A national meeting of the professional director community for intercultural education was held in the resort Golden Sands
After a year and a half, waiting for the right moment, in the period July 22-24, the Amalipe Center held a National Meeting of the Professional Principal Community for Intercultural Education “Every student will be an excellent student” at the Golden Sands Resort. More than 150 directors from all over the country took part in the first long-standing meeting organized for the entire Network.
The long-awaited event passed with the necessary anti-epidemiological measures. Good practices were shared during the three working days; current topics were discussed in interactive ways; and special guests, including the Minister of Education Prof. Denkov, directors of directorates in the Ministry of Education and Science, the director of COIDUEM Lalo Kamenov and Prof. Radostina Alexandrova – a scientist at BAS, presented correctly useful and necessary information for the principals.
The meeting was opened by Deyan Kolev, who presented what happened in the Network “Every student will be an excellent student” in the school year 2020-2021. The main results of the students and schools included in the Program were shown, and a comparison was made with the general results for the country. An important conclusion was that the classes that studied more in the last year have higher and good results, which do not differ from those for the country. How the Amalipe Center supported online schools and educational mediators during the pandemic was also summarized in the presentation. You can see it here.
Through the interactive platform Mentimeter.com, the present principals showed where they are from and what the school year was like for them. Again there they had the opportunity to ask their questions to Prof. Nikolay Denkov – Minister of Education and Science. He joined the event online through the ZOOM platform. Minister Denkov had the opportunity to see the inquiries in real time. After his greeting to the directors, he answered the most frequently asked and liked questions. Prof. Denkov thanked for the work of the schools from the network “Every student will be an excellent student” and the Amalipe Center. He emphasized that the interaction of schools in networks and the partnership with non – governmental organizations that actually work in the field is a prerequisite for the more successful work of all. Answering the question about how the new school year will start and whether it will take place in person or online, Prof. Denkov stressed that about the presence / absence in the classrooms. “No one can say or predict what will happen. Given the situation in the world and Europe, it is possible that everyone will move to the BSEC. The position of the Ministry of Education and Science is that we must ensure the maximum possible presence of students in school…. We plan to attend the school year in person, but we are also preparing for absenteeism. ” You can see all his answers here.
This was followed by systematic questions from the participants to Sonya Krastanova, Director of the Finance Directorate, Penka Ivanova, Director of the Textbooks and School Documentation Directorate, and Gergana Stancheva, Project Management and Implementation Directorate, in connection with current policies and projects. The cases were again set and broadcast in real time via Mentimeter. The principals received answers to questions related to the projects “Equal access to school education in times of crisis”, “Support for inclusive education”, “Support for success” and others. The team of the project “Support for Success” encouraged the submission of new units for educational mediators from schools that do not have them, as well as increasing the length of the working day from 4 to 8 hours for the existing number of mediators.
The day ended with dynamic group work. The principals created 8 pages of comics, recreating the emotions caused by the pandemic and the transition to ORES of students, parents, teachers, principals.
The second day was also filled with interactivity, sharing and special guests. In the intersection session, a debate was held for and against vaccines, in order to raise the main issues of those present and to debunk the myths about the infection with Kovid-19 and vaccination. And the main role for this was played by Prof. Radostina Alexandrova from BAS, who answered all the questions honestly, clearly and concretely. The information she shared was so interesting and understandable that the time was not enough. The audience listened with interest and no one was in a hurry to pause. Our aim was to help clarify the ambiguities to the pedagogical and non-pedagogical staff about vaccination, which can affect the current course of the new school year and overcome the deficits of distance learning.
Lalo Kamenov – Director of the Center for Educational Integration of Children and Students from Ethnic Minorities, together with Niren Hasanova – Chief Expert also there, presented the updated regulations of COIDUEM and the new competition opportunities for schools. What are the priorities in the tender procedure 33.20-2021, what are the eligible activities and what are the steps for application, all this was learned by the directors from the representatives of COIDUEM. You can view their entire presentation here.
Atanas Atanasov from Amalipe Center presented the work of Amalipe with the educational mediators and the Network of Educational Mediators established throughout the last school year, which covers the whole country. Educational mediators are one of the key participants in the process of full coverage and promotion of learning in an ethnically mixed environment. They have been a key factor in overcoming digital exclusion.
By the end of the event, attendees participated in more interactive tasks, divided into groups. They discussed the strategic development of different types of schools in the network “Every student will be a winner”, possible models that promote quality improvement, overcoming segregation and exclusion, opportunities for different types of desegregation models and more. They discussed current and important topics for all of them at the “World Café”. They created an input of the future, in which hopes, messages and wishes were collected for themselves, as well as for the whole community – students, parents, teachers, MES, MH, doctors – the heroes of the new time. The national meeting of the Professional Principal Community for Intercultural Education “Every student will be an excellent student” created even greater cohesion in the network, long-awaited moments of reciprocity and an environment for sharing, informing and seeking answers.
Thanks to everyone present!
You can get acquainted with the answers to the questions asked by Prof. Denkov here.
The “Every student will be an excellent” network covers over 295 schools across the country and over the last ten years has developed the participating schools, helping them to prevent school dropouts, solve the problem of high absenteeism, low school performance, the relatively small percentage of Roma continuing their education in secondary schools (high schools) and graduating from secondary education, the non-participation of Roma parents in school life and in school management structures. The network has become one of the most active participants in the process of improving the quality of education and achieving full coverage in both primary and secondary education.
The meeting is realized with the support of
The Trust for Social Achievement (TSA) is a non-governmental organization whose mission is to break the vicious circle of poverty by promoting opportunities that help the most disadvantaged citizens of Bulgaria to achieve educational and economic success. TSA supports programs that, with their integrity, growth potential and transparency, help to improve the well-being of the poorest people in Bulgaria, with a special focus on the Roma.
and the Project NOSEGREGATION: Local Action Against School Segregation of Roma, financed by the European Union’s Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme (2014-2020). Project No 848954
