site.bta71% of 15-year-old Students in Bulgaria Expect to Complete Higher Education - OECD Report

Seventy-one per cent of 15-year-old students in Bulgaria expect to complete higher education, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) global report on creative thinking among students, which is part of the international PISA-2022 study. The results were presented on Tuesday by the Ministry of Education and Science. A total of 77% of Bulgarian 15-year-old students agree that it is possible to be creative in almost all subjects at school. 

The data were announced by Education Ministry's Centre for Evaluation in Pre-school and School Education Director Neda Kristanova in the presence of Deputy Ministers of Education and Science Natalia Miteva and Emilia Lazarova. 

The results on creative thinking show that 72% of Bulgarian students like to know how things work and 49% complete tasks even when they become more difficult than they thought.

The average score for OECD countries is 33 points, with Singapore scoring the most points once again - 41. The average score of Bulgarian students is 21 points, Kristanova said.

She explained that Bulgarian students were strongest in written expression - with 29.6%, followed by visual expression, social problem solving and scientific problem solving.

Girls have a higher score than boys, and this also applies to Bulgaria.

"With the average socioeconomic status score, once again this is repeated by all the studies and in all the findings, that the problem in Bulgaria is that children from low socioeconomic status families have dramatically lower scores than other students who are high socioeconomic status. 14 points is the difference between these two groups," Kristanova explained.

This study gives a better idea of how creative thinking is measured in the PISA format, said Miteva.

The results were presented to teachers, principals, social partners, as well as representatives of the Regional Education Offices.