the effects of international mobility on estonian ... opirande moju hindamine/llp... · the effects...

The effects of international mobility on Estonian educational staff

A survey on the effects of the short-term mobility within

the European Lifelong Learning Programme

On the request of Arhimedes Foundation, the research company InterAct Projektid & Koolitus OÜ carried out a survey at the beginning of the year 2011 on the effects of international mobility among educational staff. The aim was to find out how participating in international training has influenced participants and their institutions; to evaluate and give proposals on how to improve the programme and prepare the new European educational programme for the future. The evaluation report is based on the analysis of the results of the Internet-based questionnaire carried out in February and March, 2011. The survey concentrated on educational staff who participated in mobility during 2007-2010 financed by sectoral programmes of the EU Lifelong Learning Programme:

Comenius – in-service training for teachers and general educational staff;

Erasmus – staff training for university teachers and higher educational staff;

Leonardo da Vinci – in-service training for vocational education specialists participating in exchange projects;

Grundtvig – in-service training for adult education trainers and staff working in the sector;

Study Visits – study visits relating to education policy for headmasters of schools, education managers at local, regional and national level and social partners from all sectors of education.

During 2007-2010, slightly fewer than 1800 Estonian educational staff have participated in international short-term mobility, lasting up to six weeks, with funding from the EU Lifelong Learning Programme. This is quite a remarkable amount of people who have certainly influenced Estonian educational institutions to bring more international dimension to their work, to learn from the experiences of their foreign colleagues and to make sure that there are good ideas, methods and practices in Estonian education that can be shared with other countries. The total sample of the questionnaire was 1789 people who were divided by sub-programmes as follows:

Comenius – 249 beneficiaries;

Erasmus – 860 beneficiaries;

Leonardo da Vinci – 503 beneficiaries;

Grundtvig – 65 beneficiaries;

Study Visits – 112 beneficiaries.

The total number of answers was 525. The planned percentage of respondents for each programme was 20%. The results per sub-programme are as follows:

Programme Answers Respondent %

Comenius 158 64

Erasmus 140 16

Grundtvig 47 72

Leonardo da Vinci 99 20

Study Visits 81 72

Total: 525

GENDER AND AGE DISTRIBUTION OF RESPONDENTS 82% of respondents were female and 18% were male (see the chart below). This sort of distribution is as expected because the percentage of women in the field of education has been traditionally high in Estonia for decades. There are more women taking part in all sub-programmes than men. In the case of the programmes Comenius and Grundtvig, the percentage of men who answered remained under 10%. The reason why male participation in these programmes is modest has more to do with male employees being overall less involved in general and adult education, than with them being less active in participating in mobility. The percentage of male staff members is higher in vocational and higher education and this is illustrated by the indicators of participation in Erasmus and Leonardo da Vinci mobility (25% and 28% accordingly). The proportion of men involved in Study Visits is approximately a quarter, but it must be said that despite the rather large number of male headmasters and education managers in Estonia, women have been more active in this sector.

6%

25%

9%

24% 28%

94%

75%

91% 76%

72%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Comenius Erasmus Grundtvig Study Visits Leonardoda Vinci

Shar

e

Programmes

Men Women

When analysing the age of the respondents, the results show that, across all programmes, the more active participants in mobility are people aged 35-44 and 45-54. People under 25 and over 65 are the least represented. People under 25 were only involved in higher and adult education (Erasmus and Grundtvig). There were no people under 25 or over 65

involved in the Comenius Programme. People aged 55-64 and older were present the most in higher and vocational education (Erasmus and Leonardo da Vinci), in which their percentage was 20-22%. This might encourage older employees in other sectors of education to use mobility opportunities more actively. THE FIELD OF WORK AND OCCUPATION OF RESPONDENTS The EU Lifelong Learning Programme finances the international mobility of educational staff with various profiles. The following chart gives an overview of the participants’ fields of work: Fields of work of participants in mobility:

Comenius Erasmus Grundtvig Leonardo da Vinci

Study Visits

Pre-primary education

1% 0% 0% 0% 10%

Basic education 37% 0% 2% 0% 17%

Secondary education

51% 0% 4% 2% 27%

Vocational education

8% 1% 7% 74% 16%

Adult education 1% 0% 49% 11% 9%

Higher education 0% 94% 18% 3% 5%

Teacher training 1% 4% 2% 1% 5%

Other 1% 1% 18% 9% 10%

In the general education programme Comenius, the opportunity of participating in mobility has been used most in basic education (37%) and secondary education (51%), vocational education is less represented (8%). The representation of pre-primary education is small because the number of teachers working in this field is smaller (teaching takes place only in the last year of kindergarten).

