Johanna Helin, EKN Education committee
During her visit to Toronto for the opening of KESKUS, Estonian Minister of Education and Research Kristina Kallas met with Canadian experts to discuss the future of AI and language education. The Education Committee of the Estonian Central Council in Canada (EKN) arranged a visit to OISE (the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education), where Acting Dean Professor Joseph Flessa welcomed the minister. She presented Estonia’s ambitious AI Leap initiative to faculty and doctoral students working on AI in education, including Dr. Earl Woodruff (Centre for Smart Learning and Development), Professor Sheila McIlraith (Dept of Computer Science), and Professor Karen Mundy (Education Leadership and Policy).
The conversation explored how educators can prompt AI in ways that deepen learning rather than providing shortcuts. Participants noted striking similarities between the challenges faced in Estonia and Canada, reinforcing the need for continued collaboration between researchers and policymakers.
A second meeting at CREFO (Centre for Research in Franco-Ontarian Education) brought Minister Kallas together with Professor Emeritus Jim Cummins and Emmanuelle Le Pichon-Vorstman. Both have been closely involved in EKN-organized study visits that have brought more than one hundred Estonian school leaders to OISE over the past three years. Their discussion focused on the transition of former Russian-language schools to Estonian-language instruction — a process made more sensitive by the war in Ukraine. Professor Cummins emphasized how difficult evidence-based policymaking becomes in a context shaped by historical and ongoing conflict with Russia.
Canada has previously supported Estonia’s language-immersion initiatives, and cooperation in language policy and pedagogy will continue, with another study group arriving in October.
Later the same day, the minister presented members of the EKN Education Committee — Reet Sehr, Valia Reinsalu, and Johanna Helin — with certificates of appreciation for their long-term contribution to promoting and supporting Estonian language learning in Canada, as well as for their ongoing work with Estonia’s education leaders.
The minister was accompanied by Ambassador Gert Auväärt, Councillor Tiina Tarkus, Adviser Ülly Enn, and Dr. Peeter Mehisto.
