site.btaPISA Founder Optimistic about Bulgarian Education's Future

Bulgaria has students who perform at the highest level in the PISA surveys, but the challenge for this country‘s education system is to raise the average score of children, said the founder of the global PISA study Andreas Schleicher, Director for Education and Skills at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and Special Advisor on Education Policy to the OECD Secretary-General, quoted by the Education Ministry press office on Tuesday. Schleicher is in Bulgaria at the invitation of Education and Science Minister Galin Tzokov.

Among the problems for Bulgaria, Schleicher pointed out the differences between the results of students from poor and rich families, as well as between different schools. In educational institutions, however, there is no pattern between location and success. On the contrary, in many cases it appears that schools in more affluent neighbourhoods achieve lower results and vice versa. One of the great goals for any education system is to overcome precisely these disparities, he stated and highlighted this as the great goal for states - to ensure that education is equally good in every part of their territories.

Andreas Schleicher visited the Jose de San Martin High School in Sofia‘s Lyulin borough. Although it is situated in one of the outer boroughs of the capital, in recent years it has achieved more success and attracted new students. In just 5 years, the number of students has doubled from 400 to 800. 

During his visit to Bulgaria, Schleicher also visited the 103rd Secondary School in the capital's Filipovtsi borough. It has some 260 students  from the borough. They are taught by 30 teachers, and there is a psychologist and mediators in the school‘s team. According to Schleicher, this is a good ratio in terms of the number of students and teaching staff. He spoke with parents and residents from the borough. 

Bulgaria is one of the countries where students are most likely to use electronic devices, especially smartphones. At the same time, however, Bulgarian students spend relatively little time using digital devices to complete tasks set by their teachers, Schleicher noted during a meeting with principals and teachers of schools from different regions of the country.

School cannot replace the family, Schleicher stressed. He said it is important to involve parents in their children's education. "Successful education systems are those that have involved parents. This is the best investment," he pointed out.

Schleicher committed to visit Bulgaria again in April, the Ministry added.