engleski

Teacher education in Croatia: Recent developments in teacher education (2005-2010)

In the last few years the initial teacher education (ITE) system in Croatia has been radically reformed due to the implementation of the Bologna process in higher education. The basis of all reforms in educational sector in the observed period has been The Act on Scientific Activity and Higher Education (2003), The Act on education in primary and secondary schools (2008) and the national strategic document Education Sector Development Plan 2005 – 2010 (2005). Whereas in the past the education of teachers differed in many ways regarding the educational level they were educated for, the recent trend supports the clustering of initial teacher education around university programs. In the first part of the chapter in order to better understand the scope of changes related to the Bologna process in ITE a short description of the “pre – Bologna” teacher education system has been outlined followed by the extensive description of reforms regarding education of specific categories of teachers (i.e. primary school and secondary school teachers). In conclusion the authors state that recent developments in teacher education related to the Bologna process have brought about some important positive changes, such as the universitization of all segments of initial teacher education, introduction of the concept of competence-based curriculum, ECTS as an indicator of student workload, emphasis on a student-centered teaching approach, the introduction of postgraduate specialization and doctoral studies in the area of teacher education and the introduction of some quality assurance mechanisms (i.e. student evaluation of teaching quality). In the second part of the chapter the authors describe the recent changes within in-service teacher education which is now supported by the establishment of new agencies in the educational sector responsible for both the coordination of continuing professional development of teachers as well as for the system of teacher promotion. The general observation regarding in-service teacher education is that developments in this sector were not so systematic and coherent as in the initial teacher education. This is mostly due to the lack of an overall strategic framework in the area of continuous teacher education, which would ensure coordination and cooperation among various providers. Consequently, the offered programs do not fully take into account the results of the studies on teacher educational needs nor are based on learning outcomes.

teacher education

nije evidentirano