Estonia is launching a national educational initiative called AI Leap, which it says will equip students and teachers with “world-class artificial intelligence tools and skills”, according to The Guardian.
The newspaper reports that while many schools in England have banned smartphones, “in Estonia – regarded as the new European education powerhouse – students are regularly asked to use their devices in class, and from September they will be given their own AI accounts”.
The Baltic country, with a population of just 1.4 million, has become Europe’s top performer in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s programme for international student assessment (Pisa), overtaking its near neighbour Finland.
In the most recent – 2023 − Pisa results, Estonia came top in Europe for maths, science and creative thinking, and second to Ireland in reading.
The Guardian reports that while England and other nations curtail phone use at school over concerns that it undermines concentration and mental health, teachers in Estonia actively encourage pupils to use theirs as a learning tool.
The aim of the new Estonian AI initiative, licences for which are being negotiated with OpenAI, is to provide free access to top-tier AI learning tools for 58,000 students and 5,000 teachers by 2027, starting with 16- and 17-year-olds this September.
Teachers will be trained in the technology, focusing on self-directed learning and digital ethics, and prioritising educational equity and AI literacy.