For several years, we have been providing information about practice and research results on study circle activities in Slovenia – presented on the website. Readers are particularly welcome to visit the bibliography, usually in English on its subsite. Each individual SC has its own story, and we are happy to say that some stories are very long, even up to 25 years. The developmental path also consists of their successful implementation in the cross-border area, the use of training methodology in the Erasmus+ pilot project CIA2SFM, or last year’s exhibition at the Jakopič’ promenade in Ljubljana on their 25th anniversary.
This form of non-formal adult learning has a strong focus on community. Therefore, it is no surprise that recently collected reflections and memories have been published in a book. This is how we celebrate this year’s Christmas and New Year and we wish to share this with you. More than 60 authors collaborated, including SC participants, long-term or new mentors, educational professionals, and colleagues from abroad, who wrote more than 200 pages consisting also of papers, written in English, presenting Swedish, Italian (FVG), and Croatian practices. A printed version of the book has been delivered to the authors, while its web version has been edited and is now available in the Digital Library (in Slovenian).
We are curious about the future of this learning model that keeps its past roles of democratisation, promoting LL and outreach, and have been upgraded with a new one: SC with their dialogue-based learning enable adaptation to changes, and thus form an adaptation infrastructure that is already well accepted by the public. This means that people are really motivated to attend and – in line with their actual needs – reflect changes in nature (e.g. climate changes) and society (migration, different obstacles). We hope for further international cooperation and the support of national authorities to cope well with the challenges of the 21st century.
Dr Nevenka Bogataj (Nevenka.bogataj@acs.si), SIAE
