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European Research Centre onMultilingualism and Language Learning

Võro

The Võro language in education in Estonia

| Regional dossiers series |

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The Võro language in educaTion in esTonia

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This document was published by the Mercator European Research Centre on Multilingualism and Language Learning with financial support from the Fryske Akademy and (until 2007) the European Commission (DG: Culture and Education) and (from 2007 onwards) the Province of Fryslân and the municipality of Leeuwarden.

© Mercator European Research Centre on Multilingualism and Language Learning, 2007

ISSN: 1570 – 1239

The cover of this dossier changed with the reprint of 2008.

The contents of this publication may be reproduced in print, except for commercial pur-poses, provided that the extract is preceded by a full reference to the Mercator European Research Centre on Multilingualism and Language Learning.

This Regional dossier was compiled by Ms Kadri Koreinik, Võro Institute, Võru, Estonia. Unless otherwise stated academic data refer to the 2005/2006 school year. Very helpful comments have been supplied by Dr. Mart Rannut, Tallinn University, Estonia

AcknowledgementsThe author wishes to express her gratitude to Kara D. Brown, Külli Eichenbaum, Kadri Giannakaina Laube, Mariko Faster, Sulev Iva, Triinu Ojar, Prof. Karl Pajusalu, Jan Rahman, Nele Reimann-Truija, and Evar Saar.

From April 2007 onwards Saskia van den Berg has been responsible for the publication of the Mercator Regional Dossiers Series.

Asturian; the Asturian language in education in SpainBasque; the Basque language in education in France (2nd)Basque; the Basque language in education in Spain (2nd)Breton; the Breton language in education in France (2nd)Catalan; the Catalan language in education in France Catalan; the Catalan language in education in SpainCornish; the Cornish language in education in the UKCorsican; the Corsican language in education in France Croatian; the Croatian language in education in Austria Frisian; the Frisian language in education in the Netherlands (4th)Gaelic; the Gaelic language in education in the UK Galician; the Galician language in education in Spain German; the German language in education in Alsace, France (2nd)German; the German language in education in Belgium German; the German language in education in South Tyrol, Italy Hungarian; the Hungarian language in education in Slovakia Irish; the Irish language in education in Northern Ireland (2nd)Irish; the Irish language in education in the Republic of Ireland Kashubian; the Kashubian language in education in Poland Ladin; the Ladin language in education in Italy Lithuanian; the Lithuanian language in education in Poland Meänkieli and Sweden Finnish; the Finnic languages in education in Sweden North-Frisian; the North Frisian language in education in Germany (2nd)Occitan; the Occitan language in education in France Polish; the Polish language in education in LithuaniaRomani and Beash; the Romani and Beash languages in education in Hungary Sami; the Sami language in education in Sweden Scots; the Scots language in education in Scotland Slovak; the Slovak language in education in Hungary Slovene; the Slovene language in education in Austria (2nd)Slovene; the Slovene language in education in Italy (2nd)Sorbian; the Sorbian language in education in Germany Swedish; the Swedish language in education in Finland Turkish; the Turkish language in education in Greece Ukrainian and Ruthenian; the Ukrainian and Ruthenian language in education in PolandVõro; the Võro language in education in EstoniaWelsh; the Welsh language in education in the UK

Contents

Foreword ..............................................................................3

1 Introduction...........................................................5

2 Pre-schooleducation..........................................16

3 Primaryeducation..............................................18

4 Secondaryeducation..........................................21

5 Vocationaleducation..........................................21

6 Highereducation................................................22

7 Adulteducation...................................................24

8 Educationalresearch..........................................25

9 Prospects............................................................26

10 Summarystatistics.............................................28Endnotes ............................................................................29EducationsysteminEstonia..................................................30Referencesandfurtherreading..............................................31Addresses ............................................................................35

Otherwebsitesonminoritylanguages...................................37

WhatcantheMercatorResearchCentreofferyou?..............39

Education and lEssEr usEd languagEs

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thE Võro languagE in Education in Estonia

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Foreword

background The Mercator European Research Centre on Multilingualismand Language Learning (formerly Mercator-Education) aimsat theacquisition,circulation,andapplicationofknowledge inthe field of regional and minority language education. Regional or minority languages are languages that differ from the official languageofthestatewheretheyarespokenandthataretra-ditionallyusedwithinagiventerritorybynationalsofthatstateformingagroupnumericallysmallerthantherestofthestate’spopulation.ForseveralyearsanimportantmeansfortheMer-catorResearchCentretoachievethegoalofknowledgeacqui-sition and circulation has been the Regional dossiers series.Thesuccessofthisseriesillustratesaneedfordocumentsstat-ing briefly the most essential features of the education system ofregionswithanautochthonouslesserusedlanguage.

aim Regional dossiers aim at providing a concise description andbasic statistics about minority language education in a specific regionofEurope.Aspectsthatareaddressedincludefeaturesoftheeducationsystem,recenteducationalpolicies,mainac-tors, legal arrangements, and support structures, as well asquantitativeaspects,suchasthenumberofschools,teachers,pupils, and financial investments. This kind of information can serveseveralpurposesandcanberelevantfordifferenttargetgroups.

target group Policymakers, researchers, teachers,students,and journalistsmay use the information provided to assess developments inEuropean minority language schooling. They can also use aRegional dossier as a first orientation towards further research orasasourceofideasforimprovingeducationalprovisionsintheirownregion.

link with In order to link these regional descriptions with those of na-tional education systems, the format of the regional dossiersfollows the format used by Eurydice, the information networkoneducation inEurope.Eurydiceprovides informationon the

Eurydice


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administration and structure of national education systems inthememberstatesoftheEuropeanUnion.

contents Theremainderofthisdossierconsistsofanintroductiontotheregionunderstudy,followedbysixsectionseachdealingwithaspecific level of the education system. These brief descriptions contain factual information presented in a readily accessibleway.Sectionseighttotencoverresearch,prospects,andsum-mary statistics. For detailed information and political discus-sionsaboutlanguageuseatthevariouslevelsofeducation,thereaderisreferredtoothersourceswithalistofpublications.


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1 Introduction

language TheSouthEstonianvarietiesofBalto-Finnic(Finno-Ugricfam-ily) – including the Võro language – are traditionally seen inpublicdiscourseasdialectsofEstonian.Estoniandialectologydistinguishestwo(orthree)groupsofdialects–NorthEstonian(includingNorthwesternCoastal)andSouthEstonian.StandardEstonian and common Estonian are based mostly on NorthEstonianvarieties.SouthEstonianinturnincludesvarietiesofMulgi,Tartu,Seto,andVõro.Eventhoughthelattertwo,Setoand Võro, are similar, they are differentiated because of dif-ferent religious backgrounds (Orthodox vs. Lutheran) and theidentityofspeakers.

Anumberofresearchershaveindicatedarangeoflinguisticdif-ferencesbetweenNorthEstonianandSouthEstoniandialects.Today,manylinguistsandlaypeopleholdtheviewthatiftherewere no uniting state borders, one would definitely speak of two different languages; South Estonian and North Estonian. Re-searchersalsobelievethereiswell-foundedreasontospeakoftheVõroandSetolanguages,asthelinguisticcontinuumfromNorthtoSouthhasdisappearedandasmostoftheTartuandMulgispeakershavebecomemonolingual(commonEstonian)ormigratedoutoftheregion.

