August 7, 2023August 7, 2023

What goals and specific measures are included in the Management Program of the Denkov-Gabriel Government in the field of education

Changes to the Law on Preschool and School Education, the Law on Vocational Education and five other legislative initiatives have been planned by the Denkov-Gabriel Government until the end of 2024. Another 23 other measures are set in relation to the activities of the Executive Power: among them are ensuring the sustainability of the payment of educational mediators, the development of a Standard for the quality of school education, the simplification of curricula and the assessment system, changes in the Ordinance on the appointment of principals, changes in the functioning of the Regional Department of Education, the introduction of a National System for the Assessment of Early Childhood Development , targeted support for language integration, a program for the construction/reconstruction of kindergartens and schools and many others. The educational part of the program lacks explicit commitments to topics such as intercultural education, overcoming educational segregation, and educational integration is primarily reduced to linguistic integration.

The purpose of the present analysis is not to give any political assessment, but to sharpen attention to the main political commitments for the development of pre-school and school education undertaken in the Government Program. The analysis also outlines some of the key thematic areas for which specific measures are not foreseen – intercultural education, overcoming segregation/prevention of new segregation and partly – the promotion of educational integration. I believe that these areas are key to the development of Bulgarian education, and without tangible progress in them, real modernization, equal access for all children and an increase in the quality of education are not possible.

The government’s program in the field of education: what is planned?

The government management program with Prime Minister Academician Nikolay Denkov and Deputy Prime Minister Maria Gabriel was approved at the meeting of the Council of Ministers on July 26. It was read until the end of December 2024, taking into account that after the first nine months Prime Minister Denkov and Deputy Prime Minister Gabriel will exchange their seats.

A total of 7 legislative initiatives in the field of education have been launched by the government. It is planned that by February 2024, the Ministry of Education will submit to the National Assembly a project to supplement and amend the Law on Preschool and School Education. The program states that the changes will be “in connection with the expansion of innovative educational institutions, early childhood development, teacher qualification and the synchronization of state educational standards.” Changes to the Law on preschool and school education have been proposed for a long time by the Commission for Education and Science of the National Assembly, chaired by the former Minister of Education Krasimir Valchev. They can also be on other issues – for example, simplifying the requirements for the curricula to be basic and provide school autonomy (this was already discussed at a meeting of the Commission), etc. The Amalipe Center insists that the amended Law contain anti-segregation texts that promote the desegregation of segregated schools in large cities and the implementation of municipal desegregation policies (in addition to the current art. 99, paragraphs 4 and 6), the introduction of the profession of “educational mediator” , an addition to the funding model providing more funds to schools and kindergartens with a small number of children and students, expanding the use of intercultural education, etc. More about the Amalipe Center offers, see HERE.

By November 2023, the Ministry of Education must submit to the National Assembly a proposal for changes to the Law on Vocational Education (with the aim of developing a comprehensive national system for vocational and early career guidance of students and updating the classifier of professions) and changes to the Law for higher education. The latter will regulate the possibility of a 3-year study in the educational-qualification degree “bachelor”, with the possibility of a subsequent 2-year study in the educational-qualification degree “master”.

A total of 23 measures are provisions regarding the activities that fall under the portfolio of the Ministry of Education. Among them we can highlight:

Ensuring sustainability in the payment of educational mediators, by changing the Ordinance on financing: in practice, this measure was already implemented a month ago. The regular government and Minister Tsokov “inherited” a serious problem regarding the payment of educational mediators, after in April the then acting minister Professor Penov decided not to continue the National Program for the Support of Educational Mediators. A civil advocacy campaign initiated by the Amalipe Center followed, involving all social partners (unions and directors’ unions), 60 NGOs and over 21,000 citizens. It was also supported by the National Ombudsman, numerous other institutions and embassies. As the threat from 1 July that most of the appointed mediators would be out of a job was quite real, the Ministry of Education initiated changes to the Funding Ordinance, through which special funds were made available for the appointment of educational mediators in schools and kindergartens with a concentration of vulnerable groups. See more information here:

The found solution is not ideal. The question of how to appoint mediators also in those schools and kindergartens, which have a low concentration of vulnerable groups, but carry out an integration process and need a mediator, remains open.

