Bulgarian educators discuss preschool reforms and school funding

Educational stakeholders in Bulgaria are discussing several proposed reforms. At the Ministry of Education and Science, teachers, directors, and university professors met to discuss changes to the Ordinance on Preschool Education. A key proposal involves introducing a unified toolkit to track early childhood development, replacing the current fragmented system of varying criteria used by different kindergartens. Deputy Minister Tanya Pancheva stated that these proposals aim to support teachers and provide a consistent framework through clear indicators.

Separately, school administrators have noted upcoming changes to the National External Assessment for 10th-grade students, which will now include history questions within the Bulgarian language and literature exam. Regarding school financing, Venelina Nikolova, director of 125. Secondary School Boyan Penev, addressed the 'money follows the student' model. While acknowledging that the current delegated budget system favors larger schools and places smaller institutions at a disadvantage, she argued that competition is beneficial and suggested that the state should support smaller schools through targeted additional funding rather than abolishing the current model.