, and together with support from peers and colleagues, adopted ICT readily. Her inspirational example surely rubs off onto Estonian youth.

To foster an enabling and innovative mindset, team-building workshops are held in schools so that youths have strong team spirit and are willing to try new things, and give their hand to create real products. Principals lead their schools to be open to dynamic exchanges with community and private sector partners. To strengthen ownership among staff, open microphone sessions are encouraged where people can speak up and dialogue about matters that they face. Together, these indicate a willingness to share autonomy and ownership as much as possible, in order to engender a mindset that they can make a difference - together. And here lies another Estonia paradox - there is autonomy when people work together, and there is strong team spirit when people are given freedom.

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With thanks and gratitude to Kok Hong for his help for our LEPSP! 

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With thanks and gratitude to Kok Hong for his help for our LEPSP! 

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Syndicate 1 is thankful and grateful to Kok Hong (currently P/Ngee Ann Sec) for his generosity in sharing the resources and contacts for our LEPSP to Estonia.

His contacts and the information provided had been instrumental in helping us shape a coherent, comprehensive and enriching learning experience as we interfaced with Estonia Ministry of Education & Research, e-Estonia, Enterprise Estonia SG and the many start-up organisations as well as the schools ranging from IB, vocational and higher education such as Tallinn University.

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Emerging from Estonian's conversation (Week 2 reflection)

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Emerging from Estonian's conversation (Week 2 reflection)

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(i) Education system
Estonia wanted to be associated to the nordic despite under the Soviet and Russian for half the century, which made me curious whether Estonia's education slanted more to Plato or Rousseau. While i still could not conclude if the national curriculum is more Plato or Rousseau, however i could hear the pragmatic ideology in ensuring the survival of Estonia.

(ii) Student well-being
We started off wanted to understand their policy in ensuring student well-being at national or system level as their OECD result showed positive outcomes. At the end of the conversation, we still could not hear how student well-being was being implemented at national or policy level. Rather it is the work of the school in meeting the needs of the learners.

MHG was the only national school that we spoke to and we could hear effort of integrating the international students by having them involved in the Estonian celebration as well as social mixing through CCAs. However, in private establishment it is more of trying to help international students integrate via buddy system and equipping them with Estonian language.

(iii) Environment as the 3rd teacher (Parenting)
On two separate conversation, one from Estonia Enterprise and one from Google, both are Estonian staying in Singapore. They both lament how parenting and environment could impact students in terms of independence and the dare to try. Children would not learn independence if everything has been planned and structured for them. Children would also not dare to try if parent mollycoddle them all the time. This is really something for us Singapore to think about.

Su May

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Miina Härma Gümnaasium, Tartu (IB School)

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Azian's Reflections from the Estonian Experience

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Azian's Reflections from the Estonian Experience

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(1) On Broadened Notions of Success

Estonia has shown me what humility in learning, open-mindedness, and purposeful autonomy can do to propel an entire nation forward.  In seeking a more diverse acceptance of what success and fulfilment is for our children in Singapore, I wonder how much we would be willing and prepared to push the current parameters of autonomy as school leaders and as citizens.

We talk about being a more inclusive, embracing and kinder society and system. We have voiced commitment to not leaving any child behind in our continued pursuit of excellence. We have exalted a higher purpose which would presumably enable our children to be well-equipped for the volatilities of the future economy, but more importantly, for our people to be well-spirited for the social and emotional turbulences of these times.

What then, would be the risks and trade-offs that we would be willing to take? What ‘controls’ would we be willing to relinquish to make space for all configurations of success – both typical and less-typical?  What would we be willing to forego for the aforesaid greater, nobler purpose?

(2) On Learning from Life

At the recent MOE Schools WPS, Min Chan and 2M Maliki spoke at length about the importance of providing our children with opportunities to learn from life as they learn for life.  They cautioned School Leaders about providing overly-sanitised spaces, where students become overly-rehearsed - and in turn, overwhelmed/paralysed by failure or unexpected outcomes.

The Estonian case has clearly showed me how much learning from life has empowered the citizenry to explore, experiment, fail and learn from such failures.  The Estonian ethos, culture and current phenomenal success seems to be due to an abundance mentality and a spirit of dare-to-fail-and-learn-fast iteratively.

How can we make space in our current school programming to enable our children to cultivate a similar daring, pioneering mindset and skills?  How can we re-engineer our approaches and practices so that our students taste small successes and small failures?  How can we inculcate in our students that similar sense of hunger and humility which had fuelled Singapore’s founding fathers in our nation’s journey?

How can we encourage parents to also let go and allow their children to learn from their day-to-day experiences without mollycoddling them?

(3) On Sense of Identity, Trust and Well-Being

Rooted in a clear understanding of their cultural roots, Estonians seem to know who they are as individuals and as a nation.  They understand that in seeking individual self-actualisation, they also keep paying it forward to their communities and country because they seem to appreciate that a successful country is only as good as its most common person.  Estonia seems to have mastered the art of preserving timeless constants while pursuing timely changes. Her national pride is equally defined by her values-heritage and innovation-digitalisation.  Estonia has built a national community that thrives on trust and transparency – and that as much as the individual citizen is responsible for their own lot in life, the government, private sector and social support networks hold accountability for them too.  Estonian trust and transparency are both psychological and pragmatic, as seen in the porous flexibility between the government and the private sector.  They have a high degree of trust in these partnerships that are directed by common mutual goals.  They have deep trust in information flows, work processes, and the intended outcomes that would be borne out of such partnerships. It is the combination of collective identity and trust that has enabled Estonia to thrive in being “out-of-the-box”, by deftly negotiating nexuses of the old and the new, authority and autonomy, individual and community.

