Sub-Department of Pedagogy

First and last name

Rahaela Varga, Ph.D.

Profession

Associate Professor

Email

rvarga@foozos.hr

Office number

63

Research interests

education, teacher/student/headteacher competencies, lifelong learning, teaching

Curriculum vitae (up to 300 words)

Holds a Ph.D. in Education Sciences from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Zagreb, Croatia. Works as an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Education, University of Osijek, Croatia. Teaches pedagogy and didactics courses at the undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate levels.

Recent projects: Competence standards of teachers, pedagogues and mentors (2019 – 2022);  Principal: a profession and a qualification, not a function (2015-2016); Necessity to modify students’ status in and outside classroom (2009 – 2014).

Regularly takes part in international conferences, has (co-)authored multiple books and over thirty research papers. Speaks Croatian, English and German.

List of publications (link to CroRIS)

CroRIS Rahaela Varga

First and last name

Maja Brust Nemet, Ph.D.

Profession

Associate Professor

Vice dean for science

Email

mbrust@foozos.hr

Office number

Vice dean’s office and office no. 58

Research interests

Pedagogy, Professional Development of Teachers, Teacher Competencies, Classroom Management, School Culture, Projects in Educational Institutions, Methodology of Pedagogical Research

Curriculum vitae (up to 300 words)

Maja Brust Nemet was born in Osijek in 1984. She studied pedagogy and Croatian language and Literature at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Osijek and she graduated in 2007. In 2015, she received her PhD in the scientific field of Social sciences, Pedagogy, from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb defending the dissertation Socio-Pedagogical Competences of Teachers in the Contemporary School Culture Curriculum. From September 2007 to October 2008 she worked as a pedagogue in the elementary school Josipovac. Since November 2008, she has worked as a Teaching Assistant, from July 2018 as a Senior Assistant at the Faculty of Education, from 2017 as an Assistant Professor, and from February 2023 until today as an associate professor at the Department of Pedagogy, History and Philosophy at the Faculty of Education in Osijek. From October 2018 to 2022, she held the position of head of the Department for Pedagogy, History, and Philosophy, as well as the Center for Career Development of Students. From 2022 until today, she holds the position of vice dean for science. She has participated in more than 50 national and international scientific and vocational conferences. In addition to papers published in the proceedings of conferences, she co-authored and published a scientific book and approx. 40 scientific papers.

List of publications (link to CroRIS)

CroRIS Maja Brust Nemet

Name and Surname

Snježana Dubovicki, Ph.D.

Title

Associate Professor

E-mail

sdubovicki@foozos.hr

sdubovicki@gmail.com

Office

office number 58

Research interests

Her scientific interest is focused on curriculum research, teaching at all levels of education (with particular emphasis on university teaching and lifelong learning), creativity, self-actualization, emotions in teaching, methodology and qualitative and futurology research methods.

Snježana Dubovicki, Ph.D., Assis. Prof., was born in 1984 in Osijek (Croatia). She got her Ph.D. in 2013 at Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of the University of Zagreb (Croatia) with the topic "Correlation between the Curriculum of Teacher Education and Student Creativity Development.” In 2015 she was elected as Assistant Professor. She started working at the Faculty of Education in Osijek at December 1st 2008. At this Faculty, she participates in the teaching of several pedagogical-didactic and methodological courses. She published a university textbook, two scientific monographs and numerous scientific papers. She spoke at numerous international scientific and professional conferences in Croatia and abroad (Japan, United Arab Emirates, Italy, Hungary, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina).

In 2017, during a study trip to the United Kingdom, she visited elementary and pre-school institutions. Within the CEEPUS program, of the academic year 2018/2019, she was a visiting professor for two weeks at the Faculty of Philosophy in Tuzla (Bosnia and Herzegovina), where she taught Didactics to students of pedagogy, psychology, classroom teaching and pre-school education.

Between 2009 and 2014 she was actively involved in the scientific project "Development of Creativity in the Life-long Learning of Teachers" (245-1221170-1063). In 2018, at the Faculty of Education and in co-operation with the Agency for Education, she organized an education class themed "Playtime in Teaching". She is a member of the working group for analyzing and preparing curricula on the topic of children´s well-being within the two-year project "Subjective child well-being in Croatia" (2018-2020) of the Study Center of Social Work (University of Zagreb, Faculty of Law, leader: Marina Ajduković, Ph.D., Full Professor with Tenure), in cooperation with UNICEF Office for Croatia, Children´s World: The International Survey of Children´s Well-Being (ISCWeB). She is a member of the Organizing Committe of Didactic Challenges II (https://didactics-challenges0.webnode.hr/didactic-challenges-ii/), Didactic Challenges III (https://didactic-challenges0.webnode.hr/). She was the executive editor of the journal Life and School (https://hrcak.srce.hr/zivot-i-skola). She is a member of the Croatian pedagogical Society (HPD) and the Croatian Andragogy Society (HDA). Since October 2018 she has been employed as Vice Dean for development and frofessional work by the Faculty of Education in Osijek.

List of publications (CroRIS link)

Name and surname

Antonija Huljev, Ph.D.

Title

Assistant Professor

e-mail

ahuljev@foozos.hr

Office Nr.

