CROATIAN SCHOOL TEACHERS FAMILIARITY WITH THE EUROPEAN DIMENSION IN EDUCATION

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1 Reference: Turk, M., Ledić, J. (2015). Croatian School Teachers Familiarity With The European Dimension In Education. The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology ( ), Special Issue (2015), August 2015, CROATIAN SCHOOL TEACHERS FAMILIARITY WITH THE EUROPEAN DIMENSION IN EDUCATION ABSTRACT This paper presents the results of a qualitative research that examined school teachers familiarity with the concept of the European dimension in education. The research examined how teachers assess the need for changes in the national educational system in relation to the standards of the European union, the level of their familiarity with educational policies, initiatives and activities of the European Union in the field of education, and how they assess national educational policies in relation to the policies of the European Union. The results show that the teachers are only vaguely familiar with the European frameworks for cooperation in the field of education, and even less familiar with national educational policies. The question raised in this paper is whether the changes in education are able to occur when the teachers, who are beyond doubt the most important stakeholders in a school and therefore influence the outcomes of students learning, are not familiar with the objectives of the European and national educational policies. INTRODUCTION The discussions on the concept of European dimension in education have been present in European education policy and professional and scientific discourse for more decades. Developmental course of European dimension in education was moving parallel to the development of European education policies. From an idea that in the beginning had mostly economic and political characteristics of the development of the European Union transformed into the field of education, through the deepening of the European integration processes (Zidarić, 1995) to the concept that eventually became one of the main directions of development of European education policies and school practices (Turk and Ledić, 2013). In this context, European dimension in education can be seen as an educational project of the European Union or as a process of growth and maturation of educational ideas in the wider European area. Because of its complexity and multidimensionality, it is very difficult to clearly define the concept of European dimension in education. Most authors who, from research perspective, deal with the broader context of European education (Ilišin and Mendeš, 2005; Lukšič and Bahor, 2007; Domović et al., 2011; Tišma, Samardžija and Jurlin, 2012) as well as those who specifically explore the concept of European dimension in education (Shennan 1991; Tulasiewicz and Brock, 1994; Zidarić, 1996; Angeles, 2003; Phillippou, 2005; Savvides, 2006, 2008; Ledić and Turk, 2012; Turk and Ledić, 2013; Turk et al., 2015) define and determine it differently. However, they all agree about several basic guidelines and indicators of European dimension in education, which they emphasize in their discussions or research results. Thus, the authors point out (European) values, European citizenship, European identity, multilingualism and mobility as well as the knowledge, skills and attitudes on Europe, in Europe and for Europe as five basic groups of indicators of European dimension in education. European values are contextually determined through the topics of interculturalism and multiculturalism, advocating for human rights, freedom, tolerance and democracy and the promotion of pacifism, the prevention of war and the fight against crime (Ledić and Turk, 2012). Then, European citizenship, which implies the sense of belonging to the European Union and the rights of each person as a citizen of the community while being aware of supranational identity and common European consciousness (Tišma, Samardžija and Jurlin, 2012). In addition to that, there is the need to raise the awareness of European identity through raising the awareness of local, national and European identity and their correlation, respect for different cultural and ethnic identities and the development of political, social and cultural sense of belonging to Europe (Angeles, 2003). Also, Angeles (2003) emphasizes learning (European) languages in the context of the development of linguistic and intercultural competences, the development of the ability to learn and work in a multinational environment, encouraging mobility of students and teachers and providing opportunities for international interaction, which are recognized as an indicator of multilingualism and mobility. The knowledge, skills and attitudes on Europe, in Europe and for Europe is the fifth group of the indicators of European dimension in education, which opens a new and broad range of teaching to be implemented interdisciplinary within all school subjects (Ledić and Turk, 2012). The knowledge, skills and attitudes are material, functional and educational aspect of educational work, which points to its integrity. Therefore, they represent one of the key indicators of European dimension in education and an essential element in analyzing and researching this concept. Tulasiewicz and Brock (1994) point out that,

