BULGARIA

1. Key indicators

2. Highlights

3. A focus on digital education

Insufficient digital skills among teachers are an obstacle hampering the use of technology in the classroom. In the 2018 Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS), 44% of Bulgarian teachers in lower secondary education reported using ICT in most or every lesson, slightly below the EU average of 47% (OECD, 2019a). Although Bulgarian teachers find digital tools useful, meaningful integration of technology in the classroom is not strongly evident: in particular, teachers report the lack of technical equipment and of appropriate products, lack of skills and of time in the curriculum (E. Paunova-Hubenova et al., 2019). Compared to the EU average, Bulgarian teachers tend to have less confidence in their digital skills (European Commission, 2019a). These figures partly reflect the large proportion of teachers older than 50 (see Section 5) but clearly show the need to improve learning opportunities through initial teacher education and continuing professional development. The need for training on how to integrate technology into teaching was also evident during the COVID-19 school closure, with two thirds of respondent teachers in a recent survey reporting no prior training on working with online platforms or distance learning programmes (Bakracheva M., Totseva J., 2020). The programmes ‘Qualification of Pedagogical Specialists’ and ‘Education for tomorrow’, co-funded by the European Social Fund (ESF), have been providing training to teachers in various topics, including digital skills.

Bulgarian schools lag behind in terms of digital equipment and IT infrastructure. Compared to the European average, fewer schools in Bulgaria are highly digitally equipped and connected. 32% of Bulgarian students in primary education (EU average 35%), 31% at lower secondary level (EU average 52%) and 37% at upper secondary level (EU average 72%) study in such schools (European Commission, 2019a). In recent years, EU-funded investments were made to improve digital equipment and ICT infrastructure in schools. However, an assessment by the Ministry of Education and Science shows that less than 40% had adequate equipment in their computer labs. Furthermore, a survey conducted between 2017 and 2018 showed that only about half of Bulgarian schools provided conditions enabling technology-enhanced teaching, including modern ICT infrastructure and opportunities for teachers to improve their ICT skills (Terzieva V. et al., 2020).

The need to improve students’ digital skills remains high. Only 57% of Bulgarians aged 16-19 assessed their digital skills as basic or higher, significantly below the EU average of 82%. Moreover, Bulgarian students in lower secondary education have less confidence in their digital competences than the EU average. At upper secondary level, students’ confidence is above the EU average in digital content creation, problem solving and safety, but not in communication and collaboration, information and data literacy (European Commission, 2019a). Nevertheless, in Bulgaria there are comparatively more students engaging in coding activities (ibid.). In 2019, 73% of tenth grade students who took the compulsory standardised test received a certificate attesting their level of digital competences. The assessment also indicates the areas that require further improvement, including computational thinking, problem solving and creation of digital content.

Efforts are being made to improve the low level of digital skills. The 2020 Digital Economy and Society Index places Bulgaria at the bottom of European rankings based on the level of digital skills of adults and young people, and ICT specialists. Nevertheless, recent years have witnessed an increasing focus on improving digital skills and digital education. To this end, several EU-funded projects and national programmes aim to upgrade the skills of teachers and students, improve schools’ digital infrastructure and strengthen cooperation between the IT sector and vocational education and training (VET) schools. An increasing number of schools are receiving support to apply innovative teaching methods based on digital technologies and gaming. Thirty per cent of Bulgarian schools have already used the ‘SELFIE¹’ tool to assess how well they use digital technologies in teaching and learning. Coding is offered as a subject starting from third grade, and the number of upper secondary classes specialising in ICT has increased, while four universities offer programmes in artificial intelligence. Although the measures have not entirely kept pace with the scale of the digital transformation (European Commission, 2019b), these efforts may help improve the acquisition of digital skills, which have become of critical importance in the new realities of COVID-19. In this context, in 2020 the Council of the European Union adopted a country-specific recommendation calling on Bulgaria to ‘promote digital skills and equal access to education’ (Council of the European Union, 2020).

