END-OF-VISIT REPORT

Group Number: 131 Theme: Quality Assurance in Education and Training Title: Quality in School Management and Learning Process City, country: Bled, Slovenia Dates: 16-26 April 2008 Group reporter: Geraldine Rowe

This report describes the experiences and responses of a European Study Visit to Slovenia by a group of 13 educators from 11 European countries: Finland, Spain, Sweden, Romania, England, Norway, Belgium, Austria, Germany and Portugal. The professions represented included Headteachers, School Inspectors, a Head of Studies, an Educational Psychologist, a Director of Education, a Business College Principal and an Under-Secretary of State.

Participants: GHISE Bruno M Leonardo Lyceum CDO Centrum voor Leren en Werken BÄCKMAN Elisabeth F Tullinge gymnasium MATEU ROSELLO F I.E.S. SANT AGUSTI Neus SKÅR Asbjørn M Kvinnherad kommune ROWE Geraldine F Geraldine Rowe Associates CASTRO HENRÍQUEZ M Inspección de Educación Néstor DROMANTAS Mykolas M Northern Lithuania College Helsingin kuvataidelukio Helsinki Upper Secondary School WILLMAN Mervi F of visual arts Sächsisches Staatsministerium für Kultus Dr. REUSCH Ulrich M Abt. 2 HERTTING Ingemar M HÖGANÄS KOMMUN BRUKSENHETEN SCHNEIDER Klaus M BG/SportRG Saalfelden TURI Iuliana F SCOALA CU CLASELE I-VIII, CIRTA ARSÉNIO Paulo M Direcção Regional de Educação de Lisboa e Vale do Tejo

Hvala! (Thank you) All of the group would like to extend their heartfelt thanks to their host, mag. Barbara Debeljak, her Headteacher, mag. Lidija Dornig and all the teachers, headteachers, counsellors and professionals who made our visit such an enjoyable and valuable experience. Summary For a period of 5 days, the group visited a total of 12 educational institutions to observe the Slovenian educational system first hand. At each venue, we were given a very warm welcome and treated to excellent presentations about the systems as well as being offered entertainment, refreshments and gifts from our hosts. The theme of the visit was “Quality in Education” and presentations and debate reflected this interest. By the end of the visit all participants had an overview of the systems of education and methods used to assess and improve the quality of the education on offer in Slovenia and the other countries represented by the group.

Content 1. To what extent was the content of the visit relevant to your interests? A few of us were interested in how the school culture impacts on Quality and some found the Institute and Leadership visits the most relevant. Others benefited from the information about the training and appointment of headteachers, as this was relevant to their personal responsibilities.

2. How was the balance achieved between theoretical and practical sessions? A good balance in general, but more practical sessions, and observations of teaching would have been welcome. All members of the group would also have liked more time for discussions with the headteachers and staff. On one or two days the programme was too full to allow for proper discussions. Also, more time with the group – discussing what we had seen, and time to discuss different aspects of quality assessment.

3. Was the theme presented from the perspectives of various actors of the education and training system in the host country – government and policy makers, social partners, heads of institutions, teachers and trainers, students and users of services? This was a real strength of the visit: to have access to the combination of trainers, advisors and practitioners. Perhaps the missing link was the policy makers in government, who were referred to but who we didn’t meet. Social partners were not included in the visit. Some group members were impressed by the way after-school activities were organised by schools. We met headteachers, staff and some students in different schools and institutions, but lacked the opportunity to sit down and talk either together or with our Slovenian colleagues about what we heard and saw. We didn’t hear the views of parents but had a few opportunities to talk to students.

4. What were most important or most frequently discussed issues during the visit? The nature of “Quality”; the nature and effect of external Inspection; European Framework for Languages; the nature of comparative data such as PISA – how well measures of quality and success travel across cultures; special needs education; school education and vocation or job prospects for pupils; counselling; leadership with particular reference to leadership training; and evaluation. The financial background to the education system was well covered and many questions were asked about this topic. The advantages and disadvantages of strict national systems of quality assessment, i.e. Inspectorates.

