site.btaEducation Ministry to Unveil OECD Creativity Findings

The Ministry of Education and Science (MES) press service said on Tuesday that the Ministry will present a report of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on a study on creative thinking among students. The study results will be presented to teachers, principals, social partners and representatives of Regional Departments of Education. The event is set to start at 10:00 a.m.

Social and emotional skills are crucial for academic success, professional realization and quality of life of young people, as BTA wrote end of April this year, when the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) presented the main findings of a global study on the social and emotional skills of 15-year-old students.

The Lachezar Tsotzorkov Foundation secured Bulgaria's inclusion in the survey, which covered over twenty countries from four continents. In Bulgaria, the survey included 3,012 students and 555 teachers from 80 schools nationwide. Questionnaires were completed by students, teachers, and school principals.

In April this year, the OECD study presented findings on five key areas of students' social and emotional development: progressivity (curiosity, acceptance, creativity), responsibility (self-control, tenacity, motivation), connectedness (sociality, assertiveness, vigour), collaboration (empathy, trust) and self-control (resistance to stress, optimism, emotional control). These areas have a direct relationship to the academic and life success of youth. Given the low educational outcomes detected by PISA and national external assessments, social and emotional education offers a possible solution to reverse the negative trend.

Prof. Andreas Schleicher, OECD Director for Education and Skills, said in April that social and emotional skills involve courage, empathy, opportunity and a way to deal with our emotions, live with others, and communicate. These skills make people human in the world of artificial intelligence and are a way to be creative, to be motivated and to support the economy.