Studija slučaja: Salezijanska osnovna škola u Zagrebu

Primary education in the Republic of Croatia is regulated by Primary and Secondary School Education Act from 2008. Private schools can be found in Croatia since the end of the 18th century, and by the end of the 19th century they reached their peak. There were few private schools in the beginning of the 20th century, until 1945. After the Second World War, activity of private schools was banned due to political circumstances, and it lasted until 1990s. According to its founder, primary schools in the Republic of Croatia can be public (founded by the state) and there are 886 public primary schools in Croatia today; private primary schools (there are six of them) and confessional primary schools (there are eleven schools in Croatia today). Precise sequence of activities required for founding a private school is prescribed in the Primary and Secondary School Education Act. The paper presents the history of confessional schools in the Republic of Croatia, especially catholic schools. In addition, the paper presents the pedagogical work of Giovanni Bosco, his preventive educational system in particular, and it explains particularities of the Salesian primary School in Zagreb. A semi-structured interview with the headmaster of the Salesian Primary School explored several issues crucial for founding the school. The aim of the paper is to study the history of private schools in Croatia, with emphasis on catholic schools, to explore the current state of private schools and to examine the school establishment process (Salesian Primary School establishment process, to be more precise). It is concluded that there is interconnection between political pluralism and educational pluralism. For those who are well educated about their commitments during the school establishing process, the process itself should not be long or troublesome, although adequate school space and funding can be a problem. Croatia is still far from highly developed educational pluralism, but significant progress has been made over the last decade, indicating that opportunities in the Republic of Croatia are favorable for further development of pluralism in school.