Education and Training Monitor 2024

1. Learning for sustainability

Existing strategic frameworks support learning for sustainability (LfS) in Slovenia, and further improvements are underway. The umbrella Education Act and three field-specific acts in education¹ lay down education for sustainable development and active participation in a democratic society as general goals. An ongoing curriculum reform includes education for sustainable development at core of the objectives for all subject-curricula at all three levels (ISCED 1 2 3).² In 2023, the strategy for greening education and research infrastructure identified priorities for green investments, and a high-level national committee on education for sustainable development was set up. The updated 2024-2027 strategy for sustainable mobility of children and young people also encourages improved knowledge and skills in this area. Furthermore, a national working group prepared a draft proposal for a National education programme until 2033 which includes plans to strengthen civic and ethical education. The Slovenian Institute of Education’s recent project on integrating climate topics in education³ has supported the conceptualisation of LfS in educational institutions at all levels. The Institute has also designed a comprehensive awareness-raising programme for institutions that want to strengthen their learning environment and ensure that it promotes the principles of sustainable development. In higher education, in a dedicated action plan⁴ (2023), green education is indicated among the three horizontal thematic areas. A new Higher Education Act is being drafted stipulating that higher education should contribute to the sustainable development of Slovenia. The guidelines for climate education at universities have been made available since 2022, and a new eGuide⁵ to the greening of higher education was published in 2023. The Slovenian recovery and resilience plan (RRP) supports the implementation of 30 pilot projects by 2026 (EUR 56.98 million) to integrate digital and sustainable development competences in study programmes. Sustainability is also strongly promoted in vocational education and training (VET) (examples in Box 1).

Sustainability is promoted as both a general goal and a specific subject with an interdisciplinary approach in education, although learning outcomes in this area are still limited. Schools may teach sustainability as an optional subject in secondary education, but in practice only a minority of schools teach it at the lower secondary level (European Commission/Eurydice, 2023). However, every basic school organises outdoor school programme for its students as a part of its annual work plan and as a compulsory part of the basic school curriculum. The 2022 International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS) showed that Slovenia is around average in the share of schools where eighth graders took part in sustainability actions (among 17 Member States participating in the ICCS 2022 survey) (Schulz et al., 2023). Nevertheless, knowledge of sustainable development issues is below the EU-17 average⁶.

Teachers become acquainted with LfS in their initial education and through their continuing professional development, but there is no comprehensive monitoring of LfS teaching in schools. According to ICCS 2022, 55% Slovenian teachers have participated in training on environment and sustainability (which is slightly more than the EU-17 average of 51%). Slovenian teachers also feel well prepared to teach sustainability topics and skills (77% teachers agreed they were well prepared vs an EU-17 average of 70%)⁷. Similarly, the share of Slovenian teachers who took part in actions related to sustainability with their eighth-grade students (64.3%) is also well above the EU-17 average (52.8%). The 2023 Slovenian continuing professional development programme for teachers contains specific courses on sustainable development, and teachers are encouraged to participate in these courses, as they will assist them in receiving a promotion. Moreover, unlike many other countries, Slovenia has put in place actions on sustainability that target school leaders, and the country also has an automatic financial allocation for sustainability-education projects. The initial teacher training programmes must meet specific criteria concerning learning for sustainability⁸ and the new central SDE guidelines are being developed. There is no systemic monitoring on how schools and universities integrate sustainability into their activities. However, some reports provide insights into related areas (e.g. Banfi Kolnik, 2013; Kregar, 2022; Mravlje, 2022). For example, one report critically refers to a lack of comprehensive monitoring on implementation of the sustainable development goal related to sustainability in education and calls for awareness to be raised on the importance on sustainable school architecture (MVI, 2022a).

2. Early childhood education and care

Participation in early childhood education and care (ECEC) is relatively high, but the lack of staff in ECEC in some regions remains a challenge⁹. Slovenia’s participation rate in ECEC for children aged between 3 and compulsory primary school age was 92.7% in 2022 against 93.1% at EU level. Participation in formal childcare among children under the age of 3 reached 56.6% in 2023, well above both the EU average (37.4%) and the national Barcelona target (46%). The shortage of ECEC staff in Slovenia varies across regions. According to the Employment Service of Slovenia’s forecast for 2024, demand for preschool teachers and preschool teacher assistants in kindergartens will be greater than supply in seven regions of the country¹⁰. The Ministry of Education (ME) aims to attract professionals to work in ECEC by offering paid traineeship for graduates who obtained their professional examination. Furthermore, the need to reflect changes impacting ECEC in Slovenia, such as the growth in diverse families and communities, might require a stronger focus in the future on team working, critical thinking, and lifelong professional development in initial professional education (Schreyer et al., 2024)¹¹.

