Naslov
Is the national curriculum a base for intercultural education in compulsory schools in Croatia?

Autori
Baranović, Branislava

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Sažeci sa skupova, neobjavljeni rad, znanstveni

Skup
Critical Education and Utopia

Mjesto i datum
Lisabon, Portugal, 18.09.2003. - 20.09.2003

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Predavanje

Vrsta recenzije
Međunarodna recenzija

Ključne riječi
national curriculum for compulsory education; intercultural education; History; Literature and Religion; attitudes of students and teachers

Sažetak
The attitudes of teachers and students towards the existing national curriculum for compulsory education in Croatia will be presented. The issues of the intercultural education, especially in the multiethnic areas affected by the war during 90-s, are emphasised. The presentation is based on findings of the empirical research carried out in 2003 on a representative sample of 1500 classroom teachers, 2500 subject teachers and 2500 students in 120 compulsory schools throughout Croatia. The analysis shows that intercultural education is taught within several school subjects, mostly through History, Literature, Politics and Government and Geography. According to the teachers’ and students’ statements, the current curriculum is outdated and overloaded with factual knowledge (content and information centered curriculum). Teachers estimate that approximately 15% of information are unuseful for students and redundant. The narrow, subject-based approach hinders an interdisciplinary or cross-curricular connections. Therefore most of them advocate a national curriculum framework that would ensure the coherence of the curriculum system and processes. It is of special importance for successful intercultural education which requires a cross-curricular approach. The analysis of open answers addresses both: 1. the problem of dominance of a mono-perspective approach of the curriculum to the educational content (which is in accordance with the ruling nationalistic political ideology formed during 90-s) and 2) lack of multicultural themes within the school subjects syllabi. Namely, the school subjects syllabi do not provide students neither with knowledge on cultural heritage, religions and histories of ethnic minorities nor with their contribution and viewpoints on the historical events. The same is true for the women as a social group. As it was stated by most teachers, they are underrepresented and pictured in a bias way, specially in Literature and History. The findings also indicate that the religious education is dominated by the Catholic religion, which is religion of the Croatian majority. Although there are students with different religious and unreligious backgrounds, the Catholic religion is taught in more than 90% of the analysed schools. In difference to the students, more than a half of teachers think that religion should not be taught in public schools at all. The exclusion of minorities and dominance of monoperspective approach contributes to the division of students in Croatian schools, specially in the ethnically divided areas that are going through the processes of the post-war reconstruction of the social life. As a form of needs assessments in the cuuriculum area, the project will serve the broader process of curriculum reform in Croatia, within which intercultural education has a significant role.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Pedagogija

POVEZANOST RADA