Expectations of the diaspora from Croatian teaching abroad

This paper presents the results of a survey of the satisfaction andattitudes of emigrant parents whose children attend Croatian classes abroad, aboutCroatian teaching abroad. The research was carried out via an online survey on aconvenience sample of emigrant parents in a large number of European countries,and it included 261 parents with 341 children. The results of the research indicatethat parents are highly satisfied with Croatian teaching abroad. They consider theteaching of the Croatian language somewhat more important than the teachingof Croatian heritage. Among the two separate dimensions of the Curriculum, theeducational-teaching dimension of teaching proved to be somewhat more significantthan the national-integrative dimension. As the most important goals of teachingthe Croatian language and culture, the parents emphasised communication in theCroatian language and becoming familiar with Croatian customs and traditions.Their expectations from classes were met, while opinions about the need to increasethe number of teaching hours for teaching Croatian language and literatureand Croatian historical, cultural and natural heritage were divided. The paperemphasises the importance of Croatian teaching abroad and provides guidelinesfor the development of the new curriculum and the direction of the Republic ofCroatia’s public policies towards the diaspora.