Slovenia is strengthening access to ECEC for vulnerable groups. There has been a slight decrease in the number of children attending ECEC groups specifically organised for Roma children¹² in recent years, and the long-term goal is to enrol Roma children in regular kindergarten classes. In 2023/2024, the position of a Roma assistant was created in 19 kindergartens (ME, 2024). In 2023, two ESF projects¹³ included preschool education programmes for children not enrolled in kindergartens that focused on language development, establishing routines, and cooperation with Roma families. Further amendments were adopted in 2023 to: (i) strengthen the education of children with special needs through improving support and technical conditions for kindergarten¹⁴; and (ii) employ pedagogical advisers with more emphasis on the care of children with special needs¹⁵.

The updated curricula will be gradually rolled out until 2027. Although still under discussion, these curricula will: (i) further stress quality and fairness; (ii) offer an updated definition of cross-cutting activities, including on sustainable development; and (iii) focus more on multilingualism and multiculturalism. Furthermore, it will also set out the curricular basis for half-day (4-6 hours per day) and shorter programmes (240-720 hours per year) and make kindergarten more accessible.

3. School education

One in four students in Slovenia does not have the minimum level of proficiency in mathematics and reading. According to the OECD’s 2022 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), the share of students not reaching minimum skills levels is increasing, and there has been a particularly severe deterioration in average reading literacy since 2006¹⁶. Between 2018 and 2022, the underachievement rate rose significantly (by 8.2 pps) in both mathematics and reading, while in science it remained stable. Also, the top performance rate in Slovenia has worsened compared to 2018 in reading and stands at 4.4% (vs 6.5% in the EU). However, in mathematics 9.4% of Slovenian students are top performers vs 7.9% in the EU. In science, the share of top performers slightly increased between 2018 and 2022 to 8% and is above the EU average (6.9% in 2022).

Figure 1: Top performance rate in reading, PISA 2018, 2022 (%)

Socio-economic status and migrant background significantly affect educational outcomes, while boys are more likely to underachieve than girls. In 2022, 41.1% of students from disadvantaged backgrounds in Slovenia did not perform at a basic level in mathematics (against an EU average of 48%) compared with 9.9% of Slovenian students from an advantaged background (against an EU average of 10.9%). Around half of students from a migrant background in Slovenia face socio-economic disadvantage, and 51.2% of students born abroad underperform in mathematics (vs 21.3% of native-born students). The gaps in underachievement between boys and girls in Slovenia are well above the EU averages in reading (Slovene boys face a 17.6 pp gap in underachievement with Slovenian girls vs an EU average of an 8.9 pps) and in science (6.9 pps vs an EU average of 2.7 pps). Further efforts in promoting pre-reading literacy in preschool, providing high-quality initial literacy in primary school, and sensitising teachers to provide more targeted learning support to pupils could help improving their reading competence.

The Slovenian education system shows resilience and promotes well-being. Over 79% of students in Slovenia reported that they feel they belong at school, a rate above the EU average, while around 10% of students reported feeling lonely at school¹⁷. However, according to a national study, in 2022 fewer students reported life satisfaction than in 2018 (59% vs 64%) (Šterman Ivančič, Mlekuž, 2023). In PISA 2022, 17.9% of students reported that they experienced bullying at least a few times a month, while exposure to bullying is associated with a 14-score-point drop in students’ mathematics performance.

School closures during the pandemic, a lack of teaching staff and other developments might have contributed to a decline in students’ performance. Although Slovenian students reported a similar level of difficulties (vs the OECD average) in learning during the pandemic, they also reported slightly below-average support from their schools and their own below-average readiness for possible remote learning¹⁸. Moreover, teacher shortages have been increasing¹⁹ in the country, and in 2022 around 42% of students in Slovenia were in schools where the principal reported that the school’s capacity to provide instruction was hindered by a lack of teaching staff, while 23% were in schools where the principal reported that the school had inadequate or poorly qualified teaching staff (OECD 2022). Slovenian students also reported significantly poorer quality of relationships with teachers at school vs the OECD average. Other factors that may have played a role include declining funding for both education²⁰ and public libraries²¹; challenges in maintaining the attractiveness of the teaching profession²²; and the possible negative impact of the extensive use of information and communication technology at schools²³.

