Associate Professor Željka Knežević, PhD, Project Leader
At the Faculty of Teacher Education, University of Zagreb, in the German Language Teacher Education programme, she is responsible for and teaches courses in multilingual and intercultural education, as well as in the methodology of German language teaching, with a particular focus on early language instruction. Her research is centred on teacher competences and on the development of multilingualism and intercultural competence from early childhood onward. She has been engaged in research on teacher competences since her doctoral studies.
She regularly presents her research at international scientific conferences and has published numerous scholarly articles and one scientific monograph. She is a member of the editorial board of the Croatian Journal of Education. She serves as a reviewer for several academic journals, including Research on Preschool and Primary Education, European Journal of Multilingualism, Metodički ogledi, Nova prisutnost, Strani jezici, Zagreber germanistische Beiträge, and Napredak, as well as for a number of international conference proceedings. She has served on programme and organising committees of numerous international scientific conferences.
Her previous research involvement includes participation in two international TEMPUS projects: Learning for Europe (2008–2009) and Modernizing Teacher Education in a European Perspective – MOTED (2010–2013), as well as the Erasmus+ KA2 project Coherence in European Teacher Education: Creating Transnational Communities of Practice through Virtual Scenarios (2020–2023). From 2009 to 2013, she was a researcher on the Ministry-funded project Development of Intercultural Competence in Primary Foreign Language Education.
She is currently a participant in the international COST Action CA21114 – CLIL Network for Languages in Education: Towards Bi- and Multilingual Disciplinary Literacies. Between 2019 and 2022, she led four one-year research projects at the Faculty of Teacher Education, University of Zagreb:
- Students’ Multilingual Potential in Primary Language Education (2019)
- Developing a Framework for Comprehensive Language Curricula in Primary Education (2020)
- Intercultural Competences of Future Primary School Teachers (2021)
- Preparedness of Future Primary School Teachers for Addressing Cultural Diversity in the Classroom (2022)
In addition to leading the institutional project KURS, she is a collaborator on the institutional research project Metaphor in First and Foreign Language Teaching (MetaTeach). She is an active member of the Educational Linguistics Laboratory at the Faculty of Teacher Education, University of Zagreb.
Publications: https://www.croris.hr/osobe/profil/29700
Tatjana Bašić, PhD Candidate
Tatjana Bašić graduated in 2016 from the Faculty of Teacher Education, University of Zagreb, earning a Master’s degree in Early and Preschool Education. She also holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics. She gained professional experience working as a preschool educator in several kindergartens.
She is currently a doctoral candidate in the postgraduate doctoral programme Linguistic, Literary and Cultural Context of Early, Preschool and Primary Education at the Faculty of Teacher Education, University of Zagreb. Her specific research interests include early foreign language learning, the implementation of new scientific insights into foreign language acquisition processes, and the challenges of transitioning foreign language learning from preschool institutions to primary schools. These topics form the basis of her doctoral dissertation, supervised by Associate Professor Ivana Cindrić, PhD.
Within the KURS project, she contributes to the development of the competence framework for preschool educators and teachers in the field of early foreign language instruction, the design of assessment and evaluation instruments, the implementation of research activities, the preparation of content for the digital platform, and the development of training programmes for educators and teachers.
Associate Professor Ivana Cindrić, PhD
Department of English Language Teacher Education, Faculty of Teacher Education, University of Zagreb
Her research focuses on English language teacher competences in very early and early school contexts, monitoring and assessment of pupil progress, and the application of contemporary methods and technologies in foreign language teaching. She is the author and co-author of scientific and professional publications and has edited conference proceedings from international symposia on early language learning.
In the English Language Teacher Education programme, she teaches courses in early English language teaching methodology. She participated in the development of the graduate study programme Early and Preschool Education – English Language Track, accredited in 2022.
Within the KURS project, she makes a key contribution to the development of the competence framework, the design of assessment and evaluation instruments, the implementation of research and data analysis, the preparation of digital platform content, and the development of training programmes.
Publications: https://www.croris.hr/osobe/profil/20517
Associate Professor Maja Drvodelić, PhD
Department of Pedagogy and Didactics, Faculty of Teacher Education, University of Zagreb
She teaches various courses as part of undergraduate and graduate programmes in Early and Preschool Education, focusing on the teaching profession as well as institutional self-evaluation and preschool development. Her research addresses, among other topics, the education and professional development of preschool educators.
