ECE Issues in Slovenia

I have been talking to Jerneja, my contact in Slovenia, about the issues and challenges that early childhood educators are facing where she lives. Her responses were very interesting and I wanted to share them here. According to Jerneja, the main two challenges that Slovenia’s early childhood education system faces are (1) the lack of spaces for children in early childhood programs and (2) the inclusion of Roma children.

1. Jerneja told me that Slovenia has recently been through what she calls a “baby boom” and as a result there are many young children and families in need of childcare. In addition to the “baby boom,” there “is a state law that every second, third etc. child from the same family has a free pre-school service (no monthly fees have to be paid)” (personal communication, April 10, 2011), which also places a strain on the system financially. Jerneja says that this issue has been going on for a few years but is becoming more challenging although the government is working on it. She says that she hopes it will be resolved soon because many children and families are being turned away from preschools and educators have larger class sizes.

2. Jerneja says that the other main challenge Slovenia is facing is the full inclusion of Roma children and their families because they currently have “low representation” in early childhood programs. She says that this has also been a challenge that Slovenia has faced for some time but “our Centre is currently involved in a project, which is co-financed by Ministry of Education and Sport and by European Social Fund. The main goal of this project is to include Roma children and their families in pre-school programs from the very beginning” (personal communication, April 10, 2011).  She said that she is glad to be a part of this project because she thinks that it is important for children and families to have access to quality programs from birth. (For more information on the Roma: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roma_(Romani_subgroup).)

Jerneja also told me that ISSA provides many training and professional growth opportunities for early childhood educators in Slovenia. She says that ISSA is working on expanding- there are currently 35 centers implementing ISSA practices in Slovenia (personal communication, April 10, 2011)- and sharing resources with other programs in the area in hopes that children and families have more access to high quality programs; this is Jerneja’s hope as well.

It has been very interesting talking to Jerneja; I have learned a lot of information about a place that I have never been to over these past few weeks! It amazes me that we are so far apart but still have similar issues, challenges, and hopes for the future.