The Role And Importance Of Local Selfgovernments In Financing Informal Education

The paper discusses the role and importance of local self-governments in financing adult education system, from the perspective of informal education. Starting from deliberation of the new European education strategy, and taking a stand that education and skill development represent the foundation for 21st century society development, as well as the necessity of stimulating open and flexible learning, by organizing various forms of informal adult education, one perceives the importance of local self-governments in realizing the objectives of life-long education and professional development. Contemporary understanding of informal education starts from the viewpoint that it is a part of the modern education concept, and that it is a necessary part of the formal education, regardless whether it serves as a “second chance for gaining education” or as a complement to the formal education based on personal or society requirements. From these stems the whole complexity of organizing and fi nancing such way of education. The peculiarity of informal education is reflected on the fact that it pervades various requirements and parts of society, therefore the sole fi nancial planning, in the part for which the state has been lawfully obligated, is uneven when compared to formal education, which is regulated and even at the state-level. Th e paper considers this problem within the perspective of the 2013 City of Novi Sad (Serbia) budget, in which the informal education at various budgetary positions (education, culture, environment protection, social welfare, etc.) participates with 2.637 % of the entire budget. The unevenness in financing is not refl ected on the various positions of a single budget, but also on the development level of local self-governments. The question this paper submits is how to organize management of such system, in order to function as optimally as possible, i.e. how to emphasize the requirements for establishing systemic mechanisms which would ensure the minimum of financing of this highly important part of educational system.