Equity and Excellence in Slovenia

I am really excited that I have heard back from one of my contacts! Jerneja is a doctoral student of Educational Studies at the University of Primorska in Slovenia. She has a Bachelor’s in Pedagogy and her Master’s in Inclusive Education and currently works at the Educational Research Institute’s Developmental Research Centre for Educational Initiatives Step by Step. Overall, she sounds like an amazing person and I am honored to learn more about her and the early childhood system in Slovenia!

This week we have been discussing issues related to equity and excellence here in the US. Jerneja has shared with me what she knows about these issues in Slovenia. She said that the early childhood education system in Slovenia is divided into two parts. The first part is the national preschool curriculum that preschools are required to follow. The national curriculum does not tell the teachers how to teach but what to teach. It is divided into 6 different areas: movement, language, arts, nature, mathematics, and environment (society and relationships). To ensure equity, Jerneja says that “there are also principles and goals in the curriculum, which require the inclusion of all ‘different’ children and families - with ‘different’ I mean migrants, children with disabilities, Roma children, etc.” (personal communication, March 28, 2011). One of the main goals for equity in early childhood education in Slovenia is to fully include Roma children and their families, something that the ISSA preschools are currently working on.

In addition to the national curriculum, the second part of the preschool system in Slovenia is the “how” part of the curriculum. While the national curriculum tells teachers what to teach, the principles of the centers influence the methods and practices that they use. Jerneja says that ISSA’s principles for preschools help promote quality and excellence through the developmentally appropriate methods that they use. According to Jerneja, there are 35  ISSA preschools in Slovenia that use these high-quality practices, other early childhood education programs may use other principles that do not necessarily ensure high quality but ISSA is working on expanding and promoting developmentally appropriate practices to other centers. 

I also just wanted to share what Jerneja told me about poverty in Slovenia. She wrote that poverty has affected many families, especially over the past few years. The concern is that enrollment in preschool services will decline because families will not be able to afford it. Right now, families with low-incomes pay less but Jerneja says that many of the families she works with are struggling to pay these costs. She says that she is concerned about this because she knows the affects of early childhood education and how it is especially important for children from low SES backgrounds. She wrote that in general, “poverty in society maybe still isn't so well seen, because people still have some savings. But it's going to be bigger and bigger problem in our society very soon.” (personal communication, March 28, 2011).

So far I have learned a lot from my conversation with Jerneja. It’s interesting that even though we are miles apart, we still have some of the same concerns and goals for our early childhood programs. I also thought that it was really interesting that Slovenia has a national curriculum that preschools are required to use, this seems that it could potentially increase the equity in the Slovenian early childhood education programs.

More information:

This is the website for the organization that Jerneja works for: http://www.issa.nl/org_profiles/slovenia.html

Slovenia’s Step by Step Program (Korak za Korakom): http://www.korakzakorakom.si/content/view/16/30/