Recognising the need for functional connectivity of all employees of the educational system in a single unit, a need occurred for a clearer definition of the early childhood education and care, and the approach to the planning, monitoring and evaluation of the educational process as a specific integration part in the educational system.

The educational process should provide each child with the most appropriate programme that is firmly connected with the parents and the child's environment as a whole. Contemporary designed educational system is based on the developmental and integration approach, planning, programming, monitoring and evaluation of the educational process in kindergarten, and has to proceed from the general education settings of individuality, whose scope includes the development of an individual in accordance with the individual's needs, abilities, opportunities, and enabling the individual for a certain degree of their own development as a whole, taking into account the child's age, the specificities of the child's development prospects and the child's individual needs. In this way, the early childhood education develops as an integral part of a unified educational system, and in the implementation of planning, programming, monitoring and evaluation of the educational process by providing autonomy, independence and freedom, i.e. stimulation of freedom of the programme implementers in the process of planning, programming, monitoring and evaluation of direct educational work with preschool children.

The activity that promotes one dimension of development affects other dimensions, because the child is a whole person, and no matter how certain characteristics are developed (by the age standards), one should always encourage the further development of the characteristics. The basic organizational form of the programme implementation is kindergarten, whereas the strategies of planning and evaluation of the educational process in kindergarten are as follows:

• long-term planning - a team of educators makes plans throughout the whole year (common essential tasks, projects, etc.), the concretization in the orientation (three-month) plan - parts of the activities (themes), and developmental tasks (by areas: motor skills, social and emotional development, cognition , communication);
• short-term planning – weekly planning is the characteristic of activities (what) according to the sets of activities from the orientation plan, whereas the way of of activity implementation (where, what, how) is defined in relation to the set tasks;
• daily plan - only complements the weekly plan, by providing incentives for a particular activity or the set of activities, the planned incentives are given in advance, whereas spontaneous incentives are added for the spontaneously created activities of children. In fact, the daily plan serves to evaluate the effects of the activity on children (how many children participated in the activity, specificities of children's behaviour, specific contributions of each child).
• the evaluation of curriculum implementation (three-month curriculum) - the comments are made on the number of children in groups, the effects of changes on financial, organizational and other conditions are stated, the implemented activities and contents for children that were especially valuable and attractive are paid special attention to, the results of collaboration with parents are stated, the achievements of children are assessed.

It is important to have a comprehensive understanding of the child's developmental characteristics in order to ensure the optimal conditions for the development of the child. The meaning of integration is to provide every child with the most suitable programme of education firmly connected to parents and the child's environment. The ultimate goal of this approach to the planning, programming, monitoring and evaluation of the educational process is to train the child, help him/her to independently build and acquire knowledge.

Accordingly, preschool institutions and institutions providing early childhood education are required to monitor the quality of work through the process of evaluation and self-evaluation. The external evaluation of work is performed by the competent Ministry and the establisher, whereas the self-evaluation is performed by the preschool institutions.

A public institution in the Republic of Croatia that performs external evaluation of the educational system at the national level is the National Centre for External Evaluation of Education, whose role, along with the external evaluation of education, is to provide support to educational institutions in the projects of quality assurance, i.e. projects of self-evaluation. With the help of the National Centre, the self-evaluation has been a part of grammar school and vocational school programmes since 2006, and as of 2008 it has been a part of the primary school programmes. Along with the methodological framework, the National Centre for External Evaluation of Education provides the educational institutions with advisory assistance in improving the quality of education.

Based on the implementation practice of self-evaluation projects, i.e. the quality improvement on the primary and secondary school level, the need occurred for the introduction of self-evaluation on the level of early childhood education. In this regard, in 2010 the National Centre for External Evaluation of Education established the Committee for the development of the methodology and instruments for monitoring the quality of work of early childhood and pre-primary educational institutions, consisting of various experts, ranging from university professors to practitioners who have proven themselves through their work in the field of early childhood education.

