Vedrana Spajić-Vrkaš
Faculty of Humanities and social Studies
University of Zagreb
CITIZENSHIP EDUCATION IN SOUTH-EASTERN EUROPE:
A pilot-study on the secondary school students' civic and political knowledge and attitudes in 10 countries
NATIONAL REPORT: CROATIA
Introduction
Croatian educational system
Republic of Croatia was established as an independent state in 1990 in the context of the collapse of communism and following the break of the Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia. The referendum on independence in 1991 with the turnout of 84% and of 93% in favor of independence triggered the 1991-1995 war through which Croatia defended and secured its independence and, with the reintegration of Eastern Slavonia in 1998 and Prevlaka in 2002, its borders, as well.
Upon its recognition by the European states and the international community, Croatia was in 1992 granted a "special guest" status with the Council of Europe of which it became a full member in 1996. Three years later the process of accession to NATO began; in 2000 the country entered the NATO’s Partnership for Peace and in 2009 was granted full membership in the alliance. In 2003 Croatia also applied for the EU membership which was granted to it in 2004 and the entry negotiations together with the screening process started a year later. The accession negotiations were closed in June 2011 and in December 2011 Croatia signed the Treaty on Accession by which it upgraded its status from candidate to acceding country, and became an active observer in the Council of the European Union and its preparatory bodies. In June 2012 the EU accession referendum was held at which the 67% of those taking part voted in favour of the EU membership. The ratification process of the Treaty of Accession, by the Parliaments of all 27 EU member states, is expected to be concluded by the end of June 2013 after which Croatia would become the EU 28th member-state.
Article 3 of the Constitution of the Republic of Croatia, as amended in 2010, determines that freedom, equality, national and gender equality before the law, peacemaking, social justice, respect of human rights, inviolability of ownership, conservation of nature and the human environment, the rule of law and a democratic multiparty system, are the highest values of the Croatian Constitutional order and the basis for interpreting the Constitution. These values should be enjoyed by all, "regardless of race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth, education, social status or other characteristics" (Art. 14). This principle is further confirmed and elaborated in Part III on the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (Art. 14 to Art. 69), which functions as the Croatian Bill of Human Rights.
The Constitution specify that Croatia is established as the national state of the Croatian people and the state of the members of national minorities, of which 22 are named, as well as of others who are its citizens, and to whom Croatia guarantees equality with Croatian nationals in accordance with “the democratic norms of the United Nations and the countries of the fee world”.
According to the 2011 Census Croatia has a total population of 4.29million with a negative natural growth rate since 1991. Croats make almost 90% of the country’s total population. Major minority groups are Serbs (4.5%) followed by 22 other ethnicities specified by name, including Bosniaks, Hungarians, Italians, Slovenes, Germans, Czechs and Roma people who all together make 3,6% of the total population. The country’s religious composition of Croatia Roman Catholics make a large majority (88%), followed by Orthodox Christians (4.4%), and Muslims (1.3%), while 2,2% are non-believers and 2,9% are non-declared.
Croatian language is the official language in Croatia. Minority languages, such as Czech, Hungarian, Italian, Ruthenian, Serbian and Slovakian are in official use at the local level where more than one third of the population has a minority status or where local legislation defines so. According to the 2001 Census, 96% of Croatian citizens declared Croatian as their native language, 1% spoke Serbian, while neither of other languages spoken in the country exceeds 0.5% of the total population.
In reference to education, the Constitution determines, in Art. 65, that education is available to all under equal terms and according to one’s abilities, and that compulsory education is free according to law. The Constitution also regulates the establishment of private schools and guarantees autonomy to the universities. These principles are further elaborated in, inter alia, the Law on Upbringing and Education in Elementary and Secondary School (2008), the Law on Preschool Upbringing and Education (1997), the Law on Vocational Education (2009), the Law on Upbringing and Education in the Language and Script of National Minorities (2000), the Law on Adult Education (2007), the Law on the National Centre for External Evaluation of Education (2004), the Law on Scientific Work and Higher Education (2003), and the Law on Quality Assurance in Science and Higher Education (2009).
