The international cooperation in the early twentieth century took on different forms. It included exchange of teachers and students, international educational exhibitions and congresses, transnational institutions, multilateral standardization and international journals (Fuchs, 2004). This presentation focuses on joint activities of Baltic teacher’s associations during the interwar period. The aim is to discuss the main agents of institutionalized internationalization – joint conferences and congresses of teachers from the Baltic Sea region.

The theoretical framework is based on the concept of network, which is defined as a “communicative and mostly horizontal links between interdependent agents – individual, corporate or collective actors – that are relatively equal, trust each other and share similar interests or values” (Fuchs, 2007).

The teachers’ associations of the independent Baltic States created a cooperation network in 1920s, which underpinned the organisation of three significant education conferences. The first common conference with the representatives of Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian and Finnish teachers took place in Riga; conference was initiated by the Riga Teachers Association. The aim of it was to create a basis for organized co-operation between so-called borderlands, i.e. countries which had distanced themselves from Russia, in order to exchange information about important educational issues of that time, like development of national school system, teachers’ training and substantial situation, educative activity outside the school etc.

By 1925, the co-operation had already demonstrated positive results and it was decided to establish the Teachers’ Association of Baltic States. The members were Estonian Teachers’ Association, Latvian Teachers’ Association and Lithuanian Teachers’ Union.

The action of the association was managed in the form of annual conference where the representatives of member organisations participated – there was one representative per 500 members. The operations of the association were administrated by the secretariat in Riga. 

The most effective period of co-operation between Baltic States was the 1920s, when several common teachers’ congresses took place: in 1925 in Riga, in 1928 in Tallinn and in 1931 in Kaunas.

The last congress adopted also a resolution according to which the Baltic States should carry out „a radical school reform based on new education which relies on co-operation, self-activity and mutual trust between parents, children and teachers“. The same resolution refers to a great moral and economic destruction caused by the World War I and calls teachers to beware of implications that are related to militarizing the school.

Hence, the decade before breakout of the Second World War kept education officials of the Baltic States alert and attentive regarding to threats that were lurking about in Europe at that time. In January 1934, there was a meeting of the secretariat of Teachers’ Association of Baltic States, where several relevant educational problems of the region were under discussion. The participants stated that initiative of teaching staff has remarkably diminished. It was decided that the next general congress of teachers of the Baltic States will be held in July 1934 in Riga. The agenda for this meeting included conclusions about school life during the 15 years of independence in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and directions for further development in the Baltic States.

Unfortunately, the planned forum was called off for the reason that the same year the Latvian Teachers’ Association was closed down, which caused a gradual decline of the co-operation between the Baltic States.   

Primary sources: The State Archives of Estonia 1108 – Ministry of Education (1918– 1940) 3242 – Teachers Unions (1917–1940) Education Management Acts (1918-1940) References: Baltic Association of Historians of Pedagogy (2009). History of Education and Pedagogical Thought in the Baltic countries up to 1940: an overview. Riga. Baltiriikide õpetajate IV rahvusvaheline konverents Tallinnas (1926). Kasvatus, No. 7 (in Estonian). Baltiriikide õpetajate III kongress (1931). Kasvatus, No. 6 (in Estonian). Fuchs, E. (2004) Educational Sciences, Morality and Politics: International Educational Congresses in the Early Twentieth Century. Paedagogica Historica, Volume 40, Nos. 5 & 6. Fuchs, E. (2007) Networks and the History of Education. Paedagogica Historica, Vol. 43, No. 2. Kelder, H. Eesti õpetajaskonna välissidemetest. Kooliuuenduslane 2000, No. 2 (in Estonian). Trasberg, K. (2007). Väliskontaktid õpetajahariduses. Haridus, Nos. 11 & 12 (in Estonian).