Kroatian kehittyvä aikuiskoulutus

EU-jäsenehdokas Kroatia on liittymässä EU:n Elinikäisen oppimisen ohjelmaan asteittain ensi vuodesta lähtien. Maan aikuiskoulutusta onkin viime vuosina valmisteltu tulevaan. Kroatian hallitus hyväksyi vuonna 2004 uuden elinikäisen oppimisen periaatteeseen perustuvan aikuiskoulutuksen strategian. Kaksi vuotta myöhemmin perustettiin Agency of Adult Education kehittämään ja koordinoimaan maan aikuiskoulutusta.

Ozren Pavlović Bolf tulee vastaamaan Grundtvig –ohjelmasta Kroatian kansallisessa toimistossa. Ozren oli huhtikuussa CIMOssa tutustumassa muutaman päivän ajan Suomen kansalliseen toimistoon ja suomalaiseen aikuiskoulutukseen.

Tässä Ozrenin mietteitä vierailun tiimoilta:

What are the attitudes towards adult education in Croatia? Are the Croatians eager to participate in adult education activities?

The participation in adult education programmes in Croatia is currently only 2%. A reason for the low participation is a lack of or low level of state funding, lack of space, and also insufficient interest of people as a result of inadequate informing of stakeholders of the possibilities offered through adult education. Nevertheless, the situation in adult education is improving.

What kind of organisations mainly provide adult education in Croatia?

In Croatia adult education is provided by various institutions. There are 82 public open universities, 2 open universities and 18 teaching establishments, 7 people's universities, 20 community centres, 3 culture centres and 23 legal entities (limited liability and stock companies) registered at the Commercial courts.

Only the primary level of adult education is free of charge. Secondary and post secondary adult education is financed by companies or by the participants. There is also a Law on state support for adult education, passed in November 2007. That encourages entrepreneurs to introduce their employees to adult education programmes.

The Croatian adult education has been reformed in the past few years. What is the impact of the reform?

Croatian adult education system is in the process of reforming through CARDS 2004 project "Adult education" with the main goal of preparing our adult education system for participation in European projects.

Croatian government initiated a reform by implementation of an Adult education strategy and a Law for adult education that enlists all the adult education institutions in Croatia, identifies shortcomings in adult education system, and offers places for improvements in the adult education system.

The expected impact is a higher participation of learners in the adult education programmes, and preparing our system for European (Grundtvig) projects.

You visited a local adult education centre (kansalaisopisto) and met some Finnish adult educators during your stay in Helsinki. How was your impression of the Finnish adult education?

After visiting the local adult education centre of Helsinki, and meeting with Finnish adult educators I was really impressed by the level of cooperation of adult educators, and the level of organisation of the adult education system in Finland.

Also, what I found interesting was the high level of participation in adult education programmes and the high number of such programmes. Adult education in Finland is participant-friendly. What I also find very important is that the level of state and local government funding is very high. The fees that the participants pay are symbolic.

What is the most visible difference between the Finnish and the Croatian adult education from your point of view?

The most visible difference between adult education in Croatia and adult education in Finland is the number and percentage of participants and the level of funding allocated to the adult programmes from the state and local governments.

The similarities are in the approach of adult educators. In both countries they are very eager to improve the system. Croatia has a tradition of adult education and the first institutions for adult education in Croatia were established in 1907.

An adult education system exists and has existed surviving all the obstacles throughout the years, reforms of education system, war and all difficulties that came out after the war. The main reason for people in other countries not being aware of our adult education system and the tradition is a lack of scientific literature on Croatian adult education in English or in other foreign languages.

Our tradition of adult education is different from the Nordic tradition. The Croatian tradition is a mixture of culture and education, whereas the Nordic tradition is focused on raising the public awareness of the importance of adult education. In Croatia, for example in many adult education institutions there are theatres, cinemas, etc. It is this diversity that can bring us together.