Croatian educational system comprises the preschool, primary, secondary and higher education levels (see Table 1). Primary education starts at the age of six or seven and lasts for eight years, when the period of compulsory education is also concluded. In 2007 a specific law was adopted by the National Parliament to increase the number of years of compulsory schooling until the age of 18 but it has not yet been put into practice. Notwithstanding, both primary and secondary education is mainly founded by the public sector, as well as most institutions of post-secondary education. Primary education is provided in regular schools, alternative schools (Waldorf, Montessori), art schools and schools for children with special needs, while secondary education is provided by gymnasiums in one out of its four tracks, 4- and 3 year vocational schools, and art schools. Primary and secondary education is also available for students of minority background, either in school or classroom with a minority language programme. As of 2010, there were approximately 2,100 elementary schools and 700 schools providing various forms of secondary education. An estimated 4.5% of the GDP is, in 2010, spent for primary and secondary education. Primary schools are under the jurisdiction of the local self-government, while secondary schools are under the authority of the regional government - the counties.
Upon the completion of secondary school all students are, since 2009-10 school year, obliged to pass the State Matura (državna matura) which is carried on by the National Centre for External Evaluation. Passing of the State Matura is a prerequisite for the completion of secondary education and a requirement for enrolment in most of higher education institutions. The mandatory exams taken within the State Matura encompass three compulsory subjects (Croatian language, mathematics, and a foreign language) and one or more optional subjects. The exception refers to students of minority background who, in addition to the Croatian language exam, are obliged to take an exam in their mother tongue.
Croatian higher education system encompasses 8 universities, with some 80 faculties, art academies, and schools of professional higher education; 11 polytechnics and 23 higher education institutions, of which 19 are private. A total of 132 institutions of higher education are attended by more than 145thousand students. The University of Zadar is the oldest university in Croatia founded in 1396. The University of Zagreb is the largest. It was founded in 1669 and represents the oldest continuously operating university in Southeast Europe. There are also University of Split, University of Rijeka, University of Osijek, University of Dubrovnik, University of Pula and Dubrovnik International University. In 2001 Croatia signed the Bologna Declaration; in 2003 a comprehensive reform of higher education system begun and in the academic year 2005-06 the first students enrolled in new programmes. In this period the proportion of the population attaining academic degrees grew rapidly. By 2008 it was doubled and reaching 16.7% of the 2001 figures.
Figure 1: Croatian educational system at present
Citizenship education
Since the middle of 1990s, citizenship education (CE) in Croatia has developed conceptually and methodologically in conjunction with human rights education (HRE). In 1996 Croatian government established the National Human Rights Committee with a mandate to contribute to the 1995-2004 UN Decade of Human Rights Education by developing and implementing a comprehensive National Human Rights Education Programme for all levels and all forms of education[1]. In 1999 four sub-programmes from preschool to secondary education were completed on the basis of results of the UNESCO-sponsored project “Education for Peace and Human Rights for Croatian Primary School”[2], as well as under the influence of the Project “The Citizen”. The elementary school sub-programme was integrated into the Framework Programme for Elementary School as an “optional integrative content” that could be taught as a cross-curricular theme, an optional school subject, an extracurricular project activity or as a whole-school activity. This was followed by a series of teacher training seminars for the implementation of the National Human Rights Education Programme and by nomination of 22 HRE county coordinators. By the beginning of 2000, the influence of the Council of Europe’s Project on Education of Democratic Citizenship become evident in an explicit inclusion of citizenship education in the National Human Rights Education Programme.
In the next decade, HRE and EDC were principally included in all major laws and strategic papers on education, as well as in national policies, plans and programmes developed for various sectors related to education.