5. Were there any common approaches for all countries (or some countries) identified regarding the theme of the visit? There was an expectation from some members of the group that Slovenia had been chosen as the host country for the theme of “Quality” because there was a coherent and well-developed system for identifying and maintaining quality. In Slovenia internal and external evaluation has not yet reached the European standard which is well-acknowledged by our Slovenian hosts. There could have been more discussion about the way in which quality is measured in the different countries, and comparisons made with the host country.

6. Were there any common problems and challenges identified regarding the theme of the visit? We all tended to use a similar vocabulary to discuss the challenges faced by our educational systems, but the differences between countries were evident. We were all interested in the initial resistance to change that can be experienced in our work. We found the Institute of Education’s approach very interesting in this respect.

7. What issues can be further explored and studied? ƒ How to establish a system that encourage the schools to work on improving their results, not just because inspectors will assess their work, but because this is important for the students and for the staff. ƒ The problems we all share such as resources, underachievement etc. ƒ Consequences of comprehensive education from grades 1 to 9 ƒ Approaches that meet the needs of gifted students; ƒ Impacts and results of the curriculum reform (of 2003).. ƒ Management of Change in Education. ƒ It would have been good to have had a practical example of quality management dealt with in detail, so that we could understand the impact of the quality management system. ƒ One or two expressed the wish to explore the issues of lifelong-learning and students with special needs

8. Was there an opportunity to inform the group and hosts about the education or vocational training system of your countries and about the theme of the study visit? To some extent – not much time for this. We each gave a presentation to the group and our main host Barbara, but there was no opportunity for us to share this with the hosts from other Slovenian establishments. We were interested to explore further than we were able, the effects that teacher education and teacher/school autonomy have on school quality. In general, too little time for discussions of these issues, given the high level of interest and motivation of group members.

9. What examples of good practices did you observe during the visit? We liked what we saw in the schools and kindergarten, but the focus of visits was more on presentations by senior staff, rather than being shown practical examples of the applications of quality frameworks. Some examples of good practice noted can be seen in the appendix to this report. Also noted were the following examples: Co-operation between business and schools; realistic expectations set by The Education Institute; Adult Education and Leadership College;. Good models of combining general education with vocational qualification; Good approaches to integration of pupils with special needs though much still remains to be done in this field as suggested by the schools themselves; The National School for Educational Leadership was picked out as one example of good practice, as this enables senior teachers to start training before deciding to apply for such a post. One thing we were impressed by was the solar power plant at the Biotechnical Centre. Entrepreneurship and better cooperation between schools and the civil society are encouraged all over Europe these days, so this project is an excellent example of good practice.

10. Which policies or practices from the host country or from other countries can be transferred or used in your countries? We could see many benefits in the opportunity for young people to choose a more academic or vocational education at age 15, instead of aged 11. The opportunity to make comparisons of different systems meant that we were able to see that there are numerous ways leading to the same goal: attitude is the most important factor. There was general agreement that approaches could work across the various European cultures of the group’s home countries, with minor adjustments. The biggest differences appeared to be the extent to which schools and local education departments have autonomy and sufficiency of funding and decision-making.

Networking 11. Did you have an opportunity to establish new contacts? We hope to stay in contact with other members of the group and also with some of the head teachers and teachers we met. We have all exchanged email addresses.

12. Have any concrete ideas for future cooperation been discussed? There were no firm plans by the end of the week, but we were all discussing how this might come about. Many of us exchanged cards with teachers and heads from the host organisations, with the hope of providing international contacts for those who wish to pursue this. We all intend to work on this – but at least one participant intends to visit England or Scotland with his Headteachers, to learn more about their system of quality assessment.

Organisation 13. How do you evaluate support provided for the group by the organiser? Great support, - great work by the organiser! Our hostess, Barbara, was very helpful, friendly and serene in all circumstances. The information given before and during the visit was very good and Barbara was ever ready to go and find information for us whenever we asked for it. One participant remarked that the hosting school and the schools and institutions visited must have paid a good deal extra out of their own small budgets for books presented, little gifts, CD-Roms for presentations, refreshments and so on. We were very well looked after and cared for throughout the visit, and we were offered an extremely warm friendliness which could not have been better. We were not just treated as esteemed colleagues but taken care of as dear friends!

