Enriched and expanded programs in kindergartens and schools

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Complementing the interests and needs of children and creative spending of time

To fulfil the educational objectives, kindergartens and elementary schools offer within or outside their curricula a variety of additional or supplementary activities intended for complementing the interests and needs of children. Kindergartens thus organise various enriched activities that are implemented within the curriculum as well as various additional activities (i.e. foreign language learning) that are carried out on the initiative of parents, while elementary schools organise within the expanded program early-morning care service, after-school classes, remedial and additional classes, and open-air school.

Enriched and additional activities in kindergartens

In the school year 2006/07 kindergartens in Slovenia implemented 10,147 enriched and additional activities, of which 1,342 for children not attending kindergartens. Within enriched activities children took part in various workshops and optional extra-curricular activities, attended performances, and visited libraries and museums, while within additional activities most children (6,447 or about 10% of all children in kindergartens) learned a foreign language.

Open-air school

Kindergartens implement various forms of staying in nature such as summer and winter open-air schools, mountain camps and staying at a farm. In the school year 2006/07 kindergartens implemented 693 stays in nature, which were attended by 10,431 children or about 24% of all children in the second-age period (3–6 years) attending kindergartens.

With the open-air school program, which includes fieldwork, project tasks and sporting activities, elementary schools offer different types of classes where the emphasis is on the combination of knowledge from various areas and the inclusion in natural and social environment in which the open-air school is implemented. In 2006, elementary schools implemented 1,585 open-air school programs; they were attended by 64,204 children, which is 38.8% of total elementary school population.

Almost two thirds of 1st-5th-graders in after-school classes

Because Slovenia is becoming a truly European country in terms of organising and implementing working hours, which in many cases approaches 5 pm, the possibility to enrol their children in after-school classes presents a great advantage for employed parents as they no longer have to worry where and how their children spend their time until they come home. In the past ten years the number of children included in after-school classes has almost trebled. In 1997 22% of children attending 1st-5th grade were included in after-school classes while in 2007 the share was 64.8%. In 2007, 2,007 teachers took care of children in after-school classes.

More than half of all 1st-graders in early-morning care service

Within the expanded program elementary schools organise early-morning care service for children who need care before the school starts. Early-morning care service is primarily intended for 1st-graders but some schools organise it also for 2nd-graders. In 2007 early-morning care service was implemented in 703 class units and included 11,188 children or 63.8% of all 1st-graders.

A quarter of elementary school children in remedial classes, even more in additional classes

To fill in gaps in children’s knowledge or to help them obtain more advanced knowledge on a specific subject, elementary schools offer within their expanded curriculum remedial and additional classes. In the school year 2006/07 remedial classes were attended by 24% of all elementary school pupils, while additional classes were attended by 29% of all school children. The number of children attending additional classes has fallen substantially in recent years. As an alternative to additional classes, in the last three grades of elementary school children have the possibility to expand their knowledge with a selection of optional classes.