Educating Future Preschool and Primary School Teachers to Teach Physical Education - Bologna Process in Croatia

The research was conducted at 9 teacher education institutions in Croatia in 2001 and 2005, before and after the reforms prompted by the Croatian Ministry of Science, Education and Sport with the goal to adjust Croatian higher education to the Bologna process. Both quantitative and qualitative changes were obtained in the study subjects that prepared students for teaching physical education. The Bologna process has effected positive absolute and relative changes in the number of Kinesiology lessons at the higher education institutions preparing future primary school class teachers and kindergarten educators. The relative changes in Kinesiology Teaching Methods for primary school educators have been statistically proven the subject was allotted, after the introduction of the Bologna process, more contact hours in the syllabi of both the primary school and the kindergarten educators’ study programmes. However, relatively, there have been slightly fewer lessons in the studies for kindergarten educators since the year 2005, which can be explained by the change of the total number of lessons after changing from a two-year to a three-year study programme. The number of Physical Education (PE) lessons for kindergarten educators has been reduced, whereas the number of PE lessons for primary school class teachers has been increased, although the total number of lessons has been reduced. With the introduction of the Bologna process, 4 out of 9 institutions for primary school educators have started, since the 2005/2006 academic year, to educate primary school class teachers to a university level, while all 8 kindergarten teacher studies have remained vocational three-year-studies. Since the academic year 2006/2007, primary school teachers throughout the Republic of Croatia have been educated to a university level, whereas the kindergarten training institutions need to be transformed into university level institutions by the year 2010.