Estonia urges schools to use less-evaluative behavior assessments
The state is directing schools to assess students' behavior and diligence in a more continuous and non-evaluative manner than has been done until now.
At the start of the academic year, an amendment to the national curriculum for basic schools came into effect, allowing schools to move away from twice-yearly evaluations of students' behavior and diligence. Instead, these aspects can now be discussed in a more forward-looking manner during development conversations. However, schools remain free to stick with the old system if they prefer.
According to the Basic Schools and Upper Secondary Schools Act, schools are required to provide students with feedback on their behavior and diligence at least once per academic year during a development conversation, following the procedures outlined in the school's curriculum. The specific evaluation method is determined by the school's internal rules and expectations for student behavior are set out in the school's code of conduct.
"A school can provide feedback on behavior and diligence in any format — it can still use the traditional system if it wants to. But schools are no longer required to assign a formal behavior and diligence grade twice a year and include it on the report card," said Marjeta Venno, head of curriculum development at the Ministry of Education and Research.
According to Venno, the broader goal is for schools to start giving more continuous and constructive feedback.
"Numeric or icon-based grading doesn't always help steer behavior and diligence in a positive or developmental direction. Feedback should become much more multifaceted — it shouldn't just be a label that's applied after everything has already happened. Instead, it should come at the moment a student actually needs it, when it can still lead to change or improvement," she explained.
At Põltsamaa Coeducational High School, students receive written feedback. Teachers can either use ready-made phrases from a sentence bank or describe the student's behavior in their own words.
"To make it easier for homeroom teachers — especially in the upper grades, where they don't teach all subjects — we have an agreement with subject teachers. At the end of each trimester, when they finalize academic grades, they also add a description of the student's behavior," said Maive Noodla, the school's head of studies.
"A teacher must definitely describe a student's behavior if it is not exemplary — they need to explain what issues need attention or what concerns they've noticed. But we always encourage teachers to give feedback to exemplary students as well, pointing out the things they do well and how they serve as role models for others," Noodla added.
At Tartu Mart Reiniku School, the school has continued using a verbal scale to assess student behavior: exemplary, good, satisfactory and unsatisfactory.
"We link unexcused absences to behavior grades. If a student misses a certain number of classes without reason, our grading guidelines call for a lowered behavior grade," said the school's principal, Enn Ööpik. "While current law no longer requires schools to grade behavior, it also doesn't prohibit it, so we've chosen to keep our current system."
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Editor: Marcus Turovski, Valner Väino
