Dr. Natalija Vrečer:
VET AND EMPLOYMENT-RELATED MOBILITY AND MIGRATION
National Research Report – Slovenia
Sponsors: The Slovenian National Institute for Vocational Education and Training (CPI) and
CEDEFOP
Ljubljana, oktober 2009
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CONTENTS
1. Abstract ............................................................................................................................. 3
2. Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 4
3. Methodology ...................................................................................................................... 4
4. Geographical and daily mobility in Slovenia ...................................................................... 5
4.1. Geographical mobility in Slovenia ............................................................................... 5
4.2 Daily mobility in Slovenia ............................................................................................ 6
5. Occupational mobility in Slovenia ..................................................................................... 7
5.1 National professional qualifications .............................................................................. 9
6. Migration to Slovenia ......................................................................................................... 9
7. Emigration of Slovenes to foreign countries ..................................................................... 10
8. Conclusions ..................................................................................................................... 11
9. Literature ......................................................................................................................... 11
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1. Abstract
The present research report is a result of the literature review on VET and employmentrelated mobility and migration in Slovenia. Mainly the books and research papers published
in Slovenia and with a special focus on those written by national researchers were consulted
in the period from 2004-2009. In Slovenia the topic VET and employment-related mobility
and migration is under-researched. The results of the literature review show the due to the
ageing population Slovenia needs migrants, however, they are usually employed in low
esteem and low paid professions. The results also showed that mobility in Slovenia is still
very low. This holds true for geographical and occupational mobility. However, in order to
achieve the development, the aforementioned mobilities should be encouraged in
contemporary societies, including Slovenia, to remove the obstacles to geographical and
occupational mobility represents a challenge that we will have to deal with in the future.
Mobility not only enables better employability, but also equips people with intercultural
competencies which are one of the key competencies needed for the successful functioning
in a contemporary society. There is a need that VET in Slovenia also develops as
multicultural education, since we live in a multicultural society.
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2. Introduction
Mobility and migration respectively are as old as humankind. They are characteristic for all
historic periods, namely people always migrated and experienced various kinds of mobility.
In the times of globalisation mobility and migration became even more intense. Namely,
demographic changes are characteristic for Slovenia, as well as for other parts of EU. Active
population is decreasing and the number of elderly is increasing. Migration can partly solve
the question of low fertility. Due to the lowering of fertility rate, migrations become more and
more important factor of demographic development. Nowadays, Slovenia depends on
migrations, and that feature will become even more evident in the next 30 years (Jakoš,
2009). According to the same author demographic issues represent one of the most
important factors of future development of Slovenia.
Therefore it is a challenge of education systems and that includes VET to respond to these
contemporary societal challenges of migration and mobility. In the present national report we
deal with VET and employment-related mobility and migration. Especial focus is on
occupational mobility, however, we also mention geographical and daily mobilities, which are
connected to occupational mobility, and migrations.
The literature review revealed that mobility in Slovenia is still very low, but very important for
the future of the state (Drobnič J., 2006; Medved, 2006). The improvement of geographical
and occupational mobility is one of the key challenges of a contemporary world (Drobnič J.,
2006), therefore they need to be improved, also in Slovenia (Skuber, 2006).
Let us first define what we mean by migration and mobility. Some authors use the terms
interchangeably, there was an attempt to differentiate between the two terms, for example,
UMAR (2008) uses the following definition written by Bole »...The term »mobility« is used in
connection with overcoming distances in space by an individual whose permanent residence
does not change«, while »migration« or »population movement« denotes the change of
residence of individuals or groups of people« (Bole, 2004: 28). Besides, »social mobility is
defined as a change of the status of an individual or a group in the system of social
relations« (UMAR, 2008: 115).
3. Methodology
This national research report is a literature review of current key issues and outcomes
related to VET and employment-related mobility and migration. The main focus is on current
national research topics between 2004 – 2009 and on publications published in Slovenia.
