Reference year 2023
Version 2023 - Drafted by Mirela Franović, Advisor, Department for Education, Croatian Chamber of Trades and Crafts - Member of Cedefop Community of apprenticeship experts for Croatia
The following aspects are regulated by different legal documents:
-Act on Crafts (Official Gazette 143/13, 127/2019, 41/20) (regulates in general education and training for crafts)
-Regulation on the procedure and method of issuing permits (licenses) for apprenticeship implementation (Official Gazette 107/20)
-Regulation on the minimum conditions for apprenticeship contracts (Official Gazette 107/20)
- Rules of procedure and manner of taking an apprenticeship exam (Official Gazette 48/21)
-Act on Primary and Secondary Education (Official Gazette 87/08, 86/09, 92/10, 105/10, 90/11, 16/12, 86/12, 126/12, 94/13, 152/14, 07/17, 68/18, 98/19, 64/20, 151/22) (regulates primary and education)
-Act on VET (Official Gazette 30/09, 24/10, 22/13, 25/18, 69/22) (regulates VET system and indicates that apprenticeships are regulated by the Act on Crafts)
-Teaching Plans and Programmes as per the Act on Crafts*.
The same legal basis applies to all apprenticeships.
* In 2003 a new scheme of apprenticeship (Unified Model of Education, UME) was implemented, which replaced the previous model.
Apprenticeship is broadly defined in Act on Crafts (127/2019) as a way of implementation of the vocational part of the vocational curriculum of craft occupations. Through apprenticeship, students acquire the appropriate learning outcomes prescribed by the vocational curriculum, develop independence and collaborative relationships, and gain relevant work experience in a particular occupation.
See more details in Q5.
The scheme Jedinstveni model obrazovanja (Unified Model of Education, UME/JMO) is offered at upper secondary level. It is offered as alternative pathway to school-based education at this level.
The apprenticeship scheme of the Unified Model of Education is in place since the school year 2004/2005. Apprenticeship under this scheme is available for 61 craft occupations.
Prior to that, there were apprenticeship programmes (dual model of education) since the school year 1995/96, but were replaced by the UME/JMO scheme.
In the Croatian education system, school-based VET is the prevailing model of VET. It includes compulsory work-based learning either at company or in school workshop.
However, the Unified model of education (UME/JMO) is the only apprenticeship model in Croatia (offered since 2004/05, replacing the pre-existing dual model that was introduced in 1995/1996). It is offered for 61 occupations for associated trades and crafts. In the 2022/23 school year, the share of students in UME in this school year comprises is 13 % of all VET students (12,505 students of total 98,702 VET students).
Since the school year 2018/2019, a new “dual model of education" was introduced as an experimental programme alongside the existing school-based VET and the UME/JMO apprenticeship scheme. The new dual education model is available only for several occupations. It has a significantly smaller share of practical training than the Unified Model of Education. The share of students in the dual model of education in this school year comprises 1% (1,260 students of total 98,702 VET students).
Source: Ministry of Science and Education’s public database: https://app.powerbi.com/view?r=eyJrIjoiZWE3YTE4OWQtOWJmNC00OTJmLWE2Mjkt…;