2 in the context of the knowledge, students should be better informed on the European continent, they should have language, communication, social and negotiation skills while their attitudes would imply commitment to Europe as a common homeland of all nations and the European Union as a supranational community within which a common European identity and awareness will be developed. Besides the presented indicators of European dimension in education, the conducted researches on European dimension in education in their results highlight a number of challenges faced by those who advocate for the implementation of this concept in educational organizations and contents. In this context, international research and debates are, of course, more numerous (Shennan 1991; Tulasiewicz and Brock, 1994; Field, 1997; Angeles, 2003; Phillippou, 2005; Convery and Kerr, ; Savvides, ; Rebensteiner and Ropo, 2013) and bring different range of challenges and recommendations that should be taken into account when implementing European dimension in education in (daily) educational situations. Thus, for example, Convery and Kerr (2006) studied the understanding of students - future teachers and employed teachers, about notions such as European identity, European cooperation and European integration in the context of a wider concept of European dimension in education. The study results indicate that the students - future teachers are more inclined to articulate their thoughts on European dimension in education from a broader, general context or taking into account their own experience. Although the results of the study indicate that students perceive Europe as something that directs them to "something higher" (Convery and Kerr, 2006) such as developing a global identity, they also express concern about the possible exclusion of this concept and the inability of developing a global perspective if all teaching contents are adjusted only to European dimension in education. Other than emphasizing the potentially dual interpretation of this concept, such results point to the necessity of its critical thinking when implementing it into educational contents and everyday educational practice. In the context of the debate on multilingualism and mobility as one of the basic groups of indicators of European dimension in education, research has shown that students - as future teachers who speak several foreign languages, and who had the opportunity to travel through Europe or participate in exchange programs, perceive more positively the importance of European cooperation. Students have said that their visiting, living and studying in another country especially helped in the understanding of other cultures and developing intercultural and multicultural competence. Also, they particularly pointed out the importance of the "practical" level of European dimension in education. Within the aforementioned term - "practical" European dimension in education, the students think of mobility, international cooperation and information connections, which they consider to be significant predictors of the development of this concept in everyday (school) practice. Although they mostly have affirmative attitudes towards European dimension in education, future teachers point out that it is difficult to identify and understand how, for example, international cooperation and mobility can help students develop their European identity. This result is particularly indicative in the context of the debate on the definition of European identity and identity issues in general, and it points to the need of its meaningful empowerment and defining in order to avoid possible confusions and ambiguities. In addition to students - future teachers, Convery and Kerr (2006) conducted the same study on employed teachers as well. They connected their thoughts on European dimension in education with the circumstances in which students learn and practical everyday situations. The concept of Europe and European dimension in education is perceived by the teachers as exclusive and incomprehensible, and they point out that it lacks the ability of everyday practical application in a variety of school situations. Thus, for example, they analyzed the issues of identity through the ways and possibilities in which their students can develop it while noting, similarly to the responses of students, that the students have a lot of difficulties in understanding it and consequently behaving as European citizens, since the students do not develop nor understand their own local identities in an appropriate manner. In a study Becoming European, which dealt with the position of European dimension in education in educational curricula, Hinderliter Ortloff (2006) analyzed a number of different educational curricula of different European countries, starting with the following research questions - Is the image of European citizen separated from the identity of national citizenship or are they intertwined? and Is the curricular aim primarily to acquire knowledge, i.e. to know about Europe, or is the goal to be a European?. The study was conducted on a selected sample of educational curricula of Austria, Denmark and Germany, given their conceptual similarities and the possibility of comparison. In this study, it was assumed that the education on civil rights and European dimension in education can reveal important differences in how countries maintain balance between European identity and national identity through education. The Austrian curriculum, declaratively, is the ideal if we are talking about ways to implement European context favored by the theorists involved in education. However, empirical evidence was not determined proving that