The search for books, research papers and articles in COBISS – Cooperative Online
Bibliographic System and Service on the aforementioned topic gained zero results. COBISS
is a virtual library of Slovenia which contains all the publications issued in Slovenia including
all foreign publications catalogued in all Slovene libraries. That means that not only that there
is no national publication on the researched topic, there are also no foreign publications on
the researched topic available in Slovenian libraries. As the keywords VET and mobility and
VET and migration entered into COBISS gained zero results, we also took into consideration
the keywords separately: VET, mobility, migration and thus we were able to access those
publications that at least (briefly) mentioned VET and employment-related mobility and
migration. It was interesting that even in the statistical data concerning Slovenia, the data are
very often available only for primary school, secondary school and university level, thus too
often the data are lacking for vocational schools, as well as post-secondary vocational
education and higher vocational education. This makes the present research report even
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more actual, we need more research on the researched topic in Slovenia. By the way, we
found out that the whole topic of VET is under-researched in Slovenia and needs more
attention as well.
4. Geographical and daily mobility in Slovenia
4.1. Geographical mobility in Slovenia
This subchapter refers to inner migrations in the scope of Slovenia. Statistical data show that
in EU most of the people migrate inside their own state, migrations between member states
represent only a small segment of migrations (Medved, 2006). The same holds true for
Slovenes, who prefer to migrate into another town in Slovenia than to move to other states in
EU / EEA. This data has been confirmed by the research of The Public Opinion and Mass
Communication Research Centre (in Medved, 2006).
According to the Population Census from 2002 only 45% of all inhabitants of Slovenia lived in
the town where they were born and 1.076.0231 inhabitants were migrants (in UMAR, 2008).
After the Second World War deagrarization, industrialisation and urbanisation occurred in
Slovenia. These processes caused that people started to migrate from villages to towns.
After the independence of our state in 1991 inner migrations became an economic necessity.
However, UMAR (2008) presents the results of the questionnaire among the unemployed
performed by Jakoš, which revealed that only half of them (53%) were ready to move. So
UMAR (2008) concludes that Slovenes do not like to move a lot. Nowadays we face a
situation when people move from towns usually to the outskirts due to the fact that they want
to solve their housing problems, namely apartments and houses outside of towns are
cheaper. Umar (2008) writes that total number of regional inner migrants in Slovenia from the
independence in 1991 to 2006 was nearly 100.000 inhabitants (an average 6243 yearly). In
Slovenia housing is as strong motive as workplace, when people decide to move into other
town. Nevertheless, regional migration in Slovenia is not very strong (UMAR, 2008).
According to UMAR (2008) human capital is beside natural resources, infrastructure, etc. an
important factor for regional development. The same institution estimates that the regions
with the inhabitants with higher educational levels and longer duration of formal education
attained have higher GDP. Individuals with higher educational levels attained have better
income and regions have other advantages (better health system etc.). In the
Osrednjeslovenska region (with the capital Ljubljana), according to the Population Census
2002, there live inhabitants with the longest years of formal education and the smallest share
of inhabitants with only primary school level attained. Therefore in this region there is the
highest GDP in Slovenia, the opposite is in the Prekmurje region, where people have the
lowest education in Slovenia, the region has the lowest GDP and many unemployed people.
This mismatch in the labour market between the demand and supply of workers with a
certain educational level attained (lower, upper secondary, university education) can be a
reason for interregional migrations (UMAR, 2008). Lower educational levels negatively
influence the region of immigration and positively the region of emigration and vice versa
higher educational levels positively influence the region of immigration and negatively the
region of emigration (Pekkala, Knaggashar, Grčar, v UMAR, 2008). People with postsecondary vocational education and higher education tended to move to Osrednjeslovenska
region and Gorenjska, while the region of Zasavje lost more than 10% of people with postsecondary vocational education and higher educational level attained (ibid.). In Slovenia in
recent years the number of higher educational institutions in other regions of Slovenia,
1
Slovenia is a country with 2 million people.
