Avtorji v prispevku zagovarjajo tezo, da spodbujanje avtonomije otrok v vrtcu prispeva k pozitivnim ucinkom avtonomije posameznika v poznejsem obdobju. Razlicni viri utemeljujejo predpostavko, da obstaja razmerje med avtonomijo otrok in avtonomijo vzgojiteljev. V prispevku so avtorji ugotavljali in raziskovali, kako vzgojiteljice in vzgojitelji vrednotijo dejavnike lastne strokovne avtonomije, dejavnike in pogoje, ki po njihovem mnenju spodbujajo avtonomijo predsolskih otrok, ter ali ocena obojih dejavnikov in pogojev vpliva na dejansko stanje spodbujanja avtonomije otrok v vrtcu. Ko govorimo o spodbujanju avtonomije otrok, imamo v mislih participacijo otrok, omogocanje možnosti otrokom, da se igrajo in ucijo ter manipulirajo z materiali, ucnimi pripomocki na svoj nacin, da vzgojitelji in vzgojiteljice nudijo otrokom možnost izbire, upostevajo njihova custva in perspektivo otrok ter jim dajejo racionalne povratne informacije. Izsledki raziskave kažejo, da vrednotenje vzgojiteljic in vzgojiteljev (N = 524) dejavnikov in pogojev spodbujanja avtonomije otrok ugodno vpliva na spodbujanja avtonomije pri otrocih, ni pa kljucnega pomena. Najpomembnejsa dejavnika spodbujanja avtonomije otrok sta vzgojitelj kot oseba in participacija otrok.

The article draws on research on the quality of governance and its impact on Slovenian municipalities' competitiveness. It presents the research results guided by two hypotheses: "Municipalities with a higher quality of governance are more competitive" and "The assessments of the quality of governance in Slovenian municipalities vary more than the assessments of the quality of governance in EU regions". Starting from the general idea of governance as an undirected network of vertical and horizontal relations supports the importance of the research on the quality of governance and public administration in the EU environment on the local, regional, and national levels. As the low quality of governance impacts divergence in cohesion, mainly less developed and catching-up EU countries should focus on the development of the quality of governance and competitiveness at the regional and local levels. According to the research results, the Slovenian municipalities form several groups according to the behavior measured by the correlation between the quality of governance and the level of competitiveness. Additionally, the international comparison indicates that the quality of governance measured in Slovenian municipalities varies at least as much as in the EU regions. The evidence supports the quest for further research on the quality of governance and competitiveness to understand the dynamics of the development at the local and regional levels and develop proposals for improvement and measures adapted to the needs and capacities of groups of municipalities with similar behavior.

The last supplement of the legislation related to participatory budgeting was introduced in 2018, with the provision stipulating that a municipality is to determine the amount of funds used to finance projects proposed by citizens in drawing up a municipal budget proposal. Municipalities still decide autonomously on whether they are to introduce participatory budgeting or not. The introduction itself varies from one municipality to another; some apply several process phases; in some municipalities, the amount is determined for the narrower units of the municipality, which then freely dispose of these funds; in some municipalities, questionnaires are distributed throughout households. It is estimated that 12% of all municipalities in Slovenia have introduced participatory budgeting in all fundamental phases.

In the paper, we argue that fostering the autonomy of children in kindergarten contributes to the positive effects of the individual’s autonomy later in life. Various sources substantiate the assumption that there is a relationship between the child’s autonomy and the autonomy of educators. In the paper, we identify and investigate how preschool teachers evaluate the factors of their own professional autonomy, we determine the factors and conditions that, in their opinion, foster the autonomy of preschool children, and we verify whether the assessment of both factors and conditions affects the actual state of the stimulation of the autonomy of children in kindergarten. With regard to fostering the autonomy of children, we have in mind the participation of children, enabling them to play and learn and to manipulate materials and teaching aids in their own way, so that preschool teachers can offer them a choice, take into account their feelings and perspectives, and provide them with rational feedback. The results of the research show that an evaluation of the factors and conditions for fostering the autonomy of children by preschool teachers (N = 524) has a beneficial effect on fostering the autonomy of the children, but it is not crucial. The most important factors in fostering the autonomy of children are the preschool teacher as a person and the participation of children.

Recent developments in local public finance management in Slovenia indicate the local governments’ growing interest in introducing participatory budgeting as a decision-making tool, wherein part of local resources are used with citizen participation. Usually, the literature on participation budgeting analyses its effects, but our main research objective was to analyze the possible determinants influencing its implementation. The influence of political factors, sociodemographic factors, economic factors, and the capability of municipalities are examined here using binary logistic regression to predict a dichotomous dependent variable from a set of predictor variables. In binary logistic regression, predictable variables are the probability of one category being chosen. In this case, the authors calculated the probability that a municipality, described by selected prediction variables, would implement a participatory budget. The results of the analysis suggest six indicators that impact the probability of participatory budgeting adoption, proving the influence of four determinants on the decision to adopt such a measure.