38

Research interests

pedagogy, socio-political impacts of music, history of Croatian literature

Antonija Huljev was born in Osijek on November 22, 1987. She was a teaching assistant for philology an pedagogy at the Department of Cultural Studies of Josip Juraj Strossmayer University in Osijek (2013 – 2018). Since 2018, she has been a teaching assistant at the Faculty of Education. The areas of her scientific and professional interest are pedagogical axiology and the history of Croatian literature, and in a broader sense, pedagogy and literature. In 2009 she graduated from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Osijek with a BA degree in Croatian language and literature and Pedagogy and in 2011 she became the Master of Education in Croatian Language and Literature and Master of Pedagogy at the same Faculty. In 2018, she completed the Post-graduate Interdisciplinary Doctoral Study Programme in Culture (Faculty of Arts and Literature in Culture) and earned a Ph. D. from the Doctoral School of Social and Human Sciences at the University of Josip Juraj Strossmayer in Osijek (interdisciplinary field of science, i.e. interdisciplinary humanities and interdisciplinary social sciences).

She has edited several conference proceedings and books, published several scientific papers in Croatian and foreign journals, and participated in several conferences in Croatia and abroad. So far, she has published three books. She is a member of the editorial board of the magazine "Vospitanie - Journal of Educational Sciences, Theory and Practice" (Republic of Northern Macedonia) and the magazine "Pannoniana" (Faculty of Educational Sciences, Osijek, Croatia).

In the period from 2009 to 2010, she worked as a student in the library of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering in Osijek. From 2011 to 2012, she worked as a proofreader for the magazine "Military History" published by Večernji list.

She is a member of the School Board of the Center for Education "Ivan Štark" in Osijek. She is also a member of Matica Hrvatska and an honorary member and professional associate of the Croatian Association of Prisoners in Serbian Concentration Camps.

List of publications (CroRIS link)

First and last name

Višnja Vekić-Kljaić, Ph.D.

Profession

Assistant professor

Email

vvkljaic@foozos.hr

Office number

49

Research interests

Preschool pedagogy, Preschool curriculum, Action research, Project learning

Curriculum vitae (up to 300 words)

Višnja Vekić-Kljaić was born on November 2, 1967, in Osijek. She completed her elementary education at Dobriša Cesarić Elementary School in Osijek and graduated from the "Braća Ribar" CUO in Osijek, earning the title of Associate in Preschool Education. In 1988, she graduated from the Preschool Education program at the Faculty of Education in Osijek, obtaining the title of Preschool Educator.

In 2010, she earned the professional title of Professor of Preschool Education from the Faculty of Natural Sciences, Mathematics, and Educational Sciences at the University of Mostar. She completed her PhD in 2020 at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Osijek with a dissertation titled Structural and Content Determinants of Early Childhood Education Curriculum.

She lives in Osijek with her husband and two daughters. From 1989 to 2021, she worked as a preschool teacher at the Osijek Kindergarten in the "Pčelica" facility, with a mixed-age group integrating the English language. Since 2021, she has served as a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Social and Humanistic Sciences at the University of Slavonski Brod.

In 2023, she was appointed as an Assistant Professor in the scientific area of Social Sciences, the scientific field of Pedagogy ( Pedagogy of early and preschool education).

In September 2024, she joined the Faculty of Education at the Josip Juraj Strossmayer University in Osijek as an Assistant Professor.

She has participated in two institutional projects and Erasmus+ mobility programs, publishing several scientific and professional articles in journals, scientific monographs, and conference proceedings in the field of pedagogy. She has also presented her work at professional and scientific conferences. Her research interests focus on early childhood and preschool education pedagogy.

List of publications (link to CroRIS)

CroRIS - Višnja Vekić-Kljaić

First and last name

Ružica Tokić Zec, Ph.D.

Profession

Assistant Professor

Email

rtokic@foozos.hr

Office number

38

Research interests

Culture of educational institutions, values, family pedagogy, parenting

Curriculum vitae (up to 300 words)

Ružica Tokić Zec graduated in 2013 from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Osijek and obtained a master's degree in Education in English Language and Literature and a master's degree in Pedagogy. In 2021, she received a PhD from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Osijek with the topic “Preschool teachers, primary school teachers and university instructors' perceptions on organizational culture in educational institutions as the first in the generation.” Since 2012, she has organized early English language programs for preschool children. From 2014 to 2015, she worked as a pedagogue at the Elementary School "Tin Ujević" in Osijek and passed the professional exam to be an expert associate pedagogue. Since 2015, she has been teaching courses in the field of pedagogy (Pedagogy, General Pedagogy, Family Upbringing and Partnership with Parents, Parenting, and Final Paper Methodology) at the Faculty of Education in Osijek. In 2016, she received a UNESCO scholarship and participated in the 10th International Summer School - “The contemporary problems of children and childhood in multicultural societies” - theory, research, praxis in Warsaw, Poland. In 2023, she was invited to the St. Gallen University of Teacher Education in Switzerland for professional development. She has published several scientific and professional papers, participated in several international and domestic scientific and professional conferences, been invited as a speaker at professional conferences, and carried out activities to popularize science.

List of publications (link to CroRIS)

CroRIS – Ružica Tokić Zec