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beside two biggest cities Ljubljana and Maribor, is growing, which means that more people
will be able to finish the studies in their region. However, »in order for the individual to stay in
his/her region after the studies, the offer of higher education needs to be adapted to existing
and future needs of the regional economy« (ibid.: 100).
According to Medved (2006) geographical mobility can improve professional choices.
Creative workforce (engineers, doctors, teachers, researchers, artists etc.) does not move
only according to the principle people follow jobs (not only to get employment), but according
to the principle jobs follow people (they move where there are the most creative conditions
for jobs) (UMAR, 2008). This region in Slovenia is the Osrednjeslovenska region, where
people with higher educational levels attained tend to move to. Drobnič R. (2006) writes that
we intend to solve the problems of structural mismatch in the labour market (regional,
vocational, educational mismatch) with geographical and occupational mobility.
4.2 Daily mobility in Slovenia
Daily mobility is a kind of spatial (horizontal) mobility, where people travel to another town on
a daily basis or more times during a week, however, they do not change their permanent
residency (cf. to Bole, 2004; UMAR, 2008). The main reason for daily mobility is the lack of
workplaces in the local area (Bole, 2004).
The beginnings of daily mobility could be traced in early industrialization period, when
workplaces where not attached anymore to the permanent residence as for example the
workplaces of farmers, however, in this period workplace became to be attached to the
towns where there were industrial activities (UMAR, 2008, Bole, 2004). »The birth of large
employment centres and the overpopulation of the rural countryside on the one hand and the
development of the transportation infrastructure on the other resulted in daily streams of
workers from their place of residence to their place of employment. The first widely used
means of transporting commuters was the train, followed by buses and later by the
automobile« (Bole, 2004: 28).
After Second World War in Slovenia daily mobility increased due to the fact that cars became
more accessible, which slowed down the processes of migration (UMAR, 2008). There is a
lot of daily mobility from the municipalities near Ljubljana to Ljubljana, especially people with
the already mentioned creative professions tend to commute to Ljubljana every day (ibid.).
According to this institution daily labour mobility in Slovenia is actually a replacement for
permanent migrations. As we have already stated Slovenes do not like to move a lot, the
questionnaire results (Jakoš in Umar, 2008) showed that 80% of interviewed people were
ready to commute to work every day. Other results showed that Slovenes are very attached
to their home town and that they like to commute to workplace every day. The Population
Census in 2002 showed that there were 658.911 commuters in Slovenia, two thirds were
represented by workers (440.299) and one third by pupils and students (218.612) enrolled in
primary, secondary, higher education. Those who are enrolled in education institutions use
public transport more often (53%) than the workers who commute (less than 10%) (UMAR,
2008). »The average Slovene commuter has a secondary school education, lives between
fifteen and thirty minutes from the place of employment and drives to work alone in an
automobile. The use of automobile increases with increasing levels of education« (Bole,
2004: 38).
According to the Population Census from 2002 we had only 4500 external daily commuters,
who travelled every day to work to another country and after work they travelled back home
again (UMAR, 2008). Since Slovenia joined EU in 2004 we face the increase of external daily
labour mobility, more Slovenes go to work to Austria and Italy on a daily basis than before
Slovenia became a part of EU (Medved, 2006). The regions that border with neighbouring
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countries have most of the external daily commuters such as the Goriška region, the
Štajerska region (Styria) and Prekmurje (UMAR, 2008). Among the main push factors there
are inadequate number and structure of workplaces in a home town, a wish to earn more for
the same work, a wish to work abroad, a wish for additional earnings and the availability and
education of people (Zupančič, in UMAR, 2008). The reasons for external daily labour
mobility differ from region to region. Thus in the coastal region (the Obalno-kraška region),
we find many younger female pensioners among the commuters to Trieste, who work as
cleaning ladies, maids or baby sitters and thus they earn some extra money. In Goriška
region also females commute, but younger ones, who get employed in the service sector
(tourism, personal services). From Gorenjska males tend to commute, they get employed in
wood industry (Zupančič, in Umar, 20089. From the Koroška region those males tend to
commute who get employed in forestry etc. From the Štajerska and Prekmurje regions there
are low educated among the commuters, who seek work on the farms, in forestry etc. There
is also a seasonal mobility connected to farm works (UMAR, 2008).