“Due to my age and circumstances at the time, I did not have the opportunity to participate in international pupil or student exchanges, which to young people today is a natural part of their studies. Therefore, the Comenius Programme has a particular significance for me – it provides an international experience, which is highly important for a teacher today. Additionally, it encourages people to accept new challenges and develop international cooperation.

(Participant in the Comenius Programme)

In the higher education programme Erasmus, as expected, 94% the respondents represented higher education and 4% represented teacher training. Out of people participating in mobility financed from the adult education programme Grundtvig, half represented adult education (49%), 18% worked in the field of higher education and 7% in vocational education. Basic and secondary education branches are also represented because adult gymnasiums, in which adults are taught on basic and secondary levels, are also part of adult education. The rather large percentage of other fields of work may be caused by the fact that many adult trainers do not identify themselves as adult education staff and do not classify themselves under that branch (e.g. museum teachers who work with adult leisure education). The Study Visits Programme deals with all branches of education and therefore there are respondents from all braches. There are three types of study visits – general education type (incl. teacher training), vocational education type and mixed type (covering lifelong learning as a whole or many branches of education). Most participants in the Study Visits Programme represented general education – 54% total. In turn, half of these were representatives of secondary education (27%). While in the case of the Comenius Programme, there were only a handful of pre-primary education representatives, they are more active with Study Visits (10%). The amount of people from vocational education was 16%, representatives of other branches of education made up nearly a third of the total respondents. The representatives of local government offices and the ministries were also considered as part of other fields.

In the case of the vocational education programme Leonardo da Vinci, the largest part of respondents (74%) represented the field of vocational education, the next were representatives of adult education (11%) and those representing other fields (9%), for example employees of different institutions, foundations and enterprises. Occupations of participants in mobility:

Comenius Erasmus Grundtvig Leonardo da Vinci

Study Visits

Teacher 83% 0% 17% 43% 5%

Teacher in HEI 2% 63% 15% 3% 1%

Adult trainer 0% 0% 35% 10% 4%

Head of institution / member of managerial staff

9% 4% 20% 17% 47%

Education manager 1% 0% 0% 3% 20%

General education specialist

2% 0% 0% 0% 4%

Vocational education specialist

1% 0% 0% 4% 4%

Higher education specialist

0% 11% 2% 1% 2%

Adult education specialist 1% 1% 9% 10% 5%

Administrative worker 1% 21% 2% 9% 7%

The more active people to use the opportunities of Comenius Programme are teachers (83%), however this may include headmasters who also teach.

In Erasmus, the most represented are teachers in HEI (63%), administrative workers (21%) and higher education specialists (11%). There are only 4% of people whose classify themselves as members of managerial staff. The results reflect the aims of the programme, which primarily support the mobility of teachers in HEI. Over a third (35%) of participants in the Grundtvig Programme, remarked that they work as adult trainers; another third said they work as a teacher or a teacher in HEI (32% total). In this case, teachers are in fact adult trainers, as adult training is what they actually do. 20% of respondents were members of managerial staff. In the case of Study Visits, approximately half (47%) are heads of institutions or members of managerial staff and a fifth (20%) are education managers at local, regional or national level. Out of the participants in the Leonardo da Vinci Programme, the majority are teachers (43%) and heads of institution/members of managerial staff (17%), a fifth classified themselves as adult trainers and adult education specialists (20% total). It is worth remarking that in the vocational education branch teachers, adult trainers and adult education specialists can all be classified under the title of vocational education specialist, which only 4% marked themselves as. Administrative workers made up 9% of respondents.

