National youth program

1.2. Non-formal education
Non-formal education comprises organized and spontaneous educational activities set up 
outside the formal education system. Programs are adapted to meet various and changing 
needs and interests of users. Development and diversity of non-formal education programs 
are the indicators of the development of a society as a whole, and in the context of the 
knowledge society notion, it is one of the key resources of life-long learning.
In Croatia, a relatively large number of institutions and organizations provide non-formal 
education services (public universities, cultural centers, foreign language centers, driving 
schools, professional associations and companies, religious communities, mountaineering 
and sport associations and other civil society organizations). The deficiencies in this area 
arise mainly from the concentration of appropriate institutions in larger centers, non-
existence of a unified system of informing on existing programs and too high prices of 
services, whereby such programs are not accessible to socially vulnerable segments of 
youth, who need them most. In addition, non-formal education programs are not monitored 
and assessed according to appropriate quality criteria, and there are no reliable data on the 
number of users, so it cannot be concluded with certainty in which way and how much 
non-formal education contributes to the establishment and development of the life-long 
learning system in Croatia.
A special part of non-formal education comprises the programs conducted by civil society 
organizations in the narrow sense – non-governmental organizations. They are mainly 
directed at acquisition of knowledge and skills in the field of human rights protection, non-
discrimination, gender equality, non-violent conflict resolution, intercultural understanding, 
democratic citizenship, environment protection and consumer protection. The advantage 
of non-governmental organizations’ programs compared to formal education programs 
is not only the fact that non-governmental organizations’ programs are directed to issues 
important in life and that they use active and cooperative learning methods, but also the 
fact that they are primarily directed to young people. Such programs therefore represent an 
important educational resource, which is still not adequately recognized or sufficiently used 
in the Croatian educational system, in which Croatia significantly differs from developed 
democratic countries in which, especially on the local level, there is a close co-operation 
of implementers of formal an non-formal education in achieving educational goals that 
promote equality, intercultural sensitivity, social responsibility and social cohesion. Non-
governmental organizations in some countries regularly cooperate with educational 
institutions from preschool to university on the realization of service learning programs, 
through which children and youth are prepared for active and responsible democratic 
citizenship.

---

137
Recent research in Croatia shows that high school pupils and students are not interested in 
political developments, that they do not show civil concern for social problems, that they 
very rarely participate in civil actions or in the work of civil society organizations, with the 
exception of sport and recreational programs, and that they are not really familiar with 
democratic institutions and processes, including their rights and responsibilities. At the 
same time, young people are interested in introduction of such contents into all levels of 
education. The need to prepare young people for active and responsible citizenship speaks 
for the integration of non-formal educational programs of the civil society organizations 
into the formal education system, under the assumption that quality standards applicable 
to such programs are determined in advance.
By applying new methodology – service learning, in universities and high schools, a 
connection of purposeful voluntary work and learning, personal development and 
development of the citizen responsibility is achieved (Mikelić, Boras, 2006). By connecting 
these domains, the strategy of quality improvement and educational system productivity 
is obtained, as well as the way to engage young people socially. One of the main reasons 
for direct action in universities and high schools, aimed at encouraging young people to 
actively participate in society, is the fact that young people consider the educational system 
to be the second important factor (i.e. immediately after family) that encourages them to 
engage socially (Ilišin, 2006). Service learning (SL) enables pupils and students to acquire 
deeper understanding of school and university subjects’ goals through volunteering, 
to acquire new knowledge, skills, sense of personal responsibility and citizen activity. SL 
strengthens the ties between social community and university providing the opportunity 
to unify the goals of participation in community with learning objectives, and pupil and 
student activities in community result in positive changes in the community.
Positive impacts of this methodology have been proved in classes systematically conducted 
from the academic year 2005/2006 at the Information Sciences Department of the Faculty 
of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb (Mikelić, Preradović, Tuđman, Matić, 2007) and 
at the Faculty of Political Sciences in Zagreb in co-operation with the DIM organization. 
Free workshops for teachers of Service Learning Application in Classes have been cyclically 
conducted at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb from the academic 
year 2007/08. However, active participation of youth in society may be stimulated only by 
systematic application of this methodology by the Ministry of Science, Education and Sport