engleski

A shift in the paradigm of the child and childhood and the system of early childhood and preschool education in the Republic of Croatia – situation, needs and trends

A shift in the paradigm of the child and childhood and the system of early childhood and preschool education in the Republic of Croatia – situation, needs and trends Abstract: During the last decade, a special attention has been devoted to the change of the paradigm of the child and childhood and a number of legal acts have enabled a more high- quality organisation of the early childhood and preschool education in the Republic of Croatia. In the system of early childhood and preschool education, there are significant regional differences in the number of children attending the preschool institutions. The demand is higher than the accommodation capacities for children aged 1 – 3, as well as for children from three years of age to the start of primary school, predominantly in larger cities. In the Counties of the central and eastern Croatia, the areas with the highest unemployment and poverty rates, a smaller number of children attend preschool institutions because the priority of enrolment is given to the children of working parents. In less economically developed Counties, the number of children per one preschool teacher in educational groups is larger than the maximum. This could indicate a lower quality and the unequal initial educational status of children with regard to their place of residence. Children who are members of the Roma national minority attend preschool institutions less frequently. The reasons for that are the lack of personal documents, unregistered place of residence, and the parents’ unemployment. This endangers the fundamental children’s rights to the uniform and equal start in life. In spite of the shift in the paradigm of the child and childhood, the aforementioned points to the conclusion that the system of early childhood and preschool education in the Republic of Croatia is still not at the desired level established in the European Union countries.

childhood ; encourage the development ; early childhood and preschool education ; in(equality)

Rad je objavljen u cijelosti i na engleskom i slovenskom jeziku