14. Did you receive sufficient information on your programme before your departure? This was felt to be sufficient.

15. What do you think of the composition and the size of the group? This group was ideal: everybody took part in a cheerful and committed way. The 11 Nations and the spread of professions represented provided a good social and intellectual mix. Composition – balance of old and new member states; teachers, heads and inspectors – was excellent for discussions.

16. How do you assess the opportunities for discussion within the group? There was little timetables formal discussion time as most visits ran over time in this busy programme. Most discussion was in the evening in smaller groups. We would have liked a more formal session each day and for the last day to be a chaired discussion, rather than the Report-writing session, that some of us considered was not the most beneficial way to end such a good visit. It would have been be a good idea to have a room in the hotel for us to use and return to for discussion each evening, as we were all required to stay in the same hotel, but it wasn’t clear why. The group had a great deal of informal discussion throughout the visit and obviously enjoyed it. Each evening there were at least 3 hours where participants could organise themselves to meet and have discussions informally, over a meal or drink, for example.

Suggestions 17. Do you have any further suggestions for organisation and efficiency of the study visits? Some pre-visit reading that is specific to the topic to be covered ( in our case: Quality) that is read by all participants beforehand would bring some focus to the initial discussions. Some of the group were inspired to think about hosting a future Arion programme themselves, although the amount of preparation this requires appears to be substantial. Some found the daily rate of € 92 seems no longer sufficient for Slovenia (hotel discount rate being € 90 per day). Altogether this was an excellently organised visit with some high quality presentations from impressive professionals, who gave their time and expertise in a generous and stimulating way.

Appendix: Notes on Educational Establishments

1. Grammar School Jesenice 2. Slovenian School System 3. Angelca Ocepec Kindergarten, Jeseniće 4. Primary school Prežihov Voranc 5. Primary school for special needs Polde Stražišar 6. Popular university 7. Vocational school in Radovljica 8. Primary school A. T. Linhart 9. National School for Leadership 10. Vocational school in Strahinj 11. National Institute for Education in Ljubljana 12. Slovenian Institute for Quality and Metrics 13. Faculty of Education

1. Grammar School Jesenice (563 students/20 classes/ 49 teachers) http://gimjes.si Established some 60 years ago, the school has a specialization both in sport and European classes.

European classes were established in 2004 as part of a scheme comprising 14 model schools in Slovenia, combining subjects and teaching of subjects cross-curricular and multi-disciplinary in foreign language to promote intercultural competences of students. Language lessons are always arranged by team-teaching with native foreign language teachers. They include a fairly wide range of extra-curricula activities.

Sport classes are aiming at adjusting sport and school activities, offering when necessary individual tutorials for students in every subject and make allowances as to the timing of final exams and their passing in modular form. An opportunity to attend one school year in two school years, an opportunity for an individual contract and an opportunity to write Matura exam in two parts is the only way to complete the upper secondary school for some students. The students have an opportunity to have their individual training program. The Co-operation with coaches is constricted.

Counselling is offered to all students. The plan of counselling is good, but one counsellor has too many students to support them individually. The counsellor provides help to teachers to promote a healthy way of life without violence and drugs.

Reflection of group: Members of the group were impressed with the students’ confidence and ability to present. There was a question as to how a school could support so many projects at the same time. Staff are very hard working and we welcomed the opportunity for 1:1 discussions on the final day. The sports scheme appears to be quite similar to that of elite sport schools for instance in Austria and Germany. Generally, sport class students are doing even better than general students as to marks in finals. It is to be noted that there is little but none contribution made to the scheme by sport federations. It was noted by one group member that the European Framework for Languages was not referred to during any presentations we attended, even when language learning was the focus. Members of the group discussed the Framework several times during the week as a result and learned how each others’ countries used this and the accompanying Portfolio.

