The Future of Education

In this paper we present and interpret the results of the research aimed to investigate the features of education policy in Croatia from the perspective of Croatian teachers. Educational policy has been defined as a pattern of decisions that direct action in the field of education or indicate the direction of educational changes. In the theoretical part of the paper the global trends of educational policies will be discussed with special emphasis on those trends that have been outlined within the influential policy documents published by the relevant organizations and stakeholders in the education sector (OECD, UNESCO, EU, etc.). Special emphasizes will be given to the desirable characteristics of education systems and the factors of successful schools, especially those that were pointed out in the results of the PISA 2012 survey: for example, high level of school autonomy in decision-making, a high degree of participation of teachers (together with principals) in the decision-making on important aspects of the school and respect for the teaching profession in society.

The main objectives of the research was to investigate perceptions of school teachers in Croatia about (a) characteristics of education system, education reforms and teacher profession; (b) their role in creation and implementation of key decisions at school or education system level; (c) degree of mastery and importance of competences related to knowing the education policies and their role in development and implementation of education policies. Further, their assessments were compared with assessments of teachers and associates at universities which conduct programs for teacher education and with policy makers involved in key decision making related to education policies. 624 subjects participated in the study (396 primary and secondary school teachers, 116 university teachers and associates, 122 decision makers). Data was collected using online survey.

The results show that from teachers' perspective was not observed high prevalence of desirable characteristics of educational policy: so for example teaching profession hasn’t been assessed as attractive; financial status of teachers is not satisfactory; the current educational reform does not lead to the improvement of the functioning of the education system and student achievement, and teachers do not participate sufficiently in decision making process. On the other side, survey participants positively assessed the policy makers’ readiness for change and readiness to adapt to global trends of educational policy. The research results can contribute to the formation of guidelines for establishing a successful dialogue between the key decision-makers related to the field of education at the national level and teachers as key professionals whose potential for the adoption and implementation of the decision is still not evaluated and used in an appropriate manner.