Teaching Civics and empowering active citizens in upper secondary school during the local elections in Estonia

1 Introduction

Civic education was created alongside nation states in Europe (Bromley and Mäkinen, 2011). Even though in various European countries, the content and the way how Civics is taught varies, the general goal is to provide people with the knowledge about civic responsibilities (Damjanovski, 2024). The question of citizenship education outcome reflects the expectations from the State to the practitioners—the citizens. Due to a relatively high degree of teacher autonomy in Estonia, the practical outcome may vary. This means that teachers have a rather large degree of independence when deciding on what, to what degree and when to cover. That is why the question of Civics content is one of the central questions investigated in this research.

The fundamental question concerns the State’s expectations for educators and, by extension, their students. Central to the State’s educational vision is the definition of these expectations—specifically, the ideal of an active citizen that schools are tasked to ensure. In this context, educational institutions play a pivotal role in creating social and political awareness (Põder et al., 2023), serving as the primary setting where the State addresses the development of a conscious and engaged electorate. Estonia lowered the voting age to 16 for local government elections already in 2015 (Riigikogu, 2015) which added pressure to Civics classes to ensure informed citizens already by the end of basic school.

Civic education serves a broader purpose within the education system. While formal education (alongside non-formal education and informal learning) provides the foundation for civic engagement by developing essential social and practical skills, Civic education specifically addresses the rights, responsibilities, and opportunities of citizens and non-citizens alike. It also encompasses understanding of what it means to be a citizen, how to navigate the country’s political system, and how to engage with societal opportunities (Õppekava Infoportaal, n.d). Civics classes are the ones where the topic of political engagement is expected to be addressed (Alscher et al., 2022). Therefore, it is relevant to ask the teachers how they approach the topic of elections and youth involvement in elections.

The question this article investigates is how teachers perceive their own role and the role of Civics classes in upper secondary education during local government elections. The perception of teachers is also supported by the views of the students via youth representation organisations.

2 Literature review and theoretical concepts

Literature review and theoretical concepts outline the key words to consider when addressing the topic of Civic education, teachers as street-level bureaucrats and public service. It also provides context to the study describing the Estonian education system with emphasis on Civics. Furthermore, an overview is provided about local government elections and youth participation.

2.1 Civics in the Estonian education system

Civics is taught as a part of other subjects or as a separate subject in various countries. Estonia has decided to distinguish Civics from other subjects (Schulz et al., 2025) and therefore places a separate emphasis on civic skills. The amount of compulsory subjects, their topics and learning outcomes are listed in the national curricula (Eesti Vabariigi Haridusseadus, 1992). Civics is a subject where students gain the knowledge and skills to take part in and make responsible decisions in society. The goal of the subject is to create the prerequisites to “become an active citizen, who can adapt to changes and can take responsibility for their actions” (Õppekava Infoportaal, n.d).

The current national curriculum for upper secondary education includes two mandatory Civics courses: one about society and democracy, and the other about economy and world politics (Õppekava Infoportaal, n.d). In which grade and with what frequency these courses are taught, is for each school to decide, giving them quite a lot of autonomy. Since most of the students in upper secondary schools are already eligible to vote (at least 16 years old), it is relevant to investigate the students in upper secondary education.

The Estonian general education system is divided into basic education from grades 1–9 during ages 7–16, and upper secondary education from grades 10–12 during ages 16–19 (Edu.ee, n.d). A significant recent education reform, effective from 2025, raised the compulsory age of attending school to 18 (Eesti Vabariigi haridusseaduse muutmise ja sellega seonduvalt teiste seaduste muutmise seadus (õppimiskohustuse kehtestamine), 2024) ensuring that a wider demographic of youth remains within the educational sphere and thus within the reach of Civics classes until they reach adulthood.

Russia’s war against Ukraine has catalyzed deep societal shifts in Estonia, most notably the transition to a unified Estonian-language education system in autumn 2024 (Haridus-ja Teadusministeerium, 2026; Pettai, 2024). This reform—debated for decades—was accelerated by geopolitical national security concerns, and aimed to limit Russian-language education provision and fundamentally alter the classroom environment primarily in Tallinn. It aimed to level the education in Estonian and Russian language, as the Estonian language schools have performed better in PISA tests for a long time (Kunitsõn and Kalev, 2021). This is also reflected in Civic education as the teaching of Civics is now done only in Estonian to all the students in public schools.

Civics is often tied closely with the subject of History as History teachers often teach Civics. For teacher education, History and Civics are combined together and there is no separate curriculum to teach Civics teachers. The shared pedagogical element to these subjects offers an advantage, making it easier to integrate concepts across the two disciplines seamlessly.

From 2021, the Civil protection classes provide students with insight into how citizens are expected to act during times of crisis. Whereas Civics as a subject in Estonia focuses more on the State and international level engagement opportunities, the Civil protection classes have more emphasis on the national level (including military) components and life during the times of crisis. Therefore, the Civil protection classes are also a part of the wider Civic education competencies, as it provides the young with the necessary competencies to be involved in their civic duties.

2.2 Elections and youth involvement in Estonia

Youth engagement is conceptualised in various ways. Youth political involvement may involve participation in organised collective activities (political parties’ youth groups etc), informal or community-level movements (fan clubs, community engagement programmes), in social media platforms or expressing political intent through consumer choices (buying or boycotting certain products; Allaste, 2023). Significant political events, including national elections, may act as catalysts for youth political engagement prompting the discussion on politically motivated topics.