2. The Slovenian School System The Slovenian school system is a largely state-run with little or none impact of local government in terms of staffing and curricula though with considerable influence of the school board consisting of elected teachers and parents which e. g. appoints and dismisses the headteacher. Schools are encouraged to and successfully engage in encouraging parents to take an active part in school-life and in setting up networks with external partners of business, industry, and adult education. Schools enjoy a fair amount of autonomy as to methods and profiles, the experiences of individual 'piloting' schools currently being made available to the system by the National Institute of Education. Appropriate attention is given to pre-school education. A high percentage of children attend kindergartens and pre-schools, thus providing a good preparation to general compulsory education in grades 1 to 9, i. e. age 6 to 15. The Primary School is a comprehensive school of nine years in three cycles with some setting for ability from grades 4 to 7 (only foreign language) and in grades 8 and 9 respectively (when classes are divided in two groups for subjects Slovene, mathematics and foreign languages). Secondary education offers a wide range of educational opportunities, including grammar school and various technical or vocational schools. A high percentage - already 73%- of the students attends upper secondary education, the goal set out by the government being 80%, but only some 40% do in fact qualify for Matura and above. As in other European countries boys are outnumbered by girls in general grammar school education. Grammar school itself (grades 10 to 13) offers different types with specialisations on language, European studies, or sport respectively. There is no selection criterion for Grammar School. The choice is made by the young person and their parents. The percentage of pupils in schools for children with special needs is relatively low (1.6 %) compared to European practice. Thus integration or inclusion is widely achieved but not yet sufficiently supported by the expertise of the special schools which aim at being transformed to ‘resource centres’ for assisting special needs education. The system of school counselling is well established, highly elaborate and efficient, each school having at least one counsellor (for 500 students) who is greatly involved both in general school management or leadership and individual school career planning or advice. These counsellors are sometimes qualified teachers or psychologists, but there is no standardization for their training or qualifications. Methods, means, and measures on the national scale were to bring about and are to ensure a uniform quality management as for example: the didactic reform since 2003 initialled by the National Institute of Education, common standards for headteachers by the National School for Leadership in Education, compulsory self-evaluation to start in September 2008 eventually paving the way for external evaluation with the objective of evaluating each school in a seven-year term. Reflection of group: Teaching of foreign languages is restricted to a maximum of five lessons per week from grade 7 onwards which makes it obviously difficult to match with Grammar school standards. Still some 5 percent of the pupils do not complete elementary education. There are many advantages in giving students the choice of Grammar or Vocational education post- 15. The absence of selection testing means that Vocational Schools are not automatically seen as “second best” as decisions are based on personal choice. The down side is that there is some drop- out from Grammar school as students change to what they view as an easier option.

3. Angelca Ocepec Kindergarten, Jeseniće (250 children/ 1-3 years and 3-5 year groups) http://www.vrtci.org/vzgojno-varstvena-enota-angelce-ocepek-1/ Group size: 12 children 1-3 years, and 22 children 3-6 years, with a possible addition of 2. Two teachers to a group, - the head of the group has a university degree; the other has at least secondary education. Opening hours 5 am till 4 pm., maximum stay is 9 hours. The children get free meals, 2 or 3 a day. Handicapped children are included in the groups, and if necessary the size of the group will be reduced. There may also be specially educated teachers to work with these children. Kindergarten is not compulsory in Slovenia; - about 65% attend a kindergarten. Parents pay for their first child, the second one is free. The price is fairly high, compared to other EU countries.

Content. There is a national curriculum for kindergarten in Slovenia. Angelca Ocepec also use a program called Step by Step in their teaching. There are planned activities in 6 areas; Slovene, Maths. Art, Nature, P.E., Society. The children get to know the local community during their stay, - visiting all kinds of institutions. There are outdoor activities for the children every day.

Quality assurance. The kindergarten has a plan that they follow. They organize team meetings to plan and follow up their activities. The teachers in the kindergarten will get additional training through the year. There is a net of kindergartens in Slovenia that cooperate in their work to assure quality in their work. The kindergarten use different questionnaires to monitor the opinion of the parents.

Reflection of group: The headteacher and her staff gave the impression of a highly professional team. The staff seemed to work systematically with their groups, in accordance with their plans. There was a friendly atmosphere in this kindergarten; the children seemed to be well attended to.

