Bulgarian students are seriously lagging behind their European peers, it became ‎clear from a European study at the end of last year. Nearly 50% of young people ‎in Bulgaria aged 16-19 do not have the basic skills to cope in a digital ‎environment, according to the latest EC report on education and training in the ‎member states. This is one of the lowest indicators in the EU (69% on average). ‎The pandemic and the mass transition to online learning have had a bad impact ‎on the motivation and results of nearly half of Bulgarian students, according to a ‎study by the Institute for Education Research. ‎

Fortunately, there is light, and it is in “Good Practices in Focus”. This is the ‎name of one of the biggest events in Bulgarian education, which collects and ‎promotes good examples from school and the classroom. On April 29 and 30, ‎the second edition of the National Education Forum will take place in Sofia, ‎organized by the Zaedno v Chas Foundation and the website prepodavame.bg. ‎More than 400 teachers, school principals, representatives of educational ‎institutions and experts from all over the country will share experiences, ‎inspiration and engage in practical workshops in search of new approaches to ‎engaging students in the 21st century. ‎

‎

"We have known for many years, thanks to our work, that they are somewhere ‎out there and they are happening. There are an awful lot of colleagues who ‎create, innovate, experiment and really prove their work with results. And the ‎idea of this whole process and the event is actually to collect this experience and ‎make it visible and accessible to more and more teachers and especially to more ‎and more students.‎

Good practices are numerous and varied this year, Borislava tells us. The best of ‎them which participated in the national competition at the forum will also be ‎distinguished weekend with prizes. But the greatest reward for all of us is the ‎dialogue and the building of a network for communication and dissemination of ‎the acquired experience, Danova believes.‎

In general, in the classical education system, changes still happen on the basis of ‎the personal initiative of individual school principals and teachers. They are not ‎few and are trying to get out of the fragmented classrooms, literally and ‎figuratively, says the expert. ‎

Specially for the event in Sofia, the long-time supporter of Zaedno v chas ‎Foundation, Dr. Rima Shore, scientist and analyst with numerous publications ‎and books related to early childhood development and secondary education, is ‎arriving in Sofia. She is the head of the Department of Educational Leadership at ‎Bank Street College of Education in New York, USA. Rima Shore attends ‎schools all over the world, including in Bulgaria. It is this view from the inside ‎of the Bulgarian educational reality and the knowledge of the challenges and ‎needs of the teachers here, according to Borislava, that will make the meeting ‎very useful for her colleagues in Bulgaria

‎"A lot depends on the practices and the context of the specific children," ‎Borislava Daneva answers. “It is very important that a teacher first thinks ‎specifically about the student's needs, because every child is different and ‎sometimes needs an individual approach. And the second thing is when we talk ‎about adaptation - and this is one of the themes of the forum this year - we have ‎to have an experimental mindset, try to understand the principle and the goals of ‎a practice, then change it as needed, so that it can actually work for us." ‎

There is no lack of desire for change. This change comes from the bottom up, ‎believes Borislava Daneva.‎

‎"There is always hope, and it lies in the colleagues, the people who work with ‎the students. For this reason, we always emphasize on hearing their opinion, ‎seeing their efforts, hearing their needs, and all this must be said when we all sit ‎down at the same table - teachers, institutions, experts. We see that this is ‎happening and there lies the hope for change in the Bulgarian school system."‎