The article is based on a key note speech at the Euroguidance Conference 2017 in Vienna.

E-governance is a strategic choice for Estonia. It was established to improve the competitiveness of the state and to increase the well-being of its people, while implementing hassle-free governance. The modern infrastructure has made it possible to build a safe e-services ecosystem. An important part of this ecosystem is flexibility and the ability to integrate its different parts, while improving e-services and allowing government systems to grow. Data is only collected once by one specific institution, thus bureaucracy is eliminated.

Citizens can select e-solutions from a range of public services at any time and any place convenient for them. 99% of public services are now available to citizens as e-services.

Every Estonian resident has an electronic ID and in most cases, there is no need to physically visit an agency providing the service. It is always a priority to fill and file documents digitally and work continuously on automating public services.

All the data exchanges, M2M[1] communication, data at rest, and log files are independently and fully accountable thanks to KSI Blockchain technology[2].

Any institution can use the infrastructure and it works as an open source. There is no central database and every stakeholder, whether it is a government department, a ministry or a business gets to choose its own system at its own time.

Here are some of our best e-solutions that have led to Estonia becoming one of the world’s most developed digital societies.

• X-Road interconnects public and private databases, which are held in a distributed manner. It is the environment that allows the nation’s various e-services and databases, both in the public and private sector, to link up and operate in harmony - no matter what platform they use. Over 900 organizations and enterprises in Estonia use X-Road daily.
• Digital ID is a mandatory national card from age 15 onwards and it serves as a digital access card for every secure e-service in Estonia.   
• e-Tax is the electronic tax filing system. 95% of tax declarations are filled online - it takes only 3 minutes.
• e-Residency offers secure access to Estonian e-services for foreign citizens. The owner of the e-resident's digital ID card can digitally sign documents and log into all the portals and information systems that recognize the Estonian ID-card.
• e-Health means, that the patient owns his or her personal health data. Another unique aspect is the fact that since 2008 hospitals and doctors in Estonia have been required to digitize data and make it available in the e-Health record.
• e-Prescription is a centralized paperless system for issuing and handling medical prescriptions that is used in 99% of cases. E-Prescription does not require digital skills – you only need to call the doctor and collect your medication from the closest pharmacy.
• The i-Voting system allows citizens to vote anywhere, no matter how far they are from a polling station, since the ballot can be cast from any internet-connected computer anywhere in the world.
• Entrepreneurs can register businesses in as little as 20 minutes, check vital company, property and legal records online, and integrate their own secure services with the ones offered by the state. 

E-services in Education

The Estonian Education Information System (EHIS) is a state database that assembles all the information related to education in Estonia. The database stores details about educational institutions, students, teachers and lecturers, graduation documents, study materials and curricula. The database has input from approximately 2,000 institutions: educational institutions, publishers, and other registers. It contains personalized (live) data, and cooperates with over 20 different information systems.

For the integration of various education and labour market services, numerous information systems have been developed which are compatible with the EHIS and facilitate the integration of services. For example, Electronic Assessment Bank, Admission Information System for universities and vocational schools, Study Information System, Estonian School Management System, Estonian Research Portal, State Register of Occupational Qualifications, and the e-service of the Estonian Unemployment Insurance Fund.

Nearly 100% of schools use e-Diaries. Over 85% of schools in Estonia use a program called e-School – it works as a transparent online diary and provides an easy way for parents, teachers and children to collaborate and organize all the information necessary for teaching and learning. Teachers enter grades and attendance information into the system, post homework assignments and evaluate student behaviour. They also use it to send messages to parents, students or to an entire class. Parents can see their children’s homework assignments, grades, attendance information and teacher’s notes. Furthermore, they can communicate directly with teachers via the system.

Parts of the national tests at schools are carried out electronically since 2015. That means that pupils can solve the tests online.

For that Foundation Innove also hosts an examination database (or in Estonian EIS) which is an electronic environment for developing tasks and conducting tests, including examinations.

Since 2017 some national exams are carried out as e-Exams. National exam results are provided only in digital form.

By 2020 all study materials in Estonia will be digitized and available through an online learning environment called e-Schoolbag. The primary purpose of e-Schoolbag is to allow accessing digital learning materials from a single point - the user no longer needs to search for materials in different portals.

The Digital Mirror has been developed for the evaluation of the digitalization of schools. It allows a school’s level of ‘digital maturity’ to be assessed and digital innovation to be managed by means of goal setting.

Lifelong guidance in Rajaleidja centers

In autumn 2014 Foundation Innove initiated 15 public centres called Rajaleidja (which means “Pathfinder” in English). These centres are located in every county and provide support for young people in their studies and career related issues – all under a unified quality assurance system.

The centers provide the following integrated services: career counselling, career information provision, socio-pedagogical counselling, special educational counselling, psychological counselling and speech therapy.

The online services provided by Rajaleidja centres are for clients who need career counselling and educational counselling. The channels that are used are: telephone, e-mail, Skype, facebook chat and the chat on the website rajaleidja.ee. There is a video counselling service in development for better speech therapy access.

In March 2017 a pilot project was initiated and it was decided to use a chat environment called livechat.com. Currently the chat service is available from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. five days a week. There is one career specialist and one educational specialist online at the same time. If the chat service is offline, visitors can leave messages via a ticket form and he/she will be given a response at the earliest possible time.

Chat counselling offers a great opportunity for immediate anonymous counselling and information sharing. You can use links, share files and provide direct guidance and information for your client within the chat session, discuss individual problems and issues. Especially young people and parents found that chat service is something that suits and helps them.

The client can contact a counsellor, if she/he needs more information about education and training courses, is not sure about their career direction or learning options, needs help with career planning and career decision making, needs information about Rajaleidja’s services, or needs support for the child's learning or behavioural difficulties etc.

Rajaleidja.ee is Estonia’s largest career portal, which facilitates career planning by means of providing tools for self-evaluation as well as information about work, occupations and educational opportunities. It also features materials and methodology for the work of guidance professionals. It features a database of occupations with videos, descriptions, study opportunities, labour market options, including information about salary range.

The career portal Rajaleidja will have profound renewal next year. The main aim is to have one national portal to support peoples’ choices in their educational and career paths. The content of the portal will be integrated into a single sign-in educational cloud service.

Practitioners in Rajaleidja’s centers use a variety of electronically administered tests and evaluation tools, including career interests, personality and aptitude tests. These online tests have been standardized on norm groups comprising of Estonian school children and adults. The client can fill in the questionnaire online at home or in the classroom. The results report is then accessible online for the counsellor and can be sent to the client via e-mail.

There are also several ICT tools for internal management purposes. The customer management system is meant for the storage of customer data and gathering statistical data. The Recommy feedback system allows feedback to be requested from customers in electronic format and customer satisfaction to be evaluated.

Euroguidance Austria publication 2017: Guidance 4.0 - Neue Tools und Skills in der Beratung (partly in German, partly in English)

Further (online) information

Lifelong Guidance in Estonia

Estonian Lifelong Guidance Strategy

E-Government in Estonia

Pathfinder in Estonia

Author

Kairi Valk is a head specialist of career information and works for the Agency for Lifelong Guidance, Foundation Innove in Estonia. She studied Information Sciences at the University of Tallinn. She has worked in different companies in private sector and developed websites and information services.

In Foundation Innove she is responsible for the administration of the website Rajaleidja.ee and for interfacing to a new national educational website. Also, she is responsible for the chat service on the website Rajaleidja.ee

E-Mail:            kairi.valk@innove.ee

Website:         https://innove.ee/