In Singapore, we practise caution in how the various aspects of society interface.  We are clear about boundaries between the government and the private sector. We tread extremely carefully when we explore these nexuses.  We are mindful about OB markers, bureaucracy and clearly defined spaces of ownership. The result of such clarity is efficiency and effectiveness, as proven by how much Singapore has achieved within a short 56 years of statehood.  We still grapple with old fault-lines along race and religion that threaten our national identity and social cohesion. We now also grapple with new fissures that potentially risk our social, emotional and mental well-being. We are apprehensive of facing a Singaporean brain drain – a problem for us in the 1990s – because we are rightfully concerned about our economic survival.  Perhaps, we should be equally concerned about a Singaporean spirit/heart drain, i.e., a depletion of ‘emotional’ reserves which would prove detrimental to our sense of selves and our sense of nationhood.

What can educators do more (or less) of, to ensure that we do nurture learners to flourish as people and as citizens?

What else can we do to build supportive communities for our children, so that they may flourish as part of these communities?

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What struck me during the Enterprise Estonia and MOE Estonia sessions was the close collaboration between the public and private sectors. In fact, public servants can hold positions in private companies at the same time, or public servants are encouraged to spend time working in companies before returning to the public sector, and vice-versa. This 'revolving door' concept is interesting and seems to be premised on:
- Trust and transparency: Belief that the work is for the greater good, plus the fact that Estonia is not a big country (population-wise), so perhaps the six-degree of separation rule makes it hard to hide any wrong-doers. It's X-road initiative also shows that its citizens have access to how and who their data is using their data.
- Providing the nexus: The public sector does not believe in a paternalistic view (where it knows best), and believes it's important to know the pain-points as well as opportunities from the ground. MOE Estonia shared that schools would know what is best for them, and which of the private companies could fill in their gaps. E-Estonia facilitates this process (not even MOE!).

How about Singapore?
Based on how tight the regulations and protocols are like for our schools to work with private companies, and how MOE has centralised many of the systems over recent years, and that strong sense of accountability put upon schools, the nexus between private companies and schools may be tedious for both parties.

In terms of rotating people between private and public sectors, that is what MOE is starting to think about. I do see some Supts being rotated to be Principals, Principals and VPs taking on HQ stints, and some VPs changing tracks to be LTs. I am not sure of the numbers but this could be one way of strengthening the nexus between HQ and schools, and between tracks.

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From the sharing by MOE Estonia that 2 key focus areas in their curriculum stand out - Informatics (of which coding is part of) and Entrepreneurship education, both of which starts from Year 1 of Basic Education (equivalent of our P1).

Putting a mirror to S'pore curriculum
We have been explaining to those who would like to see MOE include coding in our formal curriculum that we do not do so as programming evolves fast, hence we would rather focus on the necessary skills such as computational thinking that is embedded in our subjects. The concept of Entrepreneurial dare was also put forth in 2016 WPS, though we believe that it should not be taught as a stand-alone subject.

Why it may work for Estonia
The school system is quite different from that of Singapore as their schools are very much autonomous. For example, it was shared that for entrepreneurship education, schools could decide to integrate it as part of the subjects or teach it as a stand-alone subject.

Also, the vibrant Start-up culture in Estonia may have a positive rub-off effect on schools, with many of these Start-ups relying heavily on technology and much risk-taking. We also heard parents also send their children to robotics/coding enrichment classes!

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In conversation with Leelia Rohumaa, Global Head of People & Culture at Estonian Unicorn, Pipedrive

Growing People & Building a high performing Innovative Culture

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After speaking to various Estonian organisations and individuals, reading the book "The Full Digital Nation" and watching the film "Chasing Unicorns", the innovative and collaborative spirit that is uniquely Estonian is what jumps out at me. The Estonians' entrepreneurial spirit is developed from young as they encourage their youths to dare to dream and be creative, so much so that the Estonian Ministry of Education has an "Entrepreneurship Competence" model that guides the teaching of Entrepreneurship. Estonia, being a young and small country, similar to Singapore, also recognised that they needed to tap on their best resource - the Human Brain, and therefore a thriving Startup scene was created.
Skype - the first unicorn out of Estonia left a great and lasting impact on Estonia as the Estonians who worked for Skype decided to put their money back into Estonia and re-invest in Estonian Startups to further encourage and gave a boost to the already vibrant scene.
This "Wanting to do good for the country" stems from the strong pride and nationalistic feelings for the country which had for so long been under different rule and never had much independence. Now that they have broken away and with the blueprint of success ready, future generations will continue to be inspired to achieve the same!
The one thing I do wonder, is whether there are any underlying cracks in society, as Estonia grows further; as they begin to open doors to the rest of the world. Would a largely homogenous country of Estonians continue to welcome people from all over into their country to be part of this thriving Startup scene?

Jamie :)

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Winter landscape. Image courtesy of Kaupo Kalda

There is no clearer example of this tight knit circle than Skype, Estonia's most successful export. In 2003 six people from Estonia, Sweden and Denmark launched the internet video calling software in Tallinn, Estonia's capital.

Three Estonian's - Ahti Heinla, Priit Kasesalu and Jaan Tallinn - wrote the software underpinning Skype.

In 2005 eBay acquired Skype for $2.6bn, at the time the biggest exit in European tech. In 2009 eBay sold 70% of Skype to investment firm Silver Lake, which included some of Skype's co-founders. Two years later Microsoft bought out all of Skype for $8.5bn.

Many of the original Skype team, dubbed the 'Skype Mafia', went on to re-invest their payouts into new ventures.

Skype's first employee, Taavet Hinrikus, for example, went on to co-found TransferWise and has since made investments into other startups including Bolt, Estonia's rival to Uber.

Heinla went on to co-found Starship Technologies, which develops self-driving delivery vehicles. Meanwhile Kasesalu now works for VC fund Ambient Sound Investments.

Skype's catalytic impact is borne out in the numbers. In 2006 - one year after eBay acquired Skype - Estonian startups raised a total of €6m in funding. That figure has grown steadily each year and in 2019 Estonian startups raised just under €300m. During those 14 years, Estonian startups have scooped more than €1.2bn in funding in total.

