- 2016Design
- 2017Design
- 2018Approved/Agreed
- 2019Implementation
- 2020Implementation
- 2021Implementation
- 2022Implementation
- 2023Design
- 2024Design
Background
Vocational education and training (VET) in Estonia is regulated by the Vocational educational institutions act, which provides the basis for the establishment, maintenance, transfer, reorganisation and closure of vocational education institutions. It also provides the basis for the right to provide instruction, management, organisation of studies, State-commissioned education and financing, the rights and obligations of members of schools and State supervision over the activities of schools. In 2013, the act fundamentally changed the regulation of the vocational education system by:
- defining new categories of vocational training directly linked to the Estonian qualifications framework;
- promoting the extensive use of outcome-based principles in the evaluation and establishing of qualification criteria for types of vocational training, curricula and for teaching staff;
- establishing the right to provide instruction;
- defining and implementing the use of the new unit (Estonian vocational education credit points) for measuring study volumes.
At the end of 2018, the amendments to the Vocational Education Institutions Act were approved on the principles of financing vocational education institutions and assessing the quality of vocational education. In line with the amendments, the former VET institutions' accreditation system was replaced by a new quality assurance approach.
Objectives
The objective of the new quality assurance approach is to support continuous improvement in teaching and learning and quality assurance in VET institutions. Transforming the accreditation process into a quality assessment process aids the development of a learning-centred school culture and increases the credibility of VET.
Description
A working group was set up to review the national approach to quality assurance. The group was composed of representatives of the education ministry, employer and employee organisations, VET schools and other partners.
In 2017, the group presented a proposal concerning changes in the assessment criteria and in the procedures and principles for the quality assessment of VET. Based on the working group's proposal, and in line with the EQAVET Recommendation, amendments to the Vocational education institutions act were approved by the Parliament in December 2018.
According to the new quality assurance approach, the right to provide instruction for indefinite duration will be granted, by 31 August 2019, to curricula groups for which a school has a six-year accreditation. For schools with a three-year accreditation, a repeat assessment is carried out in the curriculum group. If successful, the institution is granted the right to provide instruction for indefinite duration. If the school does not receive this open-ended right, the right to provide instruction is terminated.
The quality assessment is organised by the Estonian Quality Agency for Education. It will take place every six years and the result of the assessment is not directly connected with the right to provide studies. Quality assessment only affects the right to study if non-compliance with the assessment criteria is significant. The process is focused more on achieving...
A working group was set up to review the national approach to quality assurance. The group was composed of representatives of the education ministry, employer and employee organisations, VET schools and other partners.
In 2017, the group presented a proposal concerning changes in the assessment criteria and in the procedures and principles for the quality assessment of VET. Based on the working group's proposal, and in line with the EQAVET Recommendation, amendments to the Vocational education institutions act were approved by the Parliament in December 2018.
According to the new quality assurance approach, the right to provide instruction for indefinite duration will be granted, by 31 August 2019, to curricula groups for which a school has a six-year accreditation. For schools with a three-year accreditation, a repeat assessment is carried out in the curriculum group. If successful, the institution is granted the right to provide instruction for indefinite duration. If the school does not receive this open-ended right, the right to provide instruction is terminated.
The quality assessment is organised by the Estonian Quality Agency for Education. It will take place every six years and the result of the assessment is not directly connected with the right to provide studies. Quality assessment only affects the right to study if non-compliance with the assessment criteria is significant. The process is focused more on achieving constant improvements in teaching and learning and the development of a quality culture at school.
The following measures are foreseen:
- quality assessment of VET and further development of the quality model, to ensure, inter alia, the quality of work-based learning and continuing training;
- developing a culture of quality assurance and cooperation under EQAVET;
- participating in and supporting skills competitions and contests, network building.
In 2019, a regulation of the Minister for Education and Research entered into force, specifying the areas and criteria for quality assessment and the conditions for organising and conducting quality assessment in VET. VET quality assessment is an external assessment, based on an institution´s internal assessment and conducted once every six years. The performance and sustainability of education, including curriculum development, learning and teaching, leading and management and the use of resources, are evaluated.
Since autumn 2019, quality assessments and reassessments of VET institutions have taken place according to the new principles. Quality assessments of curriculum groups of VET institutions are planned until 2023 (about 45-60 school curriculum groups per year).
Quality assurance activities in VET focused on quality assessments of VET curriculum groups, evaluations for granting the right to provide instruction, development of quality culture in VET (including raising the quality of education, better use of resources, targeted development of VET schools, and increasing the coherence of VET with the labour market), and WBL quality assurance. Most VET institutions have been granted the indefinite right to provide instruction. Assessment reports are available on the website of the Estonian Quality Agency for Higher and Vocational Education.