She participated in the project Development of a National Standard of Professional Competences for Teachers (Ministry of Science, Education and Sports of the Republic of Croatia, 2009–2013). She was a researcher on the Croatian Science Foundation project Models of Response to the Educational Needs of Children at Risk of Social Exclusion in Early and Preschool Education Institutions (MORENEC) (2020–2024), and she is currently a researcher in the international project Transforming Education for Democracy through Aesthetic and Embodied Learning, Responsive Pedagogies and Democracy-as-Becoming (AECED) (HORIZON-CL2-2022-DEMOCRACY-01, 2023–2026).
Within the KURS project, she contributes significantly to the pedagogical dimension of the competence framework for preschool educators and teachers in early foreign language instruction, as well as to the development of assessment and evaluation instruments. Her engagement also includes research implementation and partial development of training programmes for English and German language teachers.
Publications: https://www.croris.hr/osobe/profil/29228
Tea Gavrilović Smolić, Senior Lecturer, PhD Candidate
Department of English Language Teacher Education, Faculty of Teacher Education, University of Zagreb
She is a doctoral candidate in the postgraduate programme in Glottodidactics at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb. Her doctoral research focuses on the role of movement in language teaching in preschool and early primary education.
Her scholarly and professional work addresses various aspects of early English language instruction, particularly the role of movement and space in language acquisition and teaching, as well as the application of drama-based pedagogical methods. She teaches methodology courses in early English language teaching and presents at scientific, artistic, and professional conferences.
She has participated in two Erasmus+ Blended Intensive Programmes on early foreign language teaching: Active Methodologies in the Training of Future Teachers of Foreign Languages in Early Childhood Education (2024) and Contemporary Teaching Methodologies in Pre-primary Foreign Language Learning (2025). She possesses extensive experience working with preschool children in teaching English, rhythmics, and dance. She authored children’s theatre performances in English staged in Zagreb theatres and at international festivals, and has conducted numerous professional development workshops for educators teaching foreign languages.
Within the KURS project, she contributes to the development of the competence framework, research implementation, preparation of digital platform content, and the development of training programmes.
Publications: https://www.croris.hr/osobe/profil/42536
Associate Professor Mateja Dagarin Fojkar, PhD
Faculty of Education, University of Ljubljana
She is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Education, University of Ljubljana (Slovenia), holding a PhD in early English language teaching. Her research focuses on early foreign language learning and the professional development of foreign language teachers at preschool and primary levels.
Over the past three years, she has actively participated in the Slovenian national education reform of primary schools and is a co-author of the national curriculum for foreign language teaching in the first educational cycle. She coordinated the international projects LIT4CLIL (Developing Literacy in a Foreign Language in CLIL Contexts) and INVITED (Integrating Virtual Exchanges into Preschool and Primary Education in Language Teacher Education).
She co-authored the English language textbooks Touchstone 4 and Touchstone 5 for fourth and fifth-grade primary school pupils.
Within the KURS project, she provides key contributions to the development of the competence framework, the design of assessment and evaluation instruments, the preparation of digital platform content, and the development of training programmes.
Publications: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Mateja-Dagarin-Fojkar
Silvija Hanžić Deda, PhD, Postdoctoral Researcher
Department of English Language Teacher Education, Faculty of Teacher Education, University of Zagreb
Her research systematically addresses early learning and teaching of English as a foreign language, with particular emphasis on emergent literacy and reading acquisition, the role of authentic teaching materials in preschool and early primary contexts, and the development of speaking and listening skills within communicative competence.
She regularly presents at scientific and professional conferences and conducts workshops for preschool educators and teachers of foreign languages. In the English Language Teacher Education programme, she teaches a linguistics course along with other courses in glottodidactics closely aligned with her research interests.
Within the KURS project, she participates in the development of the competence framework, research implementation and data analysis, preparation of digital platform content, and the development of training programmes.