While impressive, these figures are dwarfed by the US, China and some of Estonia's European neighbours. Venture capital investments in UK startups, for example, surpassed £10bn (€11.48bn) in 2019.

But according to Bolt founder and CEO Markus Villig, it is possible to have too much of a good thing.

While rival Uber raised $24.5bn before going public last year, Bolt has raised $270m. He believes that the vast injection of capital into Uber and Lyft created a dependency on new investment to grow the business. With Uber racking up losses of $8.5bn in 2019, funding has also been essential for it to stay afloat.

"One of the benefits of being frugal is that we don't need to raise that much funding to grow," says Villig. "So more than two-thirds of the countries [where Bolt is] running today are already profitable in themselves. That means that we're not that much dependent to raise funding."

It's a common pattern among Estonia's startup ecosystem: revenue generated by startups has now overtaken investment in them.

And where foreign investors would previously make stipulations that startups be registered in the UK or the US, the growth rate and maturity among startups has given Estonian firms more clout. Or, as Tamkivi puts it, they can tell overseas investors that "it's going to be an Estonian entity - learn to live with it; that's a big shift".

In addition to capital, Skype gave Estonians a blueprint of success that inspired the next generation.

"In the 1960s, [young people] under the Soviet occupation dreamt of starting a rock band. Nowadays they think: 'what can I start that will allow me to drop out'," says Tamkivi.

Skype also gave many former employees invaluable skills to create their own companies. However, with a population an eighth the size of London, the demand for talent has outstripped supply.

"The only thing we really compete on with each other is talent," says Tamkivi. "We reached a point where there is not enough local talent anyway."

Image courtesy of Renee Altrov

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What Makes Estonia's Thriving Startup Ecosystem Tick? - Verdict Magazine | Issue 3 | May 2020

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Winter landscape. Image courtesy of Kaupo Kalda There is no clearer example of this tight knit circle than Skype, Estonia's most successful export. In 2003 six people from Estonia, Sweden and Denmark launched the internet video calling software in Tallinn, Estonia's capital. Three Estonian's - Ahti Heinla, Priit Kasesalu and Jaan Tallinn - wrote the software underpinning Skype.

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Home Environment: Independent from young and "cool to be innovative" in Estonian families.
Parents are engaged and involved in helping children becoming independent in Estonia. Estonians hardly have domestic help and children living in Estonia need to be independent thinkers from a very young age. For example, it is common for seven-year-olds to take public transport and warm lunch for themselves in Estonia.

In comparison, many of our Singapore students at that age are generally more sheltered both in their physical as well as psychological outlook. Could this difference be the missing link to develop greater independence and innovation in our young?

YM

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An afternoon well spent with Estonian MOE representatives!

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An afternoon well spent with Estonian MOE representatives!

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It’s such a privilege to have a team of Estonian MOE officials sharing with us the Estonian educations system, Smart solutions for education innovation in Covid times, the Proge Tiger, entrepreneurship education, etc…

More opportunities to share in the future, especially now that we have the Estonian Embassy set up in Singapore.

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Leadership Lessons: From Resilience to Seeking Small Successes

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Leadership Lessons: From Resilience to Seeking Small Successes

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Leadership lessons abound in this movie, from resilience and having a never say die attitude, to seeking small successes, forming a strong team of advocates and leaving an organization in better shape than when you first started.

Resilience
We hear Tonu repeating his never say die message multiple times "You fight, you die, you start over." And "I'm still failing, picking up and trying again."  The constant reference to the computer game Doom is most apt despite its seemingly comical stance. How many of us truly possess this spirit of starting from scratch, putting everything we have on the line only to 'die and start over again and again'?

Seeking Small Successes
Tonu and Oie constantly seek out small successes as they embark on their relentless journey to convince investors of all personalities and dispositions. This carries lessons for all of us dabbling in leadership. Indeed as they aptly put it "investors are like herd animals" and perhaps success begets success due to the investors' FOMO mentality.

Leaving an Organization in Better Shape When We Leave
Beyond a simply 'cashing out' or 'exit'. Tonu possesses a desire to grow the company and lead it to greater heights, instead of just contemplating the monetary rewards of walking away.

YM

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Ben's Insights from the movie

A supportive community to build resilience. On the road to success, the characters in the movie also discovered that while having the perseverance and resilience is critical in their journey of becoming, and importantly how their network of peers and friends gave them the sense of hope and support for their ideas and dreams. In the same vein, how might we as School Leaders shape such a sandbox culture of learning where we normalize failures and for our charges and staff to embrace these experiences as set-up for success in the future?

[I read somewhere that the sauna culture in Estonia is a key factor of this supportive network of cooperation and partnerhip :) ]

Disrupting the slumber of the status quo. The theme of ‘StartUpper vs Big Industry Boss’ seems to run deep, not unlike a David vs Goliath kind of story and the other theme which resonates with me is the courage to take a chance on an idea or a person. In the school leadership context, this extends to our response to ground up ideas from staff and students which we should support after collectively assessing an idea to be feasible and worthwhile for implementation. How might we do things in a different for the betterment of our students’ learning and well-being; and staff in the backdrop of the national focus on teacher well-being? What is the worst that could happen if we were to try these new ideas? Would we be willing to give this idea or student or staff another chance to try in a different context if things didn’t quite work out the first time?

Perhaps the reminder of this movie is how can schools be intentional sandboxes of learning where mistakes are normalized and embraced; and failures are leveraged as set-ups for success wrapped in a supportive community of peers and stakeholders so that our students not only learn to learn for life, but also learn for life as a part of a more inclusive SG society.

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Following a young startup entrepreneur and a serial failure on their crazy ride from small town Estonia to Silicon Valley and back.

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[Ben's Estonian Thoughts-Week 1] All that's digital may not be glitter; and all that's glitter can be analogue.

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[Ben's Estonian Thoughts-Week 1] All that's digital may not be glitter; and all that's glitter can be analogue.

