Career Development Centre for Students

First and last name

Alma Škugor, Ph.D.

Profession

Associate Professor

Email

askugor@foozos.hr

Office number

52

Research interests

student-centered teaching, professional development of teachers, alternative pedagogical concepts, pedagogy of sustainable development, pedagogy of practical life skills

Curriculum vitae (up to 300 words)

She has been employed at the Faculty of Education since 2007. She obtained her PhD degree in 2013, and since 2021, she has been working as an associate professor.

From 2014 to 2018, she was the coordinator for working with the training schools for all methodology courses for students of the integrated undergraduate and graduate five-year university class teacher studies. Until 2018, she conducted practice in the courses Didactics of Natural Science II and Research in Natural Science.

She teaches Pedagogy of Sustainable Development, Pedagogy of Practical Life Skills, Alternative Schools, Alternative Pre-school Programs, Pedagogy for Children with Special Needs, and Methodology in Education. In 2017, she successfully completed Montessori educational training in teaching children aged 3 to 12. In doing so, she acquired an international degree (Montessori - Pädagogik Diplomlehrgang) in accordance with the guidelines and the standards of the Austrian Montessori - Ősterreich umbrella association. She collaborated on the research project of the Croatian Science Foundation: “Professional development of teachers in the function of improving the learning outcomes of elementary school students in natural sciences and mathematics” (2018-2022). She has participated in a number of international and national scientific and professional educational conferences and has published about forty professional and scholarly papers.

She is the Head of the Career Development Centre for Students Foozos. She was a co-chair of the Organizing Committee of the 42nd International Scientific Conference on Changing Perspectives and Approaches in Contemporary Education in cooperation with the Association for Teacher Education in Europe (ATEE). In cooperation with the Education Agency, she conducts professional training for teachers.

List of publications (link to CroRIS)

CroRIS – Alma Škugor

First and last name

Tijana Borovac, Ph.D.

Profession

Associate Professor

Email

tborovac@foozos.hr

Office number

49

Research interests

early and preschool education, initial education of educators, professional development of educators, leadership in early and preschool education (EPE)

Curriculum vitae (up to 300 words)

Dr. Tijana Borovac, Associate Professor, completed her primary and secondary education (Jezična Gimnazija-Language Grammar School) in Osijek. In 2002, she graduated from the College of Teacher Education in Osijek, earning the title of Preschool Educator. During her studies in 2000, she received the Rector’s Award for exceptional academic achievement. In 2004, she graduated from the Faculty of Economics in Osijek (Marketing Management programme), obtaining the title of Graduate Economist. She earned her doctorate in the field of Social Sciences, specifically Pedagogy, by defending her dissertation titled Social Interaction of Children in Age-Mixed Groups in Early and Preschool Education Institutions. Her doctoral studies were completed at the Postgraduate Doctoral Programme in Pedagogy, focusing on Early Education in Family and Institutional Settings at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb.

Since 2007, she has been employed at the Faculty of Education in Osijek. She teaches courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels in Early and Preschool Education, specialising in the areas of integrated curriculum, leadership, and action research in early and preschool education.

Dr Borovac has participated in several professional and scientific research projects (financially supported by HRZZ-ECLAT, Adris, and UNICEF), consistently aiming to explore the perspective of children at an early and preschool age. She is the author of numerous professional and scientific papers in the field of early and preschool education, focusing on the education of future educators, their professional development, children’s executive functions, play, and more. She is also the author and co-author of three chapters in Croatia’s first textbook on early and preschool pedagogy, Pedagogy of Early and Preschool Education.

She has presented at numerous national and international conferences on early and preschool education (EECERA, OMEP) and has served as a member of several scientific, programme, and organisational committees. Dr. Borovac is the Chair of the Programme Committee and a member of the Organising Committee for the 1st and 2nd International Scientific-Professional Conference KOMPAS – Competent Systems in Early and Preschool Education, held at the Faculty of Education in Osijek in 2022 and 2024.

In 2020, the Education and Teacher Training Agency appointed her Chair of the Examination Committee for Professional Certification Exams for Preschool Educators in Kindergartens.

List of publications (link to CroRIS)

CroRIS - Tijana Borovac

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

First and last name

Vesna Svalina, Ph.D.

