National Development Strategy Croatia 2030: Roadmap for a Better Future

At the level of primary and secondary education low annual instruction time and outdated cur-
ricula in key subjects contribute to unsatisfactory learning outcomes.
The length of compulsory edu-
cation in Croatia is one of the shortest in Europe. In addition, according to the EC
27
, Croatia has the second 
lowest level of instruction time in the EU for primary education and the lowest instruction time for sec-
ondary education - and much lower than Europe’s average. Having such a short compulsory education time 
can lead to students having an inadequate amount of time to develop key competencies in critical subject 
matters and the skills necessary for lifelong learning. 
98.
The school network presents multiple challenges for expanding instructional hours in an efficient 
way. 
On the one hand, more than sixty person of basic education students are enrolled in schools that 
operate in two or three shifts, while on the other hand the number of small schools is increasing, and these 
schools are becoming smaller and smaller. Schools that run in double shifts, and sometimes even in triple 
shifts, make increasing the number of instructional hours per day more difficult. Small schools are ineffi-
cient from both a cost and quality perspective: it is expensive to keep running half-empty buildings and 
classrooms with low student-teacher ratios and it is more challenging to attract talented teachers and prin-
cipals. While student numbers have declined by more than 20 percent since 2000/01, the number of schools 
and classes have remained virtually unchanged during this period. Moreover, during the same period, the 
number of teachers grew by 26 percent. 
99.
Although a new curriculum is in the process of being introduced, it will take time to change 
teaching practices. 
And the old curricula and teaching practices did support development of advanced 
problem-solving skills. In fact, there was a strong
 
tendency towards promoting the memorization of facts 
at the expense of devoting more time to the development of critical thinking skills. While the ongoing 
curricula reform aims to correct these issues, it will take time before the new teaching practices take hold. 
In addition, educational institutions do not sufficiently promote entrepreneurial culture and innovation 
among students, which is contributing to the low level of entrepreneurial culture in the country. 
100.