Publications: https://www.croris.hr/osobe/profil/34894
Professor Petra Gretsch, PhD
Institute of German Language and Literature, Department of Language and Teacher Education, University of Education Freiburg
She is a faculty member at the Institute of German Language and Literature, the largest institute at the University of Education Freiburg (Germany). Since 2010, she has served as Professor of Linguistics and Foreign Language Methodology at the same institution. During her postdoctoral fellowship at the Max Planck Institute in Nijmegen (Netherlands), she led the Finiteness Research Group within the Department of Language Acquisition.
Her areas of expertise include language acquisition, visualization, literacy development, and language diagnostics. She is a member of the Scientific Advisory Boards of the Central Agency for German Schools Abroad (ZfL) and the Language Department of the Goethe-Institut. As a member of the Language Department, she participated in the international Goethe-Institut project Rahmencurriculum Boto – Mit Deutsch wachsen. Durchgängiges Sprachlernangebot für Kinder im Alter von 3 bis 11 Jahren an Goethe-Instituten (2025), aimed at developing framework curricula and guidelines for early German language learning.
Her teaching focuses particularly on transitions from preschool to primary education and from primary to secondary education. Within the KURS project, she contributes to the development of the competence framework, the design of assessment and evaluation instruments, the preparation of digital platform content, and the development of training programmes for preschool educators and teachers.
Publications: https://www.ph-freiburg.de/deutsch/mitglieder/personendetails.html
Assistant Professor Jelena Parizoska, PhD
Department of English Language Teacher Education, Faculty of Teacher Education, University of Zagreb
She holds a PhD in Linguistics from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb. Her research interests include figurative language, cognitive grammar, and the teaching of English as a foreign language.
She co-authored the online Phraseological Dictionary of the Croatian Language, for which she independently developed dictionary entries using the Lexonomy software tool. She is a researcher on two competitive COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) projects: CA22115 A Multilingual Repository of Phraseme Constructions in Central and Eastern European Languages (PhraConRep) (2023–2027) and CA21167 Universality, Diversity and Idiosyncrasy in Language Technology (UniDive) (2022–2026). Within the PhraConRep Action, she contributes to the development of strategies and teaching materials for the instruction of phraseme constructions in English as a foreign language.
She co-organises and co-leads the CLASSLA-Express workshop series on the use of computational corpora in linguistic research, intended for university teachers, linguists, doctoral candidates, and students. In the English Language Teacher Education programme, she teaches applied linguistics courses focused on developing teachers’ linguistic-communicative competence and on teaching metaphor to young learners.
Within the KURS project, she participates in the development of the competence framework, research implementation and data analysis, preparation of digital platform content, and the development of training programmes.
Publications: https://www.croris.hr/osobe/profil/20474
Professor Ana Petravić, PhD
Department of German Language Teacher Education – Intercultural German Studies, Faculty of Teacher Education, University of Zagreb
Her research focus within the KURS project includes early foreign language methodology and didactics, with emphasis on German, early second language acquisition, curricula for early foreign language learning, and teacher competences in this field. In the German Language Teacher Education programme, she is responsible for and teaches several courses in German language teaching methodology with a focus on early learning and instruction.
She has participated in international Goethe-Institut projects aimed at developing framework curricula and guidelines for early German language learning, including Nürnberger Empfehlungen zum frühen Fremdsprachenlernen. Neubearbeitung (2010), Deutsch von Anfang an (2018), and Rahmencurriculum Boto – Mit Deutsch wachsen (2025).
Her broader research interests include the development of multilingual and intercultural competence and foreign language teacher education. She participated in TEMPUS projects focused on improving initial higher education teacher training (Learning for Europe – Curriculum Development and Counselling in Education; Modernizing Teacher Education in a European Perspective) and led the projects Development of Intercultural Competence in Primary Foreign Language Education (2009–2013) and (Multi)lingual Profiles of Primary Schools.
Within the KURS project, she makes a significant contribution to the development of the competence framework, the design of assessment and evaluation instruments, the preparation of digital platform content, and the development of training programmes for English and German language teachers.
Publications: https://www.croris.hr/osobe/profil/3108
Kristine Petrušić, PhD Candidate
She is a doctoral candidate in the postgraduate doctoral programme in Glottodidactics at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb. Her doctoral research focuses on the application of the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) concept in teaching German as a foreign language.