The evidence supports the premise that electoral participation serves as a socializing function, identifying the youth demographic as a vital target for mobilization during periods of heightened political activity (Eckstein et al., 2024). It argues that elections are not just events where people vote, but educational periods that can catalyze long-term habits (Eckstein et al., 2024). By participating in the democratic process during an election, young people develop lasting engagement habits, which is why youth voting matters.

In 2015, Estonia lowered the voting age to 16 for local government elections (Riigikogu, 2015), making upper-secondary schools active sites of political engagement where students are not merely “citizens-in-training” but active constituents. Youth involvement in elections in Estonia has been viewed as a challenge ever since the voting age was lowered to 16—and even before that. Participation for high schoolers was around 40% in 2021 local elections. However, as seen in Table 1, the most recent elections in 2025 saw an increase in participation for both 16-17-year-olds as well as 18-to-24-year-olds. All in all—youth participation has increased.

Table 1. Voter turnout in 2021 and 2025 for people aged 16-17-year-olds and 18-to-24-year-olds according to information received by the authors. The National Election Committee (2026).

The groups for showcasing voting turnout were created by the National Election Committee and more detailed data was not accessible to the authors. However, the trend was clear for both age groups: the overall electorate group was bigger (from 26,829 to 30,390 people in 16-17-year-olds; 85,116 to 91,739 in 18-24-year-olds) as well as the turnout which had increased (from 39.21 to 48.97% people in 16-17-year-olds; 34.5 to 45.37% in 18-24-year-olds) as seen in Table 1. Therefore, those who entered the electorate in 2021 demonstrated increased participation 4 years later. Upon reaching the 20–21 age bracket, their turnout rose from 39.21 to 45.37%.

Estonian National Youth Council has long advocated for lowering the voting age to 16 in various elections (Eesti Noorteühenduste Liit, 2026). The 2025 local elections in Estonia was the third time in which the 16-year olds were able to participate. As of writing this article, local government elections are the only ones in Estonia that allow 16-year-olds to participate. However, during the writing of this research, the Parliament of Estonia is working on approving the legislation to lower the voting right to 16-year-olds also for European Parliament election (Riigikogu, 2026).

The Foresight Center has researched the topic of lowering the voting age to 16 with the conclusion that the young are prepared to make decisions already at 16 (Arenguseire Keskus, 2026). However, external factors may influence young people more than other groups of people voting (Tõugu et al., 2026). Therefore, formal education, friends and family do play an important role in creating a habit for voting and participating in society (Tõugu et al., 2026).

Participation in elections is not only about having the knowledge but also being confident enough to use it (Jansa et al., 2025). This creates a clear tension as formal education does provide the knowledge, but it varies in relation to it being applied. Nikolai Kunitsõn (2026) conducted research with Estonian students in Russian-speaking schools and investigated how the non-formal education method forum theatre could be applied to the formal education system within the scope of Civics. The long-term effects of this are yet to be investigated but it did emphasise the importance of applying different teaching methods in Civics.

2.3 Civic education as a public good

The State is responsible for the education service provision. In relation to the education service provision in Estonia, the service provision is not outsourced but rather treated as a part of public good. Public value management was defined by Jacob Torfing (2023) as a way of approaching the public service provision as something that is not only about maintaining public value, but also creating it for the wider public instead of a specific stakeholder group.

Within Estonia, there are various conceptualisations regarding a good or an active citizen. Estonian Not-for-profit Organisations’ Council stated the fundamentals of a good citizen already in 2002 as a person who—among other characterisations—is interested in society, politically aware and sparks civic activeness and respects humanity, equality and differences (MTÜ Kogukonnapraktika, n.d). These are the fundamentals applied to community practice nowadays. Community practice programme is a non-formal learning opportunity offered to various schools to enable students to volunteer at a community organisation (MTÜ Kogukonnapraktika, n.d). The programme is led by Estonian Not-for-profit organisations’ Council and is practiced by many schools across Estonia.

As various interest groups are seen as more and more important in the process of service provision and design, the collaboration between public sector and different stakeholders ensure the outcome relevant for all while creating a sense of shared ownership of the endeavour (Torfing, 2023). Involving the association of teachers as well as the students in the process of picking Civic education priorities, gives the State the insight about what is expected from the Civic education and how they align with the policy goals of the State.

Civic education stands out from other subjects due to its closeness with daily news. From human rights to global citizenship to decolonisation—there are many topics traditional Civic education textbooks from 20 years ago do not cover. Therefore, the expectations of Civics as a subject have also risen as the vast area of topics needed (or expected) to be covered increases yearly. There are a number of external actors (often) from the third sector ready to provide extra knowledge about global citizenship, participation exercises (role plays, simulations) or other recent trends that are expected to be discussed within the scope of Civic education classes (Hea Kodanik, n.d). The involvement of civil society as one of the informal and non-formal education providers in Civics, is also one of the challenges outlined in a recent mapping of international practices (Slavkova and Kurilić, 2023). Involving other actors outside of the school, helps tailor the topics discussed to the expectations and needs of the students, as well as bring expertise from the field to the young.

2.4 Theoretical framework

The concept of street-level bureaucracy (Lipsky, 2010) stipulates frontline public service workers as not merely neutral executioners of State policy, but rather critical policy-making agents in their own right. They operate at the direct interface between society and the State. While the national curriculum outlines the general goals of the subject, the Estonian education system is characterized by a high degree of decentralization. Schools and teachers possess substantial autonomy regarding the timing and methodology of the courses—a flexibility that aligns with the street-level bureaucracy concept where teachers tailor the policy (including the national curricula) to their specific classroom realities.