4. Primary School Prežihov Voranc (http://www.prezihovvoranc.si) The Head Teacher Rada Polajnar gave us a brief description of her school. We had a short discussion about the system of marks. In the first cycle only descriptive assessment is done, in the second circle there is a combination of descriptive and numerical assessment and in the third cycle only reports are given. The marks are in a five-graded scale. The assessment periods are from September to January and from February to June. Every second month there is a five days break.

Reflection of group: Mrs Polajnar emphasized the importance not only working with the subjects but also with behaviour and punishment. Right now there is a group overhauling the rules of the school, which is a direction from the Ministry. The participants from Sweden commented that their country is doing exactly the same in these days. As many other of our hosts, Mrs Polajnar also emphasized the necessity to co-operate with the pupils and their parents. In many schools this is done much more systematically than in some of the participants’ schools, a condition worth thinking about. Co-operation was on the whole a word often used, and this can maybe be one key for success thinking in terms of quality. We got the impression that the School Council not only had to deal with the selection of Headteacher and tasks like this but also how the education should be carried through. This was not a familiar approach for some participants in the group.

5. Primary school for special needs Polde Stražišar (http://www.poldestrazisar.si/cms/index.php?page=Polde_Stra_i_ar) The group arrived after the pupils had left for the day and we were treated to a musical performance by students and a presentation by the Director of the school. We learnt that there are 3 programmes run by the school: Programme for Severe Learning Difficulties; Programme for Mild Learning Difficulties; and Programme for Outreach to 6 mainstream schools. The presentation concentrated on defining the ways in which the school designed the curriculum to be individually relevant to each child and there was a strong emphasis on Quality in the Classroom practice in looking for the “Gifts not Weaknesses”. Mr Alen Kofol stressed that pupils here are happy and safe and that everything else follows from this. He feels that they are more included here than if they were in mainstream school. His vision is to offer help in more mainstream schools and to support students right up to employment. The concept of quality was described as through the following: ƒ Cooperation ƒ Individualisation ƒ Evaluation (IEPS reviewed every 3 months) ƒ Improving Education in the classroom ƒ In the future, the school plan to develop: ƒ Measurable Key Points ƒ Improving Questionnaires for parents and pupils. The special needs of the children include behaviour problems. The members of the group asked about pupils with severe, profound and multiple needs, as the photos of students did not show these pupils. We were told that most of these would be living in institutions where they receive all the care and therapies they need. There was a class of pupils in an after school lesson and we visited this class and chatted with the pupils. Slovenia has a good record for inclusion with between 1 and 2% of children educated in special school.

Reflection of group: The Principal of this school is passionate about the work of the school and enhancing the quality of life for his pupils. He sees the school as a Centre of Excellence and a resource for teachers in mainstream schools. We were surprised that pupils with such good communication and understanding were in a special school.

6. The Popular University Jesenice http://www.lu-jesenice.net/kdo.shtml They themselves like to be named Adult Education Center, because of their dealing with the training of adult people in different and wide-ranging subjects. It is a non-profit-organization that has to earn the money for their programs by themselves – EU-Projects and national projects (80%) and the fees of the participant (20%). They offer life-long-learning-programs.

The main approaches: • attractive and wide open use of modern andragogical approaches • availability and flexibility of education • high-qualified an motivated co-workers and teachers • friendly learning environment • tutoring and counseling before, during and after finishing with learning process • encouraging life-long-learning for different target groups

Offered Courses: • Language courses • Secondary school courses • Primary school courses for adults – free to attempt • Free-time, non-formal courses • Study circles • Training programs for life successfulness (writing and reading together, a bridge to education, programs for functional illiteracy) • ICT-courses (mostly free)

Special project “Grandparents and Grandchildren” ITC-program, in which young people (mostly from Jesenice grammar school) teach older people (at the age of their grandparents) how to use computers in the way the older people need (e.g. internet- banking, emailing, reading newspaper in the internet). This project is part of an EU-wide program, in which 7 European countries participate. So it is also financed by EU. The success of this program is overwhelming – there are more as twice applicants in comparison to the offered places. And also the volunteers from the grammar school are enthusiastic and it is no big problem to find one. This program last now one year and is to be continued because of the numbers of possible applicants.

