Estonia

SUMMARY OF THE STUDY VISIT TO SLOVENIA

The visit showed that promoting adult education is nowhere easy - it needs substantial efforts and work with the proportional amount of persuasion and enthusiasm. In addition to that state support is of utmost importance.

1) Media cooperation in promoting adult learning
The role of media in successful promotion is immense. Its involvement should be natural and cooperation consistent and smooth in order to develop into a long-term mutual relationship. All the different media channels are equally important: videos, articles, advertisements - all these can be related to each other and presented in different ways. The message needs to be short, precise, actual and preferably humorous.

2) ALW regional activities: recognition etc
Greater emphasis should be placed to the educational part. Educators, lecturers should go to people to share their knowledge and experience. It is necessary to convey the message that learning is accessible and interesting for everyone. It is possible to learn from almost everything regardless of age, social background or place of residence. Personal experience of the people who have taken up studies despite difficulties or who have changed their lives due to learning, would be of greatest influence in that respect. Dissemination of the information about courses and different other possibilities is equally important.
Every region where there is someone nominated should recognise the person including articles in the local paper etc for other people to see and realise that they are people from amongst themselves.
Regional recognition ceremony should be an important event and could take place prior to the national ALW, then the recognised people will already be visible at the beginning of the national ALW and they could be involved in different activities.

3) Involving different target groups
In our support group we have already decided that all our educational institutions will provide a training or lecture. Afterwards they will be divided according to the topics between the elderly day centres, libraries, youth centres, community centres, etc as venues. Thus, different target groups can be addressed.

Lea Lehtmets, regional ALW coordinator in Lääne-Viru County