3 this model is the one that really contributes to the creation of an integrated European identity. The study found that there is no unified approach to European citizenship education nor are the assumptions of curriculum development comparable. The study thus concludes that each national policy continues to set different priorities in terms of building national, European and global identities and, given the selected priorities, the success of these approaches is assumed. Of course, one should not thus forget the necessity of contextualization of lower levels of identity (local or national) inside broader, supranational community such as the European Union or Europe or the global world as a whole. Adaškevičiene and Janiunaite (2004) investigate the problem of European identity in the context of a broader concept of European dimension in education. The authors perceive European identity as an integral part of the concept of European dimension in education and an important research problem. Adaškevičiene and Janiunaite (2004) point out that in studying European identity the problem is in insufficiently developed methodology and the absence of indicators of implementation of European identity and European dimension in education in school contents. The research contribution of their work is particularly evident in the part of the proposals for the implementation of European identity in educational organizations and contents. Thus the authors point out that there are two possible ways of implementation - direct and indirect. Direct implementation of the concept of European identity is linked to the students and teachers and their involvement in programs of mobility, exchange and various project activities on international level. On the other hand, indirect implementation is achieved through the inclusion of this concept in educational content (student books) of compulsory and optional subjects. The proposals for implementation of European identity and European dimension in education resulting from this research open the possibility of creating new research, especially in the part of direct implementation - related to the teachers, their attitudes and thoughts on this concept, as well as indirect implementation related to the contents of school textbooks. It is clear that the international research touched various segments of educational environment associated with the concept of European dimension in education and involved different research patterns - students, teachers and educational curricula. Based on the results of presented research, the recommendations for future research were given as well as the suggestions for the implementation of this concept into educational content and everyday practice. In this context, from scientific research and practical point of view, the concept of European dimension in education is significantly strengthened and improved, and the foundation for its further development and continuous implementation have been set. On the other hand, in Croatian educational environment the beginnings of debates on European dimension in education can be found in the mid nineties (e.g., Zidarić, 1995) followed by a period when this concept remained almost ignored and unexplored. Its more intensive study, particularly from the perspective of scientific research, started in the last few years (Ledić and Turk, 2012; Ledić, Staničić and Turk, 2013, Turk and Ledić, 2013, Turk et al., 2015). Studies of European dimension in education were mostly carried out in the framework of broader research on the attitudes of educational experts-practitioners and students - future pedagogues and future teachers. For example, Ledić, Staničić and Turk (2013) in their study of the competencies of school pedagogues introduce a new group of competences of the European dimension in education, among which they point out - Knowledge of the application process to the European Union programs, Knowledge of the structure and functioning of key bodies of the European Union (the Council of Europe, the Council of Ministers, the European Parliament...), Knowledge of European trends in education, Knowledge of at least one foreign language, Knowledge of the area of democratic citizenship and human rights, Ability to work in intercultural and multicultural environment, Ability to give guidance to students and teachers towards social responsibility. The results of this study showed that the pedagogues think that the competences related to European dimension in education are the least important competences for their successful and daily work. Also, the same respondents estimate that higher education (study program of Pedagogy) and professional training programs in Croatia do not contribute to the development of competences of school pedagogues (Ledić, Staničić and Turk, 2013). Similarly, the students of Pedagogy - future (school) pedagogues think that the listed competences are least important for their future professional engagement while in estimating the contribution of higher education they consider that it partially contributes to the development of competences of European dimension in education for future pedagogues (Turk and Ledić, 2013). Also, the students of teachers studies being educated for teaching profession and the future work in schools, show insufficient knowledge of the basic concepts of the European Union as well as a low level of (European) political literacy (Turk et al., 2015). In addition to suggesting a low level of awareness of (future) educational experts in Croatia on current issues and problems of European education policies, these results may be indicative in the context of necessary changes in national education system in relation to the EU standards. In this context, from a national perspective, one may problematize the effectiveness and feasibility of the implementation of European educational objectives set and defined in some of the main European educational policy documents (such as Europe 2020 or the Education and Training 2020),