The following chart describes the shares of respondents in mobility in the Lifelong Learning Programme per sectoral programme:

Comenius 30%

Erasmus 27%

Grundtvig 9%

Study Visits 15%

Leonardo da Vinci 19%

One of the priorities of the EU Lifelong Learning Programme is to encourage more and more people to participate in the mobility actions and to favour first time participation to ensure a wide spread of the programme.

When analysing first time and repeated participation in mobility the results show that people take part in mobility more for the first time than repeatedly. It needs to be specified that in this case people were asked about participating in mobility generally and were not asked to specify how many times they have participated in the mobility of the same programme. This means that respondents have not distinguished the mobility of a specific programme and may also generalise the term of mobility across all programmes and actions (e.g. mobilities within projects). Therefore, the results do not reflect if and how many times respondents have participated in the mobility of one programme. In reality, repeated participation in the short-term mobility with one programme is very rare. This ensures that the possibilities of the mobilities of different programmes can be used by an as wide as possible circle of educational staff. It did, however, come out from respondents’ comments that they wish to use the opportunities of mobility in the future, because the first experience was very positive.

When looking at to what extent the mobility corresponded to expectations, the responses were highly positive.

Participating in the mobility corresponded to expectations to a significant extent in the case of 77-89% participants. Only 11-18% of participants thought that the mobility corresponded to their expectations to a certain extent. 1% of Comenius and Erasmus participants and 5% of the Study Visits Programme participants were not satisfied with their

mobility. In the case of Study Visits, the lower level of satisfaction may be caused by the fact that applicants have to choose as much as four suitable study visits. During the central matching of visits and participants, it may happen that some applicants will be signed to not their first choice but one of their less preferred choices, which may be the cause of the lower level of satisfaction. It is also possible that as heads of institutions they are more demanding and critical. Still, more than three quarters of respondents were very satisfied with the mobility in the case of this programme. Summing up participants’ comments, it can be said that the in-service trainings abroad were very well organised, they gained useful information, skills and experiences during the mobility, which will affect their future activities and also their group members were pleasant and supportive. Many respondents noted that even if the organisation left something to be desired, then it was

"Participating in the mobility was a very positive experience. It put my independence and cooperation skills to the test in an international group. The organisers and s offered the 100% best part of their education system and teacher training from various fields. The organisation was top notch! Thank you so much for the opportunity!"

(Participant in the Erasmus Programme)

„It was a fantastic experience. I took part in the study visit myself and therefore had very interesting daily discussions, debates. /…/ The study visit was superbly organised. The group was fantastic. Thank you!“

(Participant in the Study Visits Programme)

compensated by the good relations and exchange of experiences within the group members. If the mobility is well-organised, the organisers are great and the topic and contents of the mobility are in accordance with one another, then the mobility is a highly valued opportunity for gaining knowledge and exchanging experiences. Poor experiences regarding the mobility are rather an exception.

THE RESULTS OF THE EFFECTS WERE PLEASING The main results of the assessment were pleasing and also confirmed the experiences at the Archimedes Foundation that most people are indeed pleased with having participated in the mobility abroad. There were many excellent comments from the respondents which reflect their emotions regarding the mobility, one of them was the following:

When assessing the influence, three different aspects of the effects of mobility were considered: the effect on participants’ personal development, the effect on their work related activities and the effect on the institution. THE EFFECTS OF THE MOBILITY ON A PARTICIPANT’S PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT Participating in international mobility supports the participant’s personal development and self-actualisation, and offers the opportunity for expanding professional knowledge and skills. The effect on one’s personal development is mainly dependent on the goal and content of participating in the mobility. There were many similarities as well as differences in how participants assessed the influence of mobility on their personal development:

Comenius %

Erasmus %

Grundtvig %

Study Visits %

Leonardo da Vinci %

“The opportunities that lifelong learning and in-service training offer in other countries are enormously important in order to keep up with modern methods and understand the European dimension of education. /…/ It is very positive if the knowledge gained can be shared with colleagues at home and even add new courses to the school curriculum.”

