Pregledni rad
https://doi.org/10.5673/sip.51.3.1
The Quality of Pre-Tertiary Education in Croatia, With the Emphasis on the Structure of Compulsory Education as a Quality Factor
Nikola Pastuović
orcid.org/0000-0002-7385-5988
Sažetak
This paper presents and discusses the quality of Croatian pre-tertiary education on the basis
of available empirical evaluation research results, with the emphasis on the compulsory education.
The quality of compulsory education is operationalized using the indicators of educational
outcomes obtained from international comparative research databases (PIRLS, TIMMS,
PISA) and from summative external evaluation of secondary education conducted throughout
the national graduation exams. The attainment of Croatian pupils at the end of the 4th grade
of elementary school is above average while the attainment of the 15 year-olds is below average.
The between-school differences in each of the literacies of the 15 year-olds are above
average, but the influence of socioeconomic status of parents on the school achievement of
their children is below average. Therefore, two out of three indicators of the quality of Croatian
compulsory education, seen in the international perspective, are below average.
This can be explained by structural and non-structural factors. The analytical focus of this
paper is on the structural factors which have been neglected in the discussion about Croatian
schools over the last few decades. The structural reasons for below-average attainment of
Croatian 15 year-olds are found in the short duration of both primary and basic education.
The non-structural factors are the content of the national curriculum, the curriculum realization,
school management and large between-school differences in pedagogical standards. The
paper presents and compares the potential of the two possible models of structural reform of
compulsory education in Croatia that ought to be undertaken.
According to the data gained through external summative evaluation of secondary education
(national graduation exams), the average level of cognitive outcomes is unsatisfactory. The
higher the cognitive demands of the task are, the lower are the students’ results. This can
be partly explained by the low quality of entering students, i.e. the low level of cognitive
outcomes from primary education, by the disparate programmes of secondary education and
national exams, and by the low quality of teaching. The data gained in the national exams
do not have enough validity for the quality of secondary education; therefore they have only
indicative validity.
Ključne riječi
educational evaluation; quality of education; compulsory education; secondary education; cognitive outcomes; structure of education
Hrčak ID:
115059
URI
Datum izdavanja:
3.2.2014.
Posjeta: 3.729 *