4 which are referred to by the recent national education policy (for example, in the Strategy of Education, Science and Technology of the Republic of Croatia from 2013). Although the conducted researches in Croatia included a part of educational practitioners, as well as those who are to become ones, in the context of changes in European education policies and the implementation and application of European dimension in education, there were no researches on the population of teachers working in primary and secondary schools, who are indisputably the most important factor in school which affects the learning outcomes of students - future independent European citizens. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Seeing the importance of the role of teachers in promoting the active implementation of European education policies and objectives, as well as their knowledge of the concept of the European dimension in education, a research was carried out in which the starting point were the three main research questions - How do teachers evaluate the needs for changes in their education system in relation to the standards of the European Union?, To what extent are teachers familiar with educational policies, initiatives and activities of the European Union in the field of education? and To what extent are teachers familiar with and how do they evaluate the national education policies in relation to the policies of the European Union?. The research was approached from a qualitative research paradigm and the research data was collected through interviews and the application of interview protocol. The interviews were recorded and then transcribed. The study included 51 teachers employed in primary and secondary schools in the Republic of Croatia. The collected data was analyzed using constant comparison method, which includes data search with the aim of defining and categorizing responses and topics related to the defined research questions (Merriam, 1998). In the part of qualitative research analysis, after the citation from the collected empirical material, the number of the research participant from the database, sex, age, years of work experience and the type of school in which they are employed (primary or secondary school) will be shown in parenthesis. The analysis of the research results was carried out on the basis of the set research questions and the responses of the research participants and the corresponding conclusions will be accordingly presented. Through the analysis of the responses to the question - Do you think that Croatia, as a member of the European Union, needs to change teaching content and approach or do you think that it is not necessary, i.e. that the membership should not have any repercussions on the national education system?, the research participants can be grouped into three categories. The first group consists of those who believe that the changes are necessary regardless of the membership in the European Union. Second group are the research participants who believe that the changes should be connected with the membership in the European Union, while the third group consists of those research participants who give vague answers that cannot be connected with either of the previous two categories of responses. The research participants who believe that changes are needed, regardless of the membership in the European Union point out - "I think we should not change anything according to European standards. Our education system needs some modifications and changes, but nothing what is being promoted at European level. Well, Bologna system failed long ago, why are they then still forcing such a system in Croatia?" (22, M, 28, 1 year of work experience, secondary school); "Well, I can certainly say that the contents should be changed by all means, whether we go to Europe or not. I think that one of the biggest problems is that since 2009 we have not had subject curricula. Maybe it is even more urgent for high schools. And, as far as the approaches to teaching goes,...um...well, we went through so many trainings and it seems to me that we are very successful in the application of different types of teaching. I say this based on the experience in our school, we are quite... like we are quite involved. And if I look at the wider perspective, at the national level, we have a lot of problems in the education system which need to be addressed, and this however does not depend too much on our joining the European Union." (26, F, 44, 15 years of work experience, primary school). The second group of the participants - those who believe that changes need to be connected with the membership in the European Union, state this in their answers - "It is necessary that the education system is changed when entering the EU and I believe that the entry into the EU is a great start and an incentive for the introduction of drastic changes." (20, M, 31, 3 years of work experience, secondary school); "We need to change the contents in the sense that we have to adapt, because when we are a part of the European Union, we will have to somehow enable the children who want to study abroad or to continue their education abroad, to actually continue in the same system and for it to be known to them, so we will definitely need to adjust things." (35, F, 33, 5 years of work experience, secondary school); "There should be some repercussions on the national education system. Same as with any entry into a membership, there is a voluntary departure from freedom and autonomy. You cannot be a member of a club and still say what you want. That is why I'm not in any political party. You cannot expect, as a part of a club, to act

