National strategy

To date, no specific national strategy or programme to prevent ELET has been adopted in Slovenia. In Slovenia, ELET is not detected as a problem since the percentage of early leavers from education and training (age group 18-24) is among the lowest in Europe.

Formal education: main policy measures on ELET

Slovenia does not have any specific measure or policy on ELET. No recent policies and measures have been developed to tackle early leaving.

Each Slovenian school has an advisory service. In secondary schools, the counselling service consists of a psychologist and a social pedagogue. In addition, the primary incentive for young people to continue their educations is participation in social security programmes, as they gain some benefits (e.g., subsidized food, subsidized transport tickets etc.).

Slovenia has established a national target of decreasing the rate of early leavers to 5% by 2020 and has already exceeded the target in 2016, when the share of early leavers was 4.9%. In 2017, the share was  4.2% and in 2018, it lowered to 3.6%. It should be noted that in Education and Training Monitor 2015 – Slovenia, it has been pointed out that the challenge “shifts to the early leavers [from tertiary education attainment] rate, which is estimated to be as high as 35%”.

Specific targeted measures for groups at risk focus on students and pupils who are socially disadvantaged, have migrant and minority/Roma backgrounds, or have special educational needs or special abilities (such as students receiving hospital treatments, gifted students, etc.). For detailed information, see the Thematic report and 6.6 Social inclusion through education and training.

 

Addressing ELET through non-formal and informal learning and quality youth work

As noted in the 2014 Eurydice report, "Tackling Early Leaving from Education and Training in Europe: Strategies, Policies and Measures", Slovenia has wider definition(s) of early leavers. In fact, two national operational definitions are used:

• younger adults who did not successfully complete basic education (lower secondary),
• unemployed young adults between 15 and 25 years old who do not have any vocational qualification and are not enrolled in a school.

The first target group is eligible for the Basic School for Adults Programme (Program osnovne šole za odrasle); the second target group is eligible for the Learning for Young Adults Project (Projektno učenje za mlajše odrasle – PUM-O), which was renewed in 2016. It targets a wider array of groups within youth population, specifically, young people aged 15–26 who are unemployed, searching for first employment, who are not involved in any kind of VET, early leavers and high school students who are in formal education but are facing obstacles and could be leaving education early. The main aim of the programme PUM-O is to develop the potential of vulnerable young adults in order to provide them with better opportunities to enter education, develop a vocational identity, achieve success in the labour market and integrate socially success. The programme has not been evaluated yet, as it was implemented just one year ago, in May 2016. The programme is funded by the Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities and co-funded by the European Social Fund. The 2016-2020 budget for the programme is 12 million euros (9.6 million of which come from European Social Fund).

Cross-sector coordination and monitoring of ELET interventions

No new measures or actions have been put into effect since 2014. All the relevant information is available in the 2014 Eurydice report "Tackling Early Leaving from Education and Training in Europe: Strategies, Policies and Measures".

The Youth Guarantee scheme is an important part of youth policy. The Action Plan for National Youth Guarantee (Jamstvo za mlade) was renewed for the 2016-2020 period; measure number 6 is aimed at continued education being offered to young people under the age of 29 within a period of four months of becoming unemployed or leaving formal education. The purpose of the plan is to provide individual and group information and career counselling and tools for independent career management. The aim of the services is to identify a quality offer or measure that will most effectively assist the young unemployed person in their transition to the labour market or into employment.

The Slovenian Institute for Adult Education (Andragoški center RS) develops and evaluates the programmes for ELET. The Ministry of Education, Science and Sport and the Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities cooperate within this Institute. The methodology for monitoring and preventing early school leaving is presented in the document (in Slovene), which describes achieved goals of the action plan, effectiveness, changes needed and required changes of goals.