|
|
Workshop D
|
|
Workshop A |
Workshop B |
Workshop C |
Workshop D
Workshop D - Session 3
I shall speak from the providers' point of view how to ensure the framework and policy of lifelong learning. This will give me a bit of a problem, and I will explain why. The Slovenian Adult Education Centre is the only national institute of adult education. It was established as The Slovenian Adult Education Centre in 1991, when Slovenia became an independent state. We are also deeply involved in provision. We are developing projects which go outside and are delivered outside. We think at the Slovenian Adult Education Centre that our main mission is foster the culture of lifelong learning and to change Slovenia into a learning country. To give you an overview of what we are doing, I will have to go back a little bit to familiarise you with our tasks. In the Foundation Act, it is written that the tasks of the Slovenian Adult Education Centre are:
Bearing in mind that we were set up to promote the development of adult education, I can say that we are quite involved in the policy of adult education and also in the process of securing the policy framework that promotes adult education. We think our main mission is to establish the culture of lifelong learning and change Slovenia into the learning country. I would say that this is the underlying concept of all our work and behind all our work also lies a legal framework - Acts, Laws and finances. We can promote a policy of lifelong learning on very different levels: on the level of state, region, local community and also on a personal and individual level. It is much, much better if all the levels are harmonised and co-ordinated. On a state level, this would require systemic and legislative framework, the setting up of the whole system with Acts, Decrees and measures which are in the hand of the public administrators. The result of such measures would of course be beneficial to the individual, the State and the region. Another contribution to the promotion of lifelong learning is the set of actions and activities which form an integral part of such a framework and support the policy, the individual being the beneficiary of all these sets. Two Levels I shall now concentrate on two levels. I will try to explain what we are doing which supports this policy. The Slovenian Adult Education Centre was on a state, regional and local level, involved in research and development work, but mainly research. The Centre was involved in preparing expertise for the national programme of the Adult Education Act which is going to be passed in parliament, we hope, by the end of this year. We were also involved in preparing expertise for the network of adult education organisations, also involved in preparing expertise for the education of the unemployed, in developing and researching the certificate system and also in developing and introducing accreditation of prior learning experiences. On the level of activities, processes and actions to support the policy of lifelong learning, I will mention only four projects. One project is the study circle, because we think that Slovenia has got a learning culture and we have seen that, in order to understand what lifelong learning means, people have to participate in processes and activities. So we introduced study circles in Slovenia after the Swedish example. We also organised the development of independent learning, which is spreading and is very well received. We also organised learning exchanges. This is the example taken from the USA. We are also organising for the 3rd year a lifelong learning week, which is an example taken from the English. These are just a few projects we are involved in. Q.: You mentioned organised independent learning. Could you explain in more detail what it is all about? Q.: First of all what did you have before 1991? A.: If I answer the first question first. This is overnight independent learning. These are centres which are set up in different institutions and are equipped with very modern technology, mainly computers. They also have videos and televisions. People come there on a daily basis to learn independently what they want to learn. The main courses they take are languages and some geography and history. Afterwards they can go to other institutions and prove their knowledge and take exams. We have 18 such centres. Slovenia has got only 2 million inhabitants, so that you will know how much of this is going on. These 18 centres are in all regions of Slovenia and the number of people who were involved last year in those activities were only 100,000 people of all ages from 16 onwards to 65. What did we have before 1991? We were part of Yugoslavia and adult education was well developed in Yugoslavia. I must say that the notion of lifelong learning popped up in Slovenia in 1917, I think, before a book on lifelong learning was published in Western Europe. And we had, before 1991, reading clubs, we had debating clubs. Under the socialist regime we had workers' universities, institutions of lifelong learning, and institutions of adult education. Formal education institutions were providers of adult education. We also had, and still have, educational centres where we provide learning, but they were not very well organised. We made some reforms in '72, and quite a lot of issues for adult learning were resolved. Gradually we also passed some laws which helped with this solution.
|