Introduction: As an integral part of health care, biomedical laboratories are an important contributor to quality patient care. There are only few studies on technical and economic efficiency in the field of laboratory medicine. Nevertheless, such research is crucial to further optimize public resources. Aim: The aim of our research is to create and verify a model for defining the scale efficiency of medical laboratories at the primary level of health care. Methods: Twenty-one laboratories at the primary level of health care in Slovenia were included in the analysis. The efficiency of medical laboratories was determined using data envelopment analysis. We additionally used hierarchical cluster analysis to determine the homogeneous groups within the analyzed sample of units. Results: We determined the high technical and pure technical efficiency of the analyzed laboratories. The analysis results showed that changes in work processes represent only a minuscule improvement in efficiency, while more can be achieved through a proper scaling of laboratory services. The impact of the operating scale on the efficiency of laboratories is up to twice as high as the process inefficiency. If we take into account the operating modes of laboratories, the optimal scale of services starts at 237,570 automatic tests. Conclusions: We note that increased automation and consolidation of laboratory activities could contribute to a greater efficiency of medical laboratories and consequently reduce public spending. DEA is an appropriate tool for the efficiency analysis of public medical laboratories and of appropriate support for policy creation and evaluation in the field of laboratory medicine.

The article presents the bases, objectives, process and results of the procedure for the creation of the new health and education, political system, economy (HEPE) well-being index. The approach is based on the fact that existing indices are quite limited, and that several researchers recognise the need to find the optimal well-being index. The aim of this research was to create a transparent index, which is based on publicly available data, is comparable to other indices, comprehensively summarises the concept of well-being and provides a multi-dimensional analysis of well-being. Accessibility, repeatability and the possibility of upgrading the index is achieved by taking into account only freely accessible variables and by carrying out a transparent calculation of the index. The HEPE index is calculated on the basis of the Schneider’s method which includes the factor analysis, the calculation of weights and the calculation of index as the weighted sum of indicators. The result is a transparent index composed of three pillars: health and education, political system, economy. It makes it possible to analyse the causes for the states shown, thereby opening the possibility for its use in the formulation and evaluation of well-being policies.

This paper presents the results of the content analysis of 139 Web of Science papers focused on collaborative innovation with external stakeholders of public administration, specifically on co-production and co-creation. The analysis included papers published between 2009 and 2018 and was based on a coding scheme consisting of 12 parameters grouped into four groups: paper descriptors, financial support of the research, methodological framework, and co-creation characteristics. The results reveal a considerable increase in researchers’ interest in co-production and co-creation in the context of public administration in the last few years. This is particularly the case in Northern and Western Europe, where Anglo-Saxon and Nordic administrative traditions dominate. Furthermore, the results show that co-creation is most often placed in the contexts of social policy and welfare, as well as health care. Over the selected period, research seldom addressed companies as a target group in the co-creation of public services—in comparison to citizens and internal users. More than three quarters of the papers observed were empirical and less than 20% were quantitative. In general, a lack of conceptual clarity was often identified through the interchangeable usage of the terms co-creation and co-creation and the low level of international comparison—the majority of the papers focused on case descriptions at a national level, even though collaborative innovation is strongly related to administrative traditions dominating in specific regions.

On the basis of existing research, the paper presents a model for analyzing the impact of the use of human resource management practices on organizational performance. The model allows the assessment of these impacts after analyzing the use of human resource management practices and the achieved performance. The model includes a survey questionnaire on human resource management practices, a principal component analysis of the results of the questionnaire, a DEA model to determine the performance and a linear regression model of the impact of human resource management practices on the performance of Slovenian municipalities. The results of the research confirm a negative (focus on quality and job security) and positive (supervisory practices) impact of the use of certain human resource management practices in Slovenian municipalities on their organizational performance. The findings indicate the need for balancing between focus on quality, employee security, and supervisory practices for better individual and organizational performance in Slovenian local administration.

In this article, we evaluate the online local budget transparency (OLBT) for all Slovenian municipalities and analyse the impact of various factors on the measured transparency. Most of the municipalities comply with existing regulations. The comparison of the mean values of 91 different characteristics shows that municipalities which do not comply with regulation are smaller, with poorer education structure and social position of citizens. Several municipalities are providing budget transparency beyond the legal requirements. They are smaller and less wealthy than other municipalities complying with regulation. We explain both phenomena by agency and legitimacy theory.

Zero tolerance towards corruption and related disclosure of irregularities is more frequently a subject of discussions than serious attempts to determine its magnitude in state administration. Consequently, a survey was conducted among civil servants on the perception of corruption based on the model of Transparency International. Civil servants, as drafters of legislation and especially as (in)direct participants in the exercise of public power, more frequently detect irregularities, as they are reported by the media, or are perceived through a system-oriented work in this area. In the context of our research, it was found that perception of the general state of corruption in Slovenia is higher than the global average. Slovenian civil servants believe that the government is under the influence of interest groups and that its effectiveness decreases. As the most corrupt, they exposed the political parties, media and the health care system, and the military, NGOs, and police as the least corrupt.