4. Investing in education and training

Although expenditure on education has increased over time, it is still one of the lowest in the EU. The latest available data show that in 2018 general government expenditure on education was equivalent to 3.5% of GDP, significantly below the EU average of 4.6% and one of the lowest in the EU. Nevertheless, compared to 2010, Bulgaria’s expenditure on education has increased in real terms by 14%, significantly faster than the EU average (3.7%). The increase has primarily benefited secondary education (+23%) and pre-primary and primary education (+18%), whereas spending in tertiary education decreased by 11%. A third of the increase went to finance teachers’ salaries, while the amounts invested in goods and services and for gross capital formation (e.g. school infrastructure) have decreased compared to their 2010-level. In 2020, additional funds were allocated to increase teachers’ pay and to finance four new national programmes that aim to attract and train teachers in subjects for which shortages are expected, support schools to innovate, provide career development and boost the use of IT in teaching and learning.

5. Modernising early childhood and school education

In spite of efforts by authorities, participation in early childhood education is low. The enrolment rate for children aged 4 to the starting age of compulsory primary school education (7) has been falling since 2015. The latest available data show that in 2018, the participation rate for this age group was only 82.4%, significantly below the EU average of 94.8%. Wide disparities in participation rates persist between regions and districts, with low rates among Roma (FRA, 2016) and others from disadvantaged groups. Substantial efforts were made to increase participation but implementation has experienced some challenges in reaching vulnerable populations, assuring quality standards, and financing services (World Bank, 2019). Bulgaria is also implementing the EU-funded project ‘Active inclusion in pre-school education’ that finances care-related fees for children from disadvantaged backgrounds, parental education programmes and pedagogical, psychological and social support for children. From September 2020, the age of compulsory pre-school education was lowered from 5 to 4, with some derogations for municipalities with insufficient places. Improving participation rates and further strengthening the quality of services could have a significant positive impact, considering the relatively high proportion of students that speak another language at home, and the crucial role of early years for language acquisition. On the other hand, the enrolment rate for children younger than three in formal childcare has improved considerably in recent years, reaching 19.7% in 2019, even though it is still significantly below the Barcelona target of 33%.

Early school leaving remains problematic. In 2019, the rate of early leavers from education and training (ages 18-24) increased to 13.9%, above Bulgaria’s national Europe 2020 target of 11% and the EU average of 10.2%. No substantial progress has been made since 2009 in reducing the rate. Early school leaving is particularly high among the Roma and in rural areas. Measures to return out-of-school children to education are in place, and support is offered to overcome learning gaps and increase student motivation. These initiatives are seen to have been successful in boosting enrolment and addressing dropout in early years (World Bank, 2019). However, overall enrolment rates in school education are not improving, dropout rates remain high and desegregation programmes are limited in scope. There are also challenges in the completion of upper secondary education, with the latest data showing that only 85% of students enrolled in twelfth grade in 2017/2018 graduated, of which 75.5% in vocational schools and 94.7% in general upper secondary schools (IRE, 2019).

Working conditions of teachers are improving but important structural challenges remain for teacher policies. The teaching workforce in Bulgaria is ageing rapidly, with 49% of school teachers (i.e. from primary to upper secondary) older than 50. 11% are already at least 60 years old. Salaries were raised significantly in recent years to improve the attractiveness of the profession. Between January 2016 and January 2020, the average salary of pedagogical staff in pre-school and school education increased in nominal terms by almost 79%, and by 45% for non-pedagogical staff. Thus, the average gross wage of the teaching staff increased from 94% of the national average to 117%. Despite recent efforts, teacher training is still characterised by a high degree of theory at the expense of pedagogical practice, and insufficient consistency of further training and qualification (IRE, 2019). There is no clear policy to ensure that teachers’ skills meet students’ needs; nor are there systems to monitor teaching and learning in the classroom or support teachers to effectively improve instruction (World Bank, 2019).