UMAR (2008) also emphasises the need for sustainable mobility, among the principles of
sustainably organized traffic there is a need for reducing the needs for travelling, because
traffic pollutes the environment. According to Plevnik et al. (in UMAR, 2008), sustainable
mobility should be environment friendly and economically efficient, should encourage the use
of bicycles, public transport etc.
5. Occupational mobility in Slovenia
Despite the fact that occupational mobility is the major topic of our national research report,
we could not find a lot of literature on the topic, because the literature from 2004-2009 on the
topic is very scarce, practically non-existent.
Hiršl (2008) writes that in Slovenia under the term occupational mobility we consider two
forms of mobility, which can occur simultaneously: job mobility (job-to-job mobility) and
occupational mobility in more narrow sense. For the job mobility the transfer of an individual
from one employer to the other is characteristic and an occupational mobility in a more
narrow sense means a change of a profession. According to Hiršl (2009) among Slovene
legislation the Constitution of The Republic of Slovenia (Official Gazette of the Republic of
Slovenia, No. 33, 1991) in its Article 49 lays down the basis for occupational mobility.
Namely, it is stated in the Slovene Constitution that freedom of work is guaranteed,
everybody can freely choose his or her employment, everybody has equal access to every
workplace under equal conditions.
Quick changes are characteristic for contemporary times, therefore the capacity of workers to
gain professional knowledge and experience is more important than ever before (Drobnič R.,
2006). Therefore we should pay special attention to the importance of occupational mobility
in Slovenia, namely mobility enhances employment opportunities and the opportunities for
education. The improvement of geographical and occupational mobility is thus one of the key
challenges of the contemporary world. This holds true for each state of EU (Drobnič J2.
2006). »Our development and economy, economic competitiveness and the realization of the
Lisbon goals depend on how successfully will we overcome still numerous obstacles
concerning mobility« (Drobnič, J., 2006: 7).
As we have already emphasized, in Slovenia we wish to resolve structural mismatch in the
labour market with occupational and geographical mobility such as regional, professional and
educational mismatch (Drobnič, R. 2006). We wish to achieve the reduction of structural
mismatch in the labour market with professional standards, which are the basis for the
preparation of educational programmes of lower secondary, vocational professional
education and post-secondary vocational education and the catalogue of standards of
professional knowledge and skills (Drobnič, R., 2006). The Slovenian National Institute for
2
Janez Drobnič is the former Minister of Labour, Family and Social Affairs.
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Vocational Education and Training is endeavouring for the single qualification framework
connected to professional standards European qualification framework (EQF). »The EQF is a
common European reference framework which links countries' qualification systems
together, acting as a translation device to make qualifications more readable and
understandable across different countries and systems in Europe. It has to principal aims: to
promote citizens' mobility between countries and to facilitate their lifelong learning (Etf,
2009). The goal of EQF is also to stimulate national systems. National qualification
frameworks should be developed by 2011. Their goal is not only to achieve more
transparency, but also to enable easier way to qualifications and employment (Zevnik, 2007).
ECVET system which allows dialogue and exchange between VET and qualifications
systems is also important for achieving higher mobility. Zver 3 (2008) considers that ECVET
will introduce the conditions which are needed for the mobility of students of VET. According
to him ECVET can be considered as a tool for the exchange of information, which will enable
an individual to take advantage of the knowledge gained regardless of the fact where in
Europe (s)he gained that knowledge and regardless of the fact whether (s)he gained that
knowledge in formal, non-formal and informal learning. In 2006-2007 the programmes of
lower and upper secondary vocational and professional educated were renewed with the
funds of European Social Fund, the tendency was that less and less students were
interested in those programmes, however, it is expected with this renewal of those
programmes that more and more students would enrol in them and thus the professional
mismatch in the labour market would be reduced (Drobnič R., 2006). According to his opinion
social partners and local communities have important role in encouraging mobility
(geographical and occupational).
