The institutions of professional education and training are administratively separated from the rest of the cultural and arts administration because they are within the responsibility of three educational departments, The Pre-School and Basic Education Directorate responsible for pre-school education, primary education, music education and programmes for the education of children with special needs; The Secondary, Higher Vocational and Adult Education Directorate responsible for secondary education, higher vocational education and adult education; and The Higher Education and Science Directorate responsible among others also for higher education. However, there is a separate section for cultural education within the Creativity Directorate due to the long tradition of support from the cultural budget for programmes / projects of art schools, student artistic activity, scholarships for professional training and education of young artists etc.
The diverse opportunities for professional education and training in different fields of arts and heritage have been developed. Various formal and informal programmes, courses and workshops are presented as well as their organisers and producers (private and public).
The three academies of arts are the Academy of Fine Arts, the Academy of Music and the Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television (see also chapter 2.9). Some programmes are also run at the Faculty of Arts, such as Library and Information Science, Book Studies, History of Arts and Musicology and some others. Courses on fashion and design are organised by the Faculty of Natural Science and Technology. There are also some independent institutions of higher education and colleges that offer education in fields such as multimedia, photography, interior design, fashion and others.
Slovenia has a long tradition of public music schools, which educate pupils under the music and ballet programme at basic level. As well as 53 public schools, there are also more than ten publicly funded private music schools. Four general upper secondary schools (gimnazija) that are specialised in arts, offer a wide range of programmes – music, dance, visual arts and theatre to suit special interests and provide specialised knowledge needed for further studies of arts. Similarly the programme of the Ljubljana Music and Ballet Conservatory is geared towards the Baccalaureate and further university education.
As far as the developments of the relationship between arts and education are concerned the National Programme for Culture 2008-2011 identified the following set of specific objectives:
- to organise care for the programmes for children and youth offered by cultural institutions in all fields of culture, and the accessibility and popularisation of culture among young people;
- cultural education as a cross-curricular content and dimension;
- support for further professional training in cultural education of the professional workers in education and additional training of the experts and artists who prepare projects and programmes for children and youth in kindergartens and schools;
- preparation of an Action Plan of Cooperation and setting up of a network of participating partners, educational, and cultural institutions in the field of cultural education; and
- to ensure, in particular, availability of information on quality cultural goods (offers) for children and youth within the framework of the national cultural portal.
According to the summary of the current National Programme for culture 2014-2017, the priority in the field of cultural and art education is to be open to long-term evolution and provide top-quality cultural production. Recommendations will be prepared for quality, diversified and accessible cultural and art educational programmes in all areas of culture for different target groups, for providing cultural and art education in the form of life-long learning, with an emphasis on programmes that include older people or where providers are the elderly (organisations of older people in cooperation with cultural institutions) and which ensure inter-generational dialogue in different areas of culture; training for professionals in the field of art and cultural education, and the development and promotion of the reading culture.
The conceptual part of the National Guidelines for Arts and Cultural Education in the Field of Education (the importance and purpose of arts and cultural education in education, fields of art, and objectives and principles) was revised and debated by the Council of Experts for General Education of the Republic of Slovenia in May 2009. Within the operational follow up, a textbook with study cases from arts and cultural practice was published in 2011 (for teachers, headmasters, cultural institutions and others to use in everyday education practice); a programme for regional training of teachers to raise the quality of the teaching in arts and culture education has started and the development of a network of so called coordinators for arts and culture in schools is on its way.
The Ministry of Education, Science and Sport together with the Ministry of Culture jointly organise the Cultural Bazaar http://en.kulturnibazar.si/, an event that takes place in the biggest cultural centre in Slovenia, Cankarjev dom, every year from 2009 on with the aim:
- to offer information on quality projects and programmes, provided by cultural institutions for children and youth;
- to encourage cooperation and partnerships between cultural institutions, preschool institutions, basic and upper-secondary schools as well as partnerships between cultural institutions;
- to enhance awareness about the significance of culture and the arts in education as well as society at large; and
- to inform the public on the positive benefits of quality arts and cultural education for children and youth or preschool institutions and schools.
Each year, the organisers produce a catalogue of cultural education programmes and projects and maintain a special website with data on all of the cultural programmes for children and young people. It also runs the programme “Growing with books”, which means that every pupil in the seventh year of elementary school receives one literary book.
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