5 in accordance with your own freedom. You need to sacrifice a part of your freedom for the sake of joining a club or a membership. (40, M, 30, 4 years of work experience, primary school). The research participants who gave vague answers are placed in the third group, and one example stands out - "I think that our national education system is relatively well conceived regardless of how classic it is in many respects. I have to consider that our educational system had been created over many years built in such a way it was built. All our reforms of that education system were unfortunately made ad hoc and unplanned. Probably if we had to do something about it... it would not lead anywhere. Whether to change the approach? Well, the approach depends on the subject teachers. Each of us can, within the existing national educational curriculum and looking at our own subject, change the approach on our own. It does not say anywhere what methods we should use and how our school period should look like. We can use modern methods, different approaches so that ultimately we come to the results and that the children know something. And it does not need to be prescribed. It is difficult... Even if prescribed, how is it going to be implemented by a person who is about to retire, or someone who wandered into this profession." (09, M, 28, 3 years of work experience, primary school). Based on the analysis of the responses of the research participants, it can be pointed out that the teachers believe that changes in the educational system are necessary, but that it is not necessary to connect them with Croatian accession to the European Union. In this context, it is possible to assume that Croatian teachers have relatively poor perception of the integration processes in education, which are unavoidable if we want to, not only in words, take our place in the educational map of the European Union. At the same time, connecting with the results of previously presented research (Ledić, Staničić and Turk, 2013), their stands do not differ from the attitudes of school pedagogues and their perceptions of the competences of European dimension in education. Likewise, these findings may also indicate the possibility of isolationism in the beliefs and perceptions of the teachers towards the European Union or the processes taking place in its educational policies, which inevitably have to do with national education policies as well. Such detected teachers perceptions confirm already highlighted concern about the effectiveness and feasibility of the implementation of European education objectives in the context of national education policies. Another question the research participants were asked was - Do you think that the changes in the system are necessary independent of the Croatian accession to the European Union? Please, elaborate your stand. If you consider that changes are needed, what should they consist of?. The analysis of the responses to this question expressed a very clear attitude of the research participants about the need for changes. The research participants can therefore be grouped into two categories - 1) those who believe that the changes are necessary and 2) those who believe that the changes are not necessary. In the first group of the research participants responses, of those who believe that the changes are necessary, it is possible to detect the stakeholders or contents in the context of the education system to which the proposed changes mostly refer to. Based on the analysis of the responses, it is possible to point out what, in the opinion of the research participants, needs to be changed, i.e. what the proposed changes refer to. As the thing that requires a change in the system, the participants mostly emphasized the curriculum and working conditions, and somewhat less the teachers and the students. In the context of the necessary changes in the curriculum, they also emphasize the need for the change in the plan and program in schools, the reduction and modernization of the content, the introduction of new approaches and work methods in education and the reduction of the students load with the classes. Thus, for example, it is pointed out - "Changes are necessary, from the way of teaching to the programs being realized. Some programs are terribly outdated, they certainly need to be changed and amended further in accordance with the present times." (19, M, 47, 21 years of work experience, secondary school). Working conditions are the next element of the system which, in the opinion of the research participants, need to be changed. The research participants here specifically refer to the need to extract more money for education, the need to improve material working conditions in schools, enabling working in one shift, and reducing the number of students in each class. The third set of proposals for changes is directed towards the teachers, where it is interesting to highlight the opinions concerning the role and position of the teachers, with references to everyday situations that the teachers face in school and thoughts about their own position in society - "Of course that changes are more than necessary. I think that we should reduce subject content and modernize it. And perhaps even to give more power to the teachers. We are no longer allowed to send students out from the classroom, regardless of the fact that they disturb other students while they work." (34, F, 31, 6 years of work experience, primary school); "But, it is not all the teachers fault. Schools give too much liberalism, students have too many rights, hardly anyone asks about their obligations. The parents come to school whenever they want. They harass the teachers who are blamed for everything, and their poor little children for nothing. It made me sick when a mother came and told me that she didn t understand how her child got a bad grade when he knows everything because she had questioned him earlier. And the mother finished elementary school only! Parents should be prohibited to come to school, except when they are called. Repeating classes should be

