Teaching the Croatian Language in Italy

This paper deals with various issues concerning the establishment and inauguration of the first Croatian supplementary school in Italy, the shaping of the curriculum and the forming of heterogeneous learning groups. The paper also deals with the political aspect of the new institution. This school, located in Rome, has remained active to this day, with a curriculum that differs from the one in use in the Molise region, the home of the officially recognized Croatian national minority. The methodology is based on the analysis of the statistical data issued by the Italian Ministry of Education, of the legal regulations in effect at the time when the school was established, as well as today, and on the analysis of the pedagogical and linguistic theories by Bruner, Such, Widdicombe, Ivir-Ashsworth, Jelaska and Cvikić. The paper aims to show the modern and, indeed, progressive qualities of educational and cultural procedures in Croatian supplementary school in Rome, based on the principles set by the above mentioned authors. The task accomplished by the school is set in the context of creating/enforcing the national identity based on the cultural, historical, psychological and sociological principles, expounded by the monk Martinac, and by Fromm, Smith, Supek and Anholt. The establishing, organizing and functioning of the school is also analysed in consideration of the legal framework in the period from 1998 to 2015, as well as regarding the aspect of cultural diversity and cultural integration