The foundations for this year’s all-Slovenian learning festival were laid in December last year with the launch of a call for tenders by the MESS, concerning co-financing local and thematic coordinators of the LLW and the coordinators of the Learning Parade. Both, the official (10–18 May) and the broader (10 May–30 June) timeframes have been set.
The first meeting of the LLW network took place on 22 January, when 60 of us met at the SIAE. We first focused on presenting the achievements and highlights of the 2018 LLW on a national level, after which the participants talked about their successes and findings on a local and thematic level. In the second part, we used the VoxVote system to collect ideas for the so called joint campaigns of the 2019 LLW. The list and the updates are already published on the LLW website. The highlight of the interaction among the participants was the closing presentation by the SIAE Award Winner 2017 and an avid ambassador of learning, Darja Smrkolj, and the Directress of the Zasavje AEC, Polona Trebušak. The presentation was a great success. More on that in Darja’s contribution.
The European Year 2019 was not announced, so as far as content goes, the LLW will only be defined by the joint campaigns. We will also get support in the recently published and updated Manifesto for Adult Learning in the 21st Century. The first version of this publication by the EAEA from 2016, was updated and supplemented with Slovenian examples of good practices. This time, we plan to do the same, and we will try to inspire LLW providers at the local level to use the Slovenian version of the publication as well as its motto The Power and Joy of Learning when creating their LLW events and performing other work in the area of awareness-raising and advocacy.
The LLW network will meet again on 16 April. An integral part of this gathering will be the training to prepare incisive promotional materials and approaches – we will be joined by Maja Novak, MSc, from the We4you educational institution, an expert in innovative marketing approaches.
The LLW website, as well as the Facebook profile, both have high levels of activity – which is a good sign for this year’s learning festival in Slovenia.
Zvonka Pangerc Pahernik, MSc (zvonka.pangerc@acs.si), SIAE