Ususret promjenama odgojno-obrazovnog sustava
Towards Changing the System of Education

Summary/Abstract: Croatia has for a long time been facing the challenge of reforming its system of education. During the last decade, the process of change always started out anew with defining educational standards and developing curricula. The next steps involved the development of textbooks and teaching manuals, as well as traditional professional forms of teacher specialization programmes. All these efforts should have resulted in the establishment of a higher-quality system of education, which would have ultimately enabled achieving better learning results. Despite the amount of time and financial resources invested, however, our schools have not changed significantly. The reason for this may be traced in the inadequately thought-out approach to the process of change. Previous reform efforts have largely neglected the importance of improving the professional competencies of teachers, which cannot be achieved only by changing educational programmes or creating new curriculum documents. It primarily depends on initial teacher education and teacher specialization. The objective of this paper is thus to determine the features of solid initial teacher education and quality teacher specialization, both of which can contribute to implementing important changes in teaching and improving the learning outcomes of the students. Based on the analysis of the relevant research, it has been concluded that effective monitoring of teacher supply and demand should be introduced along with attracting and selecting the best candidates for enrollment in initial teacher education. Special attention should be paid to the initial education of special-subject teachers; this programme should integrate content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, and general pedagogical knowledge. Finally, it is necessary to regulate lateral entry licences for those who wish to enter teaching. Effective professional development that contributes to learner-centred teaching and better student learning outcomes is active, integrated, collaborative, quality driven, and reflexive. In addition thereto, it requires time and continuity. If no measures aimed at improving the professional competences of the teachers accompany the changes in curriculum, we can hardly expect better students’ learning outcomes.

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