Her scholarly and professional work addresses various aspects of early German language teaching, including inclusion, individualisation, active learning and teaching, participation, and cooperative and collaborative learning. She has participated in several international Goethe-Institut projects, including Deutsch von Anfang an. She co-led the innovation fund project of the Goethe-Institut and the German Federal Foreign Office Mit Deutsch wachsen, aimed at ensuring continuous language education in preschool and early primary contexts.
She has extensive experience teaching German as a foreign language to preschool children and has conducted numerous professional development workshops for preschool educators and primary school teachers. She designed and developed the modular professional development programme Aller Anfang ist leicht, currently being piloted at selected Goethe-Institutes in Europe.
Within the KURS project, she contributes to the development of the competence framework, the design of assessment and evaluation instruments, research implementation, preparation of digital platform content, and the development of training programmes.
Assistant Professor Maša Rimac Jurinović, PhD
Department of Croatian Language and Literature, Drama and Media Culture, Faculty of Teacher Education, University of Zagreb
Her research focuses on the application of drama-based pedagogical activities in language learning and teaching processes, as well as on theatre for children and youth, with particular emphasis on reception studies. In the undergraduate programme in Early and Preschool Education, she teaches courses in drama education, theatre culture, and puppetry.
She has extensive experience in designing and delivering professional drama pedagogy training programmes and possesses substantial methodological experience in developing teaching materials as an author of Croatian language textbooks. Since 2018, she has continuously participated in international projects related to language development and creative teaching methods, including Erasmus+ projects Let’s Communicate! (2018), ACT – Act, Communicate and Transcend (2021), TAT – The Art of Teaching (2022), and ACIIS – Academy for Creative, Innovative and Inclusive Schools (2023), as well as the HORIZON project AECED (2023–2026).
Within the KURS project, she contributes to the development of the competence framework, the preparation of digital platform content, and the development of training programmes.
Publications: https://www.croris.hr/osobe/profil/32895
Associate Professor Ana Šenjug Krleža, PhD
Department of German Language Teacher Education – Intercultural German Studies, Faculty of Teacher Education, University of Zagreb
Her research consistently addresses early foreign language learning, teacher competences, multilingual development of pupils, and the development and evaluation of intercultural competence. Her scholarly work encompasses both theoretical and practical aspects of education, with particular focus on early foreign language instruction.
As a collaborator on several national and international projects, including the Goethe-Institut project Deutsch von Anfang an, she has participated in research on educational policy and methodological-didactic factors shaping early (German) foreign language learning in Croatia and the region. She completed her doctoral dissertation on the evaluation of intercultural competence in primary foreign language education. In her recent work, she analyses teacher competences required for effective action in contemporary, dynamic, and socially sensitive educational environments.
Within the KURS project, she provides a key contribution to the development and operationalisation of the competence framework, the design of assessment and evaluation instruments, scientific analysis and interpretation of research findings, and the development of training programmes for English and German language teachers.
Publications: https://www.croris.hr/osobe/profil/25987
About the Project
The KURS project (Competences of Preschool and Primary Teachers for Early Foreign Language Teaching) aims to enhance the quality of early childhood and primary education (ISCED 0 and ISCED 1) by strengthening the professional competences of preschool and primary teachers.
At the core of the project is the development of a research-based competence framework for educators teaching foreign languages in early childhood. The framework is conceived as a practical foundation for the development of qualification standards and continuing professional development programmes, as well as a relevant basis for shaping educational policies in the field of early foreign language learning.
The project also includes the development and validation of an instrument for assessing knowledge, attitudes, and skills, along with the implementation of a national empirical study on the competences of preschool and primary teachers involved in early foreign language teaching. The results will serve as the basis for proposing training programmes for early English and German language teachers.
In this way, the project supports continuity between preschool and primary foreign language education and promotes multilingualism and intercultural understanding from the earliest age.
The digital component of the project is a competence assessment platform for preschool and primary teachers, providing a widely applicable, research-based tool for analysing their continual professional development needs.
Specific Project Objectives
- Development of a competence framework for preschool and primary teachers in early foreign language teaching
- Development of an instrument for evaluating teacher competences in early foreign language teaching
- Implementation of research on teacher competences in early foreign language teaching
- Development of a digital self-assessment platform for teacher competences in early foreign language teaching
- Preparation of a proposal for training programmes for preschool and primary teachers of English and German in early education