Profession

Associate Professor

Email

vsvalina@foozos.hr vesna.svalina@gmail.com

Office number

52

Research interests

Music education in primary and secondary schools, musical giftedness, creativity in music education, music therapy and inclusive education, application of technology in music education, development of personal and social skills through music, listening to music as a teaching area

Curriculum vitae (up to 300 words)

Vesna Svalina, PhD (1968) is an associate professor in the field of music education and head of the Subdepartment of Musical Arts at the Faculty of Education (FOOZOS), at the Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek. She graduated from the Faculty of Education (now FFOS) in Osijek in 1991, earned her Master's degree in Music Pedagogy from the Music Academy in Zagreb in 2009, and completed her doctorate in Educational Sciences at the Faculty of Teacher Education, University of Zagreb, in 2013.

Dr. Svalina has published her scientific work in journals and conference proceedings, both nationally and internationally. She is the author of two books in the field of music pedagogy, has published over forty scientific papers, and has participated in numerous national and international scientific conferences (Cambridge – UK; Paris – France; Rostock – Germany; Cetinje – Montenegro; Ljubljana, Ruše – Slovenia; Beograd, Kragujevac – Serbia; Dubrovnik, Osijek, Pula, Split, Zadar, Zagreb – Croatia). She has led research projects and collaborated on a bilateral project focusing on musical and artistic giftedness.

She has actively contributed to the organization of international conferences, including the 6th International Symposium of Music Pedagogues (Osijek, 2019, Faculty of Education) and the First International Conference Creative Approaches to Learning and Teaching - CALT (Osijek, 2023, Faculty of Education). Additionally, she is a member of the editorial boards of several international journals. From 2015 to 2018, she served as the executive editor of the journal Life and School, and since 2021, she has been a member of the editorial boards of the journals SN Social Sciences, International Journal of Psychological and Brain Sciences, and Journal for the Interdisciplinary Art and Education.

In addition to her scientific work, she has achieved notable success in artistic activities with choirs, performing in Croatia and abroad (Italy, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, and Switzerland). She has received numerous national and international awards, including special recognition for the best performance of a mandatory composition and her exceptional conduct.

List of publications (link to CroRIS)

CroRIS Vesna Svalina  

Personal website: www.vesna-svalina.net  

Google Scholar Vesna Svalina

First and last name

Marko Šošić, Ph.D. in Art

Profession

Associate Professor

Email

msosic@foozos.hr

msosicfoozos@gmail.com

Office number

35

Research interests

Art education, Children’s art and the community, Children’s art exhibitions

Curriculum vitae (up to 300 words)

Marko Šošić graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Široki Brijeg, University of Mostar, in 2001. In 2015, he obtained his PhD at the Postgraduate Painting Program at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb with the thesis "Dream – Painting the Dream through Direct Observation."

Since 2001, he has been continuously involved in teaching, first as a teacher of specialized art subjects at the Technical School in Vinkovci, then as a teacher of Graphic Design and Drawing and Painting at the School of Applied Arts and Design in Osijek, where he also worked as a mentor on numerous student projects and as the head of the Art Education Commission, a long-term member of the State Art Competition Commission (LIK). In 2012, he was promoted to the title of mentor professor.

Since 2015, he has been employed at the Faculty of Education, where he teaches courses in Visual Arts, Visual Arts in Integrated Curriculum, Visual Art Techniques and Plastic Arts, Visual Communication and Design, Protection and Communication of Art Heritage in Kindergarten, and Children's Art and the Community. In 2023, he was promoted to the title of Associate Professor.

He is a mentor on numerous student workshops, exhibitions, and projects such as AEXPO (International Exhibition of Art Works by Faculty of Education Instructors) and AEXPO futura (International Exhibition of Art Works by Faculty of Education Students). He is the author of the university textbook “Visual arts and fine arts techniques”(2019). He has also worked as a graphic editor for numerous print and online publications for the Faculty of Education.

He has held twenty-four solo exhibitions and participated in more than forty group exhibitions both in Croatia and abroad. In his artistic work, he explores the oneiric spaces of dreams and the human body as symbols of specific psychological states. He expresses himself through the traditional medium of easel painting, blending contemporary pop culture motifs and experimental materials with traditional and established techniques.

Since 2017, he has led the Art Workshop at the Saint Ana Children's Home in Vinkovci.

List of publications (link to CroRIS)

First and last name

Ivana Moritz, Ph.D.

Profession

Associate Professor

Email

imoritz@foozos.hr 

Office number

53

Research interests

cognitive linguistics, discourse analysis, phraseology, early second language acquisition

Curriculum vitae (up to 300 words)

Ivana Moritz completed primary and grammar school in Osijek. She graduated from the Faculty of Pedagogy (today the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences) at the Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek in 1999 with a degree in English language and literature and German language and literature. She defended her dissertation “Cognitive Analysis of Euphemisms in Political Discourse in English” in 2018 at the doctoral study program in linguistics at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Osijek, earning the academic degree of PhD in the scientific field of humanities, philology, English studies.

