Abstract:

The Education and Teacher Training Agency (ETTA) is the public institution whose main activity is the performance of professional and advisory tasks in education, participation in the monitoring, improvement and development of education in the field of preschool, primary and secondary education, adult education and education of children of Croatian citizens abroad and children of foreign citizens. Its advisers and senior advisers provide professional development for teachers in all subjects taught in the educational system in Croatia. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, the Education and Teacher Training Agency organized mainly traditional forms of face-to-face conferences and seminars on the local, regional and national levels, covering a wide range of themes from the field of education and related subjects.

As the Covid-19 pandemic influenced all aspects of today’s life and work, it also had a significant impact on the way the professional development is provided by the Education and Teacher Training Agency. Due to strict measures and restrictions against the pandemic, the ETTA needed to adapt and provide other forms of professional development in order to support the teachers with the knowledges and skills necessary to perform their educational tasks. In the years 2020 and 2021 the seminars and conferences organized by the ETTA were performed mostly online. In the catalogue of the professional development of the ETTA and in the application ettaedu.hr can be observed that the number of events and the number of participants increased significantly. The events covered all aspects of the online education, distant learning and digital tools, but also provided themes such as the influence of the online education and pandemic on the students and teachers.

For the purpose of this paper, in a form of a questionnaire, it will be examined if the events have met the needs of the teachers, what are the areas that need more support, have the chosen themes and lecturers provided them with the expected skills, and if the online form and the increased number of events has influenced the quality of the professional development provided by the ETTA. The results of this research will help the advisers and senior advisers of the ETTA to improve their work, to adapt to the needs of the beneficiaries and to improve the quality of the professional development provided by the ETTA.

Keywords:

The ETTA, professional development, Covid-19-pandemic, online form.