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To what extent is centralisation the evil of decentralisation or autonomy for innovation?

Something I have observed was how things seemed to be left to evolve organically such as how learning management system developers supported schools in different ways rather than having a centralized approach such as the Student Learning Space or the School Cockpit System? Similarly, when we visited Tallinn University, I learnt that the faculty was largely encouraged to experiment with technology in partnership with the Tech Ed for Learning Department rather than as a policy put in place by the university.

This autonomy with little structure seemed to have led to a flourishing of innovation and enterprise with Estonia leaping to 3rd placing in the 2020 UN e-Govt survey which tracks the progress of e-govt development across countries. Will be looking forward to hearing from e-Estonia what success factors had led to this improvement in their E-GDI and importantly what are the current opportunities and challenges in the road ahead.

Digitalisation, Inclusivity and Social inequality

In our conversations with e-Estonia, start-ups and ed tech companies, We have heard a lot about how digitalization had made many online services accessible to Estonians and how these efforts had made the society more inclusive. I wonder to what extent might this be true even for the minority groups and disadvantaged within their society as we have yet to hear much on efforts about how inclusivity is fostered and social inequality ameliorated. Hopefully we will learn more following our meeting with Estonia MOE & Research today.

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Singapore's successful education system has been accredited to her ability to negotiate paradoxes as well:

1. Timelessness-Timeliness (Constants, Change)
- Timelessness: Values education, CCE, good teachers
- Timeliness: Diversifying definitions of success, multiple pathways and options, DSA, Blended Learning, FSBB, SkillsFuture

2. Centralisation-Decentralisation
- Autonomy, strategic alignment, tactical empowerment
- High accountability, high responsibility, high care
- Competitive-collaborative stance towards partnerships

3. Rigour-Customisation
- Curricular decision-makers seek a balanced approach towards managing possible 'trade-offs'
- In equipping learners (and teachers) for emergent needs, schools contend with issues, e.g. well-being, interest, utility, integration

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Learn for life is a value, an attitude and a skill that our students need to possess in ensuring our education remains an uplifting force (Min Ong, WPS 2018). I wonder in comparison to Marten Kaevats quote on Innovation, does Learn for Life also mean a movement towards innovation?

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E-estonia introduced us to three wonderful startup, which highlights the good work of EdTech Estonia in bringing companies together to make Estonia into a leading Edtech country. They have an open system for citizens to access information such as which agency or organisation is accessing their data and that made sharing pervasive and yet safe. (Check out the power of network write up in this padlet).

We heard sharing from eKool (K12 Learning Management System), Schoolaby (whose function is similar to SLS) and 99math (which seems to be similar to Koobits). What's amazing from the sharing is they work towards complementing each other instead of featuring their work as more superior than others (competition). This was further supported by Clanbeat sharing where their work serve to complement the existing Learning Management System by looking into the emotional and social well-being.

Something which i thought would be useful for Singaporean to think deeply about i.e. the element of complement versus competition.
Su May

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Extending the discussion on Estonian paradoxes beyond the issue of e-Voting, perhaps one can afford to adopt a more critical lens and question the proliferation of and reliance on private enterprises such as eKOOL, Schoolaby and 99 Maths in providing e-learning solutions for the school system.

Issues of student and parent data privacy (despite binding contractual obligations) and quality of curated resources (open sourcing instead of teaching fraternity curated) remain nagging thoughts.

YM

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X-Road (created 2001) interfaces more than 5400 different information systems

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This mind-boggling map shows the power of the distributed network known as X-Road, the core infrastructure that allows both public and private systems to exchange information with each other, while each system having the right to hold onto their individual data. The core foundation of this system is trust and transparency - citizens are able to view who has been accessing their data, and I believe it replicates the physical networks existing between these entities. Here's the paradox - to get more done with data, share more data; to get more data, don't hold on to data. I wonder if this applies both to teaching and school leadership - as owners, we safeguard our data, yet we network so that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. It reminds us of the importance of our networking efforts, and of building trust that as a fraternity, we can help one another to help every child reach their potential.

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e-Estonia Digital Society, e-Kool, Schoolaby & 99Math

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It was also about nourishing our minds about Scandinavian food, and how similar Scandinavian and Estonian cuisines are.  For example, cold cuts of meat, potatoes and pickled fish tend to feature heavily in both cuisines.  There is also a heavy focus of using ingredients from nature, like berries,  which is what Estonian cuisine prides itself on.  We heard directly from Ms Tasneem, owner of Fika about what the smorgasbord (communal platter) is, the preparation of foods unique to Scandinavian palate like the skagen.  Needless to say that the smorgasbord was yummy and deceptively filling! We felt so full and satisfied! :)

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Janika and her work in Tech-leveraged education at Tallinn University gave us much fruit for thought.

On one level, being an advocate of blending basic educational robotics tools such as Sphero and Lego WeDo into different subjects in the primary school context draws many parallels to our SG schools' efforts in STEM education. Creating a learning design based on such robotics platforms gels and resonates with our SG EdTech role as reflective designers of engaged and applied student learning within and across subject disciplinaries.

On another level, what is perhaps more challenging is broadening educator exposure to possibilities and shaping educator mindsets to be willing and able to explore and test our ideas. While she concedes that this piece is work in progress, she is indeed a firm and knowledgeable advocate through words and deeds.

YM

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Classroom setting in Estonia (Tallin University)

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Week 1 of Estonia's virtual visit and tour set me thinking about the qualities of Estonian in making this small country significant. They constantly sought improvement by looking at how to make thing Easy & Simple to use through the help of Technology. I was really impressed that all schools in Estonia are fully equipped with technology and that includes the pre-school.

With the two schools (Vocational school in Tartu & Tallin University) that we interacted, both took great care in the Emotional & Social well-being of the student (especially international students). While the classroom setting in both the vocational and university are somewhat similar to what we have in Singapore, I sense that students do Take-charge of their learning. I wonder how do students (of younger age) take-charge of their learning in the elementary years?