(Participant in the Leonardo da Vinci Programme)

People participating in the COMENIUS Programme rated their mobility very highly: the percentage of positive responses exceeded 90% in eight aspects out of eleven. Participating in the mobility offers participants ample motivation and increases openness towards and understanding of other cultures (in both cases the percentage of positive answers was 98%), helps develop creativity (95%), a chance to acquire new teaching methods (94%), gain more knowledge of different educational systems (93%). Communication and making new contacts with colleagues from other countries is active (91%). The mobility contributed to the development of foreign language skills (93%) and the skills for working in a multicultural environment (92%). 85% of respondents mentioned the influence the mobility has on gaining knowledge of new branches of education. The lower result for management skills (56%) is due to the participants in mobility being mostly teachers who were mainly improving the skills relating to their speciality and branch of education and concentrated less on courses that improve management skills.

The aspects that participants in the Erasmus Programme said the mobility had the highest effect on were the understanding of and openness to other cultures (93%), making contacts with foreign colleagues (92%) and the skills for working in a multicultural environment (89%). These results support the fulfilment of the goal of the programme, which is the strengthening of cooperation between higher education institutions.

Making contacts with colleagues from other countries

91 92 96 93 90

Acquiring new teaching methods 94 67 94 70 91

Gaining knowledge of new branches of education

85 67 87 88 86

Foreign language skills 93 80 83 96 94

The skills and use of ICT (information and communication technology)

42 30 40 33 42

Management skills (incl. adding new perspectives to management/widening the concept of management)

56 51 64 75 68

The skills for working in a multicultural environment

92 89 91 96 86

Teaching/training motivation 98 87 94 93 95

Knowledge and understanding of national education systems

93 88 87 100 92

Understanding of other cultures and openness to other cultures

98 93 96 99 96

Creativity 95 79 87 78 85

“As someone who has participated in mobility, I can say that it is motivating and necessary for a teacher. The more open-minded the teacher, the better they can pass on their knowledge. Getting to know other cultures increases the understanding of differences, the sense of empathy and tolerance. Mobility motivates you to enhance language skills as well.”


Other aspects that were considered important were also the effects on motivation (87%) and on the knowledge of different education systems (88%). Developing foreign language skills was brought out somewhat less (80%) and the reason for this may be that one of the prerequisites for working in the branch of higher education is the command of one or more foreign languages, therefore people go on

mobility with already adequate language skills. The effect of mobility on creativity was marked as positive by 79% of respondents. 67% of respondents received knowledge about new branches of education and teaching methods. ICT and management skills received lower opinions from Erasmus participants as well (51% and 30% accordingly). There are no remarkable differences when looking at the evaluations from academic and non-academic personnel separately. Participants in the GRUNDTVIG Programme evaluated the effects of the mobility higher in the case of making contacts and understanding other cultures (both 96%), training motivation and acquiring new teaching methods (both 94%) and the skills for working in a multicultural environment (91%). Also highly rated were the effects of mobility on the understanding of different educational systems (87%), gaining knowledge of new branches of education (87%) and developing foreign language skills (83%). Less important was the effect of mobility on new perspectives and understanding of management, but 64% of respondents answering positively to this can still be considered a good result. The effects are lowest in the case of developing ICT skills (40% answered positively). The results were also pleasant in the case of the LEONARDO DA VINCI Programme and they showed that participating in mobility has a very positive effect. The most important aspects are understanding other cultures and increased openness to other cultures (96%), teaching/training motivation (95%), foreign language skills (94%) and knowledge of other educational systems (92%). Mobility also greatly helped with making contacts with colleagues from other countries (90%) and acquiring new teaching methods (91%). There was slightly less opportunity for gaining knowledge of new branches of education and acquiring the skills for working in a multicultural environment (both 86%) and for developing creativity (85%). These results support the priority of the Leonardo da Vinci mobility, which is developing the competences of teachers and trainers. Developing management skills were highly rated by 64% of respondents, ICT skills received similar results to other programmes – only 42% of positive answers. As the STUDY VISITS Programme is concentrated on education policy and -systems, then it is natural that the most important effect of mobility was considered to be on the knowledge and understanding of educational systems – positive answers were given by every respondent involved in this programme. The effects of mobility were also considered to be high in the case of understanding other cultures and openness to other cultures (99%) as well as the skills for working in a multicultural environment and foreign language skills (both 96%). Using the mobility for making new contacts was positively rated by 93% of respondents, the general effects of mobility on motivation was also positive for 93% of respondents. Because only some of the educational decision-makers participating in the Study Visits Programme also deal with teaching and training, then the effects of the mobility were lower on gaining knowledge of new branches of education (88%) and

“Participating in mobility is necessary for developing professional and language skills, and communication networks.” (Participant in the Erasmus Programme)

“Many new experiences, a different environment, using a foreign language and new relationships.”

