Quality counsellors

Time period	2004 – ongoing
Funding	Ministry of Education, Science and Sport
Contact person	Jasmina Orešnik Cunja, Head of activity “Professional support for the development of quality in adult education” Phone: +386 1 5842 596 E-mail: jasmina.oresnik.cunja@acs.si

After years of close collaboration with adult education organisations on the implementation of self-evaluation and planning of activities for the development of quality, the Slovenian Institute for Adult Education came to the conclusion that the best solution would be to have a person with a better understanding of the planned improvement of quality in adult education working within these institutions. This realisation gradually materialised in the role of quality counsellor in adult education with the following aims:

• educational organisations should train a person with expert knowledge in this field;
• training this person to counsel other employees and promote and coordinate the work of his/her colleagues when it comes to evaluating and developing quality;
• training this person to counsel the management of the organisation regarding the questions of quality.

The main objectives of this project are:

• to develop quality counsellors as professionals in adult education and implement this role in practice;
• to place the role of quality counsellors within the framework of adult education in Slovenia;
• to develop a basic training programme for quality counsellors and many additional training programmes;
• to train professionals for the role of quality counsellors in educational organisations;
• to offer professional counselling and guidelines to quality counsellors, enabling them to make better recommendations regarding the efficient, comprehensive, systematic, and ongoing evaluation and development of the quality of education that the educational organisation offers to adults;
• support connections between existing quality counsellors and the exchange of experiences and examples of good practice.

QUALITY COUNSELLOR IN ADULT EDUCATION

To become an adult education quality counsellor, one must successfully complete the programme of basic training for quality development counsellors in adult education, offered by the Slovenian Institute of Adult Education. The process of becoming a quality counsellor in adult education is described on the portal Quality Mosaic. Quality counsellors who meet all the required criteria become part of the national network of quality counsellors.
 
The basic characteristic of work of quality counsellors in educational organisations that offer adult education are also described on the Quality Mosaic portal, as well as the ethical principles of counselling for quality development and the principles of general counselling, which counselling for quality development is based on.

PROFESSIONAL ROLE OF A QUALITY COUNSELLORS

A quality counsellor in adult education is someone with the appropriate professional competences, who offers counselling to all people in educational organisations participating in self-evaluation planning and implementation, and who counsels during the processes of implementation and development of quality, to ensure the efficient flow of the processes and results that encourage the constant development of quality.

The counsellor also acts as a coordinator of different activities for the development of quality in adult education within the organisation, and with the agreement of the quality group, implements individual activities.

NATIONAL NETWORK OF QUALITY COUNSELLORS IN ADULT EDUCTION

The National network of quality counsellors brings together professionals doing counselling work to promote quality in adult education. We established the network of quality counsellors as a means for professional networking and the exchange of good practices and experiences of practising quality counsellors.

In 2014, the network of practising quality counsellors adopted Starting points for activities of quality counsellors in adult education, defining the underlying concept of the quality counsellors’ network.

The conceptual design of the counselling network and the role of the counsellors was developed by the Slovenian Institute for Adult Education, who is responsible for basic and regular additional training of the counsellors and coordination of the network.

COORDINATION AND PROFESSIONAL SUPPORT FOR THE NATIONAL NETWORK OF QUALITY COUNSELLORS

Since 2006, the Slovenian Institute for Adult Education manages several activities in its role as a coordinator of the national network of quality counsellors.

The team responsible for the quality field:

• provides basic and additional professional training and improvement of practising quality counsellors;
• offers professional support and guidance regarding various activities related to the evaluation and development of quality in educational organisations;
• organises two annual professional meetings of the quality counsellors who are part of the network;
• coordinates the implementation of joint activities confirmed by the network;
• coordinates content of the e-classroom and encourages quality counsellors to use it;
• helps the counsellors implement various joint activities they plan every year and then implement in their own organisations;
• ensures that the network’s e-classroom remains active and that the counsellors use it for active communication; 
• manages a record of practising quality counsellors and updates the online list of quality counsellors.

On the path to establishment and development of the national network of quality counsellors, we have reached the following important milestones:

So far, the project has accomplished the following key achievements:

• We developed the concept of a quality counsellor in adult education;
• We developed the programme for basic training of quality counsellors and many additional training programmes;
• We trained more than 49 adult education quality counsellors;
• We established a national network of adult education quality counsellors;
• We established a registry of active quality counsellors in adult education – 18 counsellors are currently part of the network;
• Within the network of practising quality counsellors, we adopted Starting points for activities of quality counsellors in adult education;
• We prepared a professional study on fluctuation of trained adult education quality counsellors;
• We implemented self-evaluation and carried out a self-evaluation survey about the placement of the role of quality counsellor within the organisations offering adult education;
• We prepared a guide to the work and role of quality counsellor called What I do as a counsellor for quality in adult education.

 

You can meet the quality counsellors in adult education here.
 

For communication, training and work on joint activities quality counsellors use a closed web classroom.
 
Online infrastructure support for the activities of the quality counsellors takes place in the Moodle environment.