Reflection of group: We enjoyed this presentation and found it a creative and transferable project. These seems to be an interesting way to give older people the chance to participate in modern, internet-based life and close the gap between generations. So both sides can take some profits out of this working together and for the local community it seemed to be a very important project in integrating older people in daily life again.

7. The Vocational School in Radovljica http://www.egss.si/o_soli.html Economic Grammar and Secondary School

Two parts: economic grammar school Economic technician > vocational Matura Media Technician > vocational Matura

Economic Grammar school: 4yrs ended with Matura (cf. GSSE in UK) next: technical college (4-6 semesters) or university or vocational course Media technician: 4 yrs

Job outcome Economic Technician: accountancy, banking, sales dept, trade Media Technician: (after 4 yrs of study) work in film and TV studios, advertising agencies, publishing houses They have a book fund: students pay 1/3 of the cost, next year books will be free Teamwork is important in this school Each student has to do 90 hrs of extracurricular activities per year.

Quality: The Didactic Reform Project has been initiated by the head office in Ljubljana, improving projects as a quality action.

The school also holds meetings with employers to get their view of the curriculum. ƒ broader school ƒ they act on their local network ƒ local actors are included in the school’s quality actions

They also make interdisciplinary projects: Irish dances, drawings, etc There is a lot of stress towards collaboration. Aim: the majority of the students like to come to school Achieved with the project ƒ a creative atmosphere ƒ a whole list of extra curricular and social activities ƒ Theme days: e.g. ecological day, school camp 5 days, skiing holidays, school representative elections ƒ Film discussion club: watch and discussing film, film language, …You learn more about film, the making and the background. Reflection of group: SWOT Strengths 3 persons are “multiplicators”, they smooth innovation efforts Atmosphere in the school They also have a ‘learning enterprise at school’ Non-schoolable students: some enrol in another school + in the town is the organization PUM: learn to learn project during 1 year Advantage of Grammar School and Technical College: more transition possibilities

Weaknesses Benchmarking is not clear How the q system actually works was not explained Working practice for the students during their training: in 4 yrs time economic technicians only have 4 weeks of working practice Financing of trips: parents pay the cost

Opportunities They are not yet involving the Chamber of Commerce in their discussions with industry.

Problems: stubborn parents, truancy, more and more psychological problems, contract work, lack of discipline, Æ relation with the parents is very important Each week the class teacher has an hour of talks with the students about class problems.

Threats Students have a lot of rights. Problem is that there is a lack of two way communication I the benefit of the school.

Multiplication possibilities Twinning with their e-business class; we need to involve students and parents more in an action to improve school atmosphere.

8. The primary school A. T. Linhart (700 students/ 6-15 years) http://www.atl.si/atl/index.htm School named after Slovenian writer. A.T. Linhart. 6- 15 years, 700 students Curriculum and co-curriculum (music, dance, sport, drama) Selecting and working with gifted pupils Aims: 1. to offer a broad education 2. to offer the opportunity for development of the personality A new concept from start to 1988- Project: Coriolanus way of selecting gifted pupils in primary school-3 steps 1. Selection 2. Identified children 3. Discussions with parents for agreement The concept was based on idea their students are more skills, more knowledge and a higher potential In 1990 was evaluated the results of the activities; the hypothesis was supported: the students are much more creative and they have more knowledge that the others. Against failure the programmes has the strategy (English-work in different levels: 8-9 years, Maths- different groups in the class. Programmes was based on: • Different projects • Special homework • Specifics programmes elaborated of the counsellor • Social integration • Co-operation learning • Work shops • Individual programs • Extra-curriculum The presentation of the activities was made by 10 students: e.g. Little boxproject..., Sport meeting, Music,

Reflection of group: We enjoyed the singing and dancing by the children and the “Bla, bla, bla” drama group humour. We wondered if the programme was biased towards feminine projects and whether the larger numbers of girls giving the presentation was representative. We were told that there are equal numbers of boys in the programme. There was debate in the group as to the election procedure into the Gifted and Talented programme and whether the philosophy of such a programme was beneficial t the community. There were questions about parental involvement in selection for the programme.

