Excellent Response and Motivation Letters in School Applications for the Implementation of Curriculum Reform

A total of 143 primary schools and 231 branch schools, along with 72 secondary schools, applied for the public call for the implementation of the experimental curriculum reform program “School for Life”, which is significantly more than the maximum planned 50 primary schools and 30 secondary schools where this program will be implemented starting next school year, reported the Minister of Science and Education, Blaženka Divjak, on Monday.

The public call for the implementation of the experimental program “School for Life” was open from February 16 to March 15 of this year, and the applications testify to a great and relatively distributed interest among schools in all Croatian counties, emphasized Minister Divjak, supporting this with a geographical map showing the frequency of applications across Croatia.

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At a press conference at the Ministry of Science and Education, the Minister also announced that the schools participating in the experimental program will be selected by the end of this week.

Most Applications from Osijek-Baranja County

The highest number of applications came from Osijek-Baranja County – 29 schools applied, including 16 primary schools and 13 secondary schools, while the least applications were from Koprivnica-Križevci County – only two secondary schools, and no primary schools.

In Brod-Posavina County, the highest number of applications was recorded in relation to the total number of schools in those counties, as 34 percent of the total number of primary and secondary schools in that county applied.

When it comes to secondary schools from two counties – Karlovac and Lika-Senj, not a single application from secondary schools was received, and a small percentage of applications from secondary schools was recorded in Split-Dalmatia County, where only six percent of secondary schools applied.

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Considering the total percentage of schools that applied in the county (both primary and secondary schools combined), Brod-Posavina County is followed by Krapina-Zagorje with 30 percent of applications, Osijek-Baranja with 29 percent, Bjelovar-Bilogora with 28 percent of the total number of schools, and Požega-Slavonia and Varaždin County with 27 percent of registered schools.

The smallest number of applications in relation to the total number of primary and secondary schools in the county came from Zadar County and the City of Zagreb, from which only five percent of schools applied.

About Six Thousand Students Will Participate in the Program

Minister Divjak reminded that the experimental program will be implemented starting next school year in the 1st and 5th grades of primary school in all subjects, and in the 7th grades, experimental programs in biology, chemistry, and physics.

In secondary schools, the experimental program will be implemented in the first grades of gymnasiums in all subjects, and in the first grades of vocational schools with four-year programs in general education subjects.

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As Divjak stated, it is planned that around six thousand students will participate in the experimental program, while more than four times that number, a total of 25,109 students from primary and secondary schools, have applied.

At least One Experimental School in Each County

There will be at least one experimental school in each county, and this is one of the key criteria for selecting schools, emphasized the Minister of Education. She also reflected on other selection criteria, such as meeting conditions, school size, schools in urban and rural areas, and motivation to participate in the experimental implementation.

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Divjak assessed that all applications were of high quality and announced that all these schools will somehow be involved in the implementation of experimental programs. Noting that it is important to understand what an experimental program means, and that some countries entered it less prepared than Croatia, Divjak emphasized that the greatest breakthrough in the experimental program relates to the way of working, and asserted that the way of evaluating students will also have to change.

Webinars and Communication with the Ministry

For the success of the reform, intensive communication with teachers is crucial, assessed the Assistant Minister Lidija Kralj. In this regard, she mentioned advisory visits to schools, professional gatherings and training, as well as webinars and systematic communication with the Ministry of Science and Education.

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Kralj also read two motivation letters as examples of how interested schools are in implementing the experimental curriculum reform program “School for Life”. Among other things, schools write – “our school is not just one of many small primary schools, but a school of opportunities that breaks provincial prejudices and contributes to the intercultural connection of students through its activities and projects, not only in Croatia but across Europe.” In the second letter, among other things, it states – “our school has a recognizable motto – A School Where Good Ideas Become Reality, according to which we believe that the goals and tasks of the experimental program ‘School for Life’ are an excellent idea and we are ready to turn it into reality.”