Changing the curricula in order to relieve the studied material of unnecessary factual burden and an overall change towards the introduction of framework curricula that provide wide school autonomy: the need for such a reform requires the action of both the Legislature and, above all, the Executive. The previous regular government (in which Academician Denkov was Minister of Education) started a process of curriculum analysis, but it was terminated by Professor Penov. The approved management change foresees that by November 2023 the Ministry of Education will develop a concept for a comprehensive change, and by November 2024 that the curricula will be changed.
Preparation of a quality standard in school education, which takes into account all the main elements of the educational process – material environment, teacher qualifications, teaching methods, organization and coordination of processes, indicators of achieved results, etc.: for a long time there has been talk of measurement of the quality of education without it being clear what content is included in this concept. Already during the time of Minister Krasimir Valchev, and then – of Minister Denkov, the Ministry of Education began the development of a concept for evaluating the quality of education, by evaluating the “added value”. It focuses on following the development of students who study in a given school, rather than comparing different (incommensurable in themselves) educational institutions – an approach that is grounded and logical. In the first half of 2022, a special team hired by the Ministry of Education produced a sample ranking of the “added value” in primary and secondary schools, which was to be published in September 2022.
The government program envisages that by November 2023 a vision for this Standard will be developed, and that it will be adopted by November 2024. Work on it began on July 31, with the Ministry of Education initiating the formation of a broad working group, with the participation of teachers/principals, main directorates in the Ministry of Education, trade unions and employers, active educational organizations.

Amalipe Center will advocate in the working group the inclusion of indicators and methods for measuring quality not only through the results of national external evaluation and state matriculation exams, but also through the formed school culture of interaction, how far schools form free and active citizens with their position , how successfully they interact with parents, etc. These indicators should be tracked within the specific educational institution and take into account its context, and not “horizontal rankings” that compare schools educating students from families of very different socio-economic and educational profiles.

Change in the rules for conducting competitions for the selection of principals of schools and kindergartens in order to avoid subjectivity and party influence and with a focus on the director’s competence profile: after the previous regular government approved a new Ordinance for conducting competitions for the position ” director” and plans to hold elections in over 400 schools, its implementation was temporarily suspended by an appeal to the Supreme Administrative Court in August 2022. In March 2023, the Supreme Administrative Court ruled on the disputed Ordinance, finding weaknesses in some details, but not in its main points. However, director competitions were suspended back in August 2022 and are currently not held. The approved government program envisages that the Ordinance will be revised by November 2023. The announced intentions of the current leadership of the Ministry of Education are to conduct director competitions in stages, and this will probably begin after the change in the Ordinance.
Introducing a national system for tracking early childhood development in nurseries and kindergartens and for timely support from specialists for each child, as well as developing a policy and standard for early childhood development. The measure should be implemented by February 2024. It marks an increased focus on early childhood development. This is indisputably necessary in view of the fact that children’s development begins long before entering the first grade, and for years the attention of the Ministry of Education has been directed mostly to schools and to a much lesser extent to kindergartens.
An important political measure is formulated as “the introduction of a concept of language integration and its regulation in the education system with the aim of retaining students in the education system, additional language training, support for teachers and provision of additional financial support”. It refers to the serious problem faced by hundreds of schools and kindergartens, as well as thousands of teachers: A large part of the students who enter kindergartens and primary classes do not have a sufficient command of the Bulgarian language, they do not find support for it absorption and as a result drop out. It is about children from traditional linguistic minorities, as well as migrants and refugees coming to Bulgaria, as well as families of Bulgarian citizens who have lived abroad returning to Bulgaria. The approved program envisages that by November 2024 a concept for language support and language integration will be developed and implemented.

In implementation of this measure, from August 1, the Ministry of Education formed a working group, with the participation of teachers/principals, main directorates in the Ministry of Education, trade unions and employers, active educational organizations. The group is expected to prepare a first version of the concept by the beginning of September 2023, so that parts of it will be considered during the discussions on changes to the Law on Preschool and School Education.

Amalipe Center will insist in the Working Group that diverse forms of language support are formulated that do not further segregate children and students from traditional linguistic minorities. It is not necessary to introduce an additional preparatory class/group, other than the mandatory three-year preparatory groups in kindergartens and classes in schools. If the educational and educational interaction with the children is carried out appropriately, they would learn the literary Bulgarian language within the framework of the compulsory preschool education and through additional support in the elementary grades. On the other hand, it is necessary that the additional hours (within the Success for You Project, the Ordinance on Inclusive Education, etc.) should not be in the form of standard hours, but should use interactive methods, as well as intercultural education.

The implementation of programs for the repair, renovation and construction of kindergartens and schools, including gymnasiums and playgrounds is foreseen: this need is particularly acute in rural areas and even in some of the large cities where a large number of children and students are concentrated. Funds from the National Plan for Recovery and Sustainability have been earmarked to cover this need.

