Abstract:

Over the past few years, we have witnessed numerous crises (such as the Covid-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, an energy crisis, rising inflation, and food insecurity, etc…), leading to circumstances of multiple and simultaneous crises that have heavily impacted all sectors of society, especially education. Emergencies and protracted crises significantly increase the risk of children and young people worldwide facing protection gaps, education disruptions, and psychosocial problems (Nicolai et al., 2015). The current global sustainable development goals partially address these issues, advocating for reduced exposure and vulnerability to extreme climate events, as well as other economic, social, or ecological disasters (United Nations, 2015).

This study specifically focuses on the Croatian educational context and its functioning during different crises that have recently affected Croatia. The country has been severely affected by the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic and devastating earthquakes in 2020, making it more challenging compared to most other countries that dealt "only" with the economic aftermath of the epidemic (Government of Croatia, 2021). The primary research question in this study is to determine whether and how school pedagogues, as educational specialists in Croatian schools, are equipped with the necessary knowledge and skills for educational work during crises.

To answer this question, two research objectives have been defined. The first objective is to present the results of the analysis of study programs to ascertain if pedagogy programs in the Republic of Croatia are designed to provide specific knowledge and skills required for work during educational crises. The second objective is to present the results of qualitative research to determine how pedagogues, employed in Croatian primary and secondary schools, assess their own preparedness for conducting educational activities in different crisis situations. This study seeks to contribute to a deeper and more systematic theoretical and empirical exploration of crisis situations and their consequences for various stakeholders in the educational processes.

Keywords:

Croatian educational system, educational crises, school pedagogues, study programs, qualitative research.