Reflection on key competencies for lifelong learning: A structural analysis of teachers' study programmes in the Republic of Croatia

Abstract

Educating teachers on the initial level of the teachers' studies programmes' compulsory and elective courses allows these educators to acquire the competencies they need to transmit and teach the same information to children. In the realm of contemporary educational practices, acquiring competency in teaching work is part of a process of lifelong learning. This paper will analyse the structure of Croatian teachers' studies programmes, focusing on the name of the course and the teaching workload of the same, with an emphasis on the concept of key competencies for lifelong learning according to the European Framework of Reference. In this paper, compulsory and elective courses were classified according to the following competencies for lifelong learning: communication in the mother tongue, communication in foreign languages, mathematical competencies, basic competencies in science and technology, and digital competency. The results reveal that there are no statistically significant differences among Croatian teachers' studies programmes in terms of teaching workload, taking into account how competent the teacher is considered to be; there are statistically significant differences among the Croatian teachers' studies programmes in the possible teaching workload for elective courses because of teacher's perceived competency level. Despite the fact that all of the teachers' studies programmes bestow the same title upon graduates, the analysis of access to teacher studies in the  Republic of Croatia shows that the screening criteria are different in study programmes at different universities.