This paper points to different modes of agency that aimed and are still aiming at the transformation of social, political and economic discourse in the direction of 'conservative modernization' in most Western countries. The paper begins with a brief historical sketch of the socio-political circumstances that provided fertile ground for the emergence and development of 'conservative modernization', and continues to further elaborate the concept through the analysis of the categories that draw from works of the Michael W. Apple. The Apple's theoretical apparatus is applied as a 'tool' for the analysis of neoliberal, neoconservative, authoritarian-populist and expert conceptual and implementation pressures in the process of Comprehensive Curricular Reform in Croatia. The concluding section of the paper presents the results of the analysis of conceptual and implementation pressures in the process of Comprehensive Curricular Reform in Croatia.

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 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.

Motivacija učenika za sudjelovanje u nastavnim aktivnostima predstavlja jedan od elemenata uspješne i kvalitetne nastave. Nastavnici su tijekom povijesti učenike nastojali motivirati na različite načine: strahom od kazne, prisilom ili razvijanjem interesa. Suvremeni pristupi naglasak stavljaju na intrinzičnu motivaciju, preciznije interes kao pokretač aktivnosti učenika na nastavi. U radu se prikazuju rezultati istraživanja kojim se nastojala utvrditi vrijednost aktivnosti kao element sudjelovanja na nastavi Prirode i društva kod učenika razredne nastave. Kao teorijska osnova korištena je teorija motivacije očekivane vrijednosti (EVT) koja analizira vrijednost aktivnosti pojedinca prema četirima komponentama: interes ili uživanje u aktivnosti, percipiranu važnost uspješnosti u aktivnosti, percipiranu korisnost te cijenu aktivnosti. Anketirano je 246 učenika drugih, trećih i četvrtih razreda dviju ruralnih osnovnih škola, a za prikupljanje podataka korišten je modificirani upitnik Motivated strategies for learning questionnaire (Pintrich i sur., 1991). Rezultati istraživanja navode na nekoliko zaključaka. Ispitanici sudjelovanju u aktivnostima na nastavi Prirode i društva pridaju visoku vrijednost bez obzira na spol i dob. Nisu utvrđene razlike u rezultatima uvjetovane dobi ili spolom ispitanika u ni jednoj od triju ispitivanih komponenata  vrijednosti aktivnosti kao elementa sudjelovanja u nastavnim aktivnostima: interesu ili uživanju u aktivnosti, percipiranoj važnosti uspješnosti u aktivnosti te percipiranoj korisnosti aktivnosti za ostvarenje kratkoročnih i dugoročnih ciljeva učenika.

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.