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Educational Policy in Comparative Perspective: The Case of Estonia and Azerbaijan
 
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and understand connection to it through traditions and cultural habits); (3) functional skills (for 
instance getting and using information). Moreover, it also underlines general principles for 
building basic teaching standards such as equality of everyone, democracy, freedom of opinions, 
humanism and etc. These principles also emphasize the fact that all responsibilities for studies 
falls on pupils and freedom of their choice. It means that no-one forces pupils to fulfil curricular 
requirements and teacher is here in order to explain certain subjects, instruct pupils and educate 
them to be right person and citizen for their country. National curricular also aims to build 
connections between subjects and to link them to future career goals and certain professions. 
Teaching process, which identifies competences for pupils and teachers as well and again 
emphasises the primary purpose of curricular to make education process more open and create 
environment of freedom of opinions and thoughts [8]. National curricular for basic and 
secondary schools in Estonia also lists certain competences for pupils which should be 
implemented at certain stages: (1) at the first stage pupils realize for themselves that people, their 
opinions and their dreams are different; (2) at the second stage after realization of the differences 
of people pupils learn to respect each other’s opinions and thoughts; (3) at the third stage pupils 
start to see events and situations from the angle of other people’s thinking; (4) and finally at the 
fourth stage pupils formulate for themselves critical thinking and analysing problems and 
situations from several point of view. In other words, the primary object of the national 
curriculum in Estonia is not only to teach a student mathematics, languages and sciences, it is to 
prepare students to the real life[21].
Indeed, Estonian curriculum for secondary schools differs from secondary school program 
in Azerbaijan in the curricular topics such as environment and sustainable development, lifelong 
learning and career planning, personal, social and health education, civic initiative and 
entrepreneurship. Moreover, Estonian secondary school program includes selective courses, 
which are not characterised for Azerbaijani curriculum. Students in secondary schools in Estonia 
can make selections among optional courses like “oratory and debate”, “logics”, “psychology”, 
“everyday law”, “the globalised world”, “introduction to philosophy” as well as religion 
education as elective subject with offered courses such as “people and religion”, “religious 
landscape in Estonia” and etc. Azerbaijan secondary schools only have “individual and society” 
course as obligatory, 
Estonian schools became more autonomous in developing school curriculum. Schools are 
free to pick own techniques and methods as per the subjects and courses said remarked in the 
national curricular. The national curricular considered comprises of free study areas, which give 
flexibility to the system and encourages to advance the needs of the students, requests of the 
labour market and regional features. Besides, there are not any strict conditions to extend the 
substance of the program. On the other hand, the general curricular and necessary classes ought 
to be similar all through the state, instructive establishments are free to organise the courses and 
substance. In contrast in Azerbaijan the single model system of education remains unchangeable 
and textbooks and syllabus are the same for all schools within country. Furthermore, on the way 
to be a member of the EU Estonia needed focus on improvement European language skills 
among students. Consequently, the legal documents of the EU needed to be interpreted and 
meetings held in the European level needed to be translated. As a result, graduates from 
secondary school in Estonia should know at least one foreign language in B1 or B2 level. Foreign 
language examination is included into national examinations and obligatory for students. 
Students have two options either to take the national examination in the English language held 

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