Countries are investing significant resources in the development of e-government, but evaluations of e-government projects are rarely conducted in a comprehensive way. In order to take the right measures and to be effective in fostering the use and raising the quality of evaluations of e-government projects it is important to reveal the state of the practice. The paper presents the results of the research based on identification of parameters required to be measured in order to conduct qualified evaluations of e-government projects. Thirteen such paramaters were identified via the focus group, with participants comprising (Slovenian) e-government decision-makers and researchers. Using these 13 parameters and 7 additional questions about the knowledge and use of evalution methods a questionnaire was designed and applied in a survey on Slovenian public administration. Employing a binomial test and Fisher’s combined probability test it was established that in Slovenian public administration qualified evaluations of e-government projects were not being conducted. The method has demonstrated an eligible usability both for analysing the general situation and for exposing opportunities for improvement in various specific situations.

paper selected from the BALCOR 2013 conference The authors of the article deal with the quantitative analysis of results of the development of health care services. The aim of the article is to determine the key conditions for measuring the results of health system functioning and evaluation of its adequacy. The research question focuses on the method of measuring the operational efficiency of Slovenian hospitals. The introduction defines efficiency within the concept of adequacy and its dimensions of efficiency, accessibility and quality. The empirical part of the article presents the use of the DEA method for determining the adequacy of operation of hospitals on the basis of data on Slovenian hospitals. It is apparent that the model for the evaluation of adequacy of operation of hospitals is suitable within limitations. The interpretation of results is hampered by inadequately structured data and non-transparent prices of hospital services. Therefore, the results of the research indicate the direction in which thedatabase should be developed to ensure greater comparability in a rather heterogeneous population of hospitals. Furthermore, the authors point out that new indicators, reflecting the condition of the dimensions of adequacy, should be included in the model for the purposes of the evaluation of adequacy. On the basis of the results of the research, the question of implementing suitable methods of planning and controlling the adequacy of the functioning of health care into practice arises.

The paper addresses the issue of ex-ante evaluation of e-government projects. Many methodologies have been developed in the last 15 years in order to support such evaluations, but we still know very little about the impact of these evaluations on the success rate of e-government projects. The research conducted on the Slovenian public administration and presented in this paper fills in the gap between theoretical and empirical research in this area. Using the methodology of partial least squares, a model of indicators was developed and tested in the Slovenian e-government environment. It was proven that ex-ante evaluation of e-government projects has an impact on the success of these projects --28% of the variance in success can be explained by ex-ante evaluation.

This paper presents a selection of 43 variables collected from various sources, which are used to describe the concepts of decentralization and quality of governance in the EU countries. Decentralization is analyzed from two aspects, fiscal and political, while the quality of governance is, along with certain real indicators, measured in particular with the opinions of citizens. The aim of the research was to determine the factor structure of selected variables and provide guidelines for using best practices in exploratory factor analysis. The exploratory factor analysis classified the selected variables into three factors of fiscal decentralization (Fiscal decentralization, Fiscal centralization and Government expenditure), three factors of political decentralization (Centripetalism, Regional governance, Federalism) and three factors of quality of governance (Quality of European institutions, Quality of national institutions and Enforcement of EU law). Despite the small population observed, the factors showed quite good characteristics and provided a good starting point for further research. In this manner, it was shown that despite a small population, it is possible to develop factor models of suitable quality by using exploratory factor analysis in the sense of best practices.

This paper presents comparative review of existent (inter-)national approaches to e-government projects evaluation with the stress on intangible/hidden costs and public value dimension which are the two components usually missed out in traditional investments evaluation methods (e.g., net present value, cost/benefit analysis, return on investment). Based on the literature review and weaknesses identified through comparative review, the authors developed models for ex-ante and ex-post evaluation of e-government projects for Slovenian public administration. The models were developed together with representatives of Ministry of Public Administration.

Systematic approaches to making decisions in the public sector are becoming very common. Most often, these approaches concern expert decision models. The expansion of the idea of the development of e-participation and e-democracy was influenced by the development of technology. All stakeholders are supposed to participate in decision making, so this brings a new feature to the decision-making process, in which amateurs and non-specialists are participating decision making instead of experts. To be able to understand the needs and wishes of stakeholders, it is not enough to vote for alternatives - it is important to participate in solution-finding and to express opinions about the important elements of these matters. The solution presented in this paper concerns fuzzy decision-making framework. This framework combines the advantages of the introduction of the decision-making problem in a tree structure and the possibilities offered by the flexibility of the fuzzy approach. The possibilities of implementation of the framework in practice are introduced by case studies of investment projects appraisal in a community and assessment of efficiency and effectiveness of public institutions.

The paper presents the challenge of establishing a substantial governance framework of local government provision of tasks and services. The assumption that this end is highly dependent on the implementation of total quality management paradigm has led us to base our work on the Common Assessment Framework model. The research discusses the case of pre-school education. The main research question is how the representatives of the municipality, responsible for pre-school education, understand their role and accountability in the process of the provision of local government genuine services and tasks. As the main methodological result of the research is approved that the questionnaire based on the CAF model can help to discover the main opportunities for improvement of governance of genuine local government tasks. The results of the survey on pre-school education show that local governments are in control of financial matters and that their strategic focus is limited to the investment aspect. The accountability for quality management was approved as a key opportunity for improvement of local government governance.