Therefore, it is important to investigate how the teachers as street-level bureaucrats navigate the tensions between the expectations set for them within the scope of the national curriculum and what are the expectations of the students as well as the realities in the society at the time of the classes.

The question of teachers as street-level bureaucrats has been explored from various angles. Ferraro et al. (2026) analysed the dimension of street-level bureaucrats in times of war and crisis creating new insights into the work that is conducted on a daily basis. Hall and Hampden-Thompson (2022) analysed teachers during curriculum reforms demonstrating how different boundaries around teachers’ discretion and decision-making power can exist (including high dependency on school and national policy context). For example, Bao et al. (2024) note how the street-level bureaucrats differ in Western countries from Eastern countries due to the set-up of the education system as a whole. If the system expects strict policy execution in a top-down manner, the teachers have little power to sway. As Estonia exercises a high degree of teacher autonomy, the example relates more to the European cases.

Building on the concept at hand, it is relevant to ask how it is applied in Estonia within the scope of Civic education.

3 Methodology

This study employs a qualitative research design to explore how upper secondary Civics teachers perceive their role during local government elections and how they approach election-related topics in the classroom. To provide a broader understanding of Civic education in Estonia, the study combines semi-structured interviews with teachers and key informant interviews with representatives of organisations involved in Civic education. The following sections describe participant selection, stakeholder analysis, data collection and analytical procedures.

3.1 Study population and sampling

The study population of this research were Civics teachers who teach primarily in the upper secondary schools in Estonia. The upper secondary level was chosen because it involves students between ages 16–19 who are eligible to vote in local elections. To make the teachers’ interviews and viewpoints more comparable, Tallinn was chosen as a target municipality. Therefore, only upper secondary Civics teachers who teach at a school in Tallinn were considered in the study population. However, many teachers had previously taught or were during the time of the interview teaching Civics also in basic school.

The restriction to include only teachers in Tallinn was decided for two reasons. Firstly, the nature of local elections comes with the notion that politics in a specific municipality are dependent on the municipality (size, number of parties etc) itself. To focus on the workings of one municipality gives the opportunity to get a deeper understanding of teachers’ perception and their approaches in the context of that municipality. Secondly, the capital of Estonia has the largest local governing body which gives the opportunity for many various political parties to take part and list their candidates. Furthermore, in many smaller municipalities it is very common for different electoral coalitions (that do not participate in national elections nor everyday politics) to participate and dominate in local elections, while in Tallinn the largest and most well-known political parties participate in local elections as well. For these reasons only teachers working in Tallinn schools were included in the population.

Purposive sampling was used to form the sample for this study. The initial list of schools to be targeted as potential interviewees included 54 upper secondary schools. Based on public webpages of the schools, the information on Civics teachers was unavailable for 8 schools and by excluding the one where the co-author of this article teaches, the final sample consisted of 45 schools. Across these schools, a total of 103 teachers were identified. Of these, 14 teachers were listed exclusively as history teachers; however, it was assumed by the authors that they might also teach Civics, as it is a common practice in the Estonian school context. Therefore, they were not excluded from the sample. Thus, the final sample consisted of 103 upper secondary Civics teachers teaching in 45 different schools in Tallinn.

All 103 participants were contacted via email and eligible teachers were also invited to participate through the History and Civics Teachers Association email list.

The authors received 5 answers agreeing to be interviewed and to increase the pool of respondents, additional recruitment was applied by randomly approaching 3 additional teachers with an inquiry for an interview. However, only one met the criteria and was therefore added to the list of interviewees.

3.2 Stakeholder analysis

The field of Civic education entails various stakeholders. Since this paper focuses on Civics teachers’ approach on local elections through the lens of Lipsky (2010) street-level bureaucracy, Hupe and Hill’s (2007) accountability “web” was used to perform a stakeholder analysis. Hupe and Hill (2007) took Lipsky’s work and developed it further by arguing that street-level bureaucrats work in a “web” of vertical and horizontal relations which influence their discretionary power through accountability. This approach was seen by the authors as most suitable for a stakeholder analysis regarding teachers as street-level bureaucrats because of the large autonomy (discretionary power) teachers possess in Estonia and therefore the ability of stakeholders to influence teachers’ approaches through relations and accountability.

When investigating teachers as individual professionals who function in a multidimensional “web” of relationships, the accountability for their work, and thus influence, is also multidimensional. On the horizontal level professional accountability is most overt—Civics teachers discuss related topics with their peers and colleagues of the same (or similar—for example—History) field. For this reason, a decision was made to interview a board member of the History and Civics Teachers Association—the biggest organization to bring together History and Civics teachers all over the country. They have the expertise to offer insights into how various topics—like elections—are addressed in the classroom by various Civics teachers.

On the vertical level Estonian Students’ Union and National Youth Council were included to represent students. The other stakeholder from the vertical side—the Ministry of Education and Science—was excluded as they are the policy makers and not involved in the practice of Civics education directly. However, they just recently led the reorganisation of Civics education in Estonia in 2023 which resulted in reflecting their view on what a contemporary Civics education should look like. As the stakeholders noted that not many changes were made to the national curriculum at the time, the Ministry wasn’t approached for an interview on this topic.

The Association of History and Civics Teachers representative was interviewed to gain a wider perspective on the topic, as well as a representative from the Estonian National Youth Council and National Students’ Union to gather insights from the young themselves. No underage students participated in the research—the representative organisations were able to bring in the students’ perspective.