6 introduced in primary schools, teachers need to be appreciated and respected citizens of this society, and not as it is today that the students practically mock you to your face and you cannot do anything to them. But, who will appreciate you when the teachers are the worst paid category in the society, and the state does everything to make the teaching profession even more degraded." (48, M, 54, 30 years of work experience, primary school). The fourth group of proposals refers to the students in particular (although, of course, in all the preceding groups there is a connection with the position of students). The least number of the teachers gave suggestions which can be classified in this group of proposals, whereby, in the context of the analyzed subject, the teachers' stands referring to the process of mobility of the population and the need for students from different countries to be given adequate attention should be pointed out. Although to a lesser extent, there are also those research participants who believe that the changes in the system are not needed. Since this is a qualitative research in which numeric element does not indicate the importance of certain research findings, the responses of the research participants from this group will also be given. These research participants stand out - "I believe that the current education system is good and that there shouldn t be any changes." (13, M, 31, 5 years of work experience, primary school); "As I have already stated, I believe that there shouldn t be any major changes, although any novelty, if positive, is welcome. Only recently did they introduce the state graduation, and this year the e-enrolling, so it takes time to see what is going to be achieved with what has already been done." (07, F, 26, 1 year of work experience, primary school junior school). These findings suggest that the teachers in defining their responses expectedly primarily follow their experience and the challenges they face every day. When trying to define the direction and the width of the changes, there is partly the fact of insufficient information on the objectives of education policies and current trends in education. In this context, it can be concluded that the teachers perceive well the challenges of their practice, but they need help in articulating the directions and mechanisms for achieving the changes in their environment. The next question was intended to determine the extent to which the research participants are familiar with the education policies in the European Union, whereby they were given sub-questions which directed them to use their responses to refer to the knowledge of the objectives and mechanisms for their achievement. The question was - Do you have any knowledge of education policies in the European Union? What are the objectives of European education policies? What is the European Union trying to promote through its educational system? Are you familiar with the mechanisms through which the European Union is trying to implement its objectives?. "Desirable" answers to this question can be deduced from the document Education and Training 2020, which represents the strategic framework for European cooperation in education and training. The document also lists four strategic objectives that member states should achieve by 2020: to actualize lifelong learning and mobility, to improve the quality and efficiency of education and training, to promote equity, social cohesion and active citizenship, and to encourage creativity and innovation, including entrepreneurship at all levels of education and training. Based on the analysis of the responses to this question, the research participants can be grouped into two groups. The first group includes those participants who are familiar with the objectives and mechanisms of European education policy while the second group is comprised of those who do not know the objectives and mechanisms, i.e. they give vague answers. The analysis of responses in which the research participants expressed their understanding of the objectives and mechanisms of educational policies in the EU shows that lifelong learning is most frequently noted as one of the major objectives. In addition, it emphasizes mobility, competence development, interconnection, tolerance and respect for the horizontal and vertical mobility. It should be noted that there are the examples of the research participants whose knowledge is greater than the knowledge of others and it suggests a higher level of awareness and knowledge of the objectives and mechanisms of European education policies. For example, they point out - "It all began with the Lisbon Declaration of the Council of Europe in 2000, where in fact the whole European economy is based on knowledge. So, from the Lisbon Declaration started the Bologna system and the whole European system is based on lifelong learning. This is a special educational strategy, which actually creates competitiveness. All these European member states believe that the man should be constantly upgraded and learn through the whole life. Everything should be based on key competences which Croatia also introduces little by little into the regular school system. The European Union actually wants to be competitive, I would say. It wants the flow of knowledge and human potential because Europe will need some staff from the southeastern part, so to speak, which does not appreciate sufficiently the staff of a trained man. Maybe the mechanisms of evaluation, it depends... There will probably be some difference, changing, and perhaps the language. Language competences are very important." (43, F, 53, 26 years of work experience, primary school); "Yes, some of these objectives are actually those programs for lifelong learning. Well, now I know some of these programs, what I heard or read - Leonardo Da Vinci, Erasmus, Commenius, Grundtvig, which deal with vocational training, mobility of students... I think that European education policy mostly relates to lifelong learning, which is a key element of European space. I also read something about the Peace

