Sonja Hrabar from Koper

Proposer: Centre for Speech and Hearing Training Portorož

As a special education teacher, Sonja Hrabar has dedicated herself to working for others. The quality of her work and her dedication led her to the position of director of the Centre for Speech and Hearing Training Portorož, which she ran successfully until her retirement. In the last decade she jointly created programmes mostly for adults. Where possible, she involved whole families in the programmes. She demonstrated that it is possible through lifelong learning to significantly improve the quality of life of adults with special needs. Under the leadership of Sonja Hrabar, the Centre became a provider of publicly certified adult education programmes. She thus expanded the educational opportunities for adults with hearing difficulties to formal areas, in particular by providing vocational training.Apart from regular professional training, management duties and the development of the institution, she also exercised her creative powers and experience in working groups, committees and societies both locally and nationally. She was a member of the working group for preparing syllabuses for primary school for children with hearing difficulties (1976-1979), for adapting the life and work of primary schools for hearing- and speech-impaired pupils (1985-1988), for the development and monitoring of the work of organisations training children and young people with physical and mental handicaps (1987-1993); she led the group of principals of institutions training deaf, hearing- and speech-impaired people (1984-1988 and 1994-1999) and was a member of the executive committee of the Community of Training Organisations (1984-1987 and 1994-1999); she was active in the Sožitje Society, in the Nova Gorica and Koper Inter-Municipal Society for the Deaf and Hearing Impaired, and the Education Society. She made a valuable contribution to the preparation of the professional basis for the preparation of programme, development and standards documents produced by the National Education Institute of RS, the Disabled Care Committee and inter-sectoral committees. V 2004/2005 she trained in the programme for teachers Learning for enhanced life efficiency: Bridge to education (UŽU-MI) and Let's read and write together (UŽU-BIPS). She also persuaded some of her younger colleagues to participate in the programme. She is still active in lifelong learning programmes even after retirement.