The Importance of Learning Slovene within the Educational System for the Slovenian Community in Varaždin County

The opportunities for learning Slovene within the Croatian school system have improved. The paper presents the teaching of Slovene in Varaždin County, the demographic structure of the students, their reasons for learning Slovene, and the attitude of the students and their parents towards learning Slovene. The purpose is to find out to what extent the teaching of Slovene within the framework of the educational system contributes to the preservation of the Slovenian community and to the revitalisation of the language. The paper relies on data collected using quantitative and qualitative methods. The results show that the children who learn Slovene at school mostly declare themselves Croats. Their initial knowledge of Slovene is poor.
KEY WORDS: Slovene, school, revitalisation of the language, Varaždin County, Croatia

In recent years, the opportunities for learning Slovene within the Croatian school system have improved. This applies in particular to Varaždin County, where Slovenie is taught in primary schools as an extra-curricular activity, while at the secondary-school level it is offered as an elective (under model C) or an optional subject. The school is thus likely to become a key factor that, in addition to the family, enables the learning of a minority language, and a new communication domain. The paper presents the teaching of Slovene in Varaždin County, the demographic structure of the students, their reasons for learning Slovene, and the attitude of the students and their parents towards learning Slovene. The purpose is to find out to what extent the teaching of Slovene within the framework of the educational system contributes to the preservation of the Slovenian community and to the revitalisation of the language. The paper relies on data collected using quantitative and qualitative methods.The results of the research show that the children who learn Slovene at school mostly declare themselves Croats, and only a small proportion of them have Slovenian ancestors. Their initial knowledge of Slovene is poor and they learn Slovene as a foreign language. Rather than preserving ethnicity, the students and their parents consider the reasons for learning Slovene to be quite pragmatic, the main motives being further education and/or employment in Slovenia. The participation of children, regardless of their nationality, in Slovene lessons is a significant aspect of the revitalisation of the Slovene language, increasing the number of speakers of Slovene and contributing to improving the status of a minority language in the majority society.