7 Education, which also contains programs for lifelong learning, then the Youth in Action, (professional training, acquisition of new knowledge, learning foreign languages, exchanges...)" (41, F, 35, 6 years of work experience, primary school). The category of the (complete) lack of knowledge of the objectives and mechanisms of educational policies in the European Union includes the responses of those who mostly presented vague answers, since they cannot be used for concluding anything on the knowledge of the objectives and mechanisms of educational policy of the EU. It should be noted that the research participants did not explicitly point out their lack of knowledge of the objectives and mechanisms of educational policies of the EU. However, from their responses, it is possible to deduce such conclusions. For example "Well, I know that Finnish education system is very successful, i.e. I went through the PISA survey, according to which it is the most successful in Europe." (47, M, 35, 7 years of work experience, primary school) or "Oh yes, I have information related to Germany and Austria, and the communication with teachers even from Switzerland and certain people who work on the ecology. There are different projects." (45, M, 53, 30 years of work experience, secondary school). It should be noted that the relatively poor understanding of the objectives of the framework for European cooperation in education and training can be seen as the failure of the national education policy. Other than lifelong learning and mobility, not even one research participant talks about improving the quality and efficiency of education and training, promoting equity, social cohesion and active citizenship, as well as encouraging creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship at all levels of education and training. This indicates a possible conclusion that Croatia could have serious challenges in the future in cooperation in the field of education and training. In the next question the research participants were asked to demonstrate their knowledge of the national policy objectives and their compliance with European objectives. The research participants were asked - "Do you know what objectives are proclaimed by the national policy? Do you think that the national education policy objectives are aligned with those of the European Union? Explain your answer.". Based on this question, the research participants can be grouped into three categories - 1) those who are on the trail of recognizing the objectives of national education policy, 2) those who give vague answers from which one cannot conclude about their (lack of) knowledge of the objectives, and 3) those who do not know the objectives of the national education policy. Although rare, some research participants still partly recognize the objectives of national education policy. In their responses they stand out - "I believe that they are harmonized to some extent because the national policy and the National Curriculum proclaim lifelong learning and the strengthening of language competence, which could be somewhat compared." (07, F, 26, 1 year of work experience, primary school); "I am familiar with the objectives defined in the National Curriculum. There are some kind of... some interdisciplinary some aspects of some personal development and some language competences and communicative competence and so. Now, how much this has to do with European dimension " (08, F, 29, 4 years of work experience, primary and secondary school); "Yes, but these are again very generalized objectives; to raise awareness about this and that, to educate for lifelong learning and so on. All of these are generally good objectives, but there is generally not enough emphasis on upbringing in relation to education, a growing problem in school system is upbringing not education; and in fact it seems to me that the European Union, and consequently Croatia as well, emphasizes education, which really, if we go to a lifelong learning, is something that you can always make up for in a manner of speaking. And you cannot raise a person the same if you are 50 or 20 years old and this is the key problem for me in school system in general, not only with us" (37, F, 51, 29 years of work experience, primary school). The second group of the research participants gives vague answers to the question, and it can be assumed that they also do not have a clear picture of the objectives of national education policy. Their answers are presented in the following way - "Well, some knowledge learning, learning information by heart, cramming, without looking at the students as persons, only of less age and smaller than us, means they have some of their problems, i.e. they have problems in their age which should not be perceived as minor." (15, M, 30, 2 years of work experience, primary school); "For now, I am not familiar with any of that. One always looks for the tolerance and for the richness of diversity. I primarily believe that that is the foundation of everything." (16, F, 28, 5 years of work experience, primary school); "In any case, I think that our education is good. Every now and then we have some changes, some kind of compensation, we have something. You educate a child to be educated, to be good, to be polite, to learn the necessary contents, to respect all the things and something special" (25, F, 55, 33 years of work experience, primary school); "National education policy changes each year, so we cannot make progress if we do not do what is needed. We have school Framework Curriculum, the 'framework' means that it is not done yet, it has not been done for several years now. Until we do it, until the curricula are made that will be for the entire country, or for all the programs and all the schools, then the objectives of the national education policies will be harmonized with those of the European Union " (39, M, 34, 7 years of work

