Setting priorities

As set out in the Skills Agenda, skills are a pathway to employability and prosperity. With the right skills, people are equipped for good-quality jobs and can fulfill their potential as confident, active citizens. In a fast-changing global economy, skills will to a great extent determine competitiveness and the capacity to drive innovation. They are a pull factor for investment and a catalyst in the virtuous circle of job creation and growth. They are key to social cohesion.

Cedefop research on the economic and social cost of low-skilled adults in the EU shows that apart from the employment consequences, low-skilled people may be more prone than others to social exclusion, poverty and crime, their participation in civic life is negligible, they tend to have low incomes and lower levels of health, well-being and life satisfaction.

As a result, it is crucial to raise their participation in formal, non-formal and informal learning and consequently, enable them to acquire a minimum level of literacy, numeracy and digital skills and/or acquire a broader set of skills by progressing towards an upper secondary qualification or its equivalent.

The overall rate of adult participation in learning in the EU has changed little in the past years. In all countries, the majority of adult learning is of a non-formal nature, usually work-related and provided as well as financed by employers or individuals themselves. Such learning often targets those employees who already have the highest levels of skills and are performing the most complex jobs, while for the rest of employees, opportunities to access training are often much more limited. The fact that most learning is of a non-formal nature also implies that it is often of only short duration and aims to develop company-specific skills. This results in a situation where most adult learning is not able to help adults develop skills that are more transferable across companies including the basic skills – literacy, numeracy or digital skills.

In Slovenia this topic is being addressed by the existing Adult Education Master Plan (AEMP) 2013–2020. Its priority areas are

• General, non-formal adult education and learning
• Formal adult education
• Job-related adult education and training

They are supported by activities such as research, guidance, promotion, quality, professionalization of staff and similar.

Currently, the new edition of the AEMP for the period 2021–2030 is being prepared based on analyses of its prior implementation as well as on discussions of stakeholders from different sectors, lead by the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport. The UP recommendations will certainly have an impact on the new AEMP edition.

PIAAC Slovenia: The PIAAC survey (2013–2016) showed that around one in four adults in Slovenia has poor literacy, numeracy and problem solving skills, which is slightly more than the OECD average. More on PIAAC in Slovenia.

Several measures have been taken to improve the situation, among them a joint effort of the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport which provided support to the implementation of the Education&Skills Online project within the scope of the multi-annual development project entitled Support for the Development of Basic Competences 2016–2022 implemented by the Slovenian Institute of Adult Education. An online questionnaire (so called SVOS) has been developed and will be implemented soon. More on these endeavours >>.

The overall rate of adult participation in learning in the EU has changed little in the past years. In all countries, the majority of adult learning is of a non-formal nature, usually work-related and provided as well as financed by employers or individuals themselves. Such learning often targets those employees who already have the highest levels of skills and are performing the most complex jobs, while for the rest of employees, opportunities to access training are often much more limited. The fact that most learning is of a non-formal nature also implies that it is often of only short duration and aims to develop company-specific skills. This results in a situation where most adult learning is not able to help adults develop skills that are more transferable across companies including the basic skills – literacy, numeracy or digital skills.

In Slovenia this topic is being addressed by the existing Adult Education Master Plan (AEMP) 2013–2020. Its priority areas are

• General, non-formal adult education and learning
• Formal adult education
• Job-related adult education and training

They are supported by activities such as research, guidance, promotion, quality, professionalization of staff and similar.

Currently, the new edition of the AEMP for the period 2021–2030 is being prepared based on analyses of its prior implementation as well as on discussions of stakeholders from different sectors, lead by the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport. The UP recommendations will certainly have an impact on the new AEMP edition.

PIAAC Slovenia: The PIAAC survey (2013–2016) showed that around one in four adults in Slovenia has poor literacy, numeracy and problem solving skills, which is slightly more than the OECD average. More on PIAAC in Slovenia.

Several measures have been taken to improve the situation, among them a joint effort of the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport which provided support to the implementation of the Education&Skills Online project within the scope of the multi-annual development project entitled Support for the Development of Basic Competences 2016–2022 implemented by the Slovenian Institute of Adult Education. An online questionnaire (so called SVOS) has been developed and will be implemented soon. More on these endeavours >>.

National Skills Strategy Slovenia: One of the greatest challenges in adult learning is fragmentation and lack of coherent governance that brings together the profusion of offers in formal, non-formal and informal adult learning. Fragmentation can also mean that policy frameworks relate to different levels of governance whereby certain aspects are arranged at national level, and others at regional or municipality level.

In Slovenia, the National Skills Strategy is trying to address this and improve the governance and coherence of adult learning. The framework for adult learning is at present spread over 10 ministries and 212 municipalities. It is essential for all these actors to be better coordinated, in order to improve the performance of Slovenia’s adult learning system to ensure coherence and minimise fragmentation in responsibilities, initiatives and spending.