The Võro language (autoglossonym võro or võru kiil) differssignificantly from standard and common Estonian on all linguis-tic aspects – phonology, morphology, syntax, and vocabulary.Themost prominent features include vowel harmony, a glottalstopinnominativeplural,adifferentthirdpersonsingularintheindicativemood,andanegativeparticlefollowingtheverb(seeVõro-SetoLanguage,1999).Speech intelligibilitymaydependon circumstances: the conversation topic, a listener’s extralin-guistic skills, etc. For instance, some people with non-SouthEstonian languagebackgroundsmaycomprehendmostof theutterances, whereas others may demonstrate complete igno-rance. No special empirical analysis has been made of Võrointelligibility.Thesub-varietiesofVõrohavedifferent features,


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butarecomprehensible throughout the languagearea.Today,theVõro languagehasbecomemixedwithcommonEstonianand has levelled mostly due to influences from common Esto-nian.However,researchhasalsofoundsomeinternalchanges,which have occurred in simplifying tendencies (see Iva, 2001fordetails).

South Estonian separated from the rest of the Balto-FinnicgroupasearlyastheperiodBC.Intheperiodbetweenthe16thand19thcenturies,twoliterarylanguages–theTallinnandTartulanguages(tallinna ja tartu keel)–wereinuseinNorthernandSouthern Estonia, respectively. The old literary (Tartu) SouthEstonianlanguagewasusedinSouthernEstoniainchurches,courts, schools, print media, and administration (excludingMulgi and Seto-speaking areas) (e.g. Agenda Parva 1622;Wastne Testament/NewTestament1686;Wastne Wõro keele ABD raamat/NewABCBookforVõro1885;anewspaper“Tarto maa rahwa Näddali-Leht” in1806),andofcourse inpersonalsettings.Fromthebeginningof the20thcentury, thelanguagegraduallystartedtodisappearfrompublic,writtenuse–mainlyas a result of market forces and political decisions.1 Still, thestandardisationprocessesanddominationofNorthEstonianinpublicusedidnot immediatelydriveall thespeakersofSouthEstonian to switch languages. Probably, the main process oflanguageshiftoccurredbetween1960-1980.


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The South Estonian (Võro, Seto, Mulgi, Tartu) language area with its enclaves (Lutsi, Leivu, and Kraasna). Source: Iva & Pajusalu, 2004.

ThenewriseofSouthEstonianstartedwiththeinstitutionalisa-tionofVõro.TheVõromovementinitiatedthisdevelopmentattheendof the1980s.After thecollapseof theSoviet regime,simultaneouslywiththeso-calledEstoniansecondawakening2,the Võro movement (with the non-profit Võro Society VKKF on theforefront)becameactiveinlanguageplanningandmainte-nanceactivities.


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Since that time, thenewstandard, themodernSouthEstonianliterarylanguage(Võro),hasbeenelaborated.Theguidingprin-ciples of the new standard have been to find a compromise between sharp sociolinguistic markers, to maintain specific South Estonian features, and finally to follow the tradition of another standard, the old South Estonian literary language (Tartu).TheprocessofstandardisationhasledtothecompilationofabilingualVõro-Estoniandictionary,publishedwith15,000entriesin2002.Inspiteoftheriseinthenumberofpublications,considerablescep-ticismandcriticismtowardsthestandardexists–bothamongthespeech community and among Võro activists themselves. Themain opposing arguments have varied from the homogenisingeffectsof thestandardon thevernacularuse to the fearofse-cessionism.Moreover,modernVõrospellingdoesnothave thesupportofwideraudiencesbecauseitusesletterspeculiarinandalientostandardEstonian(ytodifferentiatearisingmiddlevowelfromavowelwithoutrising,andqforaglottalstop).Thespellingdebate is not over yet – some publications use one specific spell-ingsystemwhileothershaveadoptedadifferentone.

In1995,astateResearch&Developmentinstitution–theVõroInstitute–wasfoundedinordertopreserveandrevitalisetheVõro language and culture. As the centre of Võro languagepolicydevelopment3, the Instituteengages inactivities includ-ing research on vocabulary, phonology, grammar, toponyms,languageattitudes,varioussociolinguisticsfeatures; thepubli-cationofacademicseries,teachingmaterials,otherbooks,andaudiotapes; and finally the organisation of various events such asteachers’in-servicetraining,seminars,andconferences.

Another sign of institutionalisation is presented by the useof Võro in the media. Võro occasionally appeared in localnewspapers as early as the end of the tsarist era, mainly asreaders’ contributions. There were few media texts in Võroduring thepre-warperiodand in the1940s-1950s.Starting inthe1960s, localcountypapersusedVõromostly inpejorativejokes.Towardstheendof1980sintheglasnostperiodagrow-ingnumberofopinionarticlesand featureswerepublished in


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Võro.Later,whenEstoniansparticipatedinayachttriparoundthe world in 1999, the local paper published stories of thetravelogue in Võro. In the early 1990s Võru Radio presentedbrief broadcasts – mainly news, children’s programmes, andinterviews with local people. Today, the national radio broad-casts 5-minute news programmes in Võro every other week.On national TV, a number of documentaries and talk showswereproducedfollowingtheStateProgramme“SouthEstonianLanguageandCulture” (hereaftercalledProgramme).Võro isalsopresentontheInternet.Since2000,theregularnewspaper“UmaLeht“(UL)hassubmittedonlineandprint(10,000issues)editionseveryotherweek.ULcanbecharacterisedasarathertypicalexampleofcommunityandnon-mainstreammedia.ULuses the simplified variant of new Võro spelling standard (with-outthelettersqandy)andtheonlineandprintededitionsareconsulted regularlyoroccasionallyby75%of the residentsoftheVõruandPõlvacountiesaged15-74:atotalnumberofap-proximately32,000people(SaarPoll,2005).

In general, the institutionalisation of Võro cannot be seenseparately from the Võro Movement. The Võro Movement isa rather loosely organised movement and includes the non-profit Võro Society VKKF and some other associations of civic engagement,suchasvillageorganisationsthathavecomeintoexistenceintheareaandelsewhere.ItalsoincludestheVõroInstituteandanumberofindividualactivistsandinterestedpeo-ple.TheVõromovementhasalsobeencalledaregionalmove-ment. According to the statutes of the non-profit Võro Society VKKF, the main tasks of the Võro movement include supporting Võro and Seto culture, and therefore the accumulation of allmaterialandintellectualresources;favouringandfosteringbothwrittenandoraluseofVõroandSeto inall lifedomains;andfinally assisting and promoting the maintenance and positive appraisalofVõroandSetoculturalheritageinallsocialstrata.

Thesomewhatparadoxicalsituationofbeingsupportedbythestateandsimultaneouslynotbeing recognisedasa languagehas ledVõroactivists tosearch for international support.The


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Võro Society VKKF was one of the initiators of EstBLUL, the non-governmental and non-profit cover organisation for Esto-nianlinguisticminorities.EstBLULisalsoamemberstatecom-mitteeofEBLUL.

population TheVõro-speakingareahasapopulationofabout60,000peo-ple.Thisareaofapproximately4200km2constitutedasingleadministrativeunit–VõruCounty–between1783-1920,butiscurrentlydividedbetween4counties:Põlva,Tartu,Valga,andVõru.Itstemsfromparishes,unitsofchurchcongregationandcultural communication4, which made up Võru County in thelastquarterofthe18thcentury.ItsearlierparishesdatebacktotheMiddleAges,withthelaterparishesbeingformedbetween1636and1694.During theperiod from the13thuntil the16thcentury,theVõro-speakingareabelongedtotheEpiscopacyofTartu,togetherwiththeSouthernTartuarea.Betweenthe17thand18thcenturies,theareabelongedtoTartuCounty.

