Minister of Science and Education Blaženka Divjak stated on Tuesday at a thematic session of the Committee for Education, Science and Culture of the Croatian Parliament that the crisis of the educational function of schools should be addressed in collaboration with schools, institutions, and families, and that the educational function of schools should be integrated with the educational function.
>>>Divjak: We will not achieve quality education by digging into ideological trenches and regressing
The Parliamentary Committee for Education, Science and Culture held a thematic session on Tuesday to discuss the role of schools in the education and upbringing system. Representatives from all relevant institutions were invited to the thematic session, including representatives from the Ministry of Science and Education (MZO), the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts (HAZU), the Office of the Ombudsman for Children, the University of Zagreb, the Agency for Education and Training, and the National Center for External Evaluation of Education, as reported by the Committee for Education, Science and Culture of the Croatian Parliament.
Bedeković: Today’s school is ‘quietly giving up’ on upbringing
The Chairwoman of the Committee for Education, Science and Culture, Vesna Bedeković, briefly reminded about the organization of educational work in schools and highlighted the economic and socio-political conditions that affect the educational function of schools.
>>>Health and Civic Education: Divjak called for reading ‘ideologically neutral’ curricula
As stated, Bedeković assessed that the pursuit of high academic results on standardized tests narrows the educational purpose of schools, adding that educational outcomes are prioritized, pushing aside the educational component.
– Today’s school is quietly giving up on upbringing, losing its historical mission and its traditional identity as an institution that educates, Bedeković assessed.
She also reflected on the complex and contradictory challenges of modern society that schools, parents, and institutions face. Bedeković believes that everyone struggles to cope with these contradictory challenges, raising the question of what values young people should be educated in.
>>>Divjak announced a ‘big undertaking’: A different vocational education – more practice and dual education
– The values on which the Croatian education system should be based must be viewed in light of new opportunities for the development of Croatian cultural identity within complex globalization processes, concluded Bedeković.
Aligning universal, European, and national values
Minister Divjak assessed that we need an education that takes into account the environment, the influence of globalization trends, and the growing technological advancement. Speaking about the goals of education in schools, Divjak emphasized that we must ensure equal opportunities for all, respect diversity, and promote tolerance, independence, and responsibility, as well as personal development, develop critical thinking and adaptability in the environment, and align universal, European, and national values.
– The educational function of schools should be integrated with the educational function, concluded Divjak.
>>>Divjak in a video spot with ministers from around the world: Education is life
As stated in the announcement, it was heard at the thematic session that upbringing should be given an appropriate place in the education reform, and that the crisis of upbringing is merely a result of the crisis in education.
Participants in the discussion highlighted that educational content and a crisis of values prevail in schools, and presented concrete data on how many children in Croatia are dissatisfied with school, and how many children fear school and failure. It was also stated that the content of teaching and learning outcomes are not balanced in schools, and that the educational function of assessment expressed in numbers during the learning process adds additional stress to students and teachers.
>>>Lifelong education for craftsmanship: Public call for micro, small, and medium enterprises
In the discussion, it was also heard that the educational component must be one of the clear goals of the curricular reform, which will start with an experimental implementation in Croatian schools this autumn. It was emphasized that students should be encouraged towards natural competitiveness and critical thinking, not just the final learning outcomes expressed in standardized and pre-announced knowledge tests, and that attention should be given to working with parents through communication between school professionals and parents.
