Page 25 - Šolsko polje, XXX, 2019, št. 5-6: Civic, citizenship and rhetorical education in a rapidly changing world, eds. Janja Žmavc and Plamen Mirazchiyski
P. 25
i. elezović ■ civic and citizenship education in croatia ...
cy and Social community – in the currently valid CCE program (Minis-
try of Science and Education, 2019).
At present, twenty years after the first CCE program emerged in the
Republic of Croatia, although there were no comprehensive debates on its
implementation, proposed plan of monitoring or built-in possibilities of
improvements, this area of education is no longer being widely discussed.
The reason is not that everything is being said and done. Unfortunately,
the reason is that the time for those analyses have passed and social capital
for experimentations was spent along with the openness to more daring
solutions. After a few attempts that all fell back into the “cross-curricu-
lar” solution, CCE was implemented and thought of as a cross-curricu-
lar interdisciplinary theme in all grades and subjects of ISCED level 1 to 3.
Under these circumstances, from the point of view of policy makers who
mirrored the very slow adaptations within the tertiary level, teacher edu-
cation had no real need to undergo some more serious changes. As before,
every teacher has to be proficient in his/her major area (or subject) and all
of them have to be equally able to teach all contents planned in cross-cur-
ricular themes. This content comes from numerous science areas, so di-
verse knowledge and competence are needed to successfully convey it to
students. There are only a few formal elements of support: regular teach-
er training in cross-curricular themes, additional teacher training in new
methodologies needed for cross-curricular areas, cross-curricular practic-
es in planning classes within each school (where teachers can cooperate
with other teachers that are content-experts in some areas) and the indi-
vidual enthusiasm of teachers.
During the period in which the second comprehensive reform was
trying to ‘push through’ political obstacles on the national level, the bot-
tom-up implementation of CCE started in one regional environment.
The city of Rijeka (in Primorsko-goranska County) in 2016 ordered and
implemented its own version of CCE as a separate subject in city elemen-
tary schools12. After positive self-evaluation in the first school year, the
program was transposed to some other cities and regional administra-
tive units where the “Rijeka model of CCE” was implemented along with
available teaching and learning materials. This initiative was not closely
monitored nor supported (or disapproved) by the national level authority
but it should not be ignored as an example of how an educational system
could be influenced and/or changed in an unusual way from the perspec-
tive of an exclusively centralized decision-making experience.
12 Recorded also in the Education and Training Monitor 2018, pp. 42. Available at: https://
ec.europa.eu/education/sites/education/files/document-library-docs/volume-2-2018-ed-
ucation-and-training-monitor-country-analysis.pdf
23
cy and Social community – in the currently valid CCE program (Minis-
try of Science and Education, 2019).
At present, twenty years after the first CCE program emerged in the
Republic of Croatia, although there were no comprehensive debates on its
implementation, proposed plan of monitoring or built-in possibilities of
improvements, this area of education is no longer being widely discussed.
The reason is not that everything is being said and done. Unfortunately,
the reason is that the time for those analyses have passed and social capital
for experimentations was spent along with the openness to more daring
solutions. After a few attempts that all fell back into the “cross-curricu-
lar” solution, CCE was implemented and thought of as a cross-curricu-
lar interdisciplinary theme in all grades and subjects of ISCED level 1 to 3.
Under these circumstances, from the point of view of policy makers who
mirrored the very slow adaptations within the tertiary level, teacher edu-
cation had no real need to undergo some more serious changes. As before,
every teacher has to be proficient in his/her major area (or subject) and all
of them have to be equally able to teach all contents planned in cross-cur-
ricular themes. This content comes from numerous science areas, so di-
verse knowledge and competence are needed to successfully convey it to
students. There are only a few formal elements of support: regular teach-
er training in cross-curricular themes, additional teacher training in new
methodologies needed for cross-curricular areas, cross-curricular practic-
es in planning classes within each school (where teachers can cooperate
with other teachers that are content-experts in some areas) and the indi-
vidual enthusiasm of teachers.
During the period in which the second comprehensive reform was
trying to ‘push through’ political obstacles on the national level, the bot-
tom-up implementation of CCE started in one regional environment.
The city of Rijeka (in Primorsko-goranska County) in 2016 ordered and
implemented its own version of CCE as a separate subject in city elemen-
tary schools12. After positive self-evaluation in the first school year, the
program was transposed to some other cities and regional administra-
tive units where the “Rijeka model of CCE” was implemented along with
available teaching and learning materials. This initiative was not closely
monitored nor supported (or disapproved) by the national level authority
but it should not be ignored as an example of how an educational system
could be influenced and/or changed in an unusual way from the perspec-
tive of an exclusively centralized decision-making experience.
12 Recorded also in the Education and Training Monitor 2018, pp. 42. Available at: https://
ec.europa.eu/education/sites/education/files/document-library-docs/volume-2-2018-ed-
ucation-and-training-monitor-country-analysis.pdf
23