3.3 Data collection and analysis

For interviewing Civics teachers semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted and for interviewing the stakeholders discussed above, the method of Key Informants Interviews (KII) was chosen. The KII method enabled the authors to gather in-depth knowledge and perspectives from experts with various viewpoints. For both types of interviews, the interview guides were compiled based on the research question, objectives and theoretical framework. Both interview guides allowed the authors to adapt and refine questions in response to participants’ answers due to the semi-structured format. The core questions in three subsections were the following:

• Teacher agency and their decision-making processes during the election period to incorporate election related topics and cover active citizenship components.
• How do Civics teachers in upper secondary schools perceive their agency in deciding if and how to address elections in their classroom teaching?
• What influences Civics teachers’ decisions to include or exclude election-related topics in their classes?
• How do teachers navigate questions of objectivity and neutrality when discussing local elections during election periods?
• Classroom dynamics between students and their impact on selecting teaching content.
• To what extent do students’ attitudes and classroom dynamics influence teachers’ choices of Civic education content, particularly regarding election-related topics?
• In what ways do Civics teachers balance State curriculum requirements with their personal professional judgment (agency) when selecting topics?
• General concepts and goals of Civics in Estonian society.
• How do Civics teachers conceptualize active citizenship within their curriculum content?
• How do Civics teachers in Estonia perceive their role in fostering students’ preparedness for active democratic participation through formal education?

As there was a limited number of teachers who were eligible to partake in the interviews, the validation interview was conducted during the very first interview. However, as the topics covered remained the same, the authors decided to include the validation interview in the data set. After that first interview, the questions were modified to accommodate the research objectives better. With stakeholders it was not possible to conduct a validation interview since there were no suitable experts to test the KII method on.

In total, nine interviews were conducted for this research: six interviews took place with teachers, one with History and Civics Teachers Association and two with youth-student representative organisations. The interviews were the following:

• 1-J-31-03
• 2-A-02-04
• 3-N-08-04
• 4-L-14-04
• 5-P-06-05
• 6-K-07-05
• The National Youth Council of Estonia
• The Estonian Students’ Union
• The History and Civics Teachers Association

The authors considered the creation of a code important to ensure the anonymity of individual interviewees in discussing this topic. As there are quite few Civics teachers in Estonia, even less in Tallinn, it is important to maintain their anonymity as they expressed their opinions and perspectives in a personal manner. When compiling the code, the authors took into account the time of the interview, interviewee’s name and compiled the code from the following abbreviations:

• 1 to 5—interviewee’s number
• Letters A-Z—first letter of interviewee’s last name
• 31–03 to 07–05—date of the interview

All interviews were conducted online and lasted 45–60 min. All participants gave their oral consent to participate in this research. The interviews were transcribed using Estonian language text to speech application Tekstiks (Olev and Alumäe, 2024). Selection of quotes to be used in this research were machine translated and edited to not include unintentional repetitions while maintaining the core ideas of the sentences.

The interview data were analysed using deductive thematic analysis. The analysis was guided by the study’s research questions and the theoretical perspectives of active citizenship and street-level bureaucracy. All interview transcripts were read repeatedly to identify meaningful units and assign initial codes. These codes were then grouped into broader themes which were compared across interviews. Finally, the authors interpreted the findings using the abovementioned theoretical concepts. The article at hand addressed the following topics for teachers: Teachers as street-level bureaucrats and their decision-making processes during the election period to incorporate election related topics and cover active citizenship components; Classroom dynamics between students and their impact on selecting teaching content; General concepts and goals of Civics in Estonian society.

Teacher and stakeholder interviews were analysed separately. First, the authors read through the teacher interviews and developed initial codes to identify the themes. Then the same procedure was conducted with key informant interviews. Afterwards both findings were compared and interpreted.

The interpretation of findings was conducted through collaborative analysis: one author contributed practical expertise as a practising Civics teacher, while the other provided an academic research perspective. Drawing on the interviews, the authors engaged in thematic discussion to synthesize key issues and derive overarching conclusions. It builds on the authors’ prior knowledge in both academic settings and in practice bringing the two together.

The study followed the ethical principles of voluntary participation, informed consent, anonymity and confidentiality throughout the research process. Audio recordings and transcripts were used solely for research purposes and accessed only by the authors. As the article uses qualitative methods and will not make large scale deductions, the six interviews with the teachers and three key informant interviews were deemed sufficient to contribute to the discussion at hand.

4 Results

The empirical analysis for this research is conducted in two parts: insights from the interviews conducted with the practitioners (the teachers), and with the representation organisations of students, youth and Civics teachers in Estonia. The interviews with teachers enabled gathering insights of practitioners’ perspectives, whereas the interviews with the stakeholder organisations provided a more holistic view of the field.

4.1 Interviews with the teachers

The questions focused on three topics: teachers as street-level bureaucrats during elections, students’ influence on covering elections, and wider perception of Civic education. The main findings from the interviews are also presented accordingly in the three groups in this chapter.

The teachers who were interviewed for this article, taught in Tallinn, but in various districts. They also taught in different school types, i.e., those that are owned by the State consisting only of upper secondary school students, but also of those that belong to the local government and encompass students from basic school to upper secondary school. Most of the teachers had been working in the field around 10 years, many in several different schools and had taught both in basic and upper secondary education. Therefore, the teachers who participated in the interviews were experienced and diverse in relation to their background.

All teachers stated that they acknowledged the elections to be relevant when discussing topics during the Civics classes. However, the matters related to participation in elections were viewed differently as well as the practical approach to student involvement.

