From Group Training to Individual Advanced Education Tibor

From Group Training to Individual Advanced Education Tibor Papp, Institute of Informatics and Statistics Igor Prívara, Institute of Informatics and Statistics Peter Smutný, Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic

Objectives of Presentation • summarize achievements of the medium term strategy of education and training in the SO SR – previous conception of education and training approved in 2005 • outline the visions of human resources development at the SO SR in the near future – new strategy of the SO SR approved in 2008, new conception of education and training is prepared

Slovak Statistical System • Slovak statistical system is centralized – major part of statistics is produced by the SO SR – statistics provided by other institutions are under methodological supervision of the SO SR • SO SR = central office + 8 regional branches – almost 80% of central office and approximately 50% of regional statisticians have university degree

INFOSTAT Institute of Informatics and Statistics • research and development institute of the SO SR • main areas of professional activities – applied research on statistical methodology – statistical informatics – design and development of IS (mainly for state administration) • provides for the SO SR the courses on advanced statistical methods and on the statistical information and software systems and tools • educational activities help to transfer the results of applied research into statistical practice

Main Achievements • systematic education and training based on the education and training life cycle • development and successful implementation of the Schola Statistica Program • extensive educational ESF project for state statistics managed by INFOSTAT from 2005 to 2007 • more than 80% of all employees of the SO SR obtained ECDL certificate

Main Problems • limited financial resources for education and training • lack of experienced lecturers for advanced statistical courses

Education and training life cycle 4. Evaluation 3. Implementation 1. Identification of needs 2. Planning

Content and Approach • educational activities were clustered into the following main subject areas: – – – preparation of managers and their successors preparation of experts for state statistics training in acquisition of ICT skills improvement of language abilities development of the employees „soft skills“ • prevailing form of educational activities during the past period was face-to-face courses – the first positive experience with blended learning (combination of e-learning with short face-to-face consultations) in courses for ECDL certificates

Schola Statistica Program • 3 program blocks – 2 basic + 1 advanced – the basic information about mission, goals and tasks of the SO SR in national as well as European context and the role of state administration and its employees – overview of the tasks solved in particular statistical departments – exercise of the basic statistics methods – overview of basic database technologies for the processing of statistical data – enhancing skills with typical application software

ESF Project • Project goals – increasing adaptability of the statistics employees to utilize progressive statistical methods and modern ICT – enhancing the role of statistical R&D in solving actual problems in co-operation with research institutes in the realm of European statistics – raising efficiency of state administration • Content aimed at – – – increasing managerial competence and skills vocational education and training in statistics and demography common education and training in statistical informatics specialized informatics training for information systems developers professional English language skills

Educational program „Practical Statistics and Statistical Informatics“ • program consists of approximately 20 modules divided into 3 thematic clusters: – modern statistical methods and their practical application in statistics – principles and functions of the Automated Statistical Information System (AŠIS) – effective use of PC (ECDL) • program was officially accredited by the Ministry of Education in 2008 • INFOSTAT is accredited by the Slovak Society for Computer Science (license holder for Slovakia) as the ECDL test center

New Strategy of the SO SR

New Priorities • Long term evolution of the SO SR as a learning institution • Opening statistical education to our partners in the NSS and to the users of the statistics • Career management within the SO SR based on the “parallel career lines” model • Advanced education of top specialists

SO SR as a Learning Institution • intention – shift emphasis from group to individual approach, supported by e-learning • e-learning paradigm – key technological paradigm • transformation of Schola Statistica Program into e-learning form • gradual replacement of face-to-face by blended learning

Training of Partners and Users • Objectives to train partners – harmonize the used methods – ensure quality of produced data according to ESS standards • Objectives to train users – understand use statistical data – understand the basic principles of the statistical survey techniques – differentiate the statistical results from different sources based on different assumptions and methods

Parallel Career Planning

Education of Statistical Experts • Academica Statistica Program – advanced program for top experts – not effective on national level (limited number of participants) • design and implement a joint program within the ESS – e-learning approach – experience from the 5 th FP research project “Virtual Library for Computer Assisted Training in Statistics”

Thank you for your attention