a) The History of teh School

Situated in the northwest Croatia, the School of Building and Crafts has been educating skilful constructors for decades. Moreover, building sector has become a dominant economic activity field in the general economic and demographic scope of the County of Međimurje. For the overall strategy development of these regions and most of other regions, training and employing of labour force in building and construction is a long term perspective and prerogative of development especially with the reconstruction and the revitalization of buildings and facilities destroyed during the war.
School was founded in 1961 as the Building and Constructing Technical School. In the course of the school year of 1967/68 it change the name into Building and Constructing School Centre, which eventually became a part of the Building and Constructing Centre "Zvonko Brkić" in Zagreb.
The year of 1977 is the turning point in the developing history of school regarding the improved human resources, teaching process environment and equipment accompanied with intensive development of building activities as a branch of economy of Međimurje region. This in turn, gave a rise to the importance of the school as to its function in educating the required skilled experts, which led to the construction of the new school building, the hall of residence for students, the sports hall and the workshops. All of this has made the school not only one of the largest vocational education centres in the Republic of Croatia, but a school marked as the regional importance category school in accordance with the town planning within the county of Međimurje.
From 1991 onwards, the school operates as an independent educational institution under the name of The School of Building and Crafts and the school complex comprises the hall of residence for students.

b) The Structure of the School

In the 2006/2007 school year, the teaching process has been organized based on 38 classes attended by 884 students in the courses related to construction, mechanical engineering, wood processing and other services; It has been 11 years since course in Arts and design was introduced ( the interior design) and there has been 9 years since the ceramics design course was introduced; Moreover, it has been 4 years since the new, attractive course in graphic design was introduced, namely the 4-year course in the graphic design in multimedia.
Among the above-mentioned 38 classes, there are 15 four-year courses classes of students (6 classes of technicians 4 classes of interior designers and ceramics designers, 4 classes of graphic multimedia designers and 8 classes of students attending 3-year courses related to industry and crafts; In addition, there are as well 13 classes of students related to industry and crafts whose courses are held in accordance with the Unified Education Model –UEM; At last, but by no means at least, there are as well 3 classes in courses intended for students with disablements. Upon completion of the courses, the attendants acquire semi-qualification as floor-layer and painter labourers).
This very year, the first generation of cultural heritage-subspecialized technicians and the multimedia graphics designers are to sit for the school-leaving exam.
Among all the schools in Croatia in the construction field, the School of Building and Crafts Čakovec enrols the largest number of students giving an important contribution to decreasing the shortage of skilled workers in building industry. However, the contribution is not sufficient regardless of the adult retraining courses that have been offered for years.
For the needs of Ministry of Science, Education and Sports, and Agency for Vocational Education, improvement of the courses are being done for junior constructors and other vocations based on the model of vertical upgrading and promotion in education, which is now becoming more and more present in the building and construction sector, The course provides ambitious junior constructors an opportunity for professional advancement and a life-long learning.
There is an incentive to organize specialized university curriculum to satisfy the need of companies for the 4th, 5th and 6th qualification level degrees in building and construction sector of this region, which has a great reputation in the northwest part of Croatia and in Međimurje for its work.
With the addition of new courses that were developed in recent years, such as interior design and ceramic design in the field of fine arts, and the development of graphic web and multimedia design course, the school has greatly expanded its four year courses and rounded up the education of all of qualified personnel needed for building, remodelling and designing the interior and exterior artificial space sensible to the needs of the man at the beginning of the 3rd millennium, as well as for the professions which design visual communication that has a significant impact on the development of new forms of social life.
Practical work in education is in harmony with the expert, theoretical and general content of courses, and it is the most important segment in the development of educational courses in both, the establishing of the objective learning material based on the logically designed catalogs, and the skills and abilities for performing work in the manufacturing field.
The highest accomplishments have been achieved in practical work training. Practical training is organised in workshops and in practicum for fine arts and design, graphic-web and multimedia design, as well as in teaching practicum for junior constructor in architectural heritage preservation. There is an increasing capacity of the workshops and practicum, especially for the first year students. School workshops play an important role in acquiring professional skills and in preliminary skill testing, with the intention to perform a greater role in adult education in the future (adult retraining and skill certification). School workshops are the central point of the educational operation of the School of Building and Crafts Čakovec – vocational school with tendencies to become a specialized technological and methodological centre.
The first stage of the school workshop reconstruction is about to be completed. By means of improving the workspace (i.e. more room, new sophisticated equipment and enhanced didactic environment), the ratio of practical part of education courses will be improved as well and there will be an increase in the number of attendants regardless of the formal status of the courses (i.e. regardless of the courses being a part of formal or retraining education process or being merely a part of a lifelong training process).
This is the very implementation of the CARDS project, Regional Centre for Vocational Education in Sustainable Building and Renewable Energy, that is to contribute significantly to the afore mentioned process(es). The project shall as well be conducive to a change in consciousness as to usable energy sources and building technologies by means of its content, its programs, teaching aids displayed, presentations and its educational programmes. In this way, The School of Building and Crafts will finally be a self-contained vocational, didactic and production entity in a shape of a centre of excellence with all enculturation possibilities and means at its disposal within the scopes of both its immediate surrounding and a wide regional areas.