Almost half of young Bulgarians lack basic skills in reading, mathematics and science. The 2018 OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) shows that 47% of Bulgarian 15 year-olds struggled to understand texts of moderate length and complexity or unfamiliar material. 44% had difficulties in interpreting and recognising how simple situations can be represented mathematically and 47% lacked basic understanding in sciences. These underachievement rates are among the highest in the EU and twice the EU average (22.5% for reading, 22.9% for mathematics and 22.3% for science). Mean performance in reading has remained flat since the start of participation in PISA; it improved in mathematics between 2006 and 2012 and dropped significantly in science between 2015 and 2018, recording one of the largest declines over this period (OECD, 2019b). The proportion of students classed as top performers – who demonstrated complex knowledge in the subjects tested – is very low: 2% in reading (EU average 8.5%), 4% in mathematics (EU average 11%) and 2% in science (EU average 6.3%). The impact of the ongoing education reform on learning outcomes will only be measurable in future testing rounds, when PISA will assess the competences of students who have followed the new school curriculum and received individualised support to overcome learning gaps.

Socio-economic background continues to have a significant impact on learning outcomes. In the 2018 PISA test, students from advantaged backgrounds outperformed their disadvantaged peers by a large margin (106 points in reading, equivalent to more than 2 1/2 years of schooling). Although this gap has declined since 2009 (when it was 130 points), this narrowing reflects lower scores among advantaged students rather than an improvement in the performance of disadvantaged ones. Overall, 70% of disadvantaged students struggled in reading compared to 25% among their socio-economically advantaged peers (Figure 3). This gap (45 pps) is the highest in the EU. Thus, the intergenerational transmission of educational attainment and of poverty remains one of the main factors for overall educational opportunities, early school leaving and subsequent success on the labour market (IRE, 2019).

The education system does not break down inequalities already present between students. This is the conclusion of a value-added assessment by the World Bank that used the results of national examinations to assess the contribution of schools to students’ progress throughout the years, while taking into account pre-existing educational and socio-economic differences among students (World Bank, 2019). The analysis concluded that the value added by schooling is significantly higher for students whose mother tongue is Bulgarian, compared to Romani or Turkish. It is also higher for students whose parents have higher levels of educational attainment. General upper secondary schools provide higher benefit to their students than vocational schools; there are also notable differences in value added across regions (ibid.). PISA shows that students are highly concentrated in schools based on their socio-economic status and performance. While improvements have been observed in the implementation of the National Roma Integration Strategies in the field of education (European Commission, 2019c), particularly with regards to increasing participation in different levels of education and reducing dropout, important challenges remain, including school segregation.

Although measures were taken to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 in education, the crisis risks exacerbating already high inequalities. To prevent a health crisis, all educational facilities were closed. The Ministry of Education and Research issued guidance to schools and provided technical and methodological support. All schools introduced distance learning through cloud platforms or other means of interaction (e.g. email, internet applications or phone), combining synchronous and asynchronous teaching. Classes were also organised on national television. A national digital library was created for teachers to share lessons and learning materials and all textbooks were made available electronically for free. Nevertheless, authorities estimate that 11% of students could not engage in learning due to lack of internet access or ICT equipment, in particular students from disadvantaged backgrounds and Roma. To compensate for learning gaps, schools were allowed to organise classes during the summer, and almost half of kindergartens organized additional language training. Students that could not take part in remote learning were included in remedial classes, through the ‘Support for Success’ programme, co-funded by the ESF.

Bullying and truancy affect student outcomes. Bulgaria has one of the highest percentages (34%) of students in the EU who reported being bullied at least a few times a month. On average, the reading performance of these students is almost 40 points lower than their peers. Thirty-one per cent of students reported that in every class, or most, teachers have to wait a long time to quieten down students. These students scored 19 points lower in reading than students who reported that this never happened. Moreover, in Bulgaria, 44% of students had skipped a day of school at least once in the two-week period before they took the PISA test (EU average: 25.1%) and 57% had arrived late for school (EU average: 49.9%).

