The school system

1. Programmes of talent identificationand talent management in SloveniaEda Patru, lecturer Lara Kobal, assistantUniversityof Primorska, FacultyofEducation Koper, Slovenija

2. The school system • Mandatory school age in Slovenia is from 6 to 15 years. There is no mandatorypreparatory year at kindergarten before school. • The 9-grade primary school is divided into 3 cycles.

3. Organisation of the initial education and training system

4. The structure of the Slovenian education system in 2009/10: Pre-primary education (ages 1-5) provided by autonomous public pre-school institutions, organisational units of pre-school units at basic schools or private pre-school institutions; • Basic education; single structure of primary and lower secondary education (ages 6-14) provided by basic schools; • Upper secondary education (ages 15-18) consisting of: short vocational education (120 ECTS) provided by upper secondary vocational schools (vocational schools),vocational education provided by upper secondary vocational and technical schools (vocational schools and secondary professional and technical schools),technical education provided by upper secondary technical schools (secondary professional and technical schools,vocational and technical education provided by upper secondary vocational and technical schools (vocational schools and secondary professional and technical schools),general education (four years) provided by general upper secondary schools Grammar Schools;

5. Short tertiary (higher vocational) education (120 ECTS) provided by higher vocational colleges; • Higher education provided by public and private universities, faculties, art academies and professional colleges. It consists of three cycles: First-cycle professional or academic (180-240 ECTS), • Second-cycle master’s studies (60-120 ECTS), • Third-cycle doctoral studies (180 ECTS). • Alongside, there are sub-systems:

6. Guidelines of education-policy in our days • Since it became independent from Yugoslavia, Slovenia has placed its legislationon new foundations. • The compilation of the Constitution was followed by Actson Education in the mid-1990s.

7. The problem of recognising and work with gifted pupils has in Slovenia been in the last decade in line with the legal provisions more systematic as in the past. • Namely, for primary schools on the basis of the document Concept: detection and work with gifted pupils in nine-year primary schools (1999) and in the last three years also at the level of secondary education.

8. Both documents envisage the process of recognition and work with talented pupils in line with : • Law on Primary Schools • Law on Organisation and Financing of Education, • Law on Grammar Schools • Law on Vocational and Professional Training and Education

9. First the White Paper (1993-1995), then the legislation (1996) and after thatthe reworking of the curriculum. Such was the order of events envisaged at thestart of the systematic changing of the education system in Slovenia

10. I. The White Paper on Education in Slovenia presents a comparative review ofthe situation in the field of education in the country and derives from it proposals fornecessary changes to the system. It compares education in Slovenia with systems ofeducation selected from the countries of central and western Europe.

11. In the preparation of proposals for new solutions, the authors tried to find answers topressing issues related to the operation of the school system, such as: • the transition from the ancien regime to parlamentary democracy and thus toa plural system of values;

12. efforts to join processes of European integration; • the development of production processes and scientific disciplines, which alsorequires changes in the field of education.

13. It is underlined that all children including those withspecial educational needs, the talented and the disabled alike, have a right toreceive education corresponding to their abilities. • The interactive relationships of students, teachers and parents are in focus, as well as the promotion of student activity.

14. NATIONWIDE IDENTIFICATION OF TALENTS AND TALENT SUPPORT IN SLOVENIAN PRIMARY SCHOOLS • Talent identification and talent support to be applied in the whole of publiceducation is the most acclaimed best practice of talent support in Slovenia. • Itwas launched as an exciting experiment in 1996, and an impact analysis of theprogramme, which became nationwide almost 10 years ago, was closed in spring2011. 450 primary schools take part in everyday work.

15. The objective of the programme is to ensure that special talent support atschools should start as soon as possible at primary schools, in accordance witha well-built system. • The Concept was adopted in 1999: A document entitled ‘Tasks of talent identification and talent management’ for the students of9-grade primary schools (hereinafter: Primary School Concept) creates anopportunity for each student to be selected as a talent at any time.

16. In accordance with the Act on Education, talented students are considered being in needof special education, so educational institutions have to provide them withindividual development plans and matching teaching.

17. The National Council of Curricula set up a committee in 1996 with theobjective to prepare a primary school concept for the work to be done withtalented students at primary schools. • A draft was compiled in cooperation withfive primary schools in the course of four years, which was adopted at the 25thsession of the Special Council of Public Education of the Slovenian Republic onFebruary 11, 1999. • In line with the Act on Education, it provides the legislativebackground for talent support in Slovenia (Primary School Concept, 1999).

18. The concept ‘Education and teaching of talented secondary school students’is the next component of the system built step-by-step. It was adopted by theGeneral Educational Council of the Slovenian Republic in 2007 (Secondary School Concept, 2007)