Triin shared with us about a horror story where a candidate went for an interview and requested for the interviewer to call her one day in advance to remind her of the interview.
At the same instant, i received a SMS from a clinic to remind me of the upcoming visit to the clinic. While it is service-centric, I am starting to wonder what would shift in terms of our societal values if we continue to over-serve or support (or in Siim's word - mollycoddle) our people (youth)?

Su May

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Virtual Tour of Tallinn University 2 September 2021

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Virtual Tour of Tallinn University 2 September 2021

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Deepening our learning of the Higher Education landscape in Estonia

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Triin set us thinking on how we can help students take greater responsibility for their own learning. For example, the use of e-calendars captures all the tasks to be done, as such, students do not need to note down for themselves and manage down their calendars.

To help students take initiative for their own learning and be more self-directed, it is good to get students to note down one task they commit to do for themselves within the week. Weekly reflections can also be completed by the students.

The Clanbeat system ecology allows this to take place!

This conversation reminded me of my own child, who used to be prodded and reminded by his teacher in primary school to pen down his Homework in his student handbook. The teacher eventually stopped doing that and he was forced to take ownership and note down his own Homework. I think that helped him take greater responsibility for his learning. However, now in secondary school, all this homework is parked in SLS and GC, all he needs to do is log in and the homework will be neatly laid out for him. I wonder if this is for the better or for worse? Hmm.

YM

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Deepening Our Understanding Of the Estonian Startup Landscape

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Conversation with An Estonian Startup - Clanbeat

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Conversation with An Estonian Startup - Clanbeat

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Our wonderful Estonian friend, Ms Triin Noorkõiv, engaged us in a conversation to deepen our understanding of the Startup landscape in Estonia and her work with Clanbeat and how they empower happier, healthier humans.
www.clanbeat.com

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As we go into our conversations with startups in Estonia, it is interesting to find out more about how the government and education in Estonia has helped to create a conducive environment to support the Startup scene. From young, the Estonians begin to introduce children to innovation by developing "Invention Laboratories", where children start to learn about business innovations! There is also a "can do" spirit amongst the Estonians and its government, which contributes to the high level of support and growth!

Jamie :)

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Ints - stock.adobe.com

By

They call it e-Estonia. The temptation not to prefix this Baltic former Soviet nation with an "e for electric" name tag was too great. But the combined forces of the Invest Estonia, Enterprise Estonia and e-Estonia organisations aren't just using the label for marketing spin - this is a perhaps surprisingly advanced, high-income society creating its own place on the international technology scene.

As already reported by Computer Weekly, Estonia has been on a progressive development trajectory since the country gained independence from Soviet rule in 1991. Starting with little or no legacy infrastructure in most economic sectors, Estonia drew upon its scientific knowledge base to rapidly develop internet-driven public services and gain a reputation for being a digital nation.

With further development driven by its Tiigrihüpe (Tiger Leap) computer network infrastructure development programme, a maverick yet understated approach pervades throughout Estonian organisations and individuals alike.

Now, in 2021, as Estonia celebrates its 30-year independence anniversary, e-Estonia wants to tell the next chapter of its story. With the world on the edge of post-pandemic reawakening, the Invest Estonia organisation stole a march on almost every other tech conference or symposium in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) or the US by staging its Digitally Wild technology tour to showcase national IT development.

Estonian tech unicorns

As a prelude to any Estonian technology analysis, it's important to remember that Estonia's most famous technology export is Skype, which was started by a group of four developers from the nation's capital, Tallinn. Estonian IT has also made headlines more recently with Bolt, its Uber-challenging, ride-share, food delivery and scooter business. Other homegrown unicorns include ID.me, playtech, wise, pipedrive and Zego.

"In the past 30 years, Estonia has become one of the most wired and technologically advanced countries in the world - a true digital society"

Siim Sikkut, Estonia

"Estonia's digital success didn't happen overnight - it was the result of decades of investment and experimentation and collaboration between the public and private sector," said Siim Sikkut, government chief information officer (GCIO) for Estonia. "It is about much more than technology. The key ingredients are political will and trust. The latest study showed that 82% of residents trust Estonian e-services.

"In e-Estonia - a paperless digital and tech-savvy society - people file their taxes, do banking, sign documents, vote in elections and get a prescription over the internet. All these processes are fast and can be carried out from the comfort of a person's own home or office, using a secure state-issued Estonian ID card. In the past 30 years, Estonia has become one of the most wired and technologically advanced countries in the world - a true digital society," added Sikkut.

Estonia's tech startups

If Estonia has now passed the point on its IT evolution curve where it can start talking about established domestic IT players, it does at least pave the way to building a new tech startup scene. The capital, Tallinn, is home to a dedicated co-working hub and network of startup founders who come together under the name Lift99.

The Lift99 building itself is a full-on hipster-chic affair with a touch of Bladerunner meets London's Shoreditch. An open entrance beckons guests inwards with no formalised reception area. Consequently, the first thing a guest encounters are the broken, unfinished steps and walkways that lead upwards and inwards.

The building is a former railway engine maintenance foundry and the current owners have kept the slightly grunge look and feel throughout. Entering the first floor area, guests are invited to take their shoes off, place them on a shelf and don a pair of communal slippers - it's an Estonian cultural thing, not a startup thing - before settling down on a beanbag.

Child-friendly innovation

Speaking at the Estonian tech promo tour this year at Lift99 was Vivita, a specialist in child-friendly open workshops that act as so-called "invention laboratories".

Co-founder and CEO Mari-Liis Lind said her organisation's operational raison d'etre is the provision of creative learning studios where children can gain competency with ground-level business-type tools and experience the benefits of mentorship and acceleration initiatives.

Vivita typically works with children aged from eight to 10. But is this youth-level business drive too much too soon for some kids? It's not, according to Lind, because age nine is widely thought to be the most productive learning and developmental period for many children.

