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HANDMADE STORIES
Rural areas as an opportunity for the development of basic skills and key competences
When we began studying
the Slovenian countryside a few years ago
at the Slovenian Institute for Adult Education,
we found in terms of adult education needs
that rural areas face some major developmental challenges:
The ageing population, which is having a hard time
surviving on fragmented farm holdings;
then there are young adults and also young people here
who are often unemployed and inadequately educated,
and who see no prospects for a high quality of life in the countryside.
The Rural literacy programme is just one of the programmes for adults,
for what are called vulnerable groups of adults.
Their main purpose is to develop their
basic skills, knowledge or key competences.
So the main emphasis in the Rural literacy programme is on
the key competence for self-initiative and enterprise,
since this programme is aimed at participants
who are involved and live in the countryside.
A feature of the Tolmin area and also of the Upper Soča area is perhaps
that they are slightly inaccessible.
Another important factor is that there is an
exceptionally low population density in this area.
A little less than 12,000 people live here.
The consequences are evident in the
fact that the educational structure
of the population and the employees as well
is a little below the regional average.
On the other hand, to highlight some positive
characteristics of the area,
I would say primarily that one such characteristic is
the area’s position on the border.
Another thing is that here we boast
about relatively unspoilt nature,
and numerous natural, cultural and historical monuments.
In my view the key challenges of our countryside are
the connection between farming, tourism on the countryside.
And we regard adult education in this rural area as one of
the important added values
that brings to our people new knowledge
to grapple with the challenges brought by today and the future.
At one time all this took place within the family.
Knowledge was transferred over dinner.
They had no televisions, so they did all kinds of things.
Now, though, the situation is completely different,
and for the knowledge that our ancestors had
to be preserved and handed down
be it how to plant and then cultivate
some vegetable or produce and then preserve it
or how to make clothing from wool
or how to make a garment,
we now need an educational programme
so that this knowledge can be transferred,
acquired and then preserved,
and recorded and kept with us