The Slovenian education system has recently adopted two changes in legislation opening up routes of access to education and support to ease inclusion into the system for migrant students and providing equal access to students under international protection. As a matter of fact, in 2018/2019 school year, out of the 73.000 upper secondary students, 3700 students have foreign citizenship and 611 of them enrolled in Slovenia for the first time.
The Rules on Slovenian language course for upper secondary students’ established that schools are in charge of organising intensive Slovenian language courses (of approximately 160 hours) to be held by qualified teachers for teaching Slovenian.
Indeed, high school students who did not attend basic school in the country and whose mother tongue is not Slovenian have to demonstrate an A2 level of language competence according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) of Slovenian language. In order to do that, they either have to provide a certificate or pass an examination, before enrolling in school. Students who fail the examination or have no proof of A2 level of language competence have the right and obligation to attend an intensive Slovenian language course during their first year at school. Then, they will have to take an examination, but in case of failure, schools will organise compulsory extra Slovenian language lessons for them. The subject curriculum for the course has been approved by the highest-ranking expert body The Council of experts for general education of the Republic of Slovenia.
The second legislative change will enable migrants dealing with lack of proof of former education to enrol in upper secondary education by taking an examination organised by the commission of the National Education Institute of Slovenia.
An analysis of European policies and strategies to promote the integration of migrant students in schools is available in the Eurydice report “Integrating Students from Migrant Backgrounds into Schools in Europe: National Policies and Measures“.
Source: Slovenian Eurydice Unit
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