On 25th of May 2016 National Examinations Centre organized a round table entitled »SPFS in upper secondary schools – experience and challenges«. Roundtable was attended by head teachers and their co-workers that use Slovenian ALA Tool regularly. Discussants in a roundtable represented different stakeholders: from the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports (State Secretary Andreja Barle Lakota), National Education Institute (Head of department for Upper secondary education Branko Slivar), National Examinations Centre (director Darko Zupanc), Faculty of Criminal Justice and Security (Head of Chair of Social Studies, Humanities, and Methodology Matevž Bren), member of National Board for General Matura and head teacher (Srednja vzgojiteljska šola in Gimnazija Ljubljana Alojz Pluško) and head teacher (Gimnazija Vič Alenka Krapež).
During roundtable different issues were discussed first among discussants and later also with audience. The issues that emerged were focused around following themes:
- ALA Tool offers very nice functionalities and should be promoted. It should be integrated in emerging national quality assurance system.
- Schools would want more individual level data to guide their evaluations. They would welcome more data on success of their students after they leave school (admission to tertiary education, success in first year).
- Schools want more data and more detailed data, but they warn about possibilities of data abuse – mostly in the form of publication of results and ranking of schools. This would be counterproductive.
Roundtable lasted for 2 hours. There were 26 participants in the audience – mostly head teachers and their co-workers that use the ALA Tool. Their insights were valuable and will enable further development of ALA Tool to support schools and Slovenian educational system better.