Although the year 2006, which was the European year of workers' mobility triggered some
important events on EU level and in Slovenia such as awareness raising campaigns on the
importance of mobility, attempts to eliminate obstacles to mobility, endeavours for the free
movement of workers - the citizens of EU, attempts to eliminate the transitional period for the
employment of people from new member states, low mobility in the Slovene labour market is
still one of the reasons for the difficulties in the employment of certain categories of
unemployed persons in Slovenia (Drobnič J., 2006). He considers that important factors
which influence the workers' attitude to mobility are social policies, employment policies and
the relation between flexibility and security. The concept of »flexicurity« enables employees
flexibility and security. Mobility contributes to the security of employment, because it enables
that the employees develop and realize their capacities (Drobnič J. , 2006). According to him
mobility has to start already in the process of education – with study visits and work practice
done abroad. Here we have to mention some good practices in Slovenia in the scope of VET
which enable foreign exchange, particularly we have in mind Life-Long Learning Programme
with its components: Leonardo da Vinci which focuses on VET and enables the exchange of
VET students, professors, researchers, Comenius with the emphasis on exchange of
teachers and students on the basis of projects and Erasmus for post-secondary education,
higher vocational education and university education, which enables the exchange of
students. Students who have the experience of foreign exchange find employment more
easily in Slovenia as other students (Drobnič J., 2006). In the scope of VET there is also a
mobility on the level of competitions abroad. Here I would mention particularly Worldskills
and Euroskills. The latter is a biennial competition of competitors who already have some
professional experience from the concrete workplace. The focus is on applied professional
knowledge. Euroskills started in 2008 and is intended for youth from 18 to 25 years. Beside,
Euroskills, the students of VET in Slovenia attend some other competitions abroad, as for
3
Dr. Milan Zver is the former Minister of Education and Sports, who was a minister also
during the Slovenian presidency to EU, which occurred in the first half of 2008.
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example, the competitions of florists, ploughers, cooks, foresters, waiters, roofers, tinsmiths
etc.4
Eurobarometer research showed that Slovenes very rarely change their jobs – less than
three times in a career, which is lower than the European average (in Medved, 2006, Hiršl,
2008).5
For the active employment policies in Slovenia it is characteristic that they focus on the
programmes for the training of the unemployed, especially in their transition to professional
status or occupational mobility (Drobnič. R, 2006). An important part of active employment
policies are also national professional qualifications.
5.1 National professional qualifications
Important elements of occupational mobility in Slovenia are national professional
qualifications, which were enabled in Slovenia from 2000 on by the National Professional
Qualifications Act. National professional qualifications enable adults to gain the certificate on
professional qualifications for the knowledge, skills and competencies acquired non-formally
or informally on the basis of a national professional standard. »A professional standard is a
document, which determines the content of professional qualification on a certain level of
complexity of work and defines the knowledge, skills and professional competencies«
(Zgonc, 2006: 748). »Professional standards are a connection between the labour market
and education, because they comprise those knowledge, skills and competencies which a
certain occupation requires« (Drobnič, R., 2006: 10).
The aim of the certificate system is to enable occupational mobility, to enhance employability
at home and abroad (Može, 2004). National professional qualifications represent an
important part of the active policies of employment performed by the Employment Service of
Slovenia, especially for those fields, activities and professions for which there is a demand in
the labour market. The certificate system is also linked to the school system, namely national
vocational qualifications are a part of educational qualifications, they are especially suitable
for dropouts, unemployed and poorly educated so that they are able to gain basic
professional qualifications or to retrain (Grm, Zevnik, 2008).6
6. Migration to Slovenia
We can partly solve the problems of ageing population in European Union including Slovenia
with migrations. As already stated in the introduction, Slovenia nowadays depends on
migrations, and that feature will become even more evident in the next 30 years (Jakoš,
2009). Also the Strategy of the Development of Slovenia (2005) emphasizes that we need
positive net migration flow.