(Participant in the Leonardo da Vinci

Programme)

acquiring new teaching methods (70%) and also on creativity (78%). The effects on developing management skills remained rather modest, but were still larger than with other programmes –75% of answers were positive. The results for ICT skills were also similar to other programmes (33%).

In conclusion the results of the survey show that mobility has offered participants very much in terms of developing professional knowledge and personal skills as well as for personal development (incl. self-actualisation). The mobility had a strong effect on the motivation to teach and train, broadened the participants’ minds, created new contacts and acquaintances, developed foreign language skills and made participants more open to other cultures. Participants developed their skills for working in an international and multicultural environment and received a better overview of how the educational systems work in other countries. The exchange of experiences and chances for cooperation that took place during the mobility were considered very important. As expected, it turned out that the effects of the mobility on the development of management skills were valued more by the managerial staff of an institution. The ICT skills of Estonian educational staff are good, which is why the effects of mobility were lowest on this aspect.

THE EFFECTS OF THE MOBILITY OF PARTICIPANTS’ PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT International mobility influences participants’ professional development substantially, though it is slightly lower than its effects on personal development. The effect on professional development depends on the occupation and the participant’s previous international activities. Changes in work related activities can appear after some time. The following table gives a more precise overview of the effects of mobility across all programmes:

Comenius %

Erasmus %

Grundtvig %

Study Visits %

Leonardo da Vinci %

Increase in work motivation 97 88 94 95 93

Using new professional contacts 77 81 79 70 69

“Mobility is a good opportunity for broadening your mind and gaining experience. It is important to see your work from a different perspective and understand the similar activities of other countries. We, as people involved in education, usually do the same things but call them by different names and the road towards the goal may also be somewhat different. In order to notice this, we must travel and see and communicate. This is what the mobility also made possible.”


“Teacher training is the cheapest form of training because the result is cultivated many times over in lessons at school, with colleagues, everywhere. You can only teach what you know. Finally, don’t ask the person who has lived long, but the one who has travelled far.”


Participants in the COMENIUS Programme rated the effects of mobility on professional development the highest compared to the rest of the programmes. 97% of respondents confirmed an increase in work motivation. The results show that participants actively use new teaching methods in their work after

the mobility (93% of positive results). According to 79% of respondents, the mobility advanced the institution’s international cooperation and partnership (79%). 77% of respondents used the professional contacts made during the mobility in their work and 72% noted an increase in the everyday practical use of foreign languages. In the case of the ERASMUS Programme, the mobility had the strongest effect on the increase of work motivation (88%), followed by the use of new professional contacts (81%), and the expansion of the institution’s international cooperation (73%). About half of the respondents noted the effects on the utilization of new teaching methods and the increase in the practical use of foreign languages (56% and 51% accordingly). As international activities are a priority to higher education institutions, the use of foreign languages has become common in everyday work and a large leap cannot be made in this aspect during a single mobility. In the case of the GRUNDTVIG Programme, participants considered the effects of mobility to be the highest on the increase of work motivation (94%) and the increase in the use of new teaching methods (92%). 79% of respondents use new professional contacts and 71% respondents noticed an increase in international cooperation.

Increasing the use of new teaching methods (incl. target group management and inclusion skills)

93 56 92 73 77

Expanding the part of international cooperation and European dimension (partnership and cooperation)

79 73 71 75 62

Increasing the practical use of foreign languages

72 51 58 70 68

“Erasmus Staff Mobility is an excellent chance to make professional contacts on an international level, and for bringing contemporary specialty-specific knowledge and teaching methods, etc to the teaching of a particular subject.”


“I think that new thoughts and directions – innovation – comes to everyday school work through international mobility, even though does not happen right away or even directly. Meetings with colleagues from different countries form a new perspective and feeling and this helps see new opportunities in our work. International mobility is essential to teaching.”