Actions to strengthen basic skills are underway. In reaction to the 2022 PISA results, a national report²⁴ analysed international comparisons of Slovenia’s education system, and several expert discussions took place exploring the drivers that lay behind the outcomes. A proposal for a National programme for education for 2023-2033²⁵ includes addressing reading literacy as one of the key skills that all citizens needs and the professional and career development of schoolteachers. Furthermore, an amendment to the Basic School Act (in force since September 2024) has introduced a mandatory national knowledge test for all students in the third grade of basic school, which will improve monitoring of students’ progress and early intervention. The RRP supports the ongoing update of the curriculum with EUR 4.4 million until 2025.

4. Vocational education and training

Slovenia has a relatively large VET sector, with 69.7% of students in upper-secondary education attending programmes with a vocational orientation in 2022. In 2023, more than half of recent VET graduates (55.3%) had experienced work-based learning as part of their studies, which was not only below the EU average (64.5%) but also significantly lower compared to 2022 (72.8%). In 2023, the employment rate of recent VET graduates was slightly above the EU average (82.8% vs 81% in the EU-27). 

Slovenia is focusing on making VET more relevant for the jobs of tomorrow by strengthening the link between VET schools and companies, fostering quality-assurance initiatives, and integrating green and digital skills into curricula. In 2023, Cedefop, the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training, supported professional discussions on education and training challenges in the country. The expert group for the modernisation of VET (Cedefop and ReferNet, 2023) prepared guidelines in 2023, suggesting that Slovenia further develops the modular structure of its current VET programmes, open curricula and work-based learning in companies. The expert group also emphasised the need to include green and digital skills in VET curricula, improve cooperation between schools and companies, and facilitate adult students’ enrolment in VET (Šlander & Knavs, 2024 forthcoming).

Slovenia’s adult-education master plan for 2023-2030²⁶ was adopted in 2023. It includes a focus on modernising the range and delivery of VET courses and aims to close the gaps in Slovenia’s performance in lifelong learning and adult literacy. The RRP invested in a national programme to promote faster entry of young people into the labour market, and by the end of 2023 this programme had helped 1 649 young people under 30 into work. The RRP also encouraged employers to hire unemployed young people, and provide them with mentoring and training, including in digital skills (Šlander & Knavs, 2024 forthcoming). Furthermore, in 2023 the Institute of the Republic of Slovenia for VET implemented projects to both support digital technologies in VET schools²⁷ and make VET more attractive²⁸.

The RRP invests EUR 3.5 million in improving cooperation between the education system and the labour market. The aim is to better align skills acquired in secondary vocational and professional education with the needs of the jobs market. The RRP includes plans to: (i) promote VET and apprenticeships to foster excellence; (ii) train mentors in companies to improve the quality of practical training; and (iii) increase the involvement of social partners in VET through various events.

5. Higher education

Tertiary educational attainment has been on the rise in Slovenia, but in 2023 it declined. The share of tertiary-educated people aged 25-34 increased over the last decade from 35.3% in 2012 to 47,3% in 2022 and dropped to 40.7% in 2023, below both the EU average (43.1%) and the EU-level target (45%)²⁹. The share of tertiary-educated people born outside the EU slightly increased over the last decade, from 11.5% in 2012 to 15.1% in 2023. However, this remains one of the lowest rates in the EU (the EU average was 24.2% in 2023). The gender gap in tertiary educational attainment in favour of women (Figure 2) remained one of the highest in the EU in 2023 (23.6 pps vs 11.2 pps in the EU). Slovenia saw a slight increase in the number of enrolled students (by 1.1%) between 2016 and 2022³⁰, with more women than men among students enrolled in tertiary education (ISCED 5-8)³¹. Moreover, the share of students who enrolled as part-timers in tertiary education considerably increased from 19.2% to 24.4% between 2016 and 2022³². In 2022 almost half of academic staff members in Slovenian universities were over the age of 50 (44.6%), down from 53.2% in 2016³³. Slovenia is one of the countries with the lowest share of academic staff below the age of 35 in the EU (below 11.7%)³⁴. The gender balance has improved in recent years, with the percentage of female academic staff increasing from 42% in 2016 to 46.8% in 2022³⁵.

Between 2016 and 2022 there was an increase in the share of tertiary graduates in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The percentage of STEM graduates increased by 4.5 pps (to 29.5%) over this period and now stands above the EU average (26.6% in 2022)³⁶. In 2022, new enrolments were highest for courses in business, administration and law, engineering, manufacturing and construction, health and welfare³⁷. Interest in social science and humanities programmes is declining, according to the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Innovation (MVZI, 2024).

