Teachers, Teacher Education, and Professional Development
Until the 2005–2006 academic year, the majority of higher education institutions offered four year undergraduate degree programs. Through the implementation of the Bologna Process at Croatian universities, degree programs are now structured as follows: a bachelor’s degree comprises a three or four year program resulting in a diploma, and a master’s degree comprises a further one or two years of study after the first cycle.
The government is responsible for the professional, pedagogical, and psychological training of teachers and their preservice teacher education. The Department of Teacher Education of the Faculty of Teacher Education provides primary teacher education in a program that takes five years to complete (10 semesters, or 300 ECTS—European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System credits), and results in a master’s degree in primary education. At the end of the program, teachers are qualified to teach classes in all subjects in the first four grades of primary school, as well as English and German as a foreign language, if they opted for the language course of study at the time of enrollment.
Teacher Education Specific to Mathematics and Science
Specialist teachers in primary and secondary schools who teach biology, chemistry, physics, and geography must obtain a master’s degree in their subject area in addition to completing requirements in pedagogical, psychological, and methodological skills.
After completing their studies, all new teachers are required to complete a one year induction program under the supervision of a teacher-mentor. At the end of this period, beginner teachers must pass the state certification examination in order to become fully qualified and certified.
Requirements for Ongoing Professional Development
Teachers have the right and the obligation to pursue continual professional development through programs approved by the Ministry. Indeed, teachers and other educational staff are required to take part in professional development at the national level at least once every two years, and at the county level at least three times per year.9
A wide variety of courses and other professional development activities are available for primary and secondary teachers. The Education and Teacher Training Agency (Agencija za odgoj i obrazovanje) provides professional assistance and guidelines, and regularly organizes professional development activities for educational staff.10 Individual and organized professional development opportunities are available in science content areas as well as in the fields of pedagogy, didactics, educational psychology, methodology, Information and Communications Technology (ICT), counseling, administration, educational policy, and other areas that support the effective and high quality education of students.11
The government also finances supplementary professional education in areas defined as having major relevance to educational policy. Employers are responsible for providing other continuing professional development opportunities. Costs incurred by teachers’ continuing professional development are co-financed by the government as part of state aid for education.12
The Strategy for Education, Science, and Technology,13 adopted by the Croatian parliament on October 17, 2014, envisages the development of national competency standards for teachers by 2015. These will be based on learning outcomes and in line with the Croatian qualifications framework. The strategy also sets out several long term measures for improving initial and ongoing teacher training programs, which include quality assurance and professional development for teacher educators.