Croatian probation officers participated in job shadowing in the probation service in Austria from 13 to 17 October 2025
Within the Erasmus+ Accreditation project, a total of six officers from the probation offices in Bjelovar, Dubrovnik, Varaždin, Vukovar and Zagreb, and from the Central Office of the Probation Sector had the opportunity to improve their skills during the five-day job shadowing in the Austrian probation service in Vienna.
The probation services in Austria are carried out by NEUSTART, a non-governmental organisation whose seat and largest office are located in Vienna, with branch offices in other federal provinces. The organisation has a long tradition, it has existed since 1957.
The participants were familiarised with the work organisation, service provision, financing and statistics of NEUSTART. The organisation stands out with its comprehensive activities, since in addition to probation services in terms of supervision and monitoring of probationers, it offers a number of social work and other services for its clients, criminal offenders as well as victims. Its goal is to ensure that all members of society have a good life without crime through their professional and assistive approach.
Participants in job shadowing were introduced to the work of probation officers in meetings, through participation in their interviews with criminal offenders and in supervisory meetings. They had a mutual exchange of experiences, acquired knowledge, examples of good practice, as well as the challenges they face in probation work. Croatian probation officers gained insights into the similarities and differences of the two probation systems. All participants actively participated in the planned activities and had the opportunity to make a personal contribution to the quality of the exchange.
Through this form of training, Croatian officials have directly acquired valuable knowledge and experience that they can immediately implement and improve their work. In addition, such an exchange gives rise to a number of ideas and opens up the possibility of creating long-term plans for the improvement of the national probation system.