6. Modernising vocational education and training

Bulgaria introduced some measures to increase the labour market relevance of VET. In December 2019, the National Agency for Vocational Education and Training submitted an analysis containing specific proposals for the future development of the list of professions for Vocational Education and Training (LPVET) to the Ministry of Education and Science. Bulgaria updated the VET strategy for 2019-2020 by including dual VET. In this context, the project ‘Support for the dual training system’, co-funded by the ESF, was launched under the coordination of the Ministry. Schools, employers’ organisations and participating employers partnered to support and further enhance dual education. Implementation of the measures under the Employment Promotion Act relating to internships and apprenticeships continues in 2020, under which the state budget partially covers the remuneration costs of the unemployed. The latest data available show that enrolment in upper secondary VET increased to 52.9% in 2018, above the EU average of 48.4%. Furthermore, the employment rate of recent VET graduates increased significantly in 2019 to 73.5% from 66.4% in the previous year, but is still below the EU average of 79.1%.

7. Modernising higher education

Falling demographic trends are shaping higher education while the number of foreign students is increasing. In 2019, the number of students enrolled in universities fell at all levels of higher education. Compared to 2014, 21% fewer students were enrolled in bachelor programmes, 16% fewer in master programmes and 3% fewer as PhD candidates. Nevertheless, while the number of Bulgarian students declined by 21%, that of international students increased significantly, especially at master level. Foreign students now account for 8% of the total student body, of which 23% are from Greece, 15% from the UK, 8% from Germany and 7% from Ukraine. The number of Bulgarians studying abroad is also high: in 2018, 8.8% of upper secondary graduates from Bulgaria had completed tertiary education abroad.

Socio-economic background significantly impacts students’ aspirations for a university degree. Overall, 64.3% of teenagers in Bulgaria expect to complete higher education (EU average 62.4%). However, only 42.8% of the poorest students do so, compared to 83.3% of their more advantaged peers. Tertiary educational attainment among the population aged 30-34 was 32.5% in 2019, below Bulgaria’s national Europe 2020 target (36%) and significantly below the EU average of 40.3%. The rate has stagnated in recent years: since 2009, it grew by only 4.6 pps, compared to the average growth EU-wide of 9.2 pps. The gender gap persists, with 39% of women in this age group holding a tertiary education degree, compared to 26.4% of men.

Universities were in a better position to shift to remote learning. Most higher education institutions quickly managed to organise courses in an electronic environment due to the availability of better digital infrastructure, multimedia services (e.g. video streaming of lectures, educational platforms, live chat during lectures, etc.) and teaching materials. The academic year finished online, including examinations, with the exception of some specialties, for example, in the field of medicine and art, where practical training could not be conducted online. Admissions were conducted mainly based on the grades from state exams or from electronically conducted assessments, with exceptions in some specialties like medicine, where prospective students had to be physically present.

Improving labour market relevance and quality of higher education remains key for Bulgaria in the post-COVID-19 context. Since 2015, Bulgaria has been using the funding system to shift the profile of graduates towards qualifications in high demand on the labour market, which are to a large extent STEM professions. To this end, higher scholarships and support measures were offered to students in these study fields, alongside increasing the number of state-subsidised places. As of the academic year 2020/2021, tuition fees were eliminated for new entrants in eight professional study fields in the areas of pedagogical and natural sciences and eight protected specialities (i.e. in the areas of philological and technical sciences). The reforms’ impact on study fields is so far mixed. The proportion of new entrants in university programmes in social sciences, business and law declined between 2015 and 2018. The figures remain, however, low for STEM fields, having improved only marginally and mainly in ICT programmes. Notwithstanding efforts by national authorities, the unattractiveness of STEM fields can be partly traced back to the performance gaps in science and mathematics at secondary level, as confirmed by the latest PISA survey. The Higher Education Act was recently amended by introducing novelties concerning the accreditation, funding and the governance model for public higher education institutions, including measures for monitoring and annual reports from the rectors. A new higher education strategy for the period up to 2030 is currently being prepared (Ministry of Education and Science, 2020), whose aim is to increase quality and labour market relevance, including by modernising curricula. Furthermore, among the aims of the future strategy is to set up measures that will increase the role of universities as drivers of regional development, make them more entrepreneurial, and stimulate their research activities. Furthermore, a dedicated national programme was set up to increase the competences of lecturers from public universities, who teach students at the pedagogical departments, by providing training opportunities in various pedagogical and digital competences, including in e-learning environments.

