2025

Amendments to the Adult Education Act on micro-qualifications and continuing training adopted

The amendments to the Adult Education Act have been adopted. The new provisions establish a clear framework for the delivery of micro-qualifications and specify competence requirements for adult educators, strengthening the quality and transparency of continuing training.

Micro-qualifications are designed to make employee upskilling easier and to generate a positive impact on the economic environment. They allow adults to acquire a complete competence through smaller modules, tailoring learning to individual needs. By facilitating movement between different educational pathways and increasing the flexibility of studies, micro-qualifications support lifelong learning and closer links between education and the labour market. They may be provided by higher education institutions and vocational schools with the right to deliver programmes in the relevant field, or, under an activity licence, by institutions outside their existing teaching rights or by other continuing education providers that meet quality standards. Learning achievements will be certified and entered in the Estonian Education Information System (EHIS), with each micro-qualification ranging from 5 to 30 ECTS credits.

The amendments also introduce uniform standards for trainers in adult learning, requiring providers to ensure that educators have both subject expertise and skills in teaching adults, verified for example through trainer preparation or professional certification.

Continuing training providers will have until 1 January 2026 to meet the new competence requirements for educators, while the rules governing micro-qualifications apply in full from 1 September 2025.

State-commissioned work-related training continues under national adult learning programme

In 2025–2026, more than 1,500 free work-related continuing training courses will be offered to over 26,000 participants across Estonia. The courses are delivered by 37 VET institutions, applied higher education institutions and universities, covering fields such as ICT, management, construction, mechanics, electronics, commerce, social work, and green technologies.

Training is offered under three main categories: the VÕTI measure (targeting adults without professional or secondary education or with outdated skills), the Green measure (focused on developing environmentally friendly skills and practices), and the Just Transition Fund measure (supporting adults in Ida-Viru County in adapting to a climate-neutral economy). The total budget for this round of training is approximately 14.77 million Euros, funded by the European Social Fund, the Recovery and Resilience Facility, and the Just Transition Fund. The initiative supports the national goal of raising adult participation in lifelong learning to 52.3% by 2035, as outlined in Estonia’s Education Strategy 2035.

Since 2007, the Ministry of Education and Research has used European Social Fund (ESF) resources to finance adult learning courses free of charge for participants, delivered as state-commissioned training. This framework continues under the ESF 2021–2027 programming period. Between 2016 and 2023, a total of 6,894 training courses were delivered at a cost of 19.3 million Euros, reaching nearly 100,000 participants — nearly 60,000 of them unique individuals.

2024

New Adult Education Act streamlines provision of micro-qualifications and clarifies requirements for continuing training

The Estonian government has approved and forwarded to the Parliament the draft of a new Adult Education Act and related amendments. The legislation establishes the basis for micro-qualification training and clarifies requirements for continuing training to ensure the quality of the training programmes.

Micro-qualifications are designed for adults seeking to acquire comprehensive skills through smaller modules, allowing for flexible and tailored learning paths. The draft defines the concepts of micro-qualifications and micro-degrees, detailing their scope, characteristics, and requirements for providers and certificates issued. The volume of micro-qualification training ranges from 5 to 30 ECTS, and upon completion, participants receive a micro-qualification certificate.

The legislation also specifies requirements for adult educators, ensuring that they possess both subject-specific and adult education competencies. Competence can be demonstrated, for example, by completing trainer´s training and holding a professional qualification certificate. These requirements ensure that trainers are proficient in their fields and capable of effectively teaching and supporting adult learners.

The law is set to take effect on March 1, 2025, with a transition period provided for continuing education institutions to comply with the new requirements. The requirements related to micro-qualifications will be fully implemented by September 1, 2025.

2023

Reform of professional qualifications system

Estonian professional qualifications system will be reformed to adopt skills-based approach, which enables to link the worlds of education and labour more smoothly. Estonian Qualifications Authority, in cooperation with the ministry of education, is developing a comprehensive system for describing, forecasting and recognizing skills. Education and labour market stakeholders are closely involved in the process.

The professional qualifications system based on professional standards has been implemented for 20 years. However, in today´s fast-changing world employers often look for certain set of skills instead of a representative of a specific profession. The process of amending professional qualifications has become too rigid and does not permit sufficiently rapid and efficient responses to the changes in the labour market and society.

Digital solutions and environments will be created for people to make informed work and study choices. In the future, the digital skills environment will enable to document all types of education (initial or in-service training, micro-credentials), help the user to match his/her skills for different fields of activities and gather information about learning opportunities.

Digital solutions of the skills system include the skills register, a services and analysis environment, a system for the granting of professional qualifications, an environment for assessing skills, a database of partial occupational qualifications and skills certificates, big data mining and analysis capacities, and the online visualisation and publication of jobs and skills forecasting data.

The skills description environment will be completed by the end of 2023, the skills-related services environment by 2024, and the analysis environment by the end of 2025. From 2024, the evaluation and recognition of qualification will be skills-based.

See more on the Reform of Estonian professional qualifications system.