Page 120 - Šolsko polje, XXIX, 2018, no. 1-2: The Language of Neoliberal Education, ed. Mitja Sardoč
P. 120
šolsko polje, letnik xxix, številka 1–2
educational governance operates at a distance and with its latent pres-
sures, directs actors towards achieving common EU goals, often without
consciously knowing about it (e.g. Haahr, 2004).
Governance of Comparisons
The importance of international comparability of the Slovenian educa-
tional system is evident from the White Paper (2011: p. 25), indicating the
following strategic goal: “At the state level, we have to clearly set and pave
the way to the goal, that according to the quality of the presented knowl-
edge, Slovenian students rank in at least the top third of the achievements
of the students of the developed countries.”
According to the observations of the participating actors (Štremfel,
2013), experts in communicating the results of international comparative
assessment studies in Slovenia mainly point out Slovenia’s ranking on in-
ternational comparative achievement scales and focus on the explanations
of good or poor performance of the participating countries (by means of
the findings of scientific and expert research conducted in the field of ed-
ucation). The emphasis on international comparability in the Slovenian
educational space can be explained by a post-socialist state desire to be
aligned with EU western values (Silova, 2009) as well as competitiveness
of the states in global knowledge economy (Wiseman, 2010).
Governance of Problems/Crisis
Actors participating in the survey (Štremfel, 2013) completely agreed with
the statement that response to the results of international comparative as-
sessment studies is more intensive, when Slovenia performs below the EU
and OECD average. This is confirmed by the data that among seven iden-
tified EU strategic goals,10 a huge majority of participating actors (75% of
policy makers, 46% of experts, 51% stakeholders) agreed that the most at-
tention in Slovenia is paid to improving reading literacy of students. As
the main reason for paying such attention to this, they highlight the be-
low average results of Slovenia in PISA survey and consequently not at-
taining the particular EU goal.11 These findings confirm that any devi-
ation from the Western norms is recognized as a crisis, a danger and a
10 Improving reading literacy of students, improving mathematical literacy of students, im-
proving science literacy of students, increasing participation of adults in lifelong learning,
increasing the share of young population with completed upper-secondary education, re-
ducing early school leaving, increasing the number of graduates in math and science.
11 The study was performed in 2012, a year and a half after the launch of the PISA 2009 survey
results, which for the first time since Slovenia’s participation in international comparative
assessment studies revealed that the performance of Slovenian students is below the EU
and OECD average.
118
educational governance operates at a distance and with its latent pres-
sures, directs actors towards achieving common EU goals, often without
consciously knowing about it (e.g. Haahr, 2004).
Governance of Comparisons
The importance of international comparability of the Slovenian educa-
tional system is evident from the White Paper (2011: p. 25), indicating the
following strategic goal: “At the state level, we have to clearly set and pave
the way to the goal, that according to the quality of the presented knowl-
edge, Slovenian students rank in at least the top third of the achievements
of the students of the developed countries.”
According to the observations of the participating actors (Štremfel,
2013), experts in communicating the results of international comparative
assessment studies in Slovenia mainly point out Slovenia’s ranking on in-
ternational comparative achievement scales and focus on the explanations
of good or poor performance of the participating countries (by means of
the findings of scientific and expert research conducted in the field of ed-
ucation). The emphasis on international comparability in the Slovenian
educational space can be explained by a post-socialist state desire to be
aligned with EU western values (Silova, 2009) as well as competitiveness
of the states in global knowledge economy (Wiseman, 2010).
Governance of Problems/Crisis
Actors participating in the survey (Štremfel, 2013) completely agreed with
the statement that response to the results of international comparative as-
sessment studies is more intensive, when Slovenia performs below the EU
and OECD average. This is confirmed by the data that among seven iden-
tified EU strategic goals,10 a huge majority of participating actors (75% of
policy makers, 46% of experts, 51% stakeholders) agreed that the most at-
tention in Slovenia is paid to improving reading literacy of students. As
the main reason for paying such attention to this, they highlight the be-
low average results of Slovenia in PISA survey and consequently not at-
taining the particular EU goal.11 These findings confirm that any devi-
ation from the Western norms is recognized as a crisis, a danger and a
10 Improving reading literacy of students, improving mathematical literacy of students, im-
proving science literacy of students, increasing participation of adults in lifelong learning,
increasing the share of young population with completed upper-secondary education, re-
ducing early school leaving, increasing the number of graduates in math and science.
11 The study was performed in 2012, a year and a half after the launch of the PISA 2009 survey
results, which for the first time since Slovenia’s participation in international comparative
assessment studies revealed that the performance of Slovenian students is below the EU
and OECD average.
118