4.1.1 Teachers as street-level bureaucrats and their decision-making processes during the election period to incorporate election related topics and cover active citizenship components

All of the teachers noted that they have autonomy to choose what, when, and how to teach. No one noted any other parties (teachers, school leadership, parents etc.) to have ever been involved in the content discussions of the Civics classes. One of the teachers noted that even though their¹ head of the school participated in local government elections, they did not advertise this, nor was any publicity done in that regard from the principal. That comes to say that schools respect the apolitical practice keeping party politics out of the classroom. Furthermore, teachers noted that no one from the parents had ever come up to them questioning or challenging their approach to teaching Civics. The teachers noted that they are more impacted by the students themselves, namely what they are interested in.

It is not only up to Civics to discuss voting and elections. Most of the schools receive information about impending elections and act accordingly, i.e., bearing in mind the sensitivity of elections including party politics. However, not much cooperation is practiced between the teachers themselves. They are often too busy to have the capacity to coordinate with other subject teachers such as Literature, Music or others. Therefore, collaboration between different subjects is difficult to achieve.

A clear consensus was on the low level of integration of topics with Civil protection classes. That seems to stem mostly from the set-up of the course: the teachers of Civil protection classes often originate from the defence sector and are external teachers that do not work at the school full-time. Furthermore, the Civil protection classes are usually taught in grade 11, whereas Civics takes place in grade 12. Therefore, the cooperation between the two subjects in practice is really difficult to reach.

However, it was noted that some schools who pay special attention to social sciences, have made tailored subjects related to Civic education. As an example, a State owned high school was brought out because they have mandatory subjects for World education in grade 10, Civic (human) geography in grade 11 as well as interdisciplinary subject Timeline in grade 10 which all encompass certain elements of Civic education (which takes place specifically in grade 12). However, this is not a common practice and rather an exceptional case.

Civics teachers often do not use textbooks as the information printed in them ages quickly. Several teachers noted that they do not use textbooks because the topics they address in Civics classes change from year to year. One of the teachers who was from a more Russian-speaking district, noted that the textbooks are often written to those children whose mother tongue is Estonian and who also watch the national news outlets. However, the children that they teach come from a different background and therefore require a different approach, also in terms of textbooks.

“I have materials I’ve made myself, textbooks in Civics are getting old pretty quickly every year. This time the election theme was different—the law was changed regarding who can participate in the elections. And we know that Russian citizens were deprived of, well, not Russian citizens precisely, but citizens of third countries. I know that not only Russian citizens were deprived of the opportunity to vote. The textbook still had written that in fact we all have the right to vote. It’s not like that anymore! And in fact there are changes in the tax system. Well, there’s no point! These textbooks are getting old very quickly and my emphases on teachings are a little different. In my opinion, the textbook is written for a native Estonian-speaking student who watches the news on ETV at least once a month, at least Estonian news. But a Russian student doesn’t watch it. The emphasis should be different.”

- teacher 2-A-02-04 illustrating the changing nature of topics covered in Civics.

When discussing the local elections in 2025, it was noted that in a rather short amount of time, the Government amended the Constitution so that third-country people were no longer eligible to vote. That meant that what once might have been printed in the textbooks as voting eligibility, was changed over a short amount of time. Another recent topic that had changed a lot over the last couple of years, was taxes. When addressing this within the classes, it made sense for several teachers to not use textbooks and rather create their own materials, e.g., slides.

4.1.2 Classroom dynamics between students and their impact on selecting teaching content

4.1.2.1 Discussing elections at schools

Teachers noted that most schools in Tallinn have students from a wide range of local municipalities. Very few students, especially in high school, attend schools near their homes. For that reason, it is quite challenging for teachers to research the same candidates and the same political parties in the classroom.

“I have some idea of what they should know or think about. And I’ll take a look at what the expectations of this class are or, for example, what their major is, whether they are in the social sciences or hard sciences or theatre or something else. To see if there is any connection there, and then of course, it’s really important for local government elections to know that since we have a school in Tallinn, we actually have students from very different municipalities, from the eight districts of Tallinn as well as from the neighbouring municipalities, and actually even from Raplamaa and Hiiumaa.”

- teacher 1-J-31-03 speaking about addressing elections in schools.

All teachers noted that they specifically make room for addressing elections in the study plan. For example, one teacher noted that if there is an election impending, they would rearrange other topics in the study plan to ensure that most relevant topics regarding the elections are addressed in time. The teachers along with their students take a look at the party programmes. Even though many students who study in Tallinn schools reside outside of the particular voting district, the main topics are still discussed to help them think about what to look for in the election programmes.

It was also mentioned by the responders that it is often the case that the students—as well as the wider public—do not really understand what level of decision-making power is expected of each of the governance bodies. That is important when discussing the different party programmes in the classroom and it relates to the promises that each of the governance levels/bodies can make regarding, for example, imposing national taxes.

“My goal is to raise awareness of what political parties or what political views there are and how students can access this information. To give a broader, more neutral picture, so that they can make this choice themselves—they know what political parties we have, what someone’s worldview is, what might align with their interests, and then from there they can start researching more thoroughly to decide whom to vote for. But my goal is that I would like everyone to go vote!”

- teacher 4-L-14-04 on the general goal of Civics and providing facts to form an opinion.

As the interviews for the article were carried out during the Spring semester of the study year, several teachers noted that they are already looking into presidential elections which will take place during Autumn 2026. That highlights once again the importance of Civics addressing relevant topics in the moment.

