Export Readiness for Estonia’s School Model–Based Services

Background 

In 2024, the Estonian Education and Youth Board (HARNO) commissioned EduEnable to explore how Estonia’s widely recognised school model could be developed into exportable services. While Estonia had gained global attention for its digital learning, equity outcomes, and assessment culture, there was little clarity on how to translate these strengths into structured offerings for international audiences. 

The objective was to identify the kinds of international clients that might be interested in Estonia’s education services, understand their expectations and constraints, and provide guidance for service development and pricing. A second assignment followed, focusing on the Finnish learning materials market as a reference case for service delivery models and procurement dynamics. 

Challenges 

At the outset of the engagement, Estonia faced several strategic and practical obstacles: 

• International demand was assumed rather than understood — there was no shared evidence on who potential clients were or what they sought. 

• Service formats were not yet defined — Estonia had no flexible, productised education service catalogue suitable for export. 

• The supply side was fragmented — public and private actors lacked common language or coordination when engaging with international requests. 

• Relevant international benchmarks were missing — policymakers and companies had limited visibility into how comparable countries structured and delivered similar services. 

A clear, targeted analysis was needed to align ambitions with actionable insight. 

EduEnable’s Approach 

EduEnable conducted a structured analysis to map international demand and assess Estonia’s export readiness. This included: 

• Identifying international client profiles, from national ministries to private education investors, each with distinct motivations and constraints; 

• Conducting interviews with international experts to surface service expectations, procurement realities, and engagement risks; 

• Analysing the gap between Estonia’s current education export supply and international buyer needs, with attention to format, pricing, and localisation; 

• Developing recommendations for future service design, lead generation models, and market messaging strategies. 

Findings were presented at a high-level stakeholder meeting involving the Estonian education export network. 

Follow-up: Finnish Market Insight 

As a follow-up to the client profiling work, HARNO commissioned EduEnable to produce a targeted analysis of the Finnish learning materials market. While not the core of the engagement, the follow-up offered context on how a neighbouring country organises and commercialises education services, informing Estonia’s own development thinking. 

Outcomes

The work delivered by EduEnable contributed to a more structured foundation for Estonia’s education export development. Key outcomes included: 

• A typology of international client types and corresponding entry pathways; 

• Greater clarity among domestic stakeholders on what service adaptation and export-readiness require; 

• Strengthened dialogue across the public-private interface, based on shared evidence; 

• Practical reference points for how complex education services are structured in comparable markets. 

By combining targeted research with strategic framing, EduEnable helped shift the conversation from aspiration to preparation,  providing HARNO and its partners with the insight needed to take next steps toward coordinated, service-based international engagement.