In recent years the number of work permits in Slovenia is increasing (60.664 in 2007, which
is 36% more than in 2006, when there was 44.654 work permits for foreigners (in Vrečer et
al, 2008). Due to the current economic crisis which started in the autumn of 2008, the
number of work permits for foreigners was reduced for one quarter. The increase of work
Lovšin (2009) and personal communication with him on September 29, 2009.
Hiršl (2008) writes that an average EU employee changes 4 employments e and an average
American changes 6 employments during his life time.
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I would here like to mention the emphasis of Marjana Komprej that national professional
qualifications also enable easier passage to formal education, if the modules accomplished in
national professional qualification are recognized, they can therefore be considered as a step
toward formal education (Marjana Komprej, personal communication, 26. 8. 2009, The
Slovenian National Institute for Vocational Education and Training (CPI).
4
5
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permits in 2008 was especially due to a demand for workers with the so called occupations in
excess demand: (construction, metallurgy, transport, catering) (Vrečer et al., 2008). Most of
migrants in Slovenia come from ex-Yugoslav republics from Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia,
The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Serbia, Monte-Negro. Those from the new
member states of EU come mainly from Slovakia, Poland and Hungary. They mainly work in
construction, metal products industry and international transport, while migrants from older
EU countries mainly occupy managerial positions in mixed corporations (ibid.).
Bešter (2007) found out that migrants and their descendants in Slovenia have similar
educational levels attained than Slovenes. Bešter (2007) also researched the occupational
structure of migrants in Slovenia. She found out that, according to the Population Census
from 2002, migrants and their descendents are represented above average in the so called
professions for simple works, in professions united under the category machine and devices
operators and industrial producers and in the professions for the non-industrial way of work.
She concludes that the population of migrants and their descendents is represented above
average in the professions with less esteem and which are usually low paid. It seems that
migrants in Slovenia do not have equal possibilities for the employment in more reputable
work places as the rest of Slovenes (Bešter, 2007).
Besides, they share the situation of downward mobility with the rest of the migrants around
the world. However, it was emphasized in the Strategy of Economic Migrations (2008) that
migrants in Slovenia are more entrepreneurial than Slovenes, here I would like to emphasize
the importance of ethnic entrepreneurship, namely their ethnic social networks help them a
lot to start business in Slovenia.
Vrečer at al. (2008) found out in their research on the educational needs of migrants in
Slovenia that there is a need for better inclusion of migrants in the programmes of vocational
education and training in our state.
7. Emigration of Slovenes to foreign countries
Economic migrations from ten new member states which joined EU in 2004 are low since
people from new member states represent only 0.2% of the inhabitants of 15 older states. In
EU there is a bigger share of migrants who seek seasonal and short-term employment.
Besides, more than mobility inside EU, migrants from third countries are more frequent in EU
(Medved, 2006). So the fear during the negotiations regarding EU expansion from 15 to 25
member states of the masses of workers coming from new member states into old ones was
politically and economically motivated. However, this fear resulted in the fact that the states
of EU-15 reserved the right to completely enable free movement of people with EU only after
seven years from 2004, when new member states joined EU. This held true also for Slovene
workers, although it was already obvious from the time of negotiations on that not many
Slovenes would decide to work in EU-15 (Malačič, 2006).
The Public Opinion and Mass Communication Research Centre confirmed in its research
that the culture of mobility in Slovenia is very low as it has already been mentioned. It
researched the opinions of Slovenes on the mobility of Slovene workers in searching the
employment in EU and EEA. The respondents were 18 to 45 years old and the method was
telephone questionnaire. As we have already mentioned Slovenes prefer to migrate into
another town in Slovenia than to move to other states in EU / EEA. When Slovenes decide to
migrate abroad, personal factors (partner and family) are more important than systemic
factors (such as official procedures, getting permissions, the lack of knowledge of foreign
language). Gender analysis showed that females evaluate the importance of systemic as
well as personal factors higher than males. At the same time respondents with lower
education (accomplished primary school, vocational school) evaluate personal obstacles
higher than the individuals with post-secondary vocational education and higher education.