c) Equipment and Offices

In the school building of an area of 2.800 m2 there are 20 classrooms, two fully equipped computer classrooms, a library, two studios, administrative offices, a staff room and 12 small teachers' offices. The largest structure is the sports hall (4,800 m2) which was reconstructed in 2002. The school complex comprises the student dormitory with 170 beds and a large workshop hall (1,500 m2) which will play an important role in the future as a model workshop for transfer of technology due to its diverse facilities. The workshops are supposed to become regional model workshops for sustainable construction and renewable energy resources. Two new workshops of 40 m2, two model workshops of 50 m2 with machines and equipment and a classroom with 12 computers will be rebuilt.
Such a complicated complex of structures is the centre of gathering and meeting of all public functions and manifestations for numerous town inhabitants as well as inhabitants of the whole region – exhibitions, seminars, and concerts take place in this area. In its 40 year old development The School of Building and Crafts Čakovec with its various courses presents an important secondary vocational education centre for the following counties: Varaždin, Koprivnica and Križevci, Virovitica and Podravina and Međimurje.

d) projects

The school is continuously educating students for taking part in various skill contests, but primarily in those closest to their vocation – contests in the fields of construction, mechanical engineering, wood processing and arts - are a prerequisite of a quality education of students for continued education at universities and polytechnical colleges and art academies. The achievements of the School in the state-level skill contests are remarkable and numerous. The school as well offers the courses that educate the students for entrance exams and the courses have contributed significantly to the rate of students' success in enrolling the schools of construction, architecture and design.
Due to a continuous level of quality of the education process, involvement in a series of successful projects and a distinctive role in the public and cultural activities, the School was granted a plaque – The golden Coats of Arms of the City of Čakovec in 2002 and, in the same year, an award from the ministry of education for its successful, quality and creative work. The basic principle of the educational work at the School is the creative dimension of the students' affirmation in the teaching process by means of the purposeful and worthy work. There are many projects in which the School participated for the needs of the Croatian Ministry of science, education and sports and the Building schools Association of Croatia and the most remarkable ones are as follows:
- A great contribution of teachers and the School as a whole in the role of the project leader in setting up the new curricula and teaching plans for all subjects taught in vocational schools from the realm of construction, other services and glass production.
- Many teachers are the authors of the certified curricula and vocation-related contents in knowledge database files used to monitor the practical work of students qualifying for masonry and carpentry. The teachers are as well the authors of a series of curricula in the unified model of education that were, in turn, incorporated by the Ministry of science, education and sports.
- The School coordinated and worked out the project of the required investments, system innovations and updating the teaching technology in the vocational education in the field of construction, surveying, other services and building materials
- The School has incorporated all the adult education courses curricula
- The School took part in the reconstruction of the fence at the Teacher training College in Čakovec pursuant to public bid. It was performed within the practical work of students qualifying for masons, carpenters and painters, under supervision of the Conservation Department of the Cultural Heritage Conservation Administration of Varaždin and with support from the Ministry of Science, Education and Sports.
- The School has taken part in reconstruction and re-building of a traditional "Međimurian house" at the village of Frkanovec. The works have been carried out under the auspices of the County of Međimurje, the Centre for Entrepreneurship Čakovec, the Conservation Department of the Cultural Heritage Conservation Administration of Varaždin and others.

Due to the constant quality in the domain of education and training, taking part in a series of successful projects and due to a distinguished role in the public and cultural life, the School has been repeatedly awarded by the local government and by the Minister of Education himself (Award for Successful, quality and Creative Work

e) Human Resources

The School of Building and Crafts Čakovec employs 131 persons:

Teachers
Teachers of the general education subjects: 42 out of which
Full-time: 35 (1 education advisor)
Part-time:7
Teachers of vocation specific subjects: 38 out of which
Full-time: 34 among which one practical work manager and one headmaster
Part-time: 4
Teachers in the student's hall of residence: 8 out of which
Full-time: 8
TOTAL: 88 teachers

Other employees
At school: 22 out of which
Clerks: 7
Technical staff: 15
In the student dormitory: 21 out of which
Technical staff: 21
TOTAL: 43, 11 of which are employed part-time and 4 among them are external associates

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