Exhibition

LESSONS FROM THE PAST

Educational (Re)Forms in Croatia from the Age of Enlightenment to the Digital Age

 

 

The Educational (Re)Forms in Croatia from the Age of Enlightenment to the Digital Age Exhibition and Catalog are intended to provide an overview of the most important reforms and attempts to change the Croatian educational system throughout history – from the beginnings of public education efforts as part of Maria Theresa’s educational reforms during the Age of Enlightenment to the most recent attempts to reform it. It is focused on the reforms and changes that had a transformative impact on the schooling system and generations of its direct stakeholders – students and teachers – as well as our society as a whole.

The General School Order laid down in 1774 marked a turning point in the educational system of the Habsburg Monarchy. Despite the pragmatic objectives of enlightened absolutism and avoidance of potential social stratification, it created a framework to build an educational system and make education available to all social classes. It regulated educational activities in Austrian and Czech hereditary lands, as well as in Croatian lands where it was limited to the Military Frontier. In addition, it encouraged preparations to promulgate the first general education law applicable to the eastern part of the Monarchy – Hungary and the Kingdoms of Croatia and Slavonia (Banovina of Croatia). The system of education and overall schooling for the Hungarian Kingdom and its affiliated lands (Ratio educationis) was published in Vienna in 1777. Just like the General School Order, it primarily defines the state’s rights and obligations to regulate schooling for the purpose of creating a good and useful citizen. All citizens and residents of the state, irrespective of their ethnicity, religion or social status, should be entitled to education adjusted to their needs. Ratio educationis regulated all levels of education – from primary education to higher education.

In Croatian lands, the enlightened educational reform implemented in the Habsburg Monarchy yielded poor results. Considering the fact that, in the context of Austrian enlightened absolutism, this reform was pushed for political rather than educational reasons as a means to transform the Monarchy and achieve state unity and Austrian statehood awareness, resistance thereto generated by fear of Germanization was quite understandable. Education of the population at large was favored neither by the Croatian nobility, who managed state affairs and were distrustful of orders coming from Vienna, nor by the Croatian people, most of whom perceived the education of children as just another governmental demand, detrimental to their interests and depriving them of the necessary workforce. The failure of the Teresian educational reform is illustrated by the fact that, by the end of the 18th century, more than 95 percent of Croatia’s residents were illiterate.

After being appointed Governor in 1873, Ivan Mažuranić made educational reform a priority. The Schooling Act of 1874 marked the beginning of a stronger process of secularization, democratization and modernization of the Croatian educational system as a prerequisite for the modernization and development of society. It was among the most advanced European educational laws at the time. It implemented compulsory 5-year education for all children as of the age of 7. The schools were managed by the government and supervised by experts. The teachers’ educational degree requirements, rights and duties were standardized. The practical implementation of the reform, however, was not problem-free. The application of the prescribed educational standards, construction of new and reconstruction of old school buildings, and improvement of administrative and professional logistics involved in the school system required further funding. Many poor municipalities failed to comply with the legally prescribed standards, which also affected attendance rates and implementation of the duty to obtain education, however, the number of schools, students and teachers grew constantly.

The reformative undertakings of Izidor Kršnjavi, Director of the Department of Worship and Instruction from 1891 to 1896, were focused on four essential areas: internal reforms of schools, establishment of new and reorganization of existing schools, construction of school buildings, and improvement of science and high education. A model for transferring the European experiences and practices encountered by him on his study trips was largely used. He also assigned teachers to obtain further professional education abroad and then implement the knowledge acquired in Croatian educational practices, with support of the Department of Worship and Instruction. While acting as head of the Department of Worship and Instruction for four and a half years, he made his term in office as distinguished as no other director before or after him managed to do. He felt that the Croatian educational system was lagging primarily because it was headed by nonprofessionals who were unable to boost it and align it with the country’s interests.

In the last two decades of the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th century, the development of the Croatian educational system amounted to the opening of new schools, more educated children and a lower illiteracy rate, which eventually dropped below 50 percent by 1910.

The educational activities undertaken during the two decades of the interwar period are inextricable from the broader historical and social contexts and their permeation with numerous factors and phenomena typical of this period. The educational policy of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, i.e. the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, was strongly affected by a unitarian ideology, which assigned to the educational system a special mission – “Create a new man – the Yugoslav”. The educational system was neglected – it lacked funding, vision, further development strategies, as well as organized and effective professional action. The first unified educational laws were laid down in 1929. They introduced compulsory 8-year education, which was not implemented in practice. The existing model of general-education secondary schools was maintained: real gymnasium, real school and classical gymnasium. The duration of teacher education was extended from four to five years. Based on the model established in the late 19th century, the vocational schools operating in the first half of the 20th century ranged from apprentice schools to full-fledged secondary schools.

During the interwar period, teachers were involved in the practical educational reform, i.e. the didactive-methodical renovation. This reform did not come from above but rather from professional circles and was in a way responsible for introducing pluralism in educational activities. It advocated greater activity of students during classes, connectedness with real life and departure from the old book-based school and educational practices of the 19th century, which focused on the substance of instruction and the teacher rather than the student.

After the end of World War 2, Croatia became part of the Federative People’s Republic of Yugoslavia (FNRY, replaced by the Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia as of 1963). It was required to align its educational laws and regulations with the federal ones. The development of a single educational system on a federal level was completed by the promulgation of the General Education Act of 1958. It introduced compulsory 8-year primary education, whereas the 8-year gymnasium program was reduced to 4-year general secondary education with the possibility of profiling programs as social-linguistic ones or natural-scientific ones, sometimes also including classical programs. The vocational schools were to generate a sufficient number of various professionals necessary to construct and develop a new society.

Dating back to the 1970s, the secondary education reform, better known as the Šuvar Reform, was designed to complete the process of removing dualism from education and allow better alignment of schools and work organizations. Gymnasiums serving as general-education secondary schools were discontinued, whereas professional orientation, i.e. classification by profession began at roughly the same age for all students – at 16 or 17 – subject to completing a common essential 2-year program as basic education for all secondary school students.

The focused-education concept was abandoned in the early 1990s, after Croatia became independent. It restored its old system of secondary schools classified as: gymnasiums, vocational schools and art schools. Save for its higher-education system, the present educational system of Croatia is substantially the same as that established in the late 1950s, despite having been constantly reformed over the past three decades. The reformative (pseudo-)dynamics with no significant results demonstrate the complexity of efforts to change the educational system, not only due to its inertness and aversion to rapid change but primarily due to the temporality of functions awarded to delegated representatives of political power and a lack of  consensus regarding the principal matters concerning the development of the Croatian educational system.

Datum objave: 02.12.2024.