Accordingtotheresultsofthe1998survey,theshareofthosewhoclaimedfrequentandoccasionaluseofVõrois90%intheage groups 25-64 (ca 29-30,000 people). This figure reflects both understanding and speaking the language. However, itdoesnottakeintoaccountthefactthatconsiderablemigrationtook place to areas outside the region. It also does not con-siderthemorefrequentuseofVõroamongpeopleover65(ca10,000)northosewhoreportpassiveuse.Asfor innermigra-tion,uptotheearly1980surbanisationprocessesprevailedinEstonia.Later,deconcentration5processestookplace(Ainsaar,2004,p.11).Urbanisationalsoexplains themigrationpatternsoftheVõro-speakingcommunity.AlthoughtherearenoreliabledataforEstonianregionalmigration,manyperipheries–includ-ing the Võro-speaking area – lost their population to biggercentres(TallinnandTartu)asearlyasthe1960sand1970s.Inthe1990s,VõruCountytogetherwithotherSouthernandCen-tralEstoniancountiesexperienced thegreatestmigration loss(ESA,2003).Consideringallcircumstances, themostrealisticestimation of the number of people speaking Võro would notexceedatotalof50,000ofactiveandpassiveusers.


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No data are available on reading and writing abilities, but asthe new standard was elaborated recently – towards the endof the 1990s – the overall figure of readers in Võro cannot be high. The 1998 survey confirms that Võro is a less prestigious language–women,youngerresidents,peoplewithhigheredu-cation,andurbandwellers reported less frequentuse.Võro isspokenmostlybymen,middle-agedandseniorcitizens,thelesseducated, mostly in rural settlements, mostly with neighbour-hoodpeopleandinthelocalvillagecommunity.ThecasestudyheldinSute(Sutõ)in1991demonstratesthattheusersofVõrocanbedividedintothreegroups:informantsbornbefore1935;thosebornbetween1935and1960,andthirdlythosebornafter1960. The first group reported preferring Võro to the standard (L1speakers).ThosewhowerebornbeforeWorldWarIshowedmanyarchaicfeaturesintheirlanguageuse.Themiddlegroupdemonstratedprettylevelleduse,withsignsofinterference;itdif-feredradicallyfromtheoldestgroup.PeoplerespondedinEsto-nianwhenapproached–butmostofthemonlylearnedEstonianin school. There were large individual in-group differences intheyoungestgroup.Accordingtosomeestimates,theVõrolan-guageismovingfromStage6toStage7ofFishman’sGradedIntergenerational Disruption Scale for Threatened Languages(Fishman, 1991) – from “some intergenerational use” to “onlyadultsbeyondchild-bearingagespeakthelanguage”.However,languageshiftoccursdifferentlyinurbanandruralareas,inthetraditionalVõrospeakingareaanddiaspora,indifferentdomainsanddifferentsectors.Forexample,itisabsolutelynecessarytocomprehend Võro if one works in the local office of the Estonian AgriculturalRegisterandInformationBoard,whichallocatesthedifferenttypesofEUagriculturalandruraldevelopmentsupport,orifoneworksasadoctortreatingseniorpatients.

language status Today, the legal status of the Võro language is not specified. In2004,aproposalwasmade to theGovernmentofEstoniatorecogniseSouthEstonian(includingVõro)asadistinctlan-guage in order to improve its prestige, to widen its domains,and to remove the legalvacuum.Theproposal tochange theLanguageActwas initiatedby theCouncilof theProgramme.


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Asthegovernmentcommissionthatwasconsequentlyformedtoelaborateon thedraftofchangesfor theLanguageActdidnot reach a consensus, the political decision was not made,and the issue is still under discussion. For example, in somepolicydocuments–theDevelopmentStrategyoftheEstonianLanguage (2004-2010)–SouthernEstoniandialectsarecon-sidered to be the regional special forms of Estonian. Still, incontrast, all South Estonian varieties are defined as languages inanotherprogrammatictextfromtheStateProgramme“SouthEstonianLanguageandCulture”.

status of The status of the Võro language is not specified other than in the Development Strategy of the Estonian Language (2004-2010). The National Curriculum does not specify any otherlanguagesthanEstonian(thestate languageaccordingto theConstitution)andforeignlanguages.

education AccordingtotheEducationAct,theobjectivesofeducationaretocreatefavourableconditionsforthedevelopmentoftheindividu-al,thefamilyandtheEstoniannation,includingethnicminorities.It should create favourable conditions for the development ofeconomic,political,andculturallifeinEstoniansociety,andalsofornatureconservationwithinthecontextoftheglobaleconomyand global culture. Lastly, education should shape individualswhorespectandabideby the law,andcreateopportunities foreveryonetoengageincontinuouslearning(Eurybase).

Theorganisationoftheeducationsystemcanbedescribedasfollows:childrenstartinpre-primaryeducation,followedbynineyearsofbasiceducation:primaryandlowersecondarygeneralor vocational education that together form a single structure.Then follows upper secondary general and vocational, post-secondary non-tertiary, and tertiary education (cf. “EducationsysteminEstonia”,p.32)(Eurybase).

Pre-primary education is provided in crèches and nurseryschools, where groups are formed in a pre-school childcareinstitution. Education is compulsory for children to the extent

education

language

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specified by law. Compulsory school attendance starts at the age of 7 (on October 1st of the current year) and lasts untilcompletionofbasiceducation(untiltheendof9thyear)oruntilthepupilis17yearsold.

Basicschoolincludesyears1-9andistreatedasasinglestruc-ture.Thisstructureisdividedintothreestages:stageI–years1-3,stageII–years4-6,andstageIII–years7-9.Anuppersec-ondaryschoolprovidessecondaryeducationandincludesyears10-12.Vocationalschoolsaredividedintoschoolsthatoperateonthebasisofbasiceducationandschoolsthatoperateonthebasisofsecondaryeducation.Therearealsoschoolsthatoffercurriculaonthebasisofbothbasicandsecondaryeducation.

private and Private schools do not play an important role in the Estonianeducational system.The share of pupils in the private sectorofferingprimaryandsecondaryeducationislessthan3%ofthetotalnumberofpupils(EHIS6).

bilingual BilingualeducationisofferedindifferentEstonianschoolsthatfocusonforeignlanguages,e.g.French,English,German,andwherethesubjectistaughtbyusingaforeignlanguageasthelanguage of instruction (cf. Content and Language IntegratedLearning–CLIL).ThesamemethodisusedinRussianschoolsinEstonia,andfrom2007amoresystematictransitiontobilin-gualeducationisbeingcreatedinRussianschools.ThereisamunicipalityschoollocatedinVõru–theVõruRussianGymna-sium–thathad134studentsin2005(EHIS).