4.1.2.2 Participation in elections

Regarding the encouragement to go and vote, the perspectives among the teachers differed. For example, two teachers had completely opposing views on encouraging students to go and vote. The teacher who teaches Civics in a school based in the city centre, noted that it is not their place to order the students to go and vote, but rather it must be up to themselves to choose to go and vote. It was noted that it’s also important to maintain the option not to vote. On the other hand, the teacher based in a district in the outskirts of Tallinn noted that it’s imperative the students go out there and vote when they are eligible to do so. They stated that they actively encourage students to participate in elections as that is one form of active citizenship.

Teachers had open discussions about participating in the elections both before and after the elections. One teacher noted that they do not converse about participation per se with their students, but the rest noted that they do, and they hope students are open about this. For example, one teacher held written anonymous polls in their Civics classes after the elections asking from the students if they participated in the elections and if so, who did they vote for.

The teachers also reflected on participation levels of the students saying that the young do go out and vote. That is also in line with the rate of participation of 16–17 and 18-26-year-olds as stated by the State Electoral Office of Estonia. However, there are instances where it’s difficult for teachers to explain to the students why it matters that they vote. Not all students believe that their participation matters.

“The young are angry. Youth topics are not in focus—it’s considered to be more of a niche.”

- teacher 6-K-07-05 speaking about perception of young peoples’ view on elections.

Although it was not at the focus of this research, it was also noted by the teachers who have been teaching both, high school and basic school, that high school students are more opinionated and ready to speak their mind than those at basic school.

4.1.3 General concepts and goals of Civics in Estonian society

Active citizenship was a familiar term for all teachers. However, teachers defined it differently. There were teachers who stated that an active citizen is someone who participates in volunteer work, some highlighted more community engagement, organising school events, or voting at elections. Therefore, the definitions in practice explore the various ways in which one can practice active citizenship.

“An active citizen does volunteer work. We don’t always have to get paid for everything, and if you later want to go to a foreign university, they will really look at whether you’ve done any volunteer work.”

- teacher 5-P-06-05 speaking about voluntary work.

Based on the interviews, teachers think they have an obligation to discuss election related topics and they are happy to do so, but they are not certain that they have a lot of power in their students’ lives. When it comes down to making their decision about whom to vote for, the students often rely more on the voting preferences of their parents or social media influences, rather than what the teacher tells them.

“As a teacher, we can influence students, but the steering wheel is at the hands of the parents—we must not forget this! I can teach everyone the same way, but I will still end up with a communist, convinced racist, sexist person, regardless of how well I organize my lessons, because two hours a week is not a whole life with their family. The role of a teacher is important, but not absolute.”

- teacher 2-A-02-04 illustrating the influence of teachers and home.

It must be noted that all of the teachers emphasised that they do not tell the students ahead of the election period, who they vote for in the elections. That is to ensure that the teachers themselves do not impact the voting choices of the students. Therefore, the neutrality of the teachers is perceived to be universally important by all respondents and is practiced specially during the election period. But the fact that in a democracy, during the elections, the parties try to persuade as many people to vote for them as possible, is understandable.

“It’s also good for students to realize that all of us are influenced by something or someone, whether it’s from home, loved ones, or a street campaign, right? There’s always a calling from somewhere about which direction to choose. And well, in a democracy, it’s a part of it—all ideologies have the opportunity to introduce themselves and advertise themselves, and that’s part of the campaign.”

- teacher 1-J-31-03 speaking about the influence of external actors on peoples’ political choices.

Civics teachers feel the pressure to provide the students with as much information about the society—including the elections—as possible. Even though not all teachers were of the opinion that there’s not enough time allocated for Civics, they did all agree that the content that is expected to be covered, is a lot. Some teachers noted, that in case they know none of their students have chosen to do a final exam in Civics, the teacher can be more flexible in choosing the topics and level of depth for the topic.

“Because expectations for social studies are growing very high, especially from society, that all things should be covered in Civics, like financial literacy should be part of Civics, as well as critical thinking. All these things that have come to the table, perhaps have not been given so much importance before, so now there is a feeling that the volume of Civics should be increased in the curriculum in order to be able to support all these expectations.”

- teacher 3-N-08-04 illustrating the expectations for Civics classes.

4.2 Stakeholder perspective: history and Civics teachers association

When discussing local government elections and Civics during the election period, History and Civics Teachers Association noted that local government elections are not always a priority in terms of Civics curricula. That is why for elections taking place during October, it is not always ensured that those who go out to vote, have had Civics classes.

The content of Civics in 12th grade and in 9th grade varies quite a lot. Also in part because of the students themselves—high schoolers have a bit of a better understanding of the society and are often more open to learning about politics and economy, when compared to basic school students. In recent years, the expectation has been that Civics covers most of the relevant matters in its lessons from financial knowledge, disinformation to economics. They stressed that there is often too much to cover during the Civics classes. That is why it may be worth investigating the opportunity to expand teaching economics in high school as a separate subject.

“Society has the expectation that school makes children smart. When there’s just 2 classes a week, it’s too big of an expectation.”

- History and Civics Teachers Association representative illustrating the expectations put on teachers.

The association is not aware of any problems regarding interference in schools during election periods—not during the last local government elections and also not in recent history. That falls in line with the Estonian Students’ Union perspective and also with the teachers’ experiences. Therefore, this reinforces the understanding that Estonian schools have adopted a habit of being neutral during elections.

The range of topics that are discussed during the Civics classes are wide, often beyond what is mandated in the curricula or put down in textbooks. Teachers include topics in Civics classes not only from the national or school curricula, but also topics that are relevant in social media, traditional media, or otherwise prevalent in society. Examples of topics that are often raised by the students, may be related to environment, foreign policy, but also topics that stem from American culture and are relevant in the moment (in various social media platforms).