Participants in the STUDY VISITS Programme also pointed out that the highest effect is on the increase in work motivation (95%), this is followed by the increase in international cooperation (75%). The next were the increase in the use of new teaching methods (73%) and the use of new professional contacts and the practical use of foreign languages in everyday work (both 70%).

Participants in the LEONARDO DA VINCI Programme also rated the increase of work motivation the highest (93%). 77% of respondents noticed an increase in the use of new teaching methods as a result of the mobility. 69% of respondents confirmed the use of new professional contacts even after the mobility and 68% stated that the practical use of foreign languages increased in their everyday work. Compared

to other aspects, participants in Leonardo da Vinci mobilities rated the effect of the mobility on the expansion of international cooperation slightly lower – there were 62% of positive answers.

The results of the survey revealed some differences across the programmes:

The use of new teaching methods after the mobility was most prominent in the programmes Grundtvig and Comenius. Compared to other programmes, this aspect was rated lower in the case of the Erasmus Programme.

In evaluating the effects of the mobility on expanding the part of international cooperation and the European dimension, participants in the Leonardo da Vinci Programme gave slightly lower marks.

The increase in the practical use of foreign languages in everyday work was least influenced by the mobility for Erasmus and Grundtvig Programme participants.

In conclusion, it can be said that participating in mobility has had a remarkable effect on participants’ professional development and work related activities. Across the programmes, there have been differences in the effects of the mobility on professional development, but a common feature is the considerable effect on the increase in work motivation. Using new teaching methods after the mobility was most successful in general and adult education. Participants have used new contacts that they made during the mobility rather actively and thanks to this, the part of international cooperation has grown and the practical use of foreign languages has increased in everyday work.

“Mobility is highly useful and necessary for all staff at schools, not only teachers. International cooperation projects have become a tradition in our institution. It is fantastic!

(Participant in the Leonardo da Vinci Programme)

“Participating in international training broadens the mind and increases motivation significantly. Through experiences and new knowledge, it allows you to be a better and more competent leader.


THE EFFECTS OF THE MOBILITY ON THE PARTICIPANT’S INSTITUTION The survey brings out many interesting aspects about the effect of the international mobility on the participants’ institution but also clearly indicates that educational institutions do not yet fully use the experience their employees receive from mobility and the importance of participating in training for the sake of development and internationalisation of the institution. The internationalisation of education is becoming more important. We asked participants who confirmed the existence of in-service training plans or development plans in their institutions to answer if these plans also have an international dimension. The results can be seen in the chart below:

The chart shows that in-service training plans or development plans of the institutions mostly include an international dimension, which also concurs with the idea of creating a common European Education Area, but there is still room for growth in the case of general and adult education. In the case of the Erasmus Programme, it is important to bear in mind that the development plan of each of the higher education institution participating in Erasmus has to include an international dimension and this large number of negative answers may be a result of the question being understood incorrectly or that some of the respondents are not aware of their institution’s in-service training plans or development plans. Even though educational institutions generally have in-service training plans or development plans, which include an international dimension the aims of participating in mobility are not very strongly connected with the in-service training of the personnel and the development goals of the institution.

67%

79%

54%

81% 87%

33%

21%

46%

19% 13%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Comenius Erasmus Grundtvig Study Visits Leonardo daVinci

Shar

e

Programmes

Yes No

Internationalisation has been one of our college’s most important priorities for the past 5 years and my mobility experiences have made a necessary contribution to the realisation of this goal.


The participation of employees in international in-service training supports the institution’s international cooperation and brings new know-how to the institution. However, the survey shows that the initiative for participating in mobility still mainly comes from participants themselves and the connection between the institution’s and the participants’ aims needs strengthening. The evaluation of the effects of mobility shows that the institution’s initiative towards sending employees on mobility is low. Relying on the results of the evaluation, it can be said that the higher the institution’s initiative towards sending employees on mobility, the better the connection between the aims of participating in the mobility and the strategic goals of the institution. We were interested in why people decide to participate in mobility and what the aims of participation are. The answers gave us the following overview:

The main goals turned out to be the development of international cooperation (65-81%), bringing new know-how to the institution (52-78%) and raising professional qualifications (48-70%).