Quality assessments of VET institutions took place according to the current model. Led by the Estonian Quality Agency for Education, HAKA (former Estonian Quality Agency for Higher and Vocational Education, EKKA), it was agreed in 2022 to update the quality assurance model, as the current curriculum group-based evaluation was fragmented and lacked a school-based dimension.
In the framework of EQAVET, Estonia took part in peer-review activities in partnership with Finland and Slovenia. Estonian VET learners continued participating in the European and World skills competitions. In 2022, Tallinn successfully hosted WorldSkills in landscape construction. The skills competitions team of the Education and Youth Board coordinated Estonia's participation in international competitions, along with TV show Noor Meister (third season in 2022).
Regular quality assessments of VET centres continued.
VET and higher education development programme PRÕM+ (a follow-up of the former PRÕM programme) was adopted by the ministry of education. Programme activities include the development of a new quality assurance model to introduce institutional accreditation for VET centres, aligning with the accreditation process used in higher education. Quality assessment is set to be expanded to cover work-based learning and continuing training in adult education institutions.
The education ministry adopted measures to modernise the format and principles of the national skills competition ´Young Master´. Skills competitions are organised as skills festivals, individual contests, or TV competitions, in collaboration with VET centres, professional associations, and employers. Principles for partnerships were agreed to be developed to engage businesses, professional associations, supporters, and other stakeholders.
The development of a new quality assurance model introducing institutional accreditation for VET centres was launched, led by the Estonian Quality Agency for Education HAKA.
Bodies responsible
- Ministry of Education and Research
- Estonian Quality Agency for Higher and Vocational Education (until 2022)
- Estonian Quality Agency for Education
Target groups
Entities providing VET
- VET providers (all kinds)
Thematic categories
Governance of VET and lifelong learning
This thematic category looks at existing legal frameworks providing for strategic, operational – including quality assurance – and financing arrangements for VET and lifelong learning (LLL). It examines how VET and LLL-related policies are placed in broad national socioeconomic contexts and coordinate with other strategies and policies, such as economic, social and employment, growth and innovation, recovery and resilience.
This thematic category covers partnerships and collaboration networks of VET stakeholders – especially the social partners – to shape and implement VET in a country, including looking at how their roles and responsibilities for VET at national, regional and local levels are shared and distributed, ensuring an appropriate degree of autonomy for VET providers to adapt their offer.
The thematic category also includes efforts to create national, regional and sectoral skills intelligence systems (skills anticipation and graduate tracking) and using skills intelligence for making decisions about VET and LLL on quality, inclusiveness and flexibility.
This thematic sub-category refers to further development of national quality assurance (QA) systems for IVET and CVET, for all learning environments (school-based provision and work-based learning, including apprenticeships) and all learning types (digital, face-to-face or blended), delivered by both public and private providers. These systems are underpinned by the EQAVET quality criteria and by indicative descriptors applied both at system and provider levels, as defined in Annex II of the VET Recommendation. The sub-category concerns creating and improving external and self-evaluation of VET providers, and establishing criteria of QA, accreditation of providers and programmes. It also covers the activities of Quality assurance national reference points for VET on implementing and further developing the EQAVET framework, including the implementation of peer reviews at VET system level.
European and international dimensions of VET
This thematic category covers both European and international cooperation in initial and continuing VET, aimed at promoting EU VET systems as a European education and training area and making it a reference for learners in neighbouring countries and across the globe.
Expanding opportunities and increasing participation of VET learners, young and adult, and staff in international mobility for learning and work, including apprenticeship and virtual and blended mobility, account for most initiatives in this thematic category.
Apart from established and financially supported EU cooperation, VET opens up to cooperation and promotion of European values and national practices beyond the EU, which is becoming a trend. This thematic category also encompasses internationalisation strategies, transnational cooperation projects and initiatives – including those where joint VET programmes, examinations and qualifications are developed – and participation in international skills competitions that promote the image of VET. Using international qualifications – awarded by legally established international bodies or by a national body acting on behalf of an international body – in the national VET systems and recognising them towards national qualifications is also in focus.
This thematic sub-category refers to developing internationalisation strategies supporting a strategic approach to international cooperation in VET and lifelong learning, including going beyond the EU.
European priorities in VET
VET Recommendation
- VET underpinned by a culture of quality assurance
Osnabrück Declaration
- Resilience and excellence through quality, inclusive and flexible VET
Subsystem
Further reading
Country
Type of development
Cedefop, & ReferNet. (2025). VET quality assurance: Estonia. In Cedefop, & ReferNet. (2025). Timeline of VET policies in Europe (2024 update) [Online tool].
https://www.cedefop.europa.eu/en/tools/timeline-vet-policies-europe/search/28157