State Policies Toward Confessional Schools in Slovenia and their Development

Tatjana Rakar

Powerpoint presentation

Outline:

• INTRODUCTION
• The Organisation and Financing of Education Act (1996) specifies two types of private schools: those with concessions (granted by the state or the local community) and those without concessions (established through private initiative).
• Private schools with concessions belong to the network of public schools, while the term 'private schools' defines those without concessions and includes confessional schools.
• Prior to this legislation (1996) the status of confessional schools was not clearly defined and they could be given concessions.
• concession agreement 'represents a state initiative‘ (White Paper, 2005)
• curricula of confessional schools contain confessional religious education, which in Slovenian public education is explicitly prohibited under Article 72 of the Organisation and Financing of Education Act (1996)
• 2002 Constitutional Court decided that this strict rule concerning also schools with concession is not in compliance with the Constitution → Article 72 was softened
• PROGRAMMES AND FINANCING
• Programmes → confessional schools may carry out programmes where the contents may be determined by the institutions themselves but must be approved by the state
• Financing
  → confessional schools are entitled to receive budgetary funds on the basis of the law itself in the total amount of 85 per cent of funds provided by the state or by the municipality for salaries and indirect labour-related costs per pupil of a public school
  → this system of financing does not apply to all types of programmes
• Legislation restricts public financing of private primary schools in cases when the level of enrolments in a private school might jeopardise the existence of the public school in the same locality
• Typology of Relations between Government and Confessional Schools
  Based on two criteria (Kuhnle and Selle, 1992; Kolarič, 1994):
• Dependence or independence between government and confessional schools (with regard to financing and control)
• Nearness or distance between government and confessional schools (defined as whether the government is counting on confessional schools in the provision of education and considers them a serious partner in the service provision of education)

↓

• four ideal types of relationship
  • Integrated dependence (dependence + nearness)
  • Separated dependence (dependence + distance) Slovenia
  • Integrated autonomy (independence + nearness)
  • Separated autonomy (independence + distance)
• CONCLUDING REMARKS
• government educational policy → comprehensive network of state schools best guarantees quality and equal opportunities in education
• there is no such thing as extensive involvement of the church in the provision of education unless it is not only tolerated but also supported by government preferences manifested in church-state relations