9. The National School for Leadership in Education in Brdo (http://www.solazaravnatelje.si/eng/) National School for Leadership in Education (School for Headmasters) 23.04.2008

The School was founded 1995 and is financed per 50% from the government and another 50% raised through EU-projects. Between 1995 and 2000 the core demand of the institution was the training from teachers for the “leadership exam”. Since 2000 130 teachers per year were trained in this special course that consists of 6 modules and last one year. The principal idea is the philosophy of leadership, based on the books of Fullan and Hargreaves. In this program there is no selection (drop out 1-2%), because the selection of heads should be done by the school boards and not by the National School. The Director of School is aware that training of future heads is like training swimming outside the pool Also since 2000 there are a program for life long learning for appointed head-masters, which is built up in groups, consisting of 8 new appointed and 8 experienced headmasters. On the other hand there are programs for special topics to supply the heads in everyday leadership, mostly hold on conferences for all Slovenian headmasters. Beside this there are also small groups (till 60 persons) to improve the individual skills (personal and managerial) of heads. This program involves a lot of hard working, implementing new ideas in the individual schools. Therefore there is a high drop-out-quota from more than 50%. They had to work on an individual portfolio. Another program, dedicated to schools in general not only for headmasters, is the Network for learning schools. This program consists of two parts: In the first year participating schools bring their individual development topics on the agenda and the school development teams (8 teachers) are grouped together with seven other teams to assist each other. They had one year to develop in this specific area and they get helps in the way to do (setting of priorities, implementation and evaluation). In the second year the work is oriented to topics. Schools interested in the same topic look in common – and with the assistance of the National School by training them – for possible solutions for the individual schools. So there are best practice example looked for. The teaching in all these programs is a combination of: • Theoretical • Practical • Mirroring

In this combination lies also the possibility to develop the individual possibilities of the different candidates. The most interesting thing in these programs – especially in these for headmasters – is the consequent approach to achieve quality of school leadership and therefore to gain a large number of potential heads, from which actually heads can be chosen.

10. The Vocational school in Strahinj (Biotehniski Center, Naklo) (http://www.s-bts.kr.edus.si/) Brand new facility, 2 yrs old; much EU funding; Sponsorship by the electricity board for the impressive solar panels on the roof.

They monitor evolutions in school population: now more students from outside the cities come and the number of schools the students come from has increased.

Key qualifications: group work (integrated group work) key qualifications are gained by having a positive climate in the school. If students see teacher work together in project themselves they see the positive aspect of this method.

Employers collaborated with the school to revise curricula in the field of biotechnics. They want the students to be communicative, team players, ….

Reflection of group: SWOT Strengths

The school organizes lectures for the parents on e.g. raising children (20 parents in a school of 450 Students!). The schools is also involved in adult education e.g. workshop for bread making, flower arrangements, Parents have their own school website to exchange ideas Parents, school counsellor, student sit together and then they make a contract to find a way for improvement and in this way they student is responsible for the plan and the realization of it. The school organizes extra curricular activities that meet the personal skills of students and students can gain extra marks / credits for this effort. 3000 children from the primary school have an introduction activity every year! Cooperation with local firms: materials, know how, funding Climate in the school is very important: sports, BBQ, ball, … Students have 8 weeks of work experience per year The rate of employment of vocational training students is very high especially for florists and gardeners. 20% of the school budget comes from own profitable activities like gardening, selling of honey, renting out infrastructure …

Weaknesses There are quality actions, but it was not clear if a genuine quality system was already established.

Opportunities They have a unique ‘product’ and they know it Building links with further education

Threats Will the costly investments be sustainable when the EU co-funding is no longer there ? Multiplication possibilities This school for could be “twinned” with a foreign school also offering training schemes for 15+ in gardening and landscaping.

