There will be success for every student as long as there are two or three more. Annual Meeting of the Professional Directors Community for Intercultural Education
On July 10th and 11th at the Samokov Hotel, Borovets complex, the Professional Director’s Community for Intercultural Education held its annual meeting. It was attended by more than 140 directors from the “Every student will be a winner” Network, administered by the Amalipe Center with the support of the Trust for a Social Achievement.
The purpose of the meeting was to share both successes and challenges and to look for solutions together, to look back at what the Network has been through, what it has achieved, but also forward, with a vision of how it should develop, to meet new challenges. Official guests at the meeting were Dr. Yanka Takeva – Chairperson of the Bulgarian Teachers’ Union, Mrs. Nataliya Mihalevska, Head of the Office of Minister Tsokov, representatives of the Ministry of Education, Regional Board of Education, Universities, etc.
Already at the beginning of the meeting, under the expert leadership of Petya Rusinova, until recently the director of the primary school “N.Vaptsarov”, Selanovtsi village and an expert of the
“Together in a Hour” Foundation, the present directors of schools from all over the country had the opportunity to share about their successes and challenges of the past school year. The most frequently shared successes were the reduction in the number of unexcused absences and the number of dropouts. It was gratifying to hear that the number of students of Roma origin continuing their education is increasing, as well as successful work with parents and the increasing role of the educational mediator. Among the successes were also the high scope of the subject students, active involvement in various extracurricular activities, the many prizes won in contests and competitions. Another large group of successes was the indication of increased tolerant relationships, good partnership with NGOs, employer organizations, active work on national programs and other projects, quality and effective inclusive education, volunteering and civic activity initiatives, successful teamwork and the implementation of successful innovations. The directors also pointed to the improved material base and the development of the STEM field as significant successes.
We did not spare ourselves the challenges during the past school year, namely the low motivation of part of the students, observations of demotivation of teachers, low results of national external evaluation, the difficult work with students with special educational needs and in some high schools and secondary schools the attendance of students . Work with parents was also mentioned here, but already as a challenge. Deyan Kolev explained this with the fact that the Roma community is currently undergoing a process and it is moving from patriarchy to modernization. The process takes place at different speeds in different Roma groups, in different settlements and even differently in two families. Because of this, principals’ observations about working with parents are different.
In the second session of the annual national meeting, led by Eli and Moni, the principals sparked their creativity and through posters and text they presented how they evaluate the Every Student Will be a winner program so far and how they see the Program and Amalipe developing. Divided into small groups, the participants created pictures and wrote texts dedicated to the Amalipe Center, based on their experience and long-term work with the organization.
Among the paintings there were suns – illuminating everyone, a feather – a symbol of literacy, a white swallow – carrying hope, a heart – a symbol of pure feelings, a wheel – gathering in itself love and tolerance, unity, support. Outstretched hands – for help and support. Butterflies were also drawn – the regional coordinators who tirelessly visit the schools, the tree whose roots are the organization and whose branches are the different schools, etc.
The feedback on what direction the Network should go from now on to be of maximum benefit to its members was also invaluable. The video messages about how the working groups mapped the future of the web can be seen here.
The creative work presented in the groups for the development of the “Every student will be a winner” Program and Network was also in harmony with the feedback from the survey completed by the schools in the network. According to her, the average score that the schools give to their participation in the Network is 5.44, and what attracts them most to the program is the opportunity for our voice to be heard and our proposals to reach the Ministry of Education and other institutions, and to influence educational policies, (49.3%), The opportunity to be part of a large network in which you find empathy, support and exchange experiences and ideas of schools with similar problems (47.3%), Receiving information about current normative changes in the field of education (43.2) and Support for educational mediators (39.7%).
And if the first day of the meeting was turned inwards, towards the development of the Professional Director Community for Intercultural Education and the Network “Every student will be excellent”, the second day was aimed at discussing pressing problems and issues related to current political developments in education, the vision of the Ministry of Education’s new guidance on inclusive education, educational desegregation, educational integration, national programs and the future of educational mediators. In a frank conversation, these topics were discussed with Dr. Yanka Takeva, Natalia Mihalevska, head of Prof. Tsokov’s office, Dima Kotseva and Kamen Yordanov (Directorate of Finance), Vladimir Stanchev and Ivan Ivanov (Directorate of Project Management and Implementation), Lalo Kamenov (TSOIDUEM). You can see more about this part of the meeting here.
See also:
The network “Every student will be a winner” covers more than 295 schools from all over the country and for the last ten years it has been developing the schools participating in it, supporting them in the prevention of dropping out of school, solving the problem of high absenteeism, low school success, 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 increasing the quality of education and achieving full coverage in both primary and secondary education.
The meeting was implemented with the support of
Trust for Social Achievement (TSA) is a non-governmental organization whose mission is to break the vicious cycle of poverty by promoting opportunities that help Bulgaria’s most disadvantaged citizens achieve educational and economic success. TSA supports programs that, with their integrity, potential for growth and transparency, help to improve the well-being of the poorest people in Bulgaria, with a special focus on the Roma.