"Very often you might find that the school [system] says something is not possible, so we want to open up a wider realm of developmental possibilities for children," she added. "In reality, the children don't find it daunting at all and they relish the idea of creating their own business innovations. To be honest, it's the parents who are normally the nervous ones."

In most modern economies, only around 2% of people are generally categorised as creative, said Lind, so that's a figure she wants to increase. The organisation teaches children how to create a prototype, how to break a prototype and then move forwards for higher success.

Breaking the fakes

Also speaking at Lift99 was Vistalworks, a data technology startup that aims to protect shoppers from the harm of fake and illicit goods. Its intelligence software combines risk profiling tools to detect smuggled goods, counterfeits and untested products so that European borders can be protected.

British-born Vistalworks CEO Vicky Brock left the UK for Estonia to start the company from within the European Union (EU).

"I had never been to Estonia until I first came here and had to open a bank account. I was initially slightly worried that I was being conned, because it was so easy to work with the systems in place here," she said. "All the young people here in the tech startup scene are very good for the soul and the energy experience."

Another darling of the Tallinn tech startup scene is Single Earth, a deep tech startup that is aiming to disrupt corporate climate action. The firm's mission, said CEO and co-founder Merit Valdsalu, is to value nature for more than just its raw materials.

"We need to incentivise the protection of nature by monetising the carbon and biodiversity elements that exist in the economy," said Valdsalu. The organisation has been described as a platform designed to "tokenise" nature. It enables forests, wetlands and all other "planetary resources" to create profit streams for the landowners who lay claim to them.

Single Earth's platform works to allow those landowners to sell and trade carbon and biodiversity credits, rather than traditionally traded raw materials. This is now commonly referred to as carbon sequestration - or the long-term removal of carbon dioxide from the earth's atmosphere.

Single Earth uses satellite imagery twinned with big data analytics and an element of machine learning (ML) to detail the degree to which any place on the planet absorbs CO ₂ and maintains its level of biodiversity health. The organisation provides a "merit" token for every 100kg of CO₂ sequestered. The tokens, which have a limited lifespan, can be traded, used to create profits through carbon offsetting or used as an investment.

National startup psyche and mindset

The technology leaders and evangelists in Tallinn seem to convey a general feeling of "can do", and the government's startup visa makes it easier for firms that are looking to grow to bring the right kind of talent into the country.

There seems to be an acceptance in the country that a startup can be an actual company, a reality than could be down to the size of the nation with its 1.3 million population. Equally, it could be down to the state of the nation's still-nascent economic evolution, or its former Soviet legacy throughout both the Estonian public and private sectors.

It remains to be seen whether Tallinn will join the US-located major tech event hubs, such as Las Vegas, San Francisco, New York and Chicago, alongside the European usual suspects, such as Barcelona, Munich, Amsterdam or Paris.

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Ints - stock.adobe.com By They call it e-Estonia. The temptation not to prefix this Baltic former Soviet nation with an "e for electric" name tag was too great. But the combined forces of the Invest Estonia, Enterprise Estonia and e-Estonia organisations aren't just using the label for marketing spin - this is a perhaps surprisingly advanced, high-income society creating its own place on the international technology scene.

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Classroom setting of students taking 3D design module in Tartu Arts School

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Reflection on the conversation with Tartu Art School

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Reflection on the conversation with Tartu Art School

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Students in the school would at least two other languages on top of their existing one to ensure meaningful socialisation and integration (example: preparatory course in Russian, Estonian as well as English). This kept them versatile, which made us wonder about our bilingualism policy. I am also in awe with the school's move towards online assessment where in the past the students would sit for a 4 hour examination (preparation and submission of products / artefacts based on the questions). Online assessment would mean the students would be given the time and space to spend 4 hours outside of curriculum and do a final presentation at the end.  This requires a shift of mindset to focus on the learning and less of what the students produced at the end.

Su May

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Hearing from the Principal and staff of Tartu Art School about how they advance Art Education in Estonia

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Hearing from the Principal and staff of Tartu Art School about how they are advancing Art Education in Estonia

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Wonderful Food and Company at FIKA!

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Wonderful Food and Company at FIKA!

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Through the conversations with Siim (an Estonian living and working in SG) and even our excellent virtual tour guide, Erik, a reflection qn surfaced was that to what extent have we afforded our children and students to truly voice their voice of learning and growth; and as parents and educators, how might we then facilitate and amplify these voices of autonomy for our students and staff to learn for life and importantly to activate their agency & shine forth their potential for growth?

Have we been very paternalistic in our approach in our approach and efforts as we develop and shape our children and charges holistically?

- Ben

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Singing, the Great Unifier of the Estonian Soul

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Singing, the Great Unifier of the Estonian Soul

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"The reunion of a family" - that's what they call the Estonian song and dance festival. From the times that they had their first singing demonstration while under Russian occupation to the current song and dance festivals, the Estonian love of singing has been a unifying experience. The way the Estonians come together through songs and dance is amazing. It is their rallying call to move together to achieve the common goals! Truly what it means to "sing the same tune". This festival is also what brings Estonians overseas back to their homeland and an event that they identify with.

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If you ask an Estonian to talk about Estonia, you are likely to hear about the Song and Dance Festival. Probably because the song and dance festival is not just a big summer event that takes place every five years, but it is a way of being that helps us to better understand ourselves and carries all the important values ​​that we consider important as a nation - love for your country, language, culture, and customs.
The Song Festival has grown steadily since 1869, when the first festival was held in Tartu under the leadership of Johann Voldemar Jannsen, and has kept pace with the times. Only male choirs and wind orchestras with a total of a thousand performers participated in the first song festival. Over time, mixed, children's, women's, and boys' choirs, hobby symphonies, and toddler choirs were added. The party moved to Tallinn, where the first dance party took place in 1934. Since 1947, song and dance festivals have mostly been held together.