8 experience, primary school). The third set of responses are those who show complete ignorance of the objectives of national education policy, and these are in this context particularly concerning. The research participants who indicate the lack of stated objectives thus point out - "No, I'm not familiar with them. Since I do not know these, I do not know whether they are coordinated." (02, F, 45, 22 years of work experience, primary school); "Actually I do not know. No. I have to say no." (11, F, 25, 1 year of work experience, primary school); "No, I'm not familiar with it." (21, F, 50, 28 years of work experience, primary school); "I'm just not too familiar with it." (13, M, 31, 5 years of work experience, primary school); "I think it is not clear to me what the objective of our educational policy is, so I think that we are not coordinated. We do not have very defined objectives." (30, F, 50, 25 years of work experience, secondary school). Considering the results of the analysis of the previous question, which showed that the teachers are poorly acquainted with the objectives of European education policy, it was not expected for the coordination of European and national objectives to be analyzed. However, it was expected for their knowledge of national objectives in education to be more complete that the knowledge of European objectives. Unfortunately, this assumption was not realized. Judging by their statements, the teachers have very poor knowledge of the objectives of the national education policy, which is worrying. The teachers could have informed themselves about the objectives of national policy, for example, in the documents which were available for the professional public, which were discussed about and on the basis of which they should have, for example, defined the subject curricula. One of these documents is, for example, the National Education Curriculum for Pre-school Education and General Compulsory and Secondary Education (2010). It clearly states that the development of students' competences is one of the main directions of curriculum policy in European and other countries, whereby the key competences for lifelong learning are stated, and it points out that "...the educational policy of Croatia adopted the same key competences." (2010, 12). The document points out that for the Republic of Croatia, the accession into the European Union is one of the basic strategic objectives, and that - in addition to its own educational traditions and needs - an important determinant in the creation of educational policy and the development of the national curriculum are the European educational documents. Also, the Strategy of Science, Education and Technology of the Republic of Croatia from 2013, in its summary clearly states the introduction of lifelong learning as a principle underlying the entire education. Although the previous question, which analyzed the knowledge of the objectives of European education policy, concluded on their relatively poor knowledge, from the responses of the research participants on the knowledge of the national policy objectives, it is evident that the knowledge of European objectives is on a better level of knowledge than the knowledge of national objectives. This, unfortunately, is to be considered an even greater failure of the national education policy because it is clear that the knowledge of the general objectives to be operationalized in the daily work with students is conditio sine qua non of their realization. It is obvious that in this area one should take serious and concrete measures at all levels. These results indicate that Croatia has very serious challenges in the fields of upbringing, education and training, where there is obviously a lack not only of the knowledge of general principles but of their operationalization and implementation. CONCLUSION The presented results of the conducted research suggest several possible conclusions. From the analysis of the responses of the research participants, one can see that the teachers consider it necessary to change certain segments in the education system, but that it is not necessary to connect them with Croatian accession to the European Union. Also, in their detecting and defining of the necessary changes, the teachers primarily follow their practice and the challenges they face every day. From this one can conclude that the teachers perceive the challenges of their practice well. However, they need additional help in articulating the directions and mechanisms for achieving the changes in their environment. In the context of the debate on the objectives and mechanisms of European education policy, the teachers show relatively poor understanding of the objectives of the framework for European cooperation in the area of education and training, which can be considered the failure of the national education policy. Similarly, the responses of the research participants on the knowledge of national policy objectives show that the knowledge of European objectives is at a better level than the knowledge of the national objectives, which is particularly worrying for the national educational context. It seems that the teachers are relatively successful in perceiving the challenges of their practice, but it is much more difficult to systematically, reasonably and argumentatively think about possible solutions. 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