The Teachers Association is also not aware of any infringements in relation to the topics covered in classes. It is not common for any other parties (including parents, school board etc) to dictate or otherwise influence the topics of Civics or how it is taught. The teacher who was interviewed noted that just recently, the discussion on how History is being taught, had been in the media (Vaino, 2026). However, they were certain that neither History nor Civics teachers have been influenced (Peegel, 2026) and therefore they can adhere to their best knowledge and practices when conducting the work. However, it must be noted that it really is increasingly difficult to address various polarising topics in the classroom, but it does not mean that teachers do not do so. It was stated that the teachers simply need to be more equipped and cleverer than before in how they approach difficult topics.

Most cooperation takes place with Estonian language and Literature class teachers. During those classes, it’s possible for example for teachers to give home readings that relate to Civics. Least cooperation is done with Civil protection class teachers as they are often guest teachers. That was also highlighted by all the teachers interviewed for this research.

It was also stressed that Civics does not take place only in 9th and 12th grade, but also in 6th grade. That means that when 16-year-olds go to the voting stations, they in theory should already have some basic knowledge or skills about society. However, 6th grade Civics focuses more on core competencies, skills and general knowledge and therefore does not directly prepare the students for elections.

4.3 Stakeholder perspective: National Students’ union

To increase the participation in elections of 16- to 18-year-olds in Estonia, systemic reforms in Civic education are essential. The Estonian Students’ Union states that transitioning from passive fact-acquisition to practical knowledge application is critical for meaningful learning. This is important in terms of creating a better understanding to the students why they should be involved in politics through elections.

“Young people today don’t often know what kind of impact their actions have. That’s why they often excuse themselves from this by stating “I’m not affected by politics”. They do not understand the connections (between themselves and politics).”

- Estonian Students’ Union representative about youth engagement in politics.

To cultivate informed and active voters, the Union proposes several key educational interventions (Eesti Õpilasesinduste Liit, 2026):

• Expanding democracy education—the curriculum must practically address State functioning, the tax system, civic rights, and responsibilities by utilizing real-world simulations and case studies.
• Integrating societal challenges—contemporary issues such as climate change, technology, and geopolitics should be systematically embedded into the learning process to foster relevance.
• Developing skills on argumentation—schools must utilize structured debates to teach youth how to critically evaluate different perspectives and reason their decisions.

According to the Students’ Union, implementing these practical, student-centered reforms, the educational system can successfully equip youth with the analytical tools and confidence required for active democratic engagement. They also fall in line with the topics raised by the teachers addressing the diverse needs of the students that often stem from social media.

The Union added that a lot of the practices they see in the field of Civics today in Estonia, are already quite progressive. Various schools implement different methods to include active forms of learning and carry out many different activities also outside of formal learning. For example, they also know of many schools organising school-wide debates with a wide range of politicians during election period. However, it’s not this way in all schools across the country.

When speaking about the school curriculum, they stated that the number of mandatory subjects should lessen while the proportion of voluntary subjects should increase. That would provide the students, especially in high school settings, with more freedom to choose and co-create their study path. However, in an ideal world, Civics would have more room in the curriculum than it does today. That would help students realise their role in the society and communities. They also noted that, if possible, Civics in Estonia should include more philosophy and wider concepts. It could then better integrate with other social sciences subjects.

Regarding Civic education during the election period, they noted that the general outlook is good. During Autumn 2025 local elections, they were not made aware of any of their member unions about any election violations, nor were they informed about political interference in schools. However, they also stated that they did not ask their members about this specifically, but they do expect their members to bring these topics out in case there are violations in this regard (or in any other matter that relates to students).

When it comes to local government elections and lowering the voting age there, the Students’ Union has always favoured it. In terms of lowering the voting age to 16 also during the European Parliament elections, the Students’ Union noted that they are not opposed, neither are they actively working to promote this. That is mostly due to the lack of support to the system and formal education structures in place currently. Civics in basic school should have more lessons and other practices promoting Civic education outcomes—only then would it be reasonable to assume that young people could be empowered to participate in the political sphere.

4.4 Stakeholder perspective: Estonian National Youth Council

Estonian National Youth Council has been advocating for lowering the voting age at elections to 16 for many years. The campaign to lower the voting age in local government elections culminated with the Parliament lowering the voting age in 2015. As the Council works with stakeholder engagement and youth participation, their focus is not specifically on education, but rather education as a means to support the young being ready to participate in democratic processes, including elections.

As the Council has led a successful campaign to lower the voting age at the local elections before, they have now been working on a campaign to lower the voting age at European Parliament elections. Even though the discussion reached the Parliament Committee on Constitutional Affairs in 2024 (Mäekivi, 2024) and went through second reading (out of the three readings in total) in the Parliament in 2026, it is not yet decided whether the reform will take effect. That is reflected in the discussions around lowering the voting age.

“Lowering the voting age should go hand in hand with developing participatory democracy practices, so that people can empower each other. And well, that’s exactly what we’re seeing—that right now they don’t have enough support, it hasn’t been addressed systematically enough.”

- Estonian National Youth Council representative discussing the question of civic participation enhancement.

Formal education through Civics has been tasked with providing the young with information to make an informed decision. However, it’s not just about the formal education that prepares the youth for participation. Other means of support and practices—especially through non-formal means—should be in place as well. The Council advocates for more participatory democracy practices to create opportunities for youth engagement beyond elections.

