In Slovenia, social partners and government institutions cooperate to improve attractiveness and importance of vocational education and training (VET) by implementing effective promotional activities.
The most important part of VET promotion is to cooperate closely with guidance counsellors as they have regular contact with pupils and their parents. Guidance counsellors also hold a key position regarding career planning.
Skill competitions are another way of promoting VET, increasing attractiveness of professional work and providing a connection between companies and students. Slovenia is a member of the EuroSkills competition and will be competing in the 2014 EuroSkills competition (Lille, October 2014). As a forerunner, Slovenia has already held a national skills competition in seven different categories earlier this year: floristry, visual merchandising, mechatronics, information and communication technologies (ICT), cooking and serving, woodworking and stonemasonry.
The previous year, Slovenia also hosted different public events where various VET programmes, vocational schools and professions were presented to a wider audience. These events were held at trade and work fairs, shopping malls and other public places and offered hands-on experience, and demonstrations of different professions.
The Slovenian Chamber of Craft also started a project for primary schools, where pupils are taken to local workshops to participate in a craftman’s working day.