Slovenia: cultural awareness and expression in VET

For this reason, an event aiming at ‘Raising the cultural capital of VET students’ was organised in October 2022, by the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Education and the Institute of the Republic of Slovenia for VET.

Cultural awareness exemplified

The event showcased the importance of cultural awareness in general and in vocational education, and presented the audience with examples of merging art and education:

• the upper secondary Vocational School for Hospitality and Tourism Radenci, cooperated with professional artists to create an innovative tourist product that includes cultural heritage in Radenci, a famous spa town;
• Franc Miklošič Gymnasia Ljutomer used creative storytelling as a form of work with young children in kindergarten in their pre-school education programme;
• the students of the upper secondary Vocational Health School Slovenj Gradec, aided by a professional photographer, learned about the organs of the human body through photographs, linking the Slovene language, sports and anatomy.

An example from the Health school Slovenj Gradec:

Students studied the heart by observing an overgrown window, which represents the entrance to the heart, overgrown with veins. The upper and lower large inlets enter the right atrium, and the pulmonary artery exits the right ventricle. The pulmonary veins carry oxygen-rich blood into the left atrium, and the aorta leaves the left ventricle.

Students and VET learners motivated by art

At a round table organised by the Petida Institute, these schools discussed how art can be linked to concrete professional content and can motivate learning. They noticed that even students with withdrawn behaviour often ‘bloomed’ when in contact with art.

The director of the Bunker Cultural Institution highlighted the specific characteristics of the younger generation and how they experience art. According to the director, the consumption of art is increasing, as the average teenager watches more video content in a week than adults sometimes do in a year, and reads more content on social media than in books and periodicals.

The data show that VET learners, often coming from an environment with less cultural capital, are disadvantaged and thus deprived of an important part of a quality life (Kirbiš, 2021). Education plays an important role in raising cultural awareness and expanding the competences that prepare young people for the future. Art offers many opportunities for career development in professions that are currently in high demand, such as sound technician, light technician, video designer, costume and stage designers, etc.

The event ended with recommendations on how to encourage the artistic experience in schools. The main message can be summarised in the words of Professor Robi Kroflič: ‘The connection between enjoyment of art and artistic creation with professional fields and professions is sensible, as it strengthens the creative potential through the development of imagination and narrative knowledge. The easiest way to support the development of this potential is through art.’

Read more

• Council Recommendation on key competences for lifelong learning
• Kirbiš, A. (2021). Kulturna participacija mladih v Sloveniji in Evropi [Cultural participation of youth in Slovenia and Europe]. Maribor: Kulturni center Maribor.
• Lavrič, M., Deželan T. (Eds.). (2021). Mladina 2020: položaj mladih v Sloveniji. Maribor [Youth 2020: Situation of young people in Slovenia]. Maribor: Univerza v Mariboru, Univerzitetna založba; Ljubljana: Založba Univerze v Ljubljani.
• Recordings of presentations from the event