Slovenia supports student mobility. The degree mobility balance of graduates (0.18) is positive, which indicates higher flows of incoming (foreign) than outgoing (Slovenian) students, although considering intra-EU mobility only this balance flips to its opposite (-0.2). Only 6% of Slovenian graduates (ISCED level 5-8) had a learning mobility experience abroad which is below the EU average (11%). Many of the outgoing Slovenian students choose Austria (21.3%) as the first destination for their studies abroad, followed by Germany (13.9%) and the United Kingdom (13%).

Slovenia maintains high levels of investment in higher education. The share of public expenditure directed to tertiary education exceeded the EU average between 2015 and 2022 (1% of GDP or 2.1% to 2.2% as a share of total government expenditure)³⁸. At the same time, annual spending on higher education institutions per full-time equivalent student increased by 34.8% between 2015 and 2021³⁹, while the number of enrolled students increased only marginally. The RRP allocates around EUR 59 million to investments in the digital and green transition of higher education. Pilot projects in this area are being implemented in public higher education institutions, primarily in the three public universities (Ljubljana, Maribor and Primorska). For example, the University of Maribor prepared guidelines for the development of micro-credentials (UM, 2024). Furthermore, the University of Ljubljana has set up a new fund to increase the impact of humanities, arts and social sciences research on society, which aims to address social challenges including inclusion, sustainability and equality (UL, 2024c). The Ministry is also preparing a new Higher Education Act that aims to significantly increase the funding for higher education and plans to amend the Act on Scientific Research and Innovation Activities (2024) with a view to ensure stable financing and innovation at universities.

In line with the strategy for internationalisation (2023), Slovenian public universities are actively involved in several transnational cooperation activities, including the European Universities Alliances supported by Erasmus+. The University of Ljubljana is part of the EUTOPIA European Universities Alliance (under the 2022 Erasmus+ call), comprising 9 European universities and 7 associated partners from non-EU countries across the world. The EUTOPIA alliance aims to develop a new model for integrated European higher-education institutions. The University of Maribor is participating in another project that set up the European universities alliance ATHENA (under the 2020 Erasmus+ call), while the University of Primorska joined the T4EU European Universities Alliance in 2023. In addition, Slovenian private universities are joining European University Alliances too.

Slovenia has also recently made progress in implementing the European credit transfer and accumulation system (ECTS). The country still needs to step up action to ensure that external quality-assurance agencies monitor all key aspects of the implementation of ECTS during their regular evaluation processes with regards to the use of ECTS User’ Guide 2015 principles in external evaluation (European Commission/ Eurydice, 2024). The legal framework for developing modules that lead to micro-credentials has been prepared (but not adopted yet). There is no system-level automatic recognition of micro-credentials for academic purposes in the country, as additional recognition procedures apply for the recognition of higher education qualifications issued in all other EHEA countries in 2022/2023.

Figure 2: Tertiary educational attainment rate (25-34 years) by gender and the gender gap, 2023 (%)

6. Adult learning

Recent trends in adult learning show declining participation rates, indicating challenges ahead. The adult-learning participation rate for Slovenia dropped from 40.3% in 2016 to 26.5% in 2022⁴⁰, moving further away from the 2030 national target of adults participating in learning every year at 60%. Moreover, low participation by the less educated in organised learning remains a challenge. Slovenia is unlikely to achieve the EU benchmark of 30% participation in adult learning among low-qualified adults (aged 25-64) by 2025, as only 17.8% of low-qualified adults participated in adult learning in 2022. Conversely, as regards unemployed adults, 23.1% of them (aged 25-64) had recent learning experiences, surpassing the EU benchmark of 20%. In 2023, 46.7% of adults (aged 16-74) had at least basic digital skills, well below the EU average (55.5%) and the 80% benchmark.

Slovenia's recent efforts in adult education are reflected in the ambitious goals of the 2022-2030 national adult education programme and are underpinned by EU funding. The programme aims to increase the adult participation rate in lifelong learning to 66% by 2030. Around EUR 423 million, representing 67% of the ESF+ for Slovenia, is earmarked for Slovenia’s actions under the heading ‘Skills and responsive labour market’. This funding also includes actions to strengthen: (i) the teaching of green skills in the education system, in particular in upper secondary schools including VET; and (ii) skilling, reskilling and upskilling of adults in the green skills needed for the labour market. The ESF+ also invests in key skills (the example in the Box 2) with an overall budget of EUR 37 million to improve lifelong learning by providing flexible opportunities for upskilling and reskilling, including in entrepreneurial and digital skills.