The song and dance festival in 2019 had 44 times more participants than the first song festival in Tartu, and the audience's interest in the song and dance festival was so great that tickets ran out both at the dance festival and for the first time in history at the song festival, gathering 100,000 people. At the same time, such a huge interest in the song festival shows that the tradition on the UNESCO World Heritage List is indeed alive and important regardless of age or social status.

After the program has been put together by artistic directors, registration for the festival for choirs, orchestras, and dance groups will be announced. This usually takes place 1.5 to 2 years before the start of the next festival. It is also possible for foreign ensembles to participate in the song festival - for this, they have to register their ensemble for the party in time and then acquire a repertoire, which is mostly in Estonian.

The audience can start preparing for the party six months before the party when the tickets will go on sale. The dance festival will feature three identical dance performances at Tallinn's Kalev Central Stadium, which will last about two hours. Each show can accommodate 10,000 spectators. The song festival will take place on the Tallinn Song Festival Grounds, which will accommodate approximately 70,000 spectators at a time.

Both song and dance parties take place outdoors. This means being prepared for both rain and sun. Also, a song and dance party always brings with it big traffic restrictions, which is why a lot of time and patience should be saved when coming to the party. Those who are unable to attend can also take part in the song and dance festival via a live broadcast of the Estonian National Broadcasting, which is very popular in Estonia and can be watched online from all over the world.

The song and dance festival is aptly called the reunion of the family. Song and dance festivals have been constantly evolving over time and have always taken after the performers. A number of traditions have emerged that have become a part of this party. A torch is lit in Tartu, the birthplace of the festival. Like an Olympic fire, the torch travels through the whole of Estonia to Tallinn, where thousands of folk dancers first wait for that fire for a dance performance at Kalev Stadium. An integral part of the dance festival is the authentic Estonian folk costumes that make the dance stadium shine beautifully.

All the participants of the party will come to the song festival in a festive procession. The procession is followed by a song festival, which always begins with Aleksander Kunileid's song "Dawn".

The special feeling of the song and dance festival is also sought between the parties, and smaller regional song and dance festivals are held for this purpose. Thus, the song and dance festival has become a sail, which has helped the Estonian people to move towards common goals through very different times. On the other hand, a song and dance festival is often an anchor that unites, brings Estonians around the world together, and connects them with their homeland.

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Welcome to Estonia's Song & Dance Festival | Visit Estonia

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The Song and Dance Celebration is the biggest cultural event in Estonia. First held in 1869, it has become an important expression of Estonian identity.

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Read more to know how the Kefir's expert from Estonia settled in Surabaya and developed the brand Mother Nature Kefir
https://indonesiaexpat.id/meet-the-expats/introducing-the-estonian-kefir-specialist-in-surabaya-silver-saarja/

Su May

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Far from home, Silver Saarva has found his passion through a health food and beverage business that connects to people achieving healthier and happier lives in Indonesia.

This kefir-maker shared with Indonesia Expat about life throughout communism, his journey in Asia and the warm-heartedness he feels when he sees customers getting optimum health benefits from his products.

How was your childhood in Estonia?
I was born in 1977 and at that time, Estonia was occupied by the Soviet Union. As anybody who has had the same experience can tell you, it wasn't the nicest place to grow up. I remember that shops were so empty of food, that once the new stock arrived from time to time, everybody was standing in line for hours before they could take home a piece of sausage or fresh bread.

That being said, I was lucky. I had a best friend who was also my neighbour. Every time we got home from school, we dropped our schoolbags and played. My mom invested most of her salary in books, which I read quite a lot even when she didn't allow me. I had a torch under my blanket and read all those wonderful books written by A. Dumas, J. F. Cooper, J. Verne and so on.

How did you find yourself in Indonesia, specifically in Surabaya? And would you eventually move to Jakarta?
In 2002, I applied to PRC's scholarship to study in Beijing, China. I´ve always been interested in Oriental studies and I got the scholarship, only for it to be cancelled by Beijing when they found out the professor who gave me his recommendation letter was an outspoken anti-communist, and a personal friend of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. After hearing of this, my professor told me that my only chance was to go to Taipei. So, I applied for a Taiwanese scholarship the next year, and I got it.

I had already moved out of National Taiwan Normal University and obtained my Master's degree at National University of Politics by 2006. There was a small girl with a very funny haircut in this Dragon Boat team - her name was Sylvia, from Indonesia. We got married in 2011 but we decided to move to Indonesia when Sylvia got pregnant, as the pollution and my painful childhood experiences with communism got too much for us. Surabaya was chosen because it's her second home, after Ruteng in Flores. To be honest, it's a nice place to live. Jakarta is no doubt an international city with great food options and open-minded people, but it has a traffic problem.

Estonia is 50 percent forest and its traditional lifestyle is still very strong. How did you adjust to living in Indonesia?
There's an old Estonian saying: "If you can see your neighbour's house, you live too close to each other." I grew up in a small town with only 3,000 people, so adjusting to life in Indonesia hasn't been easy or successful, to be honest. I still find it too noisy and too crowded from time to time, especially in big cities. Every time I visit Estonia, I go to a very special place and listen to the silence while enjoying the breathtaking, calming view. Indonesia has places like this. I love the mountains and the sea, so I try to escape from the cities and find refuge in nature, as often as possible. I haven't been to many places but I hope to do some trekking in the wild forests of Sumatra, Kalimantan, and Borneo, then dive in Papua.

What do you dislike about Indonesia and can you think of a solution to overcome that?
There are not many things one doesn't like about Indonesia but if you ask me like this, then it has to be the general traffic and infrastructure. In Surabaya's case, we need a working public transport system. There's also the option to build second and even third level roads where the traffic is the worst.

If a genie could grant you three wishes, what would they be?
I would ask the genie to conjure up another ten or 20 genies, each one with three wishes for me. One can't have too many genies at their home - you never know when you are going to need a little bit of magic.

