The Croatian educational system

The Croatianeducationsystem has been going through a permanent transformation since Croatia's independencein 1991 andespecially after theend of theCroatianWar in 1995.Reform effortsrefer to allpartsof the education system. While theprimary education systemin international comparisontakes upa high value, thesecondary education of pupils and studentsisstill in an ongoing process of improvement. Inthe following the different types of schools will be discussed.

Pre-school caremay be claimedas early as thefirst year of lifeand continuesuntil the startof compulsory education.In Croatiapeople can choose betweenkindergarten andpreschool.In kindergartensocial skillsare being formed andin preschoolchildren are prepared for elementary school.

Compulsory educationin Croatiais eleven yearsand starts at the age of six or seven. There are threedifferent types of primary schools. First, there is a generalprimary school, secondly aspecialprimary school forchallenged children andfinally a school with amusical emphasis. The primary school system is divided intotwo phases; first four years of elementary schoolandthenfouryears of secondary education I.

After completingsecondary education I, students are requiredto attendfurthersecondaryeducation II. There they can choose fromthreetypes of schools.

Grammar schoolsaredivided intogeneral, modern languages, classical languages and science-mathematical types. Pupils are prepared for the tertiary education sector and finish grammar school with a school-leaving exam (Matura), a standardized exam that is put together by a central authority.

Anothertype of school is a vocational school. There are engineeringschools(4 years),schoolsfor industry and trade (3 years), and special schools for challenged students. Engineering schools end with a centralized school leaving exam that allows students to go on to higher education.

A special featureof the Croatianeducation systemis the dualvocational trainingsystem.This systemis similar to thedual traininginAustria. After an apprenticeship of three years with training of practical skills in an enterprise, trainee-students finish their education with an apprenticeship examination.

Croatia’s higher education system comprises fiveuniversities. The universities offer undergraduate programs (6 semesters) which conclude with abachelor's degreeand postgraduate programs whichconcludewith a master’s degree.These include Art, Humanities, Medicine, Engineering Sciences, naturalsciences, Law, Agriculture and Forestry, Economics and SocialSciences, andTheology.

Source:

Schulsystem in Kroatien – Konrad Adenauer Stiftung

URL: www.kas.de/wf/doc/kas_19258-1522-1-30.pdf, [Date: 26.4.14].