Silvo Šinkovec MA from Ljubljana

Proposer: Society of Catholic Educators of Slovenia

Through his professional work in the education field, Father Silvo Šinkovec has introduced numerous new substantive and organisational features to Slovenia in the area of active citizenship, and has adapted them creatively to domestic circumstances. Thus was created the School for Parents, which he has been heading now for ten years. The school, through which he spreads the concept of family teaching, has to date been attended by more than 500 individuals, and in the past school year it experienced a marked flourishing, with seven such programmes being run across Slovenia. Here Fr. Šinkovec together with parents addresses salient practical issues that confront both parents and teachers: peer violence, drugs, dialogue with those of other faiths, and the influence of the media on family life. He advocates integral education for the young person, and therefore strives for an educational network, which he sees as a linking of all actors in a child's education. He offers special guidance to teachers on the importance of this. Through constant publicising, publishing and numerous lectures he spreads a new view of the teacher. He sees the teacher as the most vital link for a high-quality school, so he strives to see that teachers gain the appropriate competence for work with parents, since without cooperation with parents he does not think a school can be successful. He builds upon his own experiences as a teacher trainer, counsellor, priest and educator in the home in a qualitative way through constant further interdisciplinary study, and thus for numerous members of the Society of Catholic Educators of Slovenia he is a role model for lifelong learning and education; he is distinguished especially by his patience, solidarity and interfaith dialogue. He is the provider of very well attended seminars for teachers and professors, and his courses on ‘personal journals' have already become a recognised concept of quality among school students. He devotes particular attention to encouraging self-confidence and self-respect, which teachers should spread among their students, and to this end he has developed an entirely unique approach. He has also paved a new way for those teachers who wish to link their professionalism and enhance it with profound spiritual development - he organises and carries out five-day spiritual exercises for educators irrespective of their faith. He is one of the initiators and a co-author of the Ethical Code of Catholic Educators of Slovenia (1997), which has been very well received abroad and was the basis for formulating a similar code in the Czech Republic. For seven years he has edited the magazine Vzgoja (Education), which has become a recognised professional magazine offering a critical look at education practices in Slovenia. And alongside all his other activities he also serves as rector of the Church of St. Joseph in Ljubljana.