44%

48%

23%

38%

25%

23%

27%

49%

19%

34%

61%

48%

49%

50%

70%

75%

78%

74%

56%

52%

75%

77%

74%

81%

65%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Leonardo da Vinci

Study Visits

Grundtvig

Erasmus

Comenius

Pro

gram

me

s

Developing international cooperation

Bringing new know-how to the institution

Raising professional qualifications

Lack of a similar training course in Estonia

In order to realise the aims established in staff in-service training development plans

“Participating in mobility provides you with contacts for developing cooperation in the future. This is very important to vocational schools. If teachers can compare the study process, then our graduates are also more competitive.”


Participating in mobility, as an opportunity for developing international cooperation was most highly valued in the Erasmus Programme (81%). The results of the participants of the Erasmus Programme support the results of the survey, which showed that in higher education mobility, making new contacts and expanding cooperation was more important than acquiring new teaching methods and their later use in the participant’s work.

Bringing new know-how to the institution turned out to be more important for Grundtvig (74%), Leonardo da Vinci (75%) and Study Visits participants (78%). The opportunity for raising professional qualifications was considered more important as an aim of the mobility in general and vocational education (70% and 61% accordingly).

One of the less mentioned aims for participating in mobility was the lack of a similar training course in Estonia (19-49%). This was mostly mentioned by Grundtvig Programme participants (49%). Though participating in mobility has not substantially influenced the general work organisation of the institution, it has brought about the incorporation of new ideas into practical work. In comparing the programmes, it is the participants of the adult education programme Grundtvig who are the most active in incorporating new ideas in their institution. The size of the institution has a large role in this though. The institutions of Grundtvig Programme participants are generally smaller and therefore more flexible, which allows for innovations and changes to be implemented faster. The Erasmus Programme falls somewhat behind in implementing new ideas, but it must be taken into account that a higher education institution is an organisation in which implementing innovations takes time.

Participating in mobility has brought about less changes in curricula, courses and/or subjects, but over one third of all participants still said that participating in mobility influenced them in that

“The Grundtvig in-service training was very necessary, especially due to the specificity of the subject because there are not that many professionals or trainers of that field in Estonia.”

(Participant in the Grundtvig Programme)

“Unfortunately there are good experiences which cannot be realised in an institution due to the lack of teachers and specialists. The lack of financial resources also blocks the implementation of some new ideas.”


“Even if nothing changes in the institution after one mobility, any mobility despite the time spent there, is significant to broadening the participant’s mind, getting new ideas and exchanging information with foreign colleagues.”


aspect. The biggest effect was present with the Grundtvig (49%) and Leonardo da Vinci (45%) Programmes where the amount of people who answered “Yes” or “No” was almost equal. With the vocational education programme Leonardo da Vinci, raising the attractiveness of vocational education plays a large role. Institutions’ larger initiative towards participating in mobility and closer communication after mobility is reflected in the stronger effect of mobility on the implementation of curricular and other changes and innovations. Because the people who answered to the questionnaire were those who had participated in mobility in the past two or three years, it is feasible that when the questionnaire was being filled, many changes were still in a planning or implementation stage. Implementing changes and innovations is time-consuming, taking into account the planning stage, finding the often necessary additional funding and partners, etc. The results may follow not until after a few years. The extent of regulations of a specific field and the institution and colleagues’ way of thinking and support also play a part in implementing ideas. New contacts and networks established during the mobility contribute to the development of the institution’s international activities and cooperation. As a result of the mobility international partnerships have been initiated or institutions have participated in projects as partners, but new forms of cooperation have also been developed. New aims relating to internationalisation have been added to institutions’ activities and development plans and foreign language courses and lectures with an international dimension have been developed. Therefore, mobility is an important opportunity for developing an institution’s international activities and institutions should consciously support staff mobility. The following chart depicts the way in which participants rate the effect of mobility on the institution’s international activities and cooperation. The answers to four questions have been summarized in the chart. The questions can be seen at the top of the chart and the amount of respondents has been added after each question. The answer choices are, in this case, “Yes” or “No”:

Based on the results, it can be said that for an institution, participation in mobility has primarily lead to participating in international projects, adding international aims to development plans and developing new forms of international cooperation.

