Instruction for Mathematics and Science in Primary and Lower Secondary Grades
The time allocated for mathematics instruction in the fourth grade is four hours per week (140 hours per school year), while the time allocated for science is three hours per week (105 hours per school year). In the eighth grade, mathematics instruction is allocated four hours per week (140 hours per school year), while science is allocated eight hours per week, two for each science subject: biology, chemistry, physics, and geography. Additional classes are offered for more advanced students, and additional instruction is provided for students with lower marks.
Grade at Which Specialist Teachers for Mathematics and Science are Introduced
Class teachers conduct classes in all subjects during the first four grades of primary school. Beginning in the fifth grade, students have specialist teachers for all subjects, including mathematics and science, the latter of which is taught as four subjects: biology, chemistry, physics, and geography.
Instructional Materials, Equipment, and Laboratories
The MSES approves textbooks for primary schools and high schools. Every year in April, the Ministry publishes a catalog of textbooks approved for the following year, with prices. The approval of new textbooks is conducted according to rules and regulations for textbook and handbook evaluation, corresponding with textbook standards and educational programs and goals. The School Textbook Board and expert committees for each individual subject or area are in charge of textbook selection.14 As textbooks are not prescribed by the curriculum in Croatia, teachers have the freedom to choose textbooks. Textbooks must comply with scientific, ethical, pedagogical, methodological, linguistic, and technical standards provided by the Ministry.
Student textbooks come alone or with a workbook, exercise book, or other tools of instruction. A textbook always is accompanied by a teacher’s manual. To enhance instruction, teachers may supplement approved textbooks with optional textbooks and other tools of instruction, with the consent of parents and the entire teaching staff. Optional textbooks are not allowed to replace approved textbooks and handbooks.
The State Pedagogical Standards15 stipulate minimum infrastructure and financial conditions for primary schools. Schools are becoming better equipped with computers; however, equipping schools depends on alternative financing, which varies from school to school and from county to county. Computers rarely are used in mathematics and science instruction.
Use of Technology
The Syllabus for Primary School does not mention the use of personal calculators in Grades 1 to 4. In the fifth grade, one of the educational goals set forth in the syllabus is to teach students to use standard calculators for simple operations. One change introduced in the new Syllabus for Primary School was to remove the requirement for students to perform operations with large numbers without using a calculator. Calculator use in the classroom is still the subject of much debate; teachers share no universally accepted attitude about their use in school.
The Republic of Croatia established the e-Islands Project, a distance learning program, to reduce negative demographic trends in the lightly inhabited or depopulating Croatian islands. Virtual instruction is provided to 17 island schools via wireless connection with five schools on the mainland as well as the CARNet platform.16
The Strategy of Education, Science, and Technology project (Strategija obrazovanja, znanosti i tehnologije)17 aims to create digitally mature schools for the 21st century. Its objectives are to equip schools fully with ICT; train teachers to make the most of ICT in education; train school staff to use computers to make administration more efficient; and create critically minded, creative, and digitally educated students who are ready to meet the demands of the labor market. The project is scheduled to run from 2014–2022.
Accommodation Policies for Instruction and Testing
Students with disabilities are included in the education system with appropriate measures of support, depending on individual student needs. These measures are prescribed in supporting legislative documents. Students with disabilities who are included in regular classes in primary and secondary schools obtain comprehensive and student oriented support from within the educational institution and/or from support services at the local and regional levels. Professional teams of teachers and relevant expert associates within the educational institution prepare individualized programs for students with special needs, monitor their implementation, and adjust them accordingly. Individualized curricula are based on core and differentiated curricula, and are developed according to the professional assessment of student needs.18