Estonia is currently the European Union’s “best student” in rankings of Education. Therefore, when your minister, Kristina Kallas, talks about the reasons for her country’s success and agrees to recommend an idea as a priority, it is common sense to pay some attention to it.
“Take Early Childhood Education as a priority, trying to reduce as much as possible the gap between children at the earliest ages. This will have an impact on future Education. It is not possible to start Basic Education at the age of 6, with a demanding curriculum, if students enter the system with very different starting conditions”, responded, in an interview with the newspaper Expresso, when challenged to give advice to the Portuguese Minister of Education.
I don’t know how well Kallas knows the Portuguese reality, but this statement fits like a glove into one of the structural problems of Education in Portugal: initial inequality, the result of different social contexts that the Portuguese educational system fails to correct from Pre-School onwards, where quality provision is scarce and accessible to very few families.
Now, Estonia has well understood the importance of pre-school. There, entry into the 1st cycle only happens at the age of 7, a year later than in Portugal, but children are not losing learning time until then. On the contrary. By guaranteeing universal attendance at Pre-School from an early age, the country creates conditions for children to begin their school journey on a similar basis. The law obliges municipalities to guarantee a place for all children between 18 months and 7 years old in a network that encompasses public provision and private partnerships, promoting freedom of choice and ensuring families a monthly fee limited, by law, up to a maximum of 20% of the minimum wage.
In addition to access, Preschool Education in Estonia is also distinguished by a structured national curriculum, focused on the child’s global development. At the end of this journey, a “school readiness card” validates the transition to Basic Education.
OECD data confirm the positive impact of the strategy and Estonia is one of the countries where socioeconomic origin least influences students’ academic success, one of the most relevant PISA indicators, whose latest report shows that students in Tallinn have an average of one academic year advantage over students in Lisbon.
The difference, it is important to highlight, is not in the volume of investment: Portugal spends similar or even slightly higher amounts on Education, according to the OECD report Education at a Glancefrom 2025: 11,124 dollars per student in the Portuguese case, compared to 10,303 in the case of Estonia.
The difference lies in the way the country’s educational model is thought of. And Portuguese pre-school, despite some recent measures (such as the Creche Feliz program and universality from age 3 onwards), continues to be full of weaknesses, ranging from insufficient coverage in daycare centers (0-3 years old) to territorial inequalities in access and limited articulation with primary education.
Changing this scenario requires more than reinforcing vacancies. It implies taking Preschool as a strategic priority. The Estonia example is therefore as simple as it is precious.
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