Mihaela Knez, PhD, leads the Slovene for Children and Adolescents unit at the Centre for Slovene as a Second and Foreign Language. Her research and professional work focus on learning Slovene as a second language, the linguistic integration of immigrants into Slovene schools, and learning Slovene in ethnic Slovene cross-border regions and elsewhere around the world. She is the coauthor of the manual Sporazumevalni prag za slovenščino (Communicative Threshold for Slovene) and several curricula, textbooks, and handbooks for teaching Slovene as a second language for children, adolescents, and adults. She publishes articles on Slovene as a second and foreign language. She has led several European and national projects and, between 2018 and 2021, she headed the national evaluation study Evaluation of Models for Learning and Teaching Slovene as a Second Language for Primary and Secondary School and Students Whose Native Language Is Not Slovene. She is also active in teacher training for those teaching Slovene as a second and foreign language in Slovenia and abroad. She collaborates in various national committees and is involved in preparing national documents related to language education planning. In 2016, she received a recognition for her professional work from the Faculty of Arts and, in 2022, a recognition from the University of Ljubljana.

Fields of work:

Slovene for children and adolescents, teacher training, language education planning