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The research also found out that young people are more prone to migrate to EU than older
ones. People who were more prone to move were male, younger people, those who are less
attached to the partner, those who come from bigger cities and those with higher educational
level attained. The analysis of data showed that people who are dissatisfied with their
present employment are more prone to think about going to work abroad (Kovačič, Vovk,
2006).
8. Conclusions
A very important aspect of mobility in recent times is learning for tolerance and acceptance of
other cultures (Drobnič J., 2006). Therefore it is important for vocational education and
training in Slovenia that it becomes multicultural. Namely, Slovenia does not have a tradition
of multicultural education, but without it, education would not be able to address
contemporary social issues such as mobility and migration. It is the fact that all European
societies are multicultural and that holds true for Slovenia as well. We can state that the
beginning of multicultural education in Slovenia started in 2007 when the Ministry for
Education and Sports together with its collaborators published the Strategy of inclusion of
migrant children, pupils and students into the education system in the Republic of Slovenia.
The strategy is relevant also for the students of vocational education and training. But a lot of
work is ahead of us to implement this strategy. We need the increased mobility of teachers
and students in Slovenia also in VET (cf. to Lebe, Rok, 2006), mobility would increase the
intercultural competences of students and teachers and thus they would be able to deal with
the diversity which is characteristic for every multicultural society. In international exchanges
people learn the language, they understand other cultures more, they learn to be flexible,
open, tolerant and they have an ability to practice the dialogue (cf. to Lebe, Rok, 2006).
Namely, intercultural competencies are one of the key competencies defined by European
Commission which are required for the successful inclusion in contemporary societies. The
Vocational Education Act from 20067 lays down the basis for intercultural vocational
education, namely in Article 2 it emphasises that the task of vocational and professional
education is among others to educate for the “responsible protection of freedom, for tolerant
and peaceful coexistence and respect of people”, among the tasks they are also “to develop
and keep own cultural tradition and to acquaint with other cultures and civilizations”.
Enhancing geographical and occupational mobility thus represents a challenge of
contemporary societies, also of Slovenia (Drobnič J., 2006, Drobnič R., 2006, Skuber, 2006)
In order to enhance occupational mobility, employers have to enable lifelong learning, they
should also increase the productivity with investing more in human resources (cf. Hiršl,
2008).
The year 2006, which was a European year of mobility initiated more actions of awareness
raising of the public about the importance of mobility and some events connected to the topic
occurred. However, we found out that Slovenian policy makers and researchers should pay
more attention to the topic VET and migration and mobility, because the topic is underresearched.
9. Literature
Bešter, R. (2007): Socialnoekonomska integracija priseljencev iz prostora nekdanje
Jugoslavije in njihovih potomcev v Sloveniji (The socioeconomic integration of migrants from
ex-Yugoslavia and their desecndents in Slovenia). In Komac, M. (ed.): Priseljenci (Migrants).
Ljubljana: Institute for Ethnic Studies.
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The Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, No. 79/2006.
11
Bole, D. (2004): Daily Mobility of Workers in Slovenia. In: Acta Geographica Slovenica, 44-1,
pp. 28-39.
Dolenc, P., Vodopivec, M. (2007): Mobilnost dela in fleksibilnost sistema plač (Mobility of
work and the flexibility of the salary system). Koper: Faculty of Management Koper.
Drobnič J. (2006): Uvod (introduction). In: Klinar, A. (ed.): Mobilnost delavcev: izziv,
priložnost, pravica (Mobility of workers; challenge, opportunity and right. Ljubljana: Ministry of
Labour, Family and Social Affairs, pp. 7-9.
