Lifelong Learning Programme as a Mechanism of Change at the National Level: The Case of Slovenia

European Commission (EC) funding programmes in the field of educationand training present supranational policy instruments bringingchange to various levels of social reality at the national level. In an attemptto present the holistic view of their effect, this paper presentsthe results of the Lifelong Learning Programme (LLP) impact evaluation,which consisted of a mixed method research approach combininga focus group discussion method, interviews, content analysis, andsurvey research. Results show that EC education and training fundingprogrammes do bring change to the national (system), mezzo (organisational),andmicro (individual) levels. Yet, the impact seems to be differentat the observed levels as well as in the different target domains,and is weakest at the system level. This prompts the question aboutwhether it makes much (economic) sense to exploit EC programmes asmechanisms of national policy goal implementation.