One of the first tasks of the Committee was to define the quality of early childhood and pre-primary educational institutions, the quality areas of work and the associated indicators. A quality institution of early childhood and pre-primary education is defined as one that promotes the growth and development of each child, parents, staff and the community in which it operates. The quality areas of work of the institution refer to the strategy of early educational institution, i.e. to the mission, vision and values of the institution, its organizational management, culture, spatial and material, and technical working conditions, health and hygienic working conditions and safety, human resources, cooperation with the narrow and the wider social environment, and the process of monitoring and evaluation. For each quality area of work, guidelines of key quality indicators, which are in line with the current knowledge in the field of early childhood education, have been developed. After defining the key quality areas of work, the key players in the process of monitoring and assurance of the quality of work of the early childhood and pre-primary educational institution have been defined: director, Governing Council, educators, professional associates, administrative, technical and support staff, and parents.

After defining the key elements of the quality assurance process, the Committee has elaborated instruments and methodology for monitoring the quality of work of early childhood and pre-primary educational institutions.

The holder of the process of self-evaluation at the level of institution is the Quality Team, which brings together the director of the institution and the representatives of the Governing Council, educators, professional associates, administrative, technical and support staff, parents and the local community. The role of the Quality Team is to inform the key players of the quality assurance process, the implementation of the process of self-evaluation of the National Centre for External Evaluation and monitoring of the implementation of the development plan, i.e. improving the quality of the institution.

The proposed model of self-evaluation of early childhood and pre-primary educational institutions was tested through a pilot project in 14 institutions of early childhood and pre-primary education. The aim of the pilot project was to test the prepared methodology, instruments and supporting materials in real conditions of the early childhood and pre-primary educational institutions. Pilot project of the National Centre for External Evaluation of Education resulted in a total of 14 development plans for early childhood and pre-primary educational institutions. The experiences of the institutions that participated in the pilot project were very positive and encouraging for further work on improving the quality of the institutions of early childhood and pre-primary education.

The need for a systematic introduction of the self-evaluation process at the national level is justified by the following:

• the need for a systematic approach to quality improvement at all educational levels,
• the legal framework that includes self-evaluation of the institutions for early childhood education,
• the protective function of the quality assurance for the child, whereby every child has the right to quality care and quality start,
• raising awareness of quality standards of all key players of early childhood education,
• continued work on quality at all levels,
• improving the quality of the educational system,
• setting guidelines for the improvement of educational policy.

The ministry responsible for education is in charge of supervising the implementation of the Act on Preschool Education (Official Gazette No. 10/1997, 107/2007, 94/2013) and the regulations adopted on the basis of the Act.

The inspection is carried out by the Education Inspectorate, in line with the Act on Education Inspectorate (Official Gazette No 61/2011, 16/2012).

The expert and pedagogical supervision of the work of educators, expert associates and principals is carried out by the expert and pedagogical supervisors and other experts, within the scope of the activities and responsibilities of the Ministry of Science, Education and Sports. The supervising personnel, usually senior advisers in the Education and Training agency, is authorised for such supervision by the minister responsible for education. The manner in which the supervision is carried out, as well as the rights, responsibilities and authority of the expert and pedagogical supervisors and other persons authorised for the supervision is defined by the Act on Expert and Pedagogical Supervision (Official Gazette No. 73/1997) and the Act o Education and Training Agency (Official Gazette No. 85/2006).

The health inspection supervision over the implementation of the Act on Preschool Education (Official Gazette No. 10/1997, 107/2007, 94/2013), in the part relating to the children’s health protection and nutrition, is carried out by the ministry responsible for health – the health inspectorate.

The sanitary inspection supervision over the implementation of the Act on Preschool Education (Official Gazette No. 10/1997, 107/2007, 94/2013), in the part relating to the children’s nutrition, is carried out by the ministry responsible for health – the sanitary inspectorate.

The supervision over the expert work related to the implementation of the Act, in the part relating to the children’s social care, is organised and carried out by the ministry responsible for social care.

The external evaluation and the assistance to kindergartens in self-evaluation and the development based on the results of standardised tests is carried out by the National Centre for External Evaluation of Education.