8. Promoting adult learning

Upskilling and reskilling the population remain a significant challenge in the context of the economic recovery from COVID-19. Only 2% of Bulgaria’s population aged 25-64 participated in education and training during the preceding 4 weeks of the Labour Force Survey (EU average: 10.8%). Increasing participation in adult learning is particularly important considering that the low-skilled account for 17.5% of the working-age population (25-64). The National Developmental Programme 2030 approved in January 2020 sets a participation target of 7% by 2030. Raising the skills of the working-age population through lifelong learning is considered central to government policy. To this end, incentives and mechanisms will be introduced with the aim of improving skills and supporting the reintegration of the unemployed and inactive low-skilled persons into the labour market. In January, the Council of Ministers approved the national employment action plan for 2020, which outlines measures for the acquisition of professional qualifications and key competences targeting the low-skilled and long-term unemployed and inactive persons. Nevertheless, the effectiveness of implementation of the envisaged measures depends on the quality of the adult education and training offered and its relevance to the needs of the economy and employers. Furthermore, training of teachers and opportunities for acquiring digital competence by adults with a low level of education, especially among disadvantaged groups, remain a challenge.

9. References

Amalipe 2020, https://amalipe.site/newsite/romite-v-bulgaria-i-covid-19/

Bakracheva, M. and Totseva, J. (2020). Pedagogical communication in an emergency situation (Bakracheva, M. and Totseva, Y. Pedagogical communication in an emergency situation) https://fnoi.uni-sofia.bg/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/DOKLAD.pdf

Council of the European Union (2020), ‘Council Recommendation on the 2020 National Reform Programme of Bulgaria and delivering a Council opinion on the 2020 Convergence Programme of Bulgaria. https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/2020-european-semester-csr-comm-recommendation-bulgaria_en.pdf

European Commission (2019a), 2nd Survey of Schools: ICT in education. https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/news/2nd-survey-schools-ict-education (see also national reports)

European Commission (2019b), Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI), 2020: Bulgaria: https://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/dae/document.cfm?doc_id=59885

European Commission, (2019c), Civil society monitoring report on implementation of the national Roma integration strategy in Bulgaria: Focusing on structural and horizontal preconditions for successful implementation of the strategy

https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/0831834f-b1aa-11e9-9d01-01aa75ed71a1

European Commission (2020), Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI), 2020: Bulgaria: https://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/dae/document.cfm?doc_id=66907

Paunova-Hubenova, V. Terzieva and K. Todorova, ‘The Role of ICT in Teaching Processes in Bulgarian Schools,’ 2019 29th Annual Conference of the European Association for Education in Electrical and Information Engineering (EAEEIE), Ruse, Bulgaria, 2019, pp. 1-6, doi: 10.1109/EAEEIE46886.2019.9000463.

Hristova,A., Baev, St., Petrova, Sv., Tosheva, E. (2019). Problems of pre-school and school education in Bulgaria and the possibilities for limiting their negative influence, Institute on Research in Education

Ministry of Education and Research (2020), Strategy for the development of higher education in the Republic of Bulgaria for the period 2021-2030: version in public consultation http://mon.bg/bg/100164

OECD (2019a), TALIS 2018 Results (Volume I): Teachers and School Leaders as Lifelong Learners, TALIS

OECD (2019b), Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), result from PISA 2018, Country note Bulgaria http://www.oecd.org/pisa/publications/PISA2018_CN_BGR.pdf

Terzieva V., Paunova-Hubenova E., Dimitrov S., Boneva Y. (2020) ICT in STEM Education in Bulgaria. In: Auer M., Tsiatsos T. (eds) The Challenges of the Digital Transformation in Education. ICL 2018. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 916. Springer, Cham https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11932-4_74

World Bank (2019). Improving Human Capital in Bulgaria. Review of the Human Capital Index of Bulgaria.

Annex I: Key indicators sources

Annex II: Structure of the education system

Notes

¹ Self-reflection on Effective Learning by Fostering the use of Innovative Educational Technologies