Constantly changing conditions in various domains of human activities and the need for new knowledge and competences demands a responsive educational offer. The annual SIAE analysis of the education on offer for adults showed that adults had many options available to them in the year 2017/2018. The website Knowledge overview (Kam po znanje) (in Slovenian) includes 253 providers and 3,800 educational programmes.
The novelty of the Overview of adult education programmes for 2017/2018 is the updated data on providers of educational activities and their programmes. At the suggestion of the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport the Overview database was completed with data on adult education providers and formal educational programmes collected annually by the Ministry and with data on providers of preparation courses for national vocational qualification testing and verification, which is monitored by the Institute of the Republic of Slovenia for Vocational Education and Training. This addition to the database enriched the Overview and enabled a more comprehensive overview of adult education options.
The analysis showed that the vast range of educational programmes available to adults is not equally accessible across the country: we can find white zones with much fewer options for education of adults than, for example, the central region, which has the largest number of adult education providers and programmes. The collected education providers come from 63 municipalities in Slovenia, which is 9 more than in the previous year. The Ljubljana Municipality stands out with the largest number of providers and educational programmes for adults.
The majority of providers of educational programmes for adults are secondary schools and adult education units in secondary schools, private institutions and private schools, and adult education centres. However, adults can also attend educational programmes in other institutions such as libraries, institutes, Third Age University, associations and other institutions.
As much as half of the included programmes are programmes for non-formal education of adults focused on basic adult education and learning, on leisure activities and on vocational education and training. The educational programmes on offer are very diverse. The prevailing subjects are foreign languages (English, German, Italian, French, Slovenian as a foreign language, and other foreign languages), programmes in the field of business and administration, management, sales, bookkeeping and accounting, and secretarial and administrative work. There is also a rich offer of programmes related to communication skills, personal development, health, technical and computer skills and personal services.
Among the formal education programmes the prevailing groups are programmes of secondary technical and professional or general education (economic technicians, pre-school teacher, mechanical engineering technician), secondary vocational education programmes (salesperson, administrator, nurse – carer, restaurant and hotel services, electrician, IT technician).
The educational programmes are aimed at different target groups, from the general public to specialised target groups such as the unemployed, older people, entrepreneurs, the employed, people with special needs, less educated people, foreigners and other.
Erika Brenk (Erika.brenk@SIAE.si), SIAE