The public responsibility for the quality of work and processes is held by the educators, principals and teams of expert associates: pedagogue, psychologist, chief medical nurse, special education needs teacher teachers of various profiles, medical doctor, social workers, etc. With their joint activity they must contribute to the realisation of all the functions of the kindergarten, ranging from programming, monitoring, achievement, evaluation of achievements, professional advancement and training, library, IT and documentation to connecting family upbringing and care to the institutional factors, not only of kindergartens, but also of other education and culture factors in the vertical and horizontal hierarchy of the education system.

References:

• Act on Preschool Education and Care, Official Gazette No. 10/1997, 107/2007 and 94/2013
• Act on Expert and Pedagogical Supervision, Official Gazette No. 73/1997
• Act on National Centre for External Evaluation of Education, Official Gazette No. 151/2004
• Act on Education Inspectorate, Official Gazette No. 61/2011, 16/2012
• Family Act, Official Gazette No. 103/2015
• Act on Education and Teacher Training Agency, 85/2006
• Act on “Ivan Filipović Award”, 61/1991, 149/2009
• Act on Protection of Personal Information, Official Gazette No. 103/2003, 118/2006, 41/2008, 130/2011 and 106/12
• Act on Recognition of Foreign Education Qualifications, 158/2003, 198/2003, 138/2006, 45/2011
• Strategy for Education, Science and Technology, Official Gazette No. 124/2014
• National Framework Curriculum for Preschool Education, General Compulsory and Secondary Education, MSES 2011
• Convention on Children’s Rights, National Bureau for the Protection of Family, Motherhood and Youth, 2001
• National Strategy for Equal Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities, 2007-2015, Official Gazette No. 63/2007
• Ordinance on the Content and Duration of Preschool Program, Official Gazette No. 107/2014
• Ordinance on the Special Conditions and Criteria for Realisation of Preschool Education Program, Official Gazette No. 133/1997
• Ordinance on the Type of Qualification for Expert Employees and Type and Level of Qualification for Other Kindergarten Employees, Official Gazette No. 133/997
• Ordinance on the Manner and Conditions relating to Expert Examinations for Educators and Expert Associates in Kindergartens, Official Gazette No. 133/1997, 4/1998
• Ordinance on the Manner and Conditions for Professional Advancement and Promotion into Professional Titles of Educators and Expert Associates in Kindergartens, Official Gazette No. 133/1997, 20/2005
• Ordinance on Training Kindergartens, Experimental Programs in Kindergartens and on Kindergartens as Expert and Development Centres, Official Gazette No. 46/2004, 49/2004
• Ordinance on the Forms and Content of Pedagogical Documentation and the Records of Children in Kindergarten, Official Gazette No. 83/2001
• 'Ordinance on the Methods of Disposition with the State Budget Funds and the Criteria for the Co-financing of Preschool Educational Programs, Official Gazette No. 134/1997
• Ordinance on the Forms of Health Records of Preschool Children and Kindergarten Records, Official Gazette No. 114/2002
• Ordinance on Toys Safety, Official Gazette No. 83/2014
• Ordinance on Croatian Qualifications Framework Records, Official Gazette No. 62/2014
• Ordinance on Prerequisites for Children Transportation Vehicles, Official Gazette No. 8/2006
• National Pedagogical Standards for Preschool Education and Care, Official Gazette No. 63/2008. and 90/2010
• National Curriculum for Early Childhood Education and Care, Official Gazette No. 5/2015
• Programme Orientation of Education and Care for Preschool Children, Official Gazette of the Ministry of Culture, No. 7-8/91
• Preschool Education with Programme Orientation for Care, Education, protection and Rehabilitation of Preschool Age Children with Disabilities, Ministry of Culture and Education, Croatian Bureau of Education, 1993
• Programme of Children's Healthcare, Hygiene and Proper Nutrition in Kindergartens, Official Gazette, No. 105/2002, 55/2006, 121/2007
• Decision on the Programme of Expert Examination for Trainees in Preschool Education and Care, Education Gazette, Year 2, No. 2, Zagreb, 17th April 2000