TEACHERS’ AND PARENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE DEVELOPMENT OF PRIVATE AND ALTERNATIVE PRIMARY EDUCATION IN THE REPUBLIC OF CROATIA

Privatne i alternativne škole prethodile su državnim školama u većini zemalja. Takav se oblik obrazovanja neometano razvijao u većini zapadnoeuropskih zemalja, dok je u Hrvatskoj bio u potpunosti prekinut u drugoj polovini 20. stoljeća. Početkom demokratizacije i promjenama u hrvatskom društvu započeo je ponovni razvoj privatnog i alternativnog školstva. Cilj istraživanja bio je utvrditi stavove učitelja primarnog obrazovanja, učitelja predmetne nastave i roditelja čija djeca pohađaju osnovnu školu u privatnim i alternativnim osnovnim školama. Učitelji primarnog obrazovanja, predmetne nastave i roditelji sami procijenili su stupanj poznavanja alternativnih pedagoških koncepcija, te pokazali svoju informiranost o privatnim i alternativnim školama nakon 15-ak godina njihova postojanja u Republici Hrvatskoj. Provjereno je i mišljenje učitelja primarnog obrazovanja, predmetne nastave i roditelja u vezi s pretpostavkama za razvoj privatnih i alternativnih škola. Rezultati istraživanja pokazuju da učitelji primarnog obrazovanja, učitelji predmetne nastave i roditelji slabo poznaju alternativne pedagoške koncepcije i da su slabo upoznati s alternativnim i privatnim školama. Svi ispitanici smatraju da postoje male šanse za razvoj i povećanje broja privatnih i alternativnih škola u idućih deset godina.Private and alternative schools preceded public education in most countries. These forms of education have been continuously developing in the countries of West Europe. In the Republic of Croatia development of those forms of education was discontinued for the last half of the 20th century. Beginning of democratisation and social changes started the development of private and alternative education as well. The aim of the research was to find out what are the attitudes of primary and lower secondary education teachers’ as well as the parents’ attitudes towards private and alternative primary schools. Primary and lower secondary education teachers as well as the parents of primary school pupils assessed their level of awareness of alternative pedagogical conceptions, and level of information they have on private and alternative education after the fifteen years of its’ existence in the Republic of Croatia. The paper examines primary and lower secondary education teachers’ as well as the parents’ attitudes towards further development of private and alternative primary education. The results of the research show that all examinees have low level of information about alternative pedagogical conceptions and private schools. The examinees think that there are small chances for development of private and alternative primary education in the next ten years