“The question is rather whether other practical opportunities for participation, be it school democracy or other supporting activities, still exist to a sufficient extent nationwide.”

- Estonian National Youth Council representative highlighting the need for non-formal support in the Civics field.

5 Discussion

The discussion section of the article outlines the common themes that emerged from the interviews and includes an analysis. It summarises the main takeaways from the research and offers topics that need further investigation.

As a result of the research, several common themes emerged. When discussing Civics in Estonian schools and how (local government) elections are approached in Civics classes, it was apparent that a lot of emphasis, responsibility, and pressure is put on Civic education. However, when taking into account the goals set out to be achieved via formal education in Civics, the amount of contact lessons allocated to Civics is not enough. Topics that are expected to be covered in high school and in basic school require more time and focus from both the teachers and the students.

Civics has increased in importance especially in relation to the lowering of voting age to 16 in local government elections in Estonia. Formal education as the equalizer to reach all young people, contributes to providing everyone the same necessary information to make informed decisions about their participation in democratic processes. However, the way in which teachers approach Civics, varies. Thanks to a relatively high teacher autonomy in the Estonian school system, the teachers are encouraged to approach Civics as best as they can by putting emphasis on what is needed most at that time. That enables teachers to not only go by the text book (which many teachers do not use due to the changing nature of civic topics), but also organise school-wide debates, mock elections, mock parties and many other ways.

It is becoming increasingly difficult for teachers to address all topics within the limited time allocated to Civics. Teachers sense that there are more and more topics arising that are hard to tackle. The tendencies that are present in societies, also prevail in Civics classes. Polarising topics—same sex marriage, societal division, tax policies just to name a few—create tensions in classrooms and make it difficult for teachers to carry out lessons. However, Civics teachers mostly do address the challenging contemporary questions, even if it requires extra effort.

Estonian schools are doing well in terms of independence of Civic education. None of the teachers nor stakeholders reported knowing of any interference during elections in schools. This can be interpreted as schools being rather apolitical and the school body being aware of this principle.

This provides good grounds for teachers to act as street-level bureaucrats—autonomous in deciding what, when, how to cover, facing the students and tailoring the content of Civics according to their students’ specific needs and expectations. Teachers as street-level bureaucrats act at a direct interface of State expectations (expressed through national curricula) and the students as young members of the society. Teachers, however, are not merely neutral executioners of the State policy, but rather critical agents making grounded and reasoned decisions regarding the content of Civics classes. Teachers (including through the Association) work closely with the State and the students to collaborate and work out what is needed for the students at the time to—for example—operate as knowledgeable citizens at the voting stations.

All of the teachers interviewed stated that they would not share their personal preference regarding political parties before elections. However, the question of being apolitical and voting in the elections, was approached differently by the teachers. One teacher reported that they did not inquire from their students about whether they were going to vote at the elections stating that this was not their place to tell the people to go and vote—it should be the free will of the people to participate in elections in a democracy. On the other hand, there were several teachers, who noted that they ask their students if they plan on going to vote and encourage them to partake, and several also noted that they speak about elections once the election period is over. Therefore, the signal given to the students from the teachers is quite different.

As Civics encompasses many different topics, it is clear that one subject cannot provide the students with all of the necessary knowledge needed to succeed in civic matters. The responsibility in creating active citizens in practice also relies on other subjects. The most common integration of topics takes place with History classes, as they are often taught by the same teachers as those teaching Civics. Even though most History teachers also teach Civics, the subjects are different. Topic wise, several teachers reported that integration is also feasible with Estonian language and Literature classes. However, the subject that is theoretically close to Civics—Civil protection classes—has little to no integration with any of the Civics classes. That stems mostly from the fact that it is taught by experts that often work in schools part-time and spend little to no time with the rest of the teachers, including Civics teachers. That also leaves little room for cooperation.

Civic education does not stop only within the realms of the Civics classes. Upper secondary education provides opportunities for students to design their own learning pathway by selecting electives. Even though schools provide different electives, many could also directly contribute to the outcomes of Civics. For example, some schools in Tallinn have Peace education, Debate classes, History-Arts-Civics combined, as well as Community practice lessons. The electives—even though they do not reach all students—provide an opportunity to those more interested, to learn more in-depth about various topics covered briefly within the scope of Civics.

Even though formal education provides an insight into what a good citizen looks like, what are the main functions of a society and principles of a democracy, it is no longer just the task of a school or formal education to provide the young with the necessary information. Youth is impacted also by their families, social media and communities, friends around them. That is where non-formal education could play a much larger role than it does today. Expanding community practices and integrating them more to school curriculums would enable the young to partake in community activities earlier, preparing them for a different kind of civic engagement. The teachers sense that even though they are tasked with providing the young with the skills, knowledge and practices about being an active citizen, it cannot only be up to them. Society as a whole must take more action to ensure active citizens in our democracy.

Since students have Civics only once or twice a week for about a year, the young are impacted by other opinions and rarely rely solely on the teacher’s perspective. However, the students see the value of Civics stating that if there were more classes, it could have a better impact—for example—on election participation. Formal education through the means of Civics is still the common denominator for shared equal access to civic knowledge. The question of Civics classes and their impact on youth voter turnout would require further research.

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Footnotes

Edited by: Jo Howard, University of Sussex, United Kingdom

Reviewed by: Branislav M. Randjelovic, University of Pristina—Kosovska Mitrovica, Serbia

Yusuf Olayinka Shogbesan, Osun State University, Nigeria

Footnotes

“They” is used in singular form to prevent revealing the sex of the responder.