administration TheLawonBasicSchoolandGymnasiumregulatesthecurricu-lum, governance, and administration of municipality and stateschools(andalsoofprivateschoolsiftheActonprivateschoolsdoesnotstatedifferently).TheNationalCurriculumisenforcedbytheGovernmentActof2002.AstheVõrolanguageclassesarenotincludedintheNationalCurriculum,theinterestinteach-ing and learning depends on each particular school and themunicipality thatowns theschool.SchooladministrationsmayinitiateteachingVõro:aschoolcanproposetoamunicipalityto

public

education forms


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introduceforexampleVõrolanguageclasses.Themunicipalitycouncil thenmakesadecisionaccording to theirprioritiesandbudgetconstraints.However,asmostoftheteachingofVõroisfundedbytheProgramme,themunicipalitiesinprinciplefacenoobstaclesother than the interestsofpupilsorparentsand theavailabilityofskilledandmotivatedteachers.Inmostcases,theVõroInstituteisresponsiblefortheentireprojectofteaching:forthegrants,fortheadministration,andformonitoringtheprocess.Still,someschoolsandmunicipalitieshaveagreedtoincludethesubjectintotheschoolcurriculumasanelectivesubject.Inthislattercase,thecostsofteachers’feesarepartlycoveredbythemunicipalitybudgetandpartlybytheProgramme.

inspection The state officials of the Ministry of Education and Research and the County Governors (the officials of county government) areresponsibleforschool inspection.AstheteachersofVõroarecontractedbytheVõroInstitute,theinstitutealsokeepsaneyeontheteachingprocess,ontheprogressachieved,andonmeetingtherequirements.

support TheteachingofVõro,in-serviceteachertraining,theorganisa-tion of extracurricular events, and the publication of teachingmaterials in Võro are all funded by the Programme. Since itwas founded, the Võro Institute has worked on the develop-ment of teaching materials and has gradually introduced theVõro language classes – first by contacting schools and training interestedteachers.Althoughtherehavebeendifferentmodulesforbeginnersandadvanced learners, forgeneralists(teacherswhoteachmostsubjects,duringgrades1-4)andspecialists,themaintargetgrouphasbeenformedbythepractisinggeneralistswho are involved in teaching Võro. The teachers meet regu-larly–onceamonthoreveryothermonthbetweenSeptemberand June – in the institute where their pedagogical and otherteaching-relatedproblemsareaddressedanddiscussed inaninformalround-tablesetting.Usually,aspecialguestlecturerisinvited tospeakonaspecial topic.Furthermore, thereareoc-casionalseminars(heldonceortwiceayear)onvarioustopics(e.g.SouthEstonian folklore) forseparate targetgroups (gen-

structure


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eralists, teachersofmusicorof localculturalhistoryand locallore).Inaddition,alonger(one-week)introductorycourseisheldfornewteachers.Theintroductorycourseincludesanoverviewof local language,history, folklore,methodological issues,andavailable sourcesanddatabases.The lecturersareboth fromwithinandoutside the institute.Here, the instituteco-operateswith other educational institutions, e.g. the University ofTartu,the University ofTallinn, the Language Immersion Centre, theEstonianLiteraryMuseum,andothers.Studyvisitsaroundtheregionareorganisedeveryyear,whenteachersareintroducedtosomeofthelocalculturalaspects(locallore,culturalhistory,handicraft, literary tradition).As formethodology, the institute’scoordinatorforin-servicetraininghasbeenactiveintheacqui-sition of knowledge through the experiences of other (small)languagecommunitiesandthroughcooperationwiththesecom-munities.Over theyears,around50 teachershaveenrolled inthe in-service training programme. In 2005/2006, classes andseminarsweregivendealingwithlanguageimmersion,folktra-ditions(suchascuttingcross-trees),andlocallore.

TheVõroInstitute–tosomeextentincollaborationwithotherorganisations–and theexperts ithascontractedhavedevel-oped and published a number of teaching materials. Theseinclude:aprimer,areader,aworkbookfortheprimer,awork-bookfortheaudiotape,severalaudioandvideotapes,asongbook,anillustratedvocabulary,andareaderforlocal(cultural)history.Theinstitutehasalsodevelopedthecurriculumforthebasicschoolsinthearea.Thecurriculumforgymnasiumsisonitsway.Furthermore,“Täheke”,theoldestchildren’smagazinein Estonian (first published in 1960), aimed at children between theagesof5and10,hasalreadyseentwoissuespublishedinVõro:inFebruaryandNovember2005.TheVõroversionwasdistributed without charge among first-graders and those who studythelanguageintheVõro-speakingarea.


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2 Pre-school education

target group Pre-primaryeducationistargetedatchildrenundertheageof7.Thereareupto35institutionsofpre-schoolchildcare(crèchesandnurseryschoolgroups) in theVõro languagearea,allop-eratinginEstonianonly.Onlyafewplaygroup-likeinitiativesofVõro-speakingparentsareknowntoexist.

structure Since2005,therehasbeenonesmall(5-6children)playgroupforchildrenbetween theagesof3-6and theirparents,whichmeets (irregularly, mostly monthly) in a local county centre’screativity school. Their activities are limited to the singing oflocalfolksongsandplayingdancegames.Theinstructorsandparents try tokeepVõroas the languageusedandstimulatethe children’s use of Võro. One of the problems encounteredisbadtimingandaccess:manyinterestedparentswouldhavelikedtojointhegroupbutlivefarawayfromthecentreormeet-ings were held during the afternoon when parents were stillworkingandchildrenwereinnurseryschools.

Inaddition,anotherspontaneousclub-likeactivitywasinitiatedin2004byaruralcommunity:inHaanja(Haani),thelocalmenhaveformedanirregulargroupofpre-schoolchildren(approxi-mately10)withanobjective to learnaboutand tovalue theirhomelanguage,nature,localidentity,andcustoms.

legislation Pre-school education is regulated by the Law on Pre-SchoolChildInstitutionsandgovernmentregulationsontheframeworkcurriculum for pre-primary education. Section 8 of the LawstatesthatteachingandlearninginthoseinstitutionstakesplaceinEstonian,andthatitmaybereplacedbysomeotherlanguageif the localgovernmentcouncildecides thisshouldbeso.TheMinistryofEducationandResearchandtheCountyGovernorsareresponsibleforthesupervisionofpre-schooleducation.

language use TheVõro language isnotusedasamediumof instructionortaughtasasubjectexceptintheinitiativesinVõru,thecountycentreandinHaanja(Haani).


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teaching Asnospecialteachingmaterialsareavailable, instructorsusevariousmaterials issuedby the instituteorbyothers (e.g. theCD“Laulamilatsilõ,laulamilatsiga”/“Let’ssingtothechildren,let’s sing with the children”). Moreover, the instructors aretrainedinfolkmusicandhavefolkloreresourcesoftheirown.

statistics The overall (precise) figure of the number of pre-school children is not available for the area; partly because the statistics areorganisedalongadministrativeborders,whichsplitsupthelan-guagearea.Theclosestestimateis2,200in2005.PlaygroupsinVõrototalsome20children.

material


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3 Primary education

target group Primary education includes years 1-9 in basic school and isgivenuntiltheendofthecompulsoryschoolage,i.e.mostly16(17).The Võro language and related subjects (local (cultural)history,literature,andfolkmusic)aretaughtinhalfthenumberofschools in the languagearea(20outof49).TheVõro lan-guageistaughtinallthreebasicschoolstages:inmostcasesas an extracurricular activity and as an optional subject in five schools.

structure ThecurriculumcoveringthesubjecttheVõrolanguageandcul-tureisorganisedinthreestages:ABCinVõroinStageI(years1-3), local(cultural)historyinVõroinStageII(years4-6),andVõro language and literature in Stage III (years 7-9). As thecurriculumdoesnotbelongtothenationalcurriculum,theVõroInstitute–asProgrammecontractorandgrantholder–isrespon-sibleforittosomeextent.