See all the measures provided for in the Government Program here

Measures that are missing

Like any political program, this one also omits some important measures. This can be explained by the fact that the Program was developed in a quick order, in the coordination of priorities between different parties, as well as due to its relatively short time horizon. Usually, government programs have a horizon of 4 years, and the current one is until December 2024, with many analysts expressing doubt as to how long this deadline will be met. Some of the missing measures that can and should be supplemented are:

Measures to overcome existing segregation in large and small cities and to prevent secondary segregation: The problem of educational segregation is extremely acute. According to data from the EU Agency for Basic Human Rights (Fundamental Rights Agency), Bulgaria is the country in the EU with the largest percentage of Roma students who are educated in entirely (or almost entirely) “Roma” classes – over 60%. A 2020 Amalipe Center study found that a total of 182 secondary schools and 150 vocational high schools in major and minor cities were either fully segregated or in the process of being segregated. (In this number we do not include 750 schools in villages and small towns, in which all or almost all minority children are educated: since there are no other schools in these settlements, we cannot speak of segregation). For more than two decades, the civil sector and municipalities have implemented pilot projects for desegregation and promotion of education in ethnically mixed schools. the Ministry of Education also supports this policy, but so far it is mostly through the adoption of strategic documents and through the allocation of funds from the European Social Fund (through the Education Program) and through tender procedures of the Center for Educational Integration of Children and Students from ethnic minorities. Since 2019, the Ministry of Education has also started funding a National Program to support municipalities to implement desegregation activities. She is on a very limited budget.

Educational desegregation policies need to become a real priority for the Ministry of Education. The regional structures of the Ministry (regional management of education) should have a targeted impact on the non-formation of segregated classes in ethnically mixed schools (there is also a special text for this in Article 99, Paragraph 4 of the Preschool and School Education Act), as well as to encourage municipalities to develop and implement their own municipal desegregation policies.

2. Regarding educational mediators, it is necessary to work on the approval of the profession “educational mediator”. In 2022, the Association of Industrial Capital in Bulgaria and the Union of Bulgarian Teachers submitted a proposal for the approval of the profession “educational mediator” with requirements for the education and qualification of the appointed mediators. Then the Ministry of Education stopped the process. It is necessary to “unfreeze” it again and to introduce clear pathways for the qualification of mediators, their career development, the functions they perform, as well as the possibility for some of them to complete higher pedagogical education and become full-fledged teachers. Besides, the inclusion of the educational mediator in the Preschool and School Education Act will also contribute to the sustainability of this profession.

It is also necessary to optimally quickly find an option for the appointment of educational mediators in ethnically mixed schools and kindergartens, which do not fall within the scope of Art. 52 a of the Financing Ordinance, but implement a process of desegregation. The amended in July 2023. An ordinance provides a resource in schools and kindergartens with a concentration of vulnerable groups, but it is also needed in some of the educational institutions with a lower concentration.

3. More serious political attention to the introduction of intercultural education is needed. This topic is completely left out of the government agenda. “Traditionally” it is hidden behind vague formulations about inclusive education. In fact, the Law on preschool and school education defines two different Standards – for Inclusive education and for Civic… and intercultural education. The practice of thousands of teachers clearly indicates that the educational interaction with children and students – carriers of different cultures, is much more than what is carried out under the Inclusive Education Ordinance. Intercultural education is one of the sure means of preventing dropouts and making the school/kindergarten a desirable place for every student and parent. For a country like Bulgaria, where at least one third of the children belong to ethnic, religious and/or linguistic minorities and whose citizens often live and study abroad, intercultural education is imperative. The vast majority of Bulgarian students today will work and live with representatives of different ethnicities and cultures in Bulgaria. Many of them will study or work and live in other European countries. In order to prepare them for real life, Bulgarian education should include the intercultural perspective as an immanent characteristic.

The Ministry of Education should take targeted actions to expand the scope of intercultural and civic education

Addition and changes to the Civil Environmental Health and Intercultural Education Standard: imperative to include intercultural forms in all grades and stages
Support for extracurricular activities and optional study hours in the field of intercultural and civic education: incl. targeted activities of regional education management in this direction, support for initiatives of NGOs and universities to introduce intercultural education
Inclusion of intercultural initiatives in the Extracurricular Activities Calendar
Support of the Ministry of Education and Regional Education Management for the holding of conferences and competitions on school practices for intercultural education
Support for preserving and developing cultural diversity and identity through intercultural and civic education

The government program with its priorities and planned measures sets clear guidelines for the activities of the Ministry of Education and its regional structures in the coming months. In democratic countries, every public policy is formed and implemented in a continuous dialogue with the main stakeholders – teachers, independent experts, civil organizations, trade unions, employers’ organizations, etc. It is necessary for the political intentions stated in the Education part of the Government Program to be further developed precisely in such a dialogue, including by complementing topics such as intercultural education, overcoming segregation and others mentioned above. The current government and, in particular, Professor Tsokov’s team, have set a good example and requested the partnership of all interested parties in resolving the crisis with educational mediators and in the formation of working groups for the preparation of the Quality Standard, as well as for language integration. The continuation of this partnership will certainly lead to the achievement of important results.

Photo: Council of Ministers