According to data from the National Education Institute of the Republic of Slovenia, only around 15 per cent of existing learning materials comply with the new curricula that are due to be implemented in classrooms as early as this September.
Speaking at a press conference on 11 February, Jobava said: A country’s educational publishers are one of its most precious resources. Together with the relevant ministry and that country’s teachers, they can ensure that curricula are implemented effectively, and that teachers have the best selection of resources to meet their pupil’s needs. Educational publishers bring value for money in two ways: one, by ensuring resources are developed in line with evidence-based best practice and two, by saving teachers time and enabling them to focus on other aspects of their work. In IPA’s experience, the best learning outcomes are secured through these three parties collaborating in this way and I understand that has been the case in Slovenia until now.
The Slovenian government’s current proposals will reduce the range of professionally produced educational resources available in this country. Reducing the choices available to teachers will be bad for teachers and for pupils and for educational outcomes in Slovenia. I encourage all stakeholders in Slovenia to come together to critically discuss the proposals and come up with a solution that uses the phenomenal resources available – dedicated publishers and teachers – to produce the best outcomes for pupils.
Helga Holtkamp, Executive Director of the European Educational Publishers Group (EEPG). She pointed out that in countries achieving the best results in international assessments of knowledge, ministries define educational goals, but not the specific pedagogical pathways and tools, which include textbooks, workbooks, and combined textbook-workbooks. She stressed that restricting the range of learning materials and limiting teachers’ choice does not improve quality; rather, it increases teachers’ workload, leads to greater inequality between schools, and weakens support for pupils with special educational needs.
Vesna Nahtigal, Director General of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia, the debate on curricula and learning materials is not a technical or marginal issue, but one of the key developmental questions of the state: “The quality of education directly determines the knowledge, creativity, and innovativeness of future generations. If we wish to think long-term, reforms must be implemented thoughtfully, transparently, and with realistic timelines. Unfortunately, the current approach demonstrates precisely the opposite.”