Since its entry into force in 1997, the Croatian Preschool Education Act, before the latest comprehensive changes, has had only three small-scale changes. For this reason, the comprehensive changes introduced by the amendments to the aforementioned Act in May 2022 represent the most significant legislative intervention in the regulation of this system in the last few decades. The main novelties of the Preschool Education Act are to improve the possibility of attending early childhood education and care for every child from the age of 6 months until starting school and generally to improve the management framework of the system with more detailed powers of competent authorities. This will enable infrastructural improvements and ensure preconditions for better provision of educational staff in areas where it is in short supply.

Legislative amendments prescribe the creation of a network of kindergartens at the national level which will enable better planning and improve the spatial availability of kindergartens in rural areas and in smaller and less developed areas. Improving the quality of ECEC refers to the provision of personnel prerequisites, especially considering a need of about 5,658 educators in order to include children from the age of 3 until school age in the ECEC system by 2030. The key novelty of the Act regarding personnel is the possibility of hiring class teachers in kindergartens with new competences and additional training.

The basic goals of amendments to the Act – increasing the scope, access and quality of early childhood education and care – are complemented by the most important kindergarten building action in the last few decades. In 2016, the Government of the Republic of Croatia started investments for the construction and upgrading of institutions of early childhood education and care at the national level as well as using EU funds. Since then, more than 265 million euros have been invested in the early childhood education and care system for 500 kindergartens. This year, the National Recovery and Resilience Plan earmarked over 161 million euros for investments in preschool institutions, which will ensure an additional 22,500 places in preschool institutions and raise the coverage of children in early childhood education and care to 90 %.[1]

Croatia is making significant efforts to achieve the Barcelona objectives adopted by the EU Council in 2002. According to the data in the Education and Training Monitor 2021, 15,7 % of children under the age of 3 attended early childhood education and care programmes in Croatia in 2019, while the EU average is 35,3 %.[2]  The EU average regarding the coverage of children from the age of 3 until the age of starting school for 2020 was 92,8 %^[3]. Although Croatia has to make significant efforts to approach the EU target of 96 % by 2030, it is in the last decade among the countries that have made the greatest progress in the coverage (from 67,6 % in 2010 to 79,4 % in 2020). The data from the Croatian Bureau of Statistics show that compared to the previous school year, at the beginning of 2021/2022, as many as 4,988 more children were enrolled, which represents the largest increase in the last five years and is considered to be partly the result of the reform measures.

Source: Eurydice Unit Croatia