From 1999 to 2007, she worked at the private secondary school Gaudeamus in Osijek, Catering and Tourism School in Osijek, III. Gymnasium in Osijek, and at the Grigir Vitez Primary School in Osijek, as a teacher of English and German.

She spent the 2002-2003 school year working at Rydal Penrhos School in Colwyn Bay, North Wales, United Kingdom, as a teaching assistant in English as a foreign language and German language. In 2007, she received the title of assistant at the Faculty of Teacher Education in Osijek (today FOOZOS), and in 2015, she received the title of senior assistant. She was promoted to assistant professor in June 2019 and to associate professor in October 2024.

She has taught the following courses at the Integrated Undergraduate and graduate university class teacher study, Undergraduate university study program of Early and pre-school education, and the University undergraduate program educational rehabilitation: English Grammar I and II, English Language Practice III and IV, English Language I and II, English for Academic Purposes, English Teaching Methodology Practice, English in Educational Rehabilitation, English in early and preschool education.

From 2018 to 2020, she was the Head of the Department of English and German Studies at the Faculty of Education, and from 2020 to 2022, she was the Vice-Dean for Science at the same faculty.

Her scientific interests include cognitive linguistics, English phraseology, and English language acquisition.

List of publications (link to CroRIS)

CroRIS Ivana Moritz

Name and surname

Ivana Trtanj, Ph.D.

Profession

E-mail

itrtanj@foozos.hr

Office number

48

Research interests

First langauge acquisiton, Discourse development in pre-school and school age children, Early literacy development, Learning Croatian as a second language

About the teacher

She has been employed at the Faculty of Education as a teaching assistant since December 2007 instructing courses Croatian language, Language culture, Functional styles in language communication, Acquisition and learning of the Croatian language, Pre-practice in reading and writing and Lexicology and word formation in the Croatian language. February 2016 she held the position of a postdoctoral researcher, and in October 2019 she acquired the title and position of assistant professor. Being a member of the ECL (European Consortium for the Certificate of Attainment in Modern Languages) she participates in compiling tests on Croatian language knowledge for non-native speakers. In 2013 she was elected a member of the Commission for development of standards and exams for Croatian as a foreign language of the National Centre for External Evaluation of Education (NCVVO). She is an associate at two projects of the Croatian Science Foundation: Textual Coherence in Foreign Language Writing: Croatian, German, English, French and Hungarian in Comparison (IP-2016-06-5736) and Multilevel Approach to Spoken Discourse in Language Development (UIP-05-2017). She is a member of the Croatian Philological Society. Her research interests are focused on the area of Croatian language acquisition, the development of children’s discourse and early literacy as well as on studying Croatian as a second language.

List of publications (CroRIS link)

First and last name

Diana Moslavac Bičvić

Profession

Senior Lecturer

Email

dmoslavac@foozos.hr

Office number

62

Research interests

mathematics methodology, gifted students, class teacher education

Curriculum vitae (up to 300 words)

Diana Moslavac Bičvić was born in 1983 in Osijek. She graduated in 2007 from the Department of Mathematics at Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek with a thesis titled Bayesian Statistics, earning the degree of Graduate Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science. After graduating, she worked as a mathematics and computer science teacher at August Šenoa Elementary School in Osijek.

Since November 2008, she has been employed at the Faculty of Education (formerly the Faculty of Teacher Education ), initially as a teaching assistant, later as a lecturer, and since 2022 as a senior lecturer. She regularly presents at international scientific conferences, publishes research and professional papers, and participates in the organizational and program committees of international scientific conferences. In order to popularize mathematics, she regularly organizes workshops as part of the Science Festival and Evening of Mathematics.

She has been an associate on two scientific projects funded by the Croatian Science Foundation and participates in the implementation of institutional projects.

At the Faculty of Education, she teaches courses in Elementary Mathematics, Mathematics, Teaching Mathematics I, Teaching Mathematics II, Statistics, and Mathematics for Gifted Students within the Integrated Undergraduate and Graduate University Class Teacher Study Program. She also teaches Introduction to Statistics and Functional Mathematics in the University Undergraduate Study Program of Educational Rehabilitation, Introduction to Statistics in the University Undergraduate Study Program of Educational Rehabilitation (for part-time students), and Functional Mathematical Abilities and Skills in the University Undergraduate Study Program of Language and Speech Pathology.

For many years, she has worked as a co-leader of the Little School of Mathematics, an extracurricular activity for fourth-grade elementary school students with a special interest in mathematics, which is held at the Faculty of Education.

List of publications (link to CroRIS)

CroRIS Diana Moslavac Bičvić