11. The National Institute for Education (NEIS) in Ljubljana http://www.zrss.si/default_ang.asp The National Institute of Education in Ljubljana offers support to schools for development in all fields of education. The support is school-based, concrete and carried out by highly qualified experts and experienced, successful teachers. The institute also launches its own projects, cooperates with other departments and authorities and evaluates textbooks. It combines a top-down perspective with a bottom-up approach and strives to bridge the gap between the national and local perspective on education.

The National Education Institut of Slovenia (NEIS) works with several institutions: National Examination Centre, The Slovenian Institute for Adult Education, The National Centre for Mobility, The National Institute for Vocation and Training, The Ministry of Education and Sport, universities, international institutions and organizations

The institute for education expects schools to be process oriented, learning organizations and regards itself mainly as a service centre and as a resource for schools in processes of change. We learnt that there are 16 EU indicators of the quality of school education.

A very successful project, initiated by the Institute, is the European Classes Project. Project director, Katja Pavlic Skerjanc described the main goals for the project as:

Changes in content: Changes in teaching methods: More foreign languages Problem-based or project learning European Studies Teachers working in teams Content-based language studies Co-operation with the local community Slovenia in the World

Reflection of group: The whole visit to the institute was characterized by openness and curiosity on both sides, and we left with some answers but also with important questions such as: How do you help schools to become learning institutions? Contents or skills: How to balance these two? How to assess them? How do you safeguard innovations? Schools that are offered autonomy do not always want it because of the increased responsibility. How do we support them?

We all enjoyed Katya’s conclusion: “I am neither an optimist, nor a pesimist! I am a possibilist!”

12. The Slovenian Institute for Quality and Metrics (SIQ) www.siq.si/SIQ.688+M57d0acf4f16.0.html What is SIQ/KZP? SIQ offers a model for customer-orientated development and should be seen as an instrument for organizations to evaluate and improve its productions. The SIQ model can be summarized as giving management and staff an overall perspective of the organization creating involvement by staff in their own organization creating a common language and clarifying the meaning of customer-orientation leading to constant improvements

The method is built on three corner stones: 1. a method for asking the right questions 2. a generic framework for investigating the areas that are examined. It is customer- and process-oriented 3. consensus on values like customer orientation, active leadership, involvement of staff, in service training, long term perspective, civic responsibility, process orientation, pro-active approach, constant improvement, learning from others, decisions based on facts, co- operation In Slovenia, a school-adapted version of SIQ, called KZP, was introduced in 1996-97, but gained momentum only in 200-07, when the model was launched by a project team, supported by the Ministry of Education. From 15 organizations in 2006, there are now, in 2008, about 100 schools using the SIQ/KSP model for quality assessment in education and school management.

An example of the benefits of SIQ/KSP (from Primary School Tabor Logatech) -More cooperation between employees ƒ Planning and achievement of realistic and measurable goals ƒ Well controlled documentation ƒ Clear picture of the organization and its processes ƒ More oriented toward stakeholders, e g proper reactions to suggestions or complaints ƒ Evaluations and external audits are seen as a mirror, not as criticism Future development: spreading KZP in and outside Slovenia and to institutes for higher education introducing benchmarking

13. The Faculty of Education (http://www.pef.uni-lj.si/~strani/index_en.html) Establishes as a teacher training college in 1947, this Faculty is part of the University of Ljubljana, they have 27 different faculties most of them about pedagogical: Primary and preschool teaching, social pedagogy, special needs and arts. Social Pedagogy is the study of social disadvantage and behaviour problems in school. All courses are 4 years except Preschool (3 Years) The Faculty still does not attract the students with the highest level and they say that teachers do not have a good status as a profession in Slovenia. Students with high levels go to other Faculties such as Law and Medicine. 70 % of these students do not have a suitable level to attend but they still get in because there are places.

Regarding Quality, the department collects statistical information and this shows that: 7.1% finish their studies in 5 years 69% wanted to prolong their studies one year more (because of the financial incentives to remain a student). 7 years is the average time taken to complete the 4 year teacher training course. Students assess the work of their teachers (Faculty members) on a scale of 1-4. The average mark given is 3.66. Around 60% of primary school teachers find job When they still are student they can carry out teaching practice in schools (paid or not, usually not) Probationary teachers are not paid a teacher’s salary.

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