��Preschool education in the Republic of Croatia

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Kindergarten Jarun, November 2016

Education System in Croatia

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• Preschool institutions (nurseries and kindergartens)
• Primary school
• Secondary school
• Higher education institutions

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Preschool institutions

• Preschool education and care for preschool children
• Include programs of education and provide health care, nutrition and social care
• Founded by local community, private entities, cultural or religious institutions

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Preschool education

• Organized and implemented for children from six months until school age and it is realized in accordance with developmental proprieties and needs of children.
• The goal of preschool education is to support children’s individuality, creativity and learning through play.

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Preschool programs

• Determined by the humanistic developmental concept of out of family education of preschool children.
• Based on the transactional-transformational approach and its starting point is in child and teacher as active creators and implementers of preschool contents.

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Preschool programs

• Defined on the national level by the Law on preschool education and by the National preschool education standard, and since 2014 by the National curricula for preschool education.

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Types of preschool programs

• Basic or primary program (children aged 1 to 7)
• Special programs (such as Programs of early foreign language learning, Sports Program, Music Program, Programs of religious education, Safety, protection and prevention program in Kindergartens, Multi day work program in nature for preschool age children, Programs for children in hospital)
• Alternative programs (according to Montessori Pedagogy, Waldorf Pedagogy, Agazzi pedagogy, Reggio Pedagogy)
• Pre-primary school program (obligatory for all children in year before school who do not attend other kindergarten programs )

Preschool groups

• Groups arranged by age, except in special programmes
• Kindergartens are open throughout the whole year, during summer and winter holidays grups are merged
• Maximum stay of children per day is 10 hours

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Preschool groups

• All educational groups integrate children with special educational needs and we create a special individual program for these children.
• Special attention is paid to the gifted and talented children by respecting the principles of individualization.

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Preschool teachers

• Graduates of preschool education (BA) /university level (MA)
• Work with children 5,5 hours a day;

2 hours of other obligations

• Cooperation with expert team which can consist of the following associates -pedagogue, psychologist, speech therapist, special education expert

Preschool planning

• Based on the Law
• Annual plan adopted by the Teachers’ Council
• Each group has general three months’ plan (developmental tasks) and weekly activities plan
• Teachers record children’s accomplishments (motivation, activities) on a daily basis
• Other activities are also recorded (individual counselling, parents’ meetings etc.)

National curriculum

• Accepting the curriculum approach implies the construction of a National curriculum and is to be preceded by efficiency evaluation of all the immediate actors in the field of education and the redefinition of education on all its levels, in order to respond to the developmental needs of the Croatian society, while bearing in mind a wider European and global context.

Elementary education

• Compulsory for all children aged 6 - 15
• Primary schools founded by the government (state level) are free for all children
• Private schools founded by physical, legal persons or other legal entities require a scholarship fee
• Integrates children with special educational needs (children with developmental disabilities and gifted children) and national minorities into regular classes
• The teachers are graduates at the university level (MA)

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Secondary (high school) education

• Founded by the government (local or state level), physical or legal persons
• Public schools are free for all children, private schools require a scholarship fee
• Types of programs:

-gymnasiums

-vocational or trade schools

-art schools

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Higher education

• Four public universities in Croatia
• Several founded by private or legal persons
• Since 2003 Croatia has been involved in intensive reform of higher education according to the Bologna Declaration of Higher Education
• Important – increased quality of study and increased and facilitated mobility of Croatian and foreign students
• University and professional study programs

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Life Long Learning

• According to the National Strategy of Education, Science and Technology and with the Law of Adult Education
• Can be carried as:
• Formal
• Non-formal
• Self-directed learning
• Provided for adults in different legal institutions (public or private)

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Thank you for your attention!

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KINDERGARTEN JARUN·ZAGREB·CROATIA

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