legislation As there is no institutional support other than that offered bytheProgrammeortheInstitute,onecannotreallystatethatthiscurriculumhasmuchinstitutionalpower.However,theNationalCurriculumAct(§266,(2))statesthattheNationalCurriculum,in-school agreement on learning orientations and character-istics should form the starting point in the design of a schoolcurriculum, taking into account the regional needs, the will ofparentsandpupils,andhumanandmaterialresources.Thisop-tionofintroducingVõroasanoptionalsubjecthassofarbeenembracedbyonlyonefourthofthenumberofschools(5outof20)teachingVõro.

language use InstageI,thefocusofteachingisonthelanguageasasubjectitself;itisalsothelanguageofinstruction.Duringthefollowingstages,thelanguagekeepsitsimportanceasasubject.DuringStageI,70academichours(45minutesperweek,for35weeksin a period of 2 years) include an introductory part, develop-ment of comprehension, and the acquisition of basic readingskills.ThosewhohavepassedStageIareexpectedtobeable


19

tounderstandlocalspeech,read,andvalueit.Additionalactivi-tiesincludeplayingsonganddancegames,singingfolksongs,andlearningpoemsinVõro.StageIIandStageIIIbothoffer35academichours.Inparticular,afteracquiringsomecommunica-tive skills, children are encouraged to study local history andliterature,buttheyalsokeepimprovingtheirlanguageskillsbymeeting native speakers and people from local museums, byconductingregionalstudiesandparticipatinginpoetry-readingcontests,amongotherthings.

Nevertheless,severalproblemsremain–mostofwhichpartlyoriginate from the lackof support that thenational curriculumcouldprovide.First,anopportunitytolearntheVõrolanguageand culture depends on the interest and possibilities of eachschool.Moreover,italsodependsonwhetheraparticulargroupadviser,formadviserorteacher(mostoftenageneralist)iswill-ingandable to teachVõro. Ifapupilhappens tobeyoungerorolderandhappensnottobeinthatteacher’sgrouphis/herchances of taking part in classes decrease. In some cases,assembling interested pupils from the various groups for theextracurricular activity solves this problem. In addition to thismore or less random situation, one hour of studies per weekonlyallowspupilstobecomeslightlyacquaintedwiththeissue– it does not help them learn to speak the language fluently, forexample.Therefore, thesituationfavourspupilswithsomeexisting linguisticbackgroundofVõroandnotthosewhostartlearning fromscratch.Finally, teachers inStage I havediver-gent linguistic and methodological (generalists) backgrounds,andexistingin-servicetrainingforteachersofferedbytheVõroInstitute cannot meet all the requirements set by (bilingual)teaching(close language,mixed forms, levelleduse,handlingcodeswitching,etc.).

teaching Most teaching materials are developed, published, and pro-vided by the Võro Institute. They include a reader/textbook(Võrokiilne lugõmik, 1996), a primer (ABC kiräoppus, 1998),asongcollection(Tsirr-virrlõokõnõ,1999),aworkbookfortheprimer (TüüvihkABC kiräoppusõ manoq), a workbook for the

material


20

audiotape(Tsiamäeluuq,2001),a local(cultural)historybook(Võromaakodolugu,2004),anillustratedvocabulary(Piltsyna-stu, 2004), and several audio and/or (audio-)visual materials.Therearemanymoretextsthatmaybeused–andinfactarecurrently being used – for teaching as well: various fiction titles, poetry,atravelogue,printmedia,andaseriespresentingchil-dren’sowncreations.

statistics Although the Võro language is taught in slightly fewer thanhalfthenumberofschoolsinthelanguagearea(20outof49),theshareofpupilsstudyingit is lowcomparedwiththewholestudentbodyinthearea’ssinglestructure–slightlyover5%in2005/2006(about380outof7200)(EHIS;VõroInstitute).


21

4 Secondary education

Secondaryeducationisofferedinelevengymnasiumsandsec-ondaryschoolsinthearea.Atthemoment,theVõrolanguageisnot taughtasasubjectorusedasamediumof instructionanywhere.

5 Vocational education

TherearethreeVocationalEducationTraining(VET)schoolsinthearea.TheVõrolanguageisnottaughtasasubjectorusedasamediumofinstructionanywhere.


22

6 Higher education

structure There are no universities in the area: tertiary education isprovided inbiggerVETschools.However, theVõro languagecanbestudiedattheUniversityofTartu.TartuhasofferedthepossibilityofstudyingtheVõrolanguageasadiscipline/subjectsince1996,initiallyunderthetitle“TheVõrodialect”(awardedwith1credit,equalling0.7ECTSintheEuropeanCreditTrans-ferSystem).From2003onwards,thedisciplinehasbeencalled“South Estonian I” for beginners and “South Estonian II” foradvancedstudentsandgraduates–awardedwith2credits(1.3ECTS).Inaddition,aseriesof lecturescalled“ModernSouth-ern-EstonianLiterature”wasgivenin2004/2005.

legislation InEstoniahighereducation isregulatedbyfourdifferentacts:the Universities Act, the Private Schools Act, the InstitutionsofProfessionalHigherEducationAct,and theOrganisationofResearchandDevelopmentAct.Thoseactsincludereferencestothelanguageof instructiontobeused.TheUniversitiesActstatesthatthelanguageofinstructionatuniversitiesisEstonianandthatthecouncilofauniversitycandecideupontheuseofotherlanguages(§22).ThePrivateSchoolsActstatesthatthelanguage of instruction of private schools is specified in the statutes of the private schools (§15). Finally, the InstitutionsofProfessionalHigherEducationActstatesthat institutionsofprofessionalhighereducationshoulduseEstonianasthelan-guageofinstruction(§17).

language use Thelanguageofinstructionofalltheabove-mentionedcoursesisVõro.So far, twoBA thesesandoneMA thesishavebeendefended in Võro. In collaboration with the Chair of Historyand Dialectology of Estonian Language in the Department ofEstonianandFinno-UgricLinguistics(hereafterDepartment)oftheUniversity ofTartu, the Institutehaspublished a seriesofacademicpublications(PublicationsoftheVõroInstitute/VõroInstituudi Toimõndusõq), including articles in Võro, Estonian,Finnish, Karelian and Kven – with summaries in English and in Võro.TheyearbookoftheCentreforSouthEstonianLanguage


23

andCulturalStudiesat theUniversityofTartu(hereafterCen-tre)includesarticlesinVõro,mostlyaboutlinguistics,literature,and folklore. Võro is used during the annual interdisciplinaryconferenceorganisedbytheInstituteandtheDepartment.

teacher training TheCentreofferedaspecialcourseof12credits(8ECTS)in2002/2003. The course included grammar, language history,archaeology,ethnology,andliterature.Thegraduateswere16practising teachers. Current teachers are trained in the VõroInstitute through different regular and irregular courses (seeabove).This,ofcourse,doesnotmeetalltheneedsconnectedwith the teaching of Võro. There is a permanent shortage ofmotivated and skilled teachers. The problem is usually facedby the Võro Institute looking actively for new skilled teachers(languageskills),byusingandstrengtheningpersonalcontacts,by negotiating with potential teachers and motivating themby providing a small fee in addition to their salaries from theProgramme.

statistics Twohundredstudentshavebeenawardedcredits forpassingthissubjectandinthe2005/2006springsemester20studentsregisteredfor the lectures(ÕISdatabase,UniversityofTartu).However, overall figures must be higher because the elec-troniccreditdatabasewasintroducedonlyin2002andpreviousrecordshavenotbeentransferredcorrectly.


