By the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century reform movements in pedagogy were being introduced in Europe and among them work school which shook the foundations of traditional pedagogy. Work school movement was significantly felt in Croatia too and thus pointed out the formalism and inefficiency of Herbartian manner of educational process. It also put the stres on the child as the educational subject and his/her activity in the educatonal process. There were two new credos in the teaching process - work, self-activity and spontaneous work. Among the movements developing in Croatia, the work school was the most prevalent. In the thirties when it was evident that there were no material means to realize the ideal of handwork school, cultural and functional pedagogy came to the fore. Work school in Croatia had many prominent supporters but enemies, too. Although there were many doubts, work schol contributed to more progressive and modern teaching and educational process in Croatia.