Drobnič R. (2006): Uvod (introduction). In: Klinar, A. (ed.): Mobilnost delavcev: izziv,
priložnost, pravica (Mobility of workers: challenge, opportunity and right. Ljubljana: Ministry of
Labour, Family and Social Affairs, pp. 9-10.
Etf (2009): European Qualifications Framework: linking to a globalised world, Conference
summary. 29. - 30. 1. 2009.
Grm Pevec, S., Zevnik, M. (2008). Reform and innovations in vocational education and
training in Slovenia. Meeting of directors general for Vocational Education and Training,
Brdo, Slovenia / 1. – 4. March, 2008.
Hiršl, A. (2008): Pogledi na poklicno mobilnost (Views on occupational mobility). Ljubljana:
Združenje delodajalcev Slovenije (powerpoint presentation).
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normativne in strokovne podlage (The Quality of vocational and professional education –
normative and professional basis). Ljubljana: Educational Research Institute.
Korošec, V. (2008): Socialni in kulturni kapital kot dejavnika razlik v uspešnosti na trgu dela
med staroselci, priseljenci in potomci priseljencev (Social and cultural capital as the factors of
differences in the successfulness in the labour market among the natives, migrants and the
descendants of migrants), Delovni zvezek No. 12/2008, Volume XVII. Ljubljana: UMAR.
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after World War Two). Ljubljana: Slovenian Scientific Research Centre of the Slovenian
Academy of Sciences and Arts.
Kovačič, M., Vovk, T. (2006): Mobilnost slovenskih delavcev pri iskanju zaposlitve v državah
EU/EGS (Mobility of Slovene workers in searching the employment in the EU/EGS states.
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Report. Ljubljana: Slovenian Institute for Adult Education.
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European Field of VET«. Kranj, 6. 4. 2007
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and professional education). In: Javna uprava, Volume 42, No. 2-3, pp. 747-756.
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izobraževanje (The speech of Milan Zver, in the scope of the presidency to Council of
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the European parliament for Culture and Education), 21. 1. 2008.
About the author: dr. Natalija Vrečer (E-mail: natalija.vrecer@acs.si)
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Dr. Natalija Vrečer is a research fellow employed at the Slovenian Institute for Adult
Education, Ljubljana. She holds Ph.D. in social anthropology from Institutum Studiorum
Humanitatis, Ljubljana. She started to deal with migration issues in 1992, during the first
years she focused on forced migration, however, in recent years she also deals with
economic migrations, especially in combination with education.
Selected recent publications:
Vrečer, N. (2009): Medkulturne kompetence, medkulturni dialog in izobraževanje odraslih
(Intercultural competence, intercultural dialogue in adult education). In: Vrečer, N.. (ed.):
Medkulturne kompetence v izobraževanju odraslih (Intercultural Competencies in adult
education). Ljubljana: Slovenian Institute for Adult Education, pp. 7-23.
http://arhiv.acs.si/publikacije(Medkulturne_kompetence_v_izobraževanju_odraslih_pdf
She contributed as an author in: Šlander, V., Hvala Kamenšček, P. (eds.) (2007):
Recognition of Non-Formal and Informal Learning: OECD activity 2006-2007: national report
for Slovenia. Ljubljana: National Institute for Vocational Education and Training.
Vrečer, N. (2007): Integracija kot človekova pravica: prisilni priseljenci iz Bosne in
Hercegovine v Sloveniji (Integration as a Human Right: Forced migrants from BosniaHerzegovina in Slovenia). Ljubljana: Scientific Research Centre of Slovenian Academy of
Sciences and Arts and Slovenian Institute for Adult Education.
Vrečer, N. (2006): The Mosque Debate and Anti-Muslim Sentiment in Slovenia. In: Kilpadi, P.
(ed.): Islam and Tolerance in Wider Europe. Budapest: International Policy Fellowships,
Open Society Institute – Budapest.
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