24

7 Adult education

The Institute has some experience with teaching interestedadultsin-house,whichtookplacein2004.Althoughinitialinter-estwasconsiderable,theparticipationremainedratherlimitedmostly due to busy schedules on the part of learners. Thecoursewasorganisedafterworkinghours.However,whenthetargetgroupshowsaninterestandresourcesareavailable,theInstituteisreadytodevelopthecoursefurtherandofferitagain,butnospecialeffortsaremadetoactivelyadvertisethecourse.In2001/2002,anothersmallgroupof3-4peoplegathered forconversation lessons in the Centre in Tartu. In 2003-2005, agroupof6-10interestedFinnishspeakingpeoplelearnedVõrointheInstituteandinTuglas-Seura,Helsinki.

Since 1989, there have been annual (rotating) open summeruniversities – Kaika Summer Universities – throughout the Võro-speakingarea,usuallyheld inAugust.TheseareaimedatpeopleinterestedintheVõrolanguageandliterature,theatreandmusic, local folklore, traditions,history,etc.The languageusedduringclasses isVõro (withsomeexceptions).Coursesalso include workshops and activities for children. Kaika Sum-merUniversitybrings togetherpeoplewhohave their roots inthe Võro-speaking area and are interested in Võro language,history,andculture.Ithasbeenatraditionaleventfor200-300Võro-speakerseveryyear.


25

8 Educational research

Educational research addressing the issues of schooling inVõro has so far been modest and random. The only seriousattempt to study schooling in Võro is the work done by Kara D. Brown, as a doctoral candidate of Indiana University. Asthesubjectisoptionalanddoesnotbelongtothenationalcur-riculum,shedescribes theVõroclasses– like theother localaspects of culture – as peripheral in the school environmentorschoolscape7(Brown,2005).Althoughtheperipheralstatusmaygiveteacherssomeindependenceinteaching,theyhaveclaimedaneedforsupportandlegitimacythatthenationalcur-riculumcouldprovide.HerPh.D.thesisprovidesmoreinforma-tiononthesubject8.

Accordingtotheresultsofarepresentativestudyheldin1998,mostpeoplebetweentheagesof25-64claimedthattheteach-ing Võro as an optional subject would be a desired measuretomaintainthelanguage.Mostofthem(67%)didnotsupportcompulsorylearningofthelanguage.


26

9 Prospects

Although local schoolscapes do not symbolically support theuse of Võro, outreach and other activities show a growinginterest in the topic. Võro is increasingly used in public signsand texts,mostlywithmarketingobjectives (e.g.campaigningfor local elections, commercials and advertisements for localproducts).MostofVõrotoponymeshavebeenincludedonthebasicmapofEstoniaasparallelnames.However,onlysomemunicipalities have made those endonyms official. Since 2000, theProgrammehassupportedanumberofprojectsandactivi-tiesinVõroandinotherSouthEstonianvarietiesonacompeti-tive basis. Despite opposing claims against increasing publicuseofthefunctionallyinferiorvariety,localpeoplesupportitinmoreambiguousdomainssuchasliterature,theatreandmusic,referredtoascultureinthecommonsenseoftheterm(cf.Pa-jusaluetal.,2000).

As for education, the Estonian Ministry of Education and Re-search initiated a commission, whose task it was to evaluatethe possibilities of teaching local themes and varieties in thenationalcurriculum,todevelopandelaborateacircularinclud-ing suggestions for implementation of local themes in schoolcurricula, and to make proposals for the introduction of localtopicsintothenewversionofthenationalcurriculum.In2005,thecommissionconcluded that local themesand teaching lo-calvarietiesshouldbeincludedinthenewnationalcurriculum,atleastasageneraltopic.Atthesametime,theInstitutewasplanningtointroduceVõroinsecondaryeducationaswell:thecurriculumofSouthEstonianlanguageandculturalhistoryhasbeendrafted,andworkonthechrestomathyisproceeding.

Despite a growing public interest and efforts exhibited bylanguage activists, one has to admit that although the com-munity isstillbilingual, it is involved inarapidprocessof lan-guage shift. Other market-driven changes are not supportiveof education in Võro either. For example, there is a problemstemmingfromtheclosingdownofsmallruralschools.Dueto


27

economicbackwardness,urbanisation,andanegativepopula-tionincrease,theruralareashave‘lost’manypeopletourbancentres, and several schools were closed down following therationalisation of the educational system. Paradoxically, ruralschoolsareandhavebeencrucial in teachingVõro formulti-ple reasons:pupilscanact inanatural linguisticbackground,teachers – and especially headmasters – are more willing toco-operate, and rural communities may serve as functioninglanguageenvironments.

Thestrongnational identityexpressedbyEstoniansseemstowork against local identities: it is difficult to maintain multiple identities if dominating ideologies and the national educationsystem do not provide much support for them other than theidentification of the state and of national and ethnic minorities. Also, the spellingdisputeactsasa confusing factor for inter-estedVõro-speakers.ManyholdtheviewthatstandardisationofVõro isworkingagainst localvariantsandsubdialects.Thecurrentadministrativedivisiondoesnotsupportthe(perhapsal-readylost)unityofthelanguagearea,becausethedistributionofservicestakesplacealongdifferentborders.Otherproblemsseemrathersimilartothoseexperiencedbyotherlesser-usedlanguages:smallbudgets,achronic lackof funding,amarketfavouringmorewidelyusedlanguages,andsoon.

The nearest objectives and expectations held by languageactivists would include: an increase in the number of schoolswhere Võro is taught and in the number of pupils who havebeen familiarised with Võro. Moreover, it is vital to bring theconcept of family into the picture again, i.e. to motivate anincreasing number of parents and grandparents with smallchildren to use Võro with the next generation. This may beachieved by introducing different measures, by utilising pos-sibilitiesofferedbyICTandtheworldwideweb,andbybookingcontinuousprogressineducationalandrelatedresearch.


28

Võro total

Primary school pupilsin the area approx.380 approx.7200

Students in university/higher education

20 notavailable

Teachers 29 notavailable

10 Summary statistics

Numbers of students and teachers enrolled in or teaching Võro and total number of pupils in 2005-2006

Source: EHIS; Võro Institute


29

Endnotes

1 SomeauthorsbelievethatthedestinyofoldliterarySouthEstonianwasdecidedalready in the16th century,when itwasfullofvitality(seeRoss,2005).

2 The first Estonian awakening occurred in the 1880-1890s.3 Languageplanningandpolicy(LPP)isseenhereas“delib-

erate efforts to influence the behavior of others with respect totheacquisition,structure,orfunctionalallocationsoftheirlanguagecodes”(Cooper,1989,p.45).

4 In Estonia parishes never had self government. However,populationwasrecordedbychurches.Thusthecenturiesofserfdomandrestrictedmigrationresultedinsomeparochialculturalunity

5 Ainsaarusesdeconcentrationforanexodusofthepopula-tion from larger towns into less densely populated areas.Suburbanisation is a flow of the population into the nearest hinterland of bigger towns. Finally, counterurbanisation ismigrationintomoredistantareas.(Ainsaar,2004,p.14).

6 Eesti Hariduse Infosüsteem: http://ehis.hm.ee/ Retrieved:November15,2005.

7 Physicalandsocialsetting inwhich teachingand learningtakesplace(Brown,2005,p.79).

8 Kara D. Brown. Learning the Language: International, Na-tional & Local dimensions of Regional-Language Education in Estonia. ©Kara D. Brown ALL RIGHTS RESERVED


30

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31

References and further reading

Brown, K. D. (2005). Estonian schoolscapes and the margin-alizationofregionalidentityineducation.European Education,37(3),78-89.

