Estonia, a small Eastern European country of 45 000 square kilometres with a population of 1.3 million, is one of the poorest OECD countries: in 2014, its per capita GDP was around USD 28 140 compared to the OECD average of USD 39 333. But Estonia has one of the strongest education systems among all OECD countries, with above-average results in PISA and almost universal access to pre-primary education. The rate of educational attainment at the secondary level is among the highest in the EU and OECD areas, while the proportion of adults holding a tertiary qualification is above the OECD average (Santiago et al., 2016). Education is deeply rooted in Estonian culture. During the 17th century, the entire area of present-day Estonia came under Swedish rule, leading to the founding of academic secondary schools and of a university (1632). Following the Nordic War, a century later, Estonia came under Russian rule. Church leaders who had been educated at German universities and the religious ideas of Pietism continued to foster the desire for learning among the Estonian people. Many adults taught themselves to read, write and play music, skills that they then passed on to their children. As a result, relatively large proportions of the population were literate: parish records from the 18th century show that at least one in two peasants could read. According to a census from 1922, 90% of the population could read and write and another 5.3% could read only.
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