For example, the Law on Upbringing and Education in Elementary and Secondary School (2008) determines, in Art. 4, that school should educate students in correspondence with, inter alia, human rights and the rights of the child, and that they should prepare them for life in a multicultural world and respect for diversity, as well as for active and responsible participation in a society’s democratic development. Similarly, the Law on Scientific Work and Higher Education (2003) proclaims, in Art. 2, that academic freedom, self-management and autonomy; respect for and affirmation of human rights; and the obligation of the university to enhance social responsibility of students and other members of the academic community, are the foundations of higher education in Croatia. Furthermore, the Law on Adult Education (2007) defines, in Art. 1, adult education as an integral part of a single system of education in Croatia and stipulates that it aims at preparing the adults for active citizenship.
The following national strategic papers also have HRE and EDC included: the National Programme for the Roma, of 2002 and the Plan of Action for Roma Inclusion 2005-2015; the National Plan of Activities for the Rights and Interests of Children 2006-2012; the National Policy for the Promotion of Gender Equality 2006-2010; the National Strategy for the Creation of an Enabling Environment for the Civil Society 2006–2011; The National Programme for the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights 2008-11 and the National Programme for Youth 2009-2013.
HRE and EDC were made a part of all the documents that were issued in the course of 2000s to improve the quality of Croatian educational system, such as the Educational System Development Plan for 2005-2010[3] and the Croatian National Educational Standard (HNOS)[4], of 2005, both of which explicitly relate the issue of Croatian development towards the knowledge society and democracy to the promotion of active citizenship.
Furthermore, the National Framework Curriculum for Preschool Upbringing and Education and for General Compulsory and Secondary Education (NOK)[5] issued in 2011, which was developed with reference to the Recommendation of the European Council on Key Competences for Lifelong Learning, of 2006, aims at introducing comprehensive changes in the Croatian educational system. Instead of controlling the inputs and determining the teaching contents of the school subjects, the NOK is focused on learning outcomes defined in the context of several specific learning areas. Education is seen as an instrument for developing of a set of general or transversal and specific competencies. This is meant to be achieved by restructuring the system of education by introducing not only the structural principle of educational areas but the organisational principle of educational cycles, as well. Thus, NOK defines seven educational areas, such as Language and Communication, Mathematics, Science, Technical and Informatics Area, Social Sciences and Humanities; Art; Physical and Health Area, as well as four educational cycles – from the first grade of primary school to the second grade of secondary school (Figure 2). The cycles actually announce the shift towards a 10-year period of free and compulsory schooling, which has, nonetheless, not been put into practice in Croatia, yet. It is the reason why at this moment the NOK provisions co-exist in practice with the national framework plans and programmes for elementary and secondary schools.
The NOK describes in detail the core educational values, defines overall educational goals and principles, as well as the goals of educational areas. In addition, it defines the principles of monitoring and evaluation of student achievement and the principles of monitoring and evaluation of the NOK implementation. It also introduces a new category – the compulsory cross-curricular themes.
The core values on which, according to NOK, education is founded are: knowledge, solidarity, identity and responsibility. Among the overall educational principles are: high educational quality; equality of educational opportunities for all; horizontal and vertical mobility; respect for human rights and the rights of children; inclusion and democratic decision-making; pedagogical and school pluralism; school autonomy; European dimension in education; respect for cultural differences, and professional competence and ethics.
Furthermore, there are six compulsory cross-curricular themes: Personal and Social Development; Health, Safety, and Environmental Protection; Learning to Learn; Entrepreneurship; Use of Information and Communication Technology; and Citizenship Education.
Figure 2: The competence-oriented Croatian educational system consisting of 4 cycles (National Framework Curriculum)
Civic competence is defined by NOK as one of the key learning outcomes. It is developed progressively throughout the four cycles both in the Social Sciences and Humanities Area and in a cross-curricular theme - Citizenship Education. The main objective of the Social Sciences and Humanities Area is to contribute to the development of students as autonomous and responsible individuals who are capable of understanding and critically considering the modern world, and actively participating in democratic development for their own benefit and for the benefit of their communities. Thus, Social Sciences and Humanities Area also contributes to developing students’ civic competence, in particular, through two broad units: Citizens and Democracy and Fundamental Human Rights and Responsibilities.