Cooper, R.L. 1989. Language Planning an Social Change.Cambridge:CambridgeUP.

Ehala, M. (2007). Sustainability of double ethnic identity inmajority-minority settings: The case of Estonian and Võro. InR.Blokland&C.Hasselblatt (eds.),Language and Identity in the Finno-Ugric World. Proceedings of the Fourth International Symposium at the University of Groningen, May 17-19, 2006.Maastricht:Shaker2007.(StudiaFenno-UgricaGroningana4).Ehala, M. & Niglas, K. (accepted). Empirical evaluation of a mathematicalmodelofethnolinguisticvitality:thecaseofVõro”.Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development.

Eller, K. (1999). Võro-Seto Language.Võru:VõroInstituut.

ESA,2003.Migration in Transitional Estonia (originallyRänne üleminekuaja Eestis). Tallinn: Estonian Statistical Office.

Eurybase.The education system in Estonia 2006/07.

Fishman, J. A. (1991). Reversing language shift. Theoretical and empirical foundations of assistance to threatened languag-es.Clevedon:MultilingualMatters.

Hennoste, T., Keevallik, L., & Pajusalu, K. (1999). Introduction. International Journal of the Sociology of Language,139,1-16.

Iva,S.(2005).GlottalstopinVõroSouthEstonian.LinguisticaUralica,2,123-134.


32

Iva,T.(2001).Võronnykykielenkehityssuunnistasivistyneistönverbinkäytön kannalta. In N. Määttä & H. Sulkala (eds.), Tut-kielmia vähemmistökielistä Jäämereltä Liivinrantaan. Vähem-mistökielten tutkimus- ja koulutusverkoston raportti III. Oulu:Oulunyliopistonsuomenjasaamenkielenjalogopedianlaitok-senjulkaisujan:o20.(pp.143-147).

Iva, S. & Pajusalu, K. (2004). The Võro language: Historical development and present situation. In I. Šuplinska (ed.), Re-gional Languages in the New Europe. Proceedings of the In-ternational Scientific Conference I, Rēzekne 20–23 May 2004,(pp.58–63).

Koreinik, K. (2005). The paper for a speech community – how it relatestothecommunitymediamodel.InO.Haurinen&H.Sul-kala(eds.)Tutkielmia vähemmistökielistä Jäämereltä Liivinran-taan. Vähemmistökielten tutkimus- ja koulutusverkoston raportti IV.ActaUniversitatisOuluensis.HumanioraB66.Suomenkie-lenjainformmaatiotutkimuksenlaitos,(pp.62-70).

Koreinik, K. & Pajusalu, K.(2007).Languagenamingpracticesandlinguistic identityinSouth-EasternEstonia.InR.Blokland&C.Hasselblatt(eds.),Language and Identity in the Finno-Ug-ric World. Proceedings of the Fourth International Symposium at the University of Groningen, May 17-19, 2006. Maastricht:Shaker2007.(StudiaFenno-UgricaGroningana4)

Laanekask, H. (2004). Eesti kirjakeele kujunemine ja kujun-damine 16. – 19. sajandil. (The formation and modelling ofEstonian literary language between 16th and 19th centuries).Dissertationes Philologiae Estonicae Universitas Tartuensis.Tartu: Tartu Ülikooli Kirjastus. (In Estonian, summary in English, alsoavailableonlinehttp://www.utlib.ee/ekollekt/diss/dok/2004/b16722838/Laanekask.pdf

Pajusalu, K. (1996). Multiple Linguistic Contacts in South Esto-nian: Variation of Verb Inflection in Karksi.Publicationsof the


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DepartmentofFinnishandgeneralLinguisticsoftheUniversityofTurku.

Pajusalu, K. et al. (2000). Lõunaeesti keele kasutusest Kagu-Eestis. In K. Koreinik & J. Rahman (eds.), Publications of Võro Institute,8,13-38.

Pajusalu, K., Velsker, E., Org, E. (1999).Onrecentchangesin South Estonian: dynamics in the formation of the inessive.International Journal of the Sociology of Language,139,87-103.

Raag, R. (1999). One plus one equals one: the forging ofStandard Estonian. International Journal of the Sociology of Language,139,17-38.

Raun,A., & Saareste,A. (1965). Introduction to Estonian lin-guistics.Ural-AltaischeBibliothekXII.Wiesbaden.

Ross, K. (2005). Miks ja millal kaotati esimene lõunaeesti kirjakeel. (Why and when the first southern Estonian literary languagedisappeared).Vikerkaar7-8,130-139.

Saar, E. (2002). Wiedergeburt der autentischen Ortsnamen-darstellunginSüdestland.Actas do XX Congreso Internacional de Ciencias Onomásticas. Santiago de Compostela, 20-25setembro 1999./ Editadas por Ana Isabel Boullón Agrelo. ACoruña,2002,535-542.

Saar,E. (2005).Võronkielenkäyttövironkielisissäsanomale-hdissä Etelä-Virossa. In O. Haurinen & H. Sulkala (eds). Tut-kielmia vähemmistökielistä Jäämereltä Liivinrantaan. Vähem-mistökielten tutkimus- ja koulutusverkoston raportti IV.Suomenkielen, informaatiotutkimuksen ja logopedian laitos (pp. 98-102).Oulu:Oulunyliopisto.

SaarPoll,(2005).The audience study of Uma Leht.


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Saareste,A. (1955). Petit Atlas des Parlers Estoniens. Väike eesti murdeatlas. Skrifter utgivna av Kungl. Gustav Adolfs AkademienNr.28.Uppsala.

Sutrop,U. (2004).Estonian Language.Tallinn:Estonian Insti-tute.http://www.einst.ee/failid/eestikeel.web_1.pdf

Viitso,Tiit-Rein(1990).VowelsandConsonants inNorthSetu(SouthEstonian).Linguistica Uralica,161-172.

Wiedemann,F.J.(1864).Versuch ueber den werroestnischen Dialect. St. Petersbourg.


35

Addresses

Võro InstituteTartuSt.486509VõruEstoniaTel.:3727821960Fax:3727821315http://www.wi.ee/

Võro Society VKKFTartuSt.486509VõruEstoniaTel.:3727821960Fax:3727821315

Uma Leht(newspaperinVõro)TartuSt.486509VõruEstoniaTel.:3727822221http://www.umaleht.ee

Centre for South Estonian Language and Culture Studies at the University of Tartu LossiSt.3851003TartuEstoniaTel.:37273725422http://www.ut.ee/lekeskus/


36

Department of Estonian and Finno-Ugric LinguisticsFacultyofPhilosophyUniversityofTartuÜlikooli18Tartu50090Estoniahttp://www.fl.ut.ee

Estonian Ministry of CultureSuur-Karja Street 2315076TallinnEstoniaSecretariat:(+372)6282250Phone:(+372)6282222Fax:(+372)6282200http://www.kul.ee

WikipediainVõrohttp://fiu-vro.wikipedia.org


37

Other websites on minority languages

Mercator www.mercator-central.orgGeneralsiteoftheMercator-project.Itwillleadyoutothethreespecialisedcentres:

Mercator www.mercator-research.euHomepage of the Mercator European Research Centre onMultilingualism and Language Learning.The website containstheseriesofRegionaldossiers,adatabasewithorganisations,abibliography,informationoncurrentactivities,andmanyrelatedlinkstominoritylanguages.

