Slovenia and Croatia were parts of a joint state with a different name from 1918 to 1991. Both countries became independent in 1991 and since then the development of education took different path in each country. In Slovenia we use Curriculum for Environmental education (2011) and Curriculum for Social sciences (2011) for teaching social studies at the primary level. In Croatia the curriculum is the same for all subjects in primary school, however, it is complemented by the National Curriculum (2011). In Slovenia primary level of elementary school includes first five grades, however, in Croatia's eight-year primary school its primary level includes only first four grades.
We compared the courses of social studies at primary level between both countries. The dissertation presents a comparison of both curricula which involve social contents at primary level, and the Slovenian curriculum with Croatian national curriculum (2011), which is the fundamental document defining the essential elements of the educational system from pre-school level to the end of secondary education.
The basic concepts such as curricular theory and curriculum were introduced at the beginning. We presented Slovenia and Croatia, their school systems and the social studies subjects in the elementary school in both countries. Curricula were compared in the following categories: structure and scope of the curriculum, the general objectives of social studies lessons; the operational objectives of social studies lessons; standards of knowledge and the contents and concepts from the curriculum. The document analysis was followed by interviews with the class teachers in Croatia and Slovenia.
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