The past pandemic provoked completely new educational approaches and forced all teachers in the Republic of Croatia to embark on a completely new way of teaching and evaluating students. This paper will highlight the specifics of Croatian language teaching during distance learning in the spring of 2020; from 16 March 2020 until the end of the school year. A questionnaire on distance learning of the Croatian language was conducted (n = 170). A qualitative analysis of the responses and a descriptive analysis of attitudes were performed, and a one-way analysis of ANOVA variance was used for correlations. The ways in which teachers conducted teaching and the methods used to evaluate the achievement of educational outcomes are presented. Furthermore, the teachers expressed their views on whether the students completed learning tasks independently and whether they had contact and good communication with the students and parents. The position on the realization of educational outcomes during online teaching was compared with the similar position during direct teaching in school. The results showed that the teachers were less satisfied with the results achieved during emergency remote teaching, and they were dissatisfied with the level of cooperation with parents and the students’ level of independence.

The content that is taught in school, but also outside it, needs to be connected with real (everyday) life. Teachers need to turn content into experience for their students, which is no easy task. The aim of this research is to determine the extent to which primary school teachers, secondary school teachers, and higher education teachers use this method in their work in order to develop critical thinking in their students and how much importance they attach to it during their work in teaching. A questionnaire on critical thinking and experiential learning (N = 168) was conducted, the results of which were analyzed with regard to gender, level of education, work experience, diluted to teach the work environment. The results show that the method of experiential learning with the aim of developing critical thinking is used to a greater extent in teaching (mean = 4.17, SD = 0.55). Differences were observed only with respect to work experience, where teachers with more work experience work statistically significantly more (F = 0.027; t = 3.31; p < 0.01) on developing critical thinking. On the other hand, the need for further awareness, especially of younger teachers, on how to apply experiential learning and what it is important for has been proven. This research has shown the already recognized importance and aspiration to develop critical thinking in students at all levels of education, which will ultimately result in both developed and self-aware individuals and society. It is worrying that about 40% of teachers still do not conduct interactive learning on a regular basis, but it is encouraging that most teachers still recognize how important it is and apply it on a daily basis.

The traditional school system has not met the needs of students for many years. Parents, in order to allow their children to move away from the rigid class-subject-hour system, established schools. The founders of alternative schools can be citizens, parents and teachers, religious communities as well as other legal entities. These are the so-called free schools, civic educational initiatives, reform pedagogical attempts, educational boarding schools, etc. The aim of this paper is to present the pedagogical concepts and ideas of schools in the Republic of Croatia whose founders are parents. The paper presents the basic pedagogical principles and aspects of teaching Waldorf and Montessori pedagogy based on educational pluralism, a brief overview of partnership between parents and schools in Croatia and the educational model of primary Catholic schools “Ružičnjak” and “Lotrščak”. The observed schools are located in Zagreb and have only one goal - to adapt the school to the child. An effort is made to provide each student with an individual approach. The starting points are the child’s needs and interests. These are the schools where students have freedom of choice. The goal of ing and education is the holistic development of the child. The emphasis is on active learning methods and abandoning didactic scenarios in which the child is only a passive observer. Keywords: alternative schools; catholic schools; educational pluralism; partnership; parents

Communication is the process of exchanging information, thoughts, ideas, feelings among people by applying verbal and nonverbal messages. The educational outcomes of modern teaching are achieved through communication between those who participate in the educational process. A prerequisite for achieving the goals of the teaching process is quality and two-way communication based on active listening. Active listening is the ability to accurately and precisely perceive what the other person (interlocutor) is experiencing and to offer feedback on what one has noticed, perceived. Encouraging and developing a culture of active listening is especially important in school because it influences the creation of a positive and motivating classroom atmosphere, the development of social competencies, the building of quality relationships and the promotion of understanding. The aim of this research is to establish the extent to which teachers actively listen to students during regular classes and extracurricular activities. A total of 171 students from 2nd to 4th grades of primary school (83 students and 88 girls) participated in the research. The results of the research indicate that students perceive that teachers listen to them extremely actively, as teachers greatly contribute to the development of students' communication skills.

Cross-curricular topics are topics that will instil in students from an early age universal values ​​and competencies for action in modern society. There are seven cross-curricular topics in the Republic of Croatia: personal and social development, learning how to learn, civic education, health, entrepreneurship, the use of information and communication technology and sustainable development. The fundamental meaning of introducing cross-curricular topics into the teaching process is the adoption of topics of general human values ​​and competencies for a dignified life in the 21st century. The methodology consists of analysis matrix of different cross-curriculum topics and outcomes that students in individual classes should achieve. The aim of this paper is to raise awareness of the importance of education for active and independent action within the community. Outcomes of interdisciplinary topics are realized in the teaching hours of all subjects. Regardless of the importance they carry within themselves, modern teachers often neglect cross-curricular topics, depriving students of knowledge and skills that would be useful to them in everyday life, in relation to themselves, their work and others.