Bulgarian Educational System General features and structure

1. Bulgarian Educational SystemGeneral features and structure • The structure of the educational system in Bulgaria comprises the following levels: pre-school education, age 3-6/7, primary education,grades 1-4, lower secondary education, grades 5-7/8, upper secondary,grades 8-13, higher education • Compulsory startingage for primary schools - 7 (optional 6). • The age at which compulsoryeducation ends-16. • Providing schooling for the vast majority of children up to the age of16. “Encouraging Youth Entrepreneurship in Northern Ireland”

2. Administration and governance • Four levels of educational governance: national – TheMinistry of Education and Science (MES), regional, municipal and school level. • Financial management - exercised through strictly controlled budget. • Only 1% is spenton teaching and learning materials! This seriously hinders the introduction ofnew curricula, subjects and teaching methods into Bulgarian classrooms. “Encouraging Youth Entrepreneurship in Northern Ireland”

3. Foreign language teaching to young learners in Bulgaria • Teaching FLbegins at the 2ndgrade inprimary schools.Teaching a FL in the 1st grade is optional. • More than80% of Bulgarian students choose English as FL1. Other popular languages areGerman, Russian and French. • The different categories of Englishteachers in the primary schools arethe following: 1. Teachers with English as a major who have completed a four or five yearuniversitycourse (English Philology, Pedagogy of Teaching English andBulgarian) 2. Teachers with English as a minor who have completed a four-yearuniversity course (Primary Pedagogy with English as a ForeignLanguage) 3. Re-trainees or teachers who are graduates in Russian Philology, PrimarySchool Pedagogy, etc. and who have completed a one-year intensiveuniversity re-training course aimed at qualifying for English languageteaching 4. Teachers who have undergone a three-year course in colleges and arequalified to teach ages6-14. In most cases they have attended only ashort-term Englishcourses. Thus, they are deficient in English languageperformance 5. Substitute teachers who are usually unqualified. They are mainlygraduates of comprehensive schools or foreign language high schools. “Encouraging Youth Entrepreneurship in Northern Ireland”

4. Equipment and technology in FLT • According to a recent survey the English teachers in Bulgaria can use a library – 57.1%, aphotocopier – 44.2% and a computer – 32.5% in their schools. The sum isgreater than 100% because the teachers have given more than one answer. • The most common piece of technology that teachers have access to is thetape recorder. Other technical aids such as white andcorkboards can be found mainly in the private schools – 77.3%. Most of theEnglish teachers from the public schools are left with board and chalk to run thelanguage classes. • The Ministry of Education and Science is the only body authorized toapprove and recommend a list of textbooks to be used in FLT. The schools select among the listedtextbooks. Most of the primary English teachers work withinternational textbooks – 87%. The other 13% use local ones. “Encouraging Youth Entrepreneurship in Northern Ireland”

5. The system of higher education in Bulgaria • The system of higher education in Bulgaria covers the following degrees: First degree - at least a 4-years programme ending with a Bachelor’s degree Second degree - at least a 5-years programme or one year after the Bachelor’s degree ending with a Master’s degree Third degree - at least a 3-years programme after covering the Master’s degree ending with a Doctor’s degree. “Encouraging Youth Entrepreneurship in Northern Ireland”