Many city and county leaders can boast of investing in strengthening the quality of education, investing in extracurricular activities, various programs, and incentives, but how successful is the education system really, and how can we actually measure the success of the education system? This is a question that troubles counties and cities across Croatia, but some have managed to tackle these challenges with quality solutions. One of them is Varaždin County.
– A key role in school management is played by a model that strategically uses the Balanced Scorecard method through perspectives of financing, equality, efficiency, and excellence, and at the operational execution level, Business Intelligence tools through fact tables in the mentioned perspectives. This is particularly important when the school system possesses large amounts of data from various sources, so it is necessary to use automated decision-making tools, all in the interest of global concreteness – explained Miroslav Huđek, head of the Department for Education, Culture, and Sports of Varaždin County.
Huđek also mentions measures and other parameters from their school community, for example, by comparing with international standards and practices, they also use the KPI (Key Performance Indicators) method, defining key success indicators and monitoring them.
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– In addition, we regularly analyze and improve student achievements in various sectors. For each area, it is necessary to establish a specific methodology for monitoring and evaluation, using a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods to ensure an objective and comprehensive analysis – claims Huđek.
Virovitica-Podravina County currently measures success through competition results and the number of participants at the national level, as well as the success of a particular school at the national level, and each school, at its discretion, conducts testing of third and fourth-grade students as a certain identification of gifted students, and this will now be ensured by the County for schools so that everyone has the means to procure tests and identify gifted students who will later participate in the work of Regional Scientific Centers.
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The Regional Development Forum, focusing on education this year, is organized by the Croatian Association of Counties in partnership with the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, and will be held at the Sheraton Hotel in Zagreb. Participation is free with mandatory prior registration.
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– Furthermore, Virovitica-Podravina County has a long tradition of holding an event called ‘Goodbye School Until Autumn’, where we select the ‘most studious student’ of each primary, three-year, and four-year secondary school through special regulations and forms, and among all these students, we also select the ‘most studious student’ of all primary, three-year, and four-year schools in the Virovitica-Podravina County area, as well as the ‘most studious student’ of artistic primary music schools, and we also select the best school sports society in the county – said Martina Bunić, head of the Department for Education and Demography of Virovitica-Podravina County, noting that through the forms for selecting these ‘most studious students’, they track and score their achievements, and the best in the four-year program are also provided with a direct county scholarship if they continue higher education.
Equal Conditions for All Students
Namely, Virovitica-Podravina County has 74 educational institutions over which it has founding rights, and they have readily said ‘yes’ to a major reform of the education system, and they have four experimental all-day schools, preparing ten projects for the construction, extension, and reconstruction of primary schools and school sports halls, as well as one project for secondary schools.
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– Our main goals are to ensure equal conditions for education for all, regardless of which area of the county they are in and regardless of whether they are in a city or a village. We want students not to notice a difference. We have launched Centers of Excellence for six STEM areas at the Gymnasium of Petar Preradović in Virovitica and a Center of Excellence for new technologies at the Industrial and Craft School in Slatina, and for primary schools, we are opening branches of the Regional Scientific Center of Pannonian Croatia at the Primary School of Josip Kozarac in Slatina and the Primary School of Suhopolje, so there will be additional opportunities for every student, all financed by Virovitica-Podravina County, including lecturers, student transportation, student meals, and materials needed for work – says Bunić.
Similar goals are set by Varaždin County, which aims to create an ‘education system of equal opportunities’ in which every student has equal conditions and the possibility of schooling in the area where they will realize their full potential. In this county, where they claim that education has always been and remains a priority, they allocate more than 60 percent of the consolidated budget for it, and the results speak for themselves; 95 percent of students in single-shift classes, 800 participants in Centers of Excellence, the highest allocations per capita in Croatia for education, 70 percent of the secondary school system with Erasmus accreditation, 40 percent of county schools producing their own energy, 10 percent of secondary school students from other counties, are just some of them.
– As founders of 77 schools and 19 centers of excellence, Varaždin County leads in caring for and working with gifted and talented children. Centers of Excellence are being developed in other Croatian counties and cities based on its model, and it is recognized beyond the borders of Croatia. Additionally, we strive to enable students to stay current, understand global trends, and be globally competitive with their knowledge and skills, which is the main goal – concludes Huđek.
What other goals do the counties want to achieve, how to model educational policies at the county level, how can digitalization and artificial intelligence improve education, and how can the education system respond to future challenges are just some of the topics that are in focus this year at the Regional Development Forum, organized by the Croatian Association of Counties in partnership with the Konrad Adenauer Foundation on April 24 at the Sheraton Hotel in Zagreb. Participation in the forum is free, but the number of places is limited, so secure your spot with prior registration.
Content created in collaboration with the Croatian Association of Counties
