---
title: Who will decide the future of education in Slovenia?
date: 2026-10-01T11:30:03Z
modified: 2026-10-06T15:36:54Z
permalink: "https://www.had.si/blog/en/2026/10/01/who-will-decide-the-future-of-education-in-slovenia/"
type: post
status: publish
excerpt: "Borut Rončević has appointed a 26-member council to shape Slovenia's education reform, raising questions about expertise, ideology and influence."
wpid: 390337
categories:
  - reflections
tags:
  - reflections
  - Aleš Primc
  - borut roncevic
  - education reform
  - izobraževanje
  - jože možina
  - solstvo
  - english
  - pll_6abe443b329f6
language:
  - english
post_translations:
  - pll_6abe443b329f6
featured_image: "https://www.had.si/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/sola-koronavirus.jpg"
featured_image_alt: sola koronavirus
timestamp: 2026-10-06T15:36:54Z
---

Yesterday, the Minister of Education, Borut Rončević, unveiled a 26-member expert council for the reform of education, which is expected to spend the next three years helping to draw up guidelines, proposals and measures for overhauling Slovenia’s school system. Formally, it is not a body that will adopt the reform itself, but it will influence which problems the ministry even recognises and which solutions make it onto the table.

- [The Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia and a flag for first-year pupils / Tito would be proud of Rončević](https://www.had.si/blog/wp-content/uploads/wp-mfa-exports/post/ustava-rs-in-zastavica-za-prvosolcke-tito-bi-bil-ponosen-na-roncevica.md)
- [We got what we voted for / the list of new ministers is “impressive”](https://www.had.si/blog/wp-content/uploads/wp-mfa-exports/post/kar-volili-smo-dobili-spisek-novih-ministrov-je-impresiven.md)
- [Why not move the ministries to Zgornje Fukovce and set up branches in the Philippines?](https://www.had.si/blog/wp-content/uploads/wp-mfa-exports/post/zakaj-ne-bi-ministrstev-preselili-v-zgornje-fukovce-in-podruznico-na-filipine.md)

Its members include Dr Andrej Flogie, a university professor and director of the Anton Martin Slomšek Institute; Dr Jonatan Vinkler, a university professor; Dr Urška Perenič, a professor of Slovenian literature; Dr Jože Možina, a historian and sociologist of culture; Dr Janez Juhant, a theologian; Dr Matej Forjan, director of the Novo mesto School Centre; Dr Sebastjan Kristovič, a university professor; Dr Igor Pesek, a university professor; several headteachers, teachers and people working in schools, as well as Gregor Macedoni, Mayor of Novo mesto; Vesna Nahtigal, general director of GZS; Blaž Cvar, president of OZS; Jože Podgoršek, president of KGZS; Aleš Primc, director of the Directorate for Demography; and representatives of the Italian and Hungarian national communities.

It is this line-up that raises questions. It is entirely understandable that headteachers, teachers and people who know the system from practical experience should be involved in reforming education. What is much less clear is why the presidents of business and agricultural chambers, a mayor or the director of the Directorate for Demography should play an important role in shaping the future of education. They may all be excellent professionals in their own fields, but that does not automatically mean they are qualified to undertake a systemic overhaul of pedagogy, teaching methods, curricula, child development or assessment.

The ideological aspect of the council is also interesting. Jože Možina, Janez Juhant, Jurij Pavel Emeršič and Aleš Primc are on it, all people with very clearly recognisable worldviews. That alone is no reason why they should not be involved, but it is somewhat odd at a time when we are also being told that education must be freed from ideology. Apparently, ideology is not a problem as long as it is the right ideology.

The biggest problem is that, in such an important reform, there is not a significantly stronger presence of experts who professionally deal with education systems, pedagogy, teaching methods, developmental psychology and the measurement of knowledge. Education reform is not a social focus group where you sit a few professors, a few headteachers, business figures, a mayor, a theologian and a politician around the same table and expect a good solution to emerge automatically.

If the government really intends to change school subjects, curricula, marking, the organisation of lessons and other foundations of the system, children will feel the consequences of those decisions for decades. It is therefore entirely legitimate to ask whether the people selected for the council are the most qualified to reform education, or whether they are primarily people who fit the current government’s idea of what Slovenian schools should become.

That is precisely why it matters who is sitting around that table.