In reality, you have a healthy food, beverages, and all-natural products business called Mother Nature, established in Surabaya, in 2015. How did this come about?
When I went to Estonia in 2007 for the first time with Sylvia, there were not so many foods or beverages that she liked there, except for kefir. Our son had a Parade of Nations at his school back in 2015; all the parents were encouraged to bring some food or beverage from their countries. We decided to bring some kefir. Some friends from Northern Europe asked me if it was for sale because it tasted just like home. Coping with stomach-aches would get difficult for them, especially after eating too much deep-fried or spicy food. Before I could say or think of anything, Sylvia already said "yes." Soon after, I heard somebody on one of National Geographic's programs saying "Mother Nature."

I worked on new flavours and started to produce quark. Sylvia started to sell it online and we got some very positive feedback, especially from those who suffer from gut problems. Then we realised this could be our chance to do something useful and earn a living at the same time. We went through a slow and difficult processes of registering all our products with authorities, yet still managed to stay in one piece after the ISO 22,000 and Halal certification processes. Now, you can find Mother Nature products mostly in Surabaya, Jakarta, and Bali.
Some of the ingredients, for instance, kefir, are somewhat still unknown among Indonesians. What do you think should be done to get more people interested in healthier ingredients?
We are currently explaining the benefits of our products to the Indonesian people. When I first came to Indonesia, there were only 2 or 3 different kinds of imported and expensive yogurt in the supermarkets. Now the situation has changed a lot - the shelves are full of local dairy products and people consume them much more than they used to. The trend to consume healthy food and beverages continuously grows, and we will do our best for this to continue. With kefir, we always say we do not sell the flavour, we sell the benefits. We can't force people to stop drinking flavoured fizzy sugar water, but we can offer them healthier and tasty alternatives. Not much marketing has been done, though we believe that personal experience is the best way to win over clients. Once people try our kefir and see the benefits of it first hand, they have grins on their faces then they come back and tell other people about it.

You mentioned with Mother Nature, expats and Indonesians can get a healthier alternative to traditional food and beverages through the brand's slogan, "For Healthier Indonesia!" Why is society's health a concern for you?
All of Mother Nature's products have no preservatives, no artificial colors or artificial flavors. Our products are also refined sugar-free since we only use wild forest honey from Sumatra so it's 100 percent natural. It would be easy and cheaper to come up with something full of preservatives, but that defeats our purpose. Our vision is to only produce products made of all-natural ingredients; nonetheless, it gave us our mission to help people.

Kefir helps to relieve the symptoms of allergy and asthma, increases breast milk production and is very good for pregnant mothers.

If you weren't handling Mother Nature, what would you like to do in life?
I think I would have either been a not very good politician, or above-average diving instructor, or I most likely would be a writer, since I'm very passionate about writing.

Lastly, what is one fun fact everybody should know about you?
Well, my wife just told me to say that my nose holes are as big as her thumbs - she thinks it's very funny.

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Introducing the Estonian Kefir Specialist in Surabaya: Silver Saarva

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Far from home, Silver Saarva has found his passion through a health food and beverage business that connects to people achieving healthier and happier lives in Indonesia. This kefir-maker shared with Indonesia Expat about life throughout communism, his journey in Asia and the warm-heartedness he feels when he sees customers getting optimum health benefits from his products.

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Choral festival that took place once every 5 years

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Something that i gleaned from the Tallin virtual tour about how this festival is the main anchor of Estonian identity - by raising awareness of Estonian language and cultural heritage. Estonia experienced many invasions and twice, the song celebrations have led to Estonia’s independence. Something valuable and to be proud of.

Su May

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Some of my reflections on the similarities & differences between Estonia and Singapore (from our 'textbook') 

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Some of my reflections on the similarities & differences between Estonia and Singapore (from our 'textbook') 

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1) Both countries went through a survival-driven phase upon gaining independence, and were led by Visionary leaders  (e.g. attracting foreign investments, and in Estonia's case - recognised that computers could quickly make up for insufficient labour force & chronically lacking physical infrastructure). However, for Estonia, it was about seeing its citizens as clients, whereas in Singapore's journey, was about nation-building.

2) Both launched ambitious ICT plans in schools in the 90s. For Estonia, it was Tiger Leap in 1996 and Tiger Leap Plus in 2000, whereas in Singapore, it was ICT Masterplan 1 in 1997, and Masterplan II in 2003). Each focused on hardware first before looking at more dynamic use of ICT for education.  However, Estonia, on the onset was looking at pervasive use of ICT across the society, including the adults, whereas Singapore's SMART Nation vision was launched in 2014.

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Virtual Tour of Tallinn Old Town 30 August 2021

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Virtual Tour of Tallinn Old Town 30 August 2021

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Kudos to our fantastic guide, Erik Aarpuu, who introduced us to the history, sights and sounds of Tallinn town!

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What struck me was the divide between the upper town and lower town with the smoother long leg road, which is in contrast to the jagged (staired) road at short leg road.

Su May

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Conversation with Mr Siim Säinas (Estonian Living in Singapore, Working in Google)

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Conversation with Mr Siim Säinas (Estonian Living in Singapore, Working in Google)

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Appreciating the Care & Harmony and Learning Mandarin in Singapore :-)

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Innovation Ecosystem - In "3. A State is Born"

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It starts with a culture of openness - "disruption is part of our national education programme".
The very same culture is a "creator of opportunities" - for both Estonians and foreigners.

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Read about the Estonian Paradoxes of their democracy, social progress, gender issues and the environment.

Drawing links back to Singapore's experience of enacting legislation to ensure high voting rates and to maintain racial harmony, a tough stance on drug abuse, a progressive wage model to support workers, as well as social policies for intermingling such as HDB flat ethnic quotas. Perhaps social policies need to be deliberately engineered and cannot be left to chance.

YM

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Our meeting with Nicole Tan, Singaporean digital nomad based in Estonia. Her sharing was candid, heartfelt and moving.  It gave us a tiny glimpse into the vibrant Estonian start-up scene, the digital nation efforts, the secret mushroom-picking spots and the saunas which Estonians are deeply proud of :)