In 63-84% of participants’ institutions, new international projects were initiated and/or the institution participated in an international partnership as a partner. The most fruitful in this aspect were the institutions of participants in the Comenius and Leonardo da Vinci Programmes.

It is good to confirm that mobility for staff or managerial staff has influenced institutions to include new international aims into their activities or development plans. The largest amount of positive answers in this aspect was among participants in the Study Visits Programme and in vocational and general education (Leonardo da Vinci 73% and Comenius 71%). Grundtvig and Erasmus did not fall far behind (69% and 63% accordingly).

New forms of international cooperation were implemented the most in vocational education (71%) but other branches of education were also active – Erasmus 61%, Study Visits 58%, Grundtvig 56%, Comenius 54%.

Slightly less attention is paid to organising international courses and lectures in a foreign language. From the aspect of creating a European Higher Education Area, the development of international courses and lectures in a foreign language is important in the higher

71%

58%

56%

61%

54%

73%

74%

69%

63%

71%

32%

26%

34%

48%

26%

80%

74%

76%

63%

84%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Leonardo da Vinci

Study Visits

Grundtvig

Erasmus

Comenius

Percentage of people who agreed with the statement

As a result of the mobility, new international projects were initiated / the institutionparticipated in an international partnership as a partner (N-351)

As a result of the mobility, (international) courses/lectures in a foreign language weredeveloped (N-352)

As a result of the mobility, institutions have added new international aims to theiractivities or development plans (N-352)

As a result of the mobility, new forms of international cooperation were initiated (N-515)

education branch and this is also supported by the results for Erasmus (48% of positive answers). The results were lower with the other programmes (26-34%).

The distribution of contacts and new know-how that was gained during the mobility is very active to other colleagues within the institution but less in the participant’s field of work and to the managerial staff of the institution:

There is room for growth when it comes to information dissemination on the level of county and local governments, in media and at national level. The reason emerged from participants’ comments, where they state that participating in mobility is considered unimportant to the wider public and if it is a narrow field-specific topic, then wider information dissemination is not considered as an aim. Information was shared with the managerial staff of an institution less that with colleagues working in the same fields in other institutions. An exception to this was the Leonardo da Vinci Programme, the reason for which may be the bigger initiative of vocational education institutions towards encouraging their staff to participate in mobility and the stronger connection between the aims of the mobility and the institution. The fact that information is shared more in the field of work than with the managerial staff within the institution is a point of consideration for both participants and managerial staff. The best promotion and motivator is a colleague’s participation in mobility. Participating in mobility has also influenced colleagues’ mutual cooperation.

94%

60%

56%

15%

15%

8%

2%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

To colleagues within the institution

Outside of the institution in the field of work

To managerial staff within the institution

In media

In the county or local government

On a national level

No dissemination has been done

All programmes

“I think it is important that my participating in the training has also influenced my colleagues to improve themselves and use new methods. I will definitely participate in Lifelong Learning Programmes in the future, because after participating in the mobility, self-education has become an aim and motivator of its own at work.”


Face to face promotion is important to colleagues because participating in mobility has many obstacles. The application process seems difficult and bureaucratic, the person’s workload is often great and participating is hindered by the lack of time or in some cases due to the lack of support from the institution. It was mentioned the most, that colleagues feel uncertain about coping in a foreign language environment because they underestimate their foreign language skills.

In conclusion, participating in short-term mobility strongly supports the expansion of the

European dimension in different branches of education. Participation in mobility promotes

internationalisation of institutions and induces international activities and the furthering

of cooperation across Europe.

Main conclusions of how mobility supports Estonian education on a wider scale:

internationalisation of education;

European cooperation between different branches of education;

making contacts;

sharing good practices and experiences;

new and innovative teaching methods.

“Participating in mobility is extra work for a teacher. Because schoolwork at our school is extremely intense, many colleagues do not want to deal with anything other than their immediate responsibilities. Support or lack thereof from the school may also turn out to be a problem.”


the effects of international mobility on estonian ... opirande moju hindamine/llp... · the effects...

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