Mercator-Media www.aber.ac.uk/~merwww/HomepageofMercator-Media.ItprovidesinformationonmediaandminoritylanguagesintheEU.

Mercator- www.ciemen.org/mercatorHomepage of Mercator-Legislation. It provides information onminoritylanguagesandlegislationintheEU.

European http://ec.europa.eu/education/policies/lang/languages/ langmin/langmin_en.html

On the website of the European Commission information isgivenontheEU’ssupportforregionalorminoritylanguages.

Council of http://conventions.coe.intEuropean Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (1992)andFramework Convention for the Protection of National Minor-ities(1995).EuropeanTreatySeries148and157,Strasbourg.

Commission

Legislation

Research Centre

Europe


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Eurydice www.eurydice.orgEurydiceistheinformationnetworkoneducationinEurope.Thesitesprovides informationonallEuropeaneducationsystemsandeducationpolicies.

EBLUL www.eblul.orgHomepageoftheEuropeanBureauforLesserUsedLanguages.Thissiteprovidesgeneralinformationonlesserusedlanguagesaswellasonprojects,publications,andevents.

Eurolang www.eurolang.netEurolangprovidescoverageoftheconcernsfeltintheminoritylanguageregionsintheEuropeanUnion.EurolangisEBLUL’snewsservice.


39

What can the Mercator Research Centre offer you?

Mission & goals TheMercatorResearchCentreaddressesthegrowinginterestin multilingualism and the increasing need of language com-munitiestoexchangeexperiencesandtocooperateinaEuro-peancontext.ItisbasedinLjouwert/Leeuwarden,thecapitalofFryslân–abilingualprovinceoftheNetherlands–andhostedat the FryskeAkademy (FrisianAcademy).The Mercator Re-searchCentrefocusesonresearch,policy,andpracticeinthefield of multilingualism and language learning. The centre aims tobeanindependentandrecognisedorganisationforresearch-ers,policymakers,andprofessionals ineducation.Thecentreendeavours to favour linguistic diversity within Europe. Thestarting point lies in the field of regional and minority languages. Yet,immigrantlanguagesandsmallerstatelanguagesarealsoatopicofstudy.Thecentre’smainfocusisthecreation,circula-tion, and application of knowledge in the field of language learn-ingatschool,athome,andthroughculturalparticipation.

Partners During the twenty years of its existence, Mercator Educationhascooperatedwithtwopartners inanetworkstructure:Mer-catorMediahostedat theUniversityofWales inAberystwythandMercatorLegislationhostedat theCiemenFoundation inBarcelona.TheMercatorResearchCentreexpandsitsnetworkin close cooperation with a number of partner organisationsworking in the same field. This cooperation includes partners in Fryslân,aswellaspartnersintheNetherlandsandinEurope.TheprovincialgovernmentofFryslânisthemainfundingbodyof the Mercator Research Centre. Projects and activities arefundedbytheEUaswellasbytheauthoritiesofotherregionsinEuropewithanactivepolicytosupporttheirregionalormi-noritylanguageanditsculture.

Research TheMercatorResearchCentredevelopsaresearchprogrammeonthebasisofthedatacollectionsavailable.Researchactivities


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focuson various aspects of bilingual and trilingual education,such as interaction in multilingual classrooms, language pro-ficiency in different languages, and teachers’ qualifications for the multilingual classroom. Whenever possible, research willbecarriedoutinacomparativeEuropeanperspective.Agoodexample of this approach is the study ‘The Development ofMinimum Standards on Language Education in Regional andMinorityLanguages’(2007).ResearchresultsaredisseminatedthroughpublicationsandconferencesincollaborationwithEu-ropeanpartners.

Conferences The Mercator Research Centre organises conferences andseminarsonaregularbasis. Important themesfor theconfer-encesare:measurement&goodpractice,educationalmodels,developmentofminimumstandards, teacher training,and theapplicationoftheCommonEuropeanFrameworkofReference.ThemaintargetgroupsfortheMercatorResearchCentreareprofessionals,researchers,andpolicymakersfromallmemberstatesoftheCouncilofEuropeandbeyond.

Q&A Through the Question and Answer Service available on ourwebsite(www.mercator-research.eu)wecaninformyouaboutany subject related to education in minority or regional lan-guagesinEurope.

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This document was published by the Mercator European Research Centre on Multilingualism and Language Learning with financial support from the Fryske Akademy and (until 2007) the European Commission (DG: Culture and Education) and (from 2007 onwards) the Province of Fryslân and the municipality of Leeuwarden.

© Mercator European Research Centre on Multilingualism and Language Learning, 2007

ISSN: 1570 – 1239

The cover of this dossier changed with the reprint of 2008.

The contents of this publication may be reproduced in print, except for commercial pur-poses, provided that the extract is preceded by a full reference to the Mercator European Research Centre on Multilingualism and Language Learning.

This Regional dossier was compiled by Ms Kadri Koreinik, Võro Institute, Võru, Estonia. Unless otherwise stated academic data refer to the 2005/2006 school year. Very helpful comments have been supplied by Dr. Mart Rannut, Tallinn University, Estonia

AcknowledgementsThe author wishes to express her gratitude to Kara D. Brown, Külli Eichenbaum, Kadri Giannakaina Laube, Mariko Faster, Sulev Iva, Triinu Ojar, Prof. Karl Pajusalu, Jan Rahman, Nele Reimann-Truija, and Evar Saar.

From April 2007 onwards Saskia van den Berg has been responsible for the publication of the Mercator Regional Dossiers Series.

Asturian; the Asturian language in education in SpainBasque; the Basque language in education in France (2nd)Basque; the Basque language in education in Spain (2nd)Breton; the Breton language in education in France (2nd)Catalan; the Catalan language in education in France Catalan; the Catalan language in education in SpainCornish; the Cornish language in education in the UKCorsican; the Corsican language in education in France Croatian; the Croatian language in education in Austria Frisian; the Frisian language in education in the Netherlands (4th)Gaelic; the Gaelic language in education in the UK Galician; the Galician language in education in Spain German; the German language in education in Alsace, France (2nd)German; the German language in education in Belgium German; the German language in education in South Tyrol, Italy Hungarian; the Hungarian language in education in Slovakia Irish; the Irish language in education in Northern Ireland (2nd)Irish; the Irish language in education in the Republic of Ireland Kashubian; the Kashubian language in education in Poland Ladin; the Ladin language in education in Italy Lithuanian; the Lithuanian language in education in Poland Meänkieli and Sweden Finnish; the Finnic languages in education in Sweden North-Frisian; the North Frisian language in education in Germany (2nd)Occitan; the Occitan language in education in France Polish; the Polish language in education in LithuaniaRomani and Beash; the Romani and Beash languages in education in Hungary Sami; the Sami language in education in Sweden Scots; the Scots language in education in Scotland Slovak; the Slovak language in education in Hungary Slovene; the Slovene language in education in Austria (2nd)Slovene; the Slovene language in education in Italy (2nd)Sorbian; the Sorbian language in education in Germany Swedish; the Swedish language in education in Finland Turkish; the Turkish language in education in Greece Ukrainian and Ruthenian; the Ukrainian and Ruthenian language in education in PolandVõro; the Võro language in education in EstoniaWelsh; the Welsh language in education in the UK

European Research Centre onMultilingualism and Language Learning

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