In Slovenia, Šoštanj Primary School Collaborates with Its Community

Šoštanj Primary School offers a learning process which can enrich traditional forms of schooling. It demonstrates how a school, including its infrastructure, can influence family life and the environment, creating new social patterns and a local identity. Pupils and teachers are involved in different thematic projects and programmes, together with parents and the wider community. Slovenia’s primary schools At the beginning of the 2005/06 school year, the number of primary schools in Slovenia reached almost 800 (242 independent, 205 government-run and 350 subsidiary schools). Financing for public preschool and primary school infrastructure is shared between local communities (municipalities) and the Ministry of Education and Sport, with government funding ranging from 10 to 70%. Local communities own both the buildings and equipment.