Funding helps schools and cultural institutions adapt to new rules

Visits to cultural institutions fell sharply after Estonia’s Ministry of Education and Research issued guidelines on funding school field trips, but the situation is now stabilising thanks to state support and additional funding, ERR reported.

The ministry issued the guidelines after a parent complained that a school was asking families to pay for compulsory educational activities. Under the guidance, all compulsory learning activities must be free of charge.

To fund field trips for basic school students, the Ministry of Culture provides Kultuuriranits support, worth 11 euros per child in 2026. The ministry also allocated 500,000 euros in emergency funding so cultural institutions could offer free visits to students from grades 1 to 12.

Merike Kaste, director of Kristjan Jaak Peterson Gymnasium, said the spring debate had not significantly discouraged the school from organising field trips.

“The city of Tartu supports all field trips for the upper-secondary section and projects supporting curriculum work. At our school, this amounts to about 12 euros per student,” Kaste said. She added that Tartu also has joint procurement arrangements for museum visits, with each upper-secondary school receiving a share.

Kaari Siemer, head of the education centre at the Estonian National Museum, said the number of visits had not changed significantly because schools were able to register for the museum’s free programmes using the available support.

The museum received 14,000 euros from the Ministry of Culture, enabling it to offer free visits to more than 2,000 students.

“Of course, we cannot say what will happen when all the support, or this support from the Ministry of Culture, ends. How will schools reach us then?” Siemer said.

Evald Sepp, director of Tartu Veeriku School, said the number of compulsory field trips had fallen compared with the year before last.

“We have to see whether the Kultuuriranits funds are enough to cover the costs. If there is a shortfall, it is more difficult, because when it is a field trip, it is currently not possible to collect money to cover the difference,” Sepp said.

According to Sepp, teachers agree at the beginning of the school year where and when they plan to take their classes.

“At the moment, we are paying close attention to whether it is a field trip connected to the curriculum or an excursion,” he said.

Hele Liiv-Tellmann, the ministry’s chief expert in the curriculum field, said the ministry’s position had always been that schools must finance compulsory field trips.

“It is important that plans requiring children to participate voluntarily and parents to contribute are communicated to parents in advance. They should not be presented as a situation where everyone must pay the entire amount and everyone must attend,” Liiv-Tellmann said.