Reversed Perspectives and Intercultural Dialogues: Qualification of Bulgarian Language and Literature Teachers. Cross-border Bulgarian Studies Erasmus Project

Project Title

Reversed Perspectives and Intercultural Dialogues: Qualification of Bulgarian Language and Literature Teachers. Cross-border Bulgarian Studies

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for adult education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Creativity and culture; Open and distance learning; International cooperation, international relations, development cooperation

Project Summary

This project is a joint project of “Youth and Academic Development Initiatives” and some of the most respected European universities – Ka Foskari in Venice, Karlovy in Prague and in Heidelberg.
Adult education and lifelong learning are not only important directives of the European Commission, but also a growing need. In a fast-changing world in which many people face up with more and more challenges of new technologies, the idea of a lifelong profession seems no longer applicable. This project aims to correspond to this line of development and to concentrate on requalification of people who want to become teachers in Bulgarian language and literature. The focus is not accidental – in recent years there is a severe shortage of teachers, and the profession is becoming more promising. The current project seeks to answer these needs and increased interest.
Considering the composition of the project team, the requalification will have two sides: requalification of teachers in our country, and also requalification of people who are citizens of foreign countries, but want to find their profession in this field and become Bulgarian language and literature teachers in lots of Bulgarian (mostly weekend) schools abroad.
In the first group, the project will aim at supporting the requalification of teachers from different fields (philosophy, geography, but also non-humanitarian disciplines) into teachers in Bulgarian language and literature. As university lecturers, we know that this practice has been widespread in recent years and there is a keen interest in such requalification. Traditional attendance courses are less and less applicable to people who are already engaged in different professions. Therefore, one of the main goals of this project is to facilitate and optimize the process of training. In order to supplement and enrich the selection of requalification courses offered at Sofia University (in particular in the Faculty of Slavic Studies), we are going to create set of distance e-courses that will optimize the training of participants who work and have family duties. Once the project is finalized, these e-courses will be included in current Master’s programs in the Faculty of Slavic Studies, as well as in the list of courses for postgraduate qualification. Our partners from the universities in Venice, Heidelberg and Prague have got extensive experience in this practice area, and will assist with new interactive methods, good practices for distance teaching, and new teaching methodologies for children. We believe that this is a truly innovative measure and a change because it is not included in the current practice of requalification of teachers who want to teach Bulgarian language and literature. We receive numerous questions from potential applicants who prefer flexible organization of training – this give us confidence in future workability of our ideas.
We offer even more innovative measure – to train teachers in Bulgarian and literature abroad. Practice shows that very often people without necessary education or lecturers from Bulgarian universities teach Bulgarian language and literature abroad. The latter, due to their workload at universities, cannot meet the needs and in some places Bulgarian schools cannot function. The courses that we are going to offer on an accessible platform where applicants will be able to register, will open new possibilities for Bulgarian people who live abroad, want to qualify themselves, and to acquire skills to teach Bulgarian language and literature. This practice will be tested experimentally in Italy, Germany and the Czech Republic, where we are going to offer courses introducing innovative methods of teaching Bulgarian abroad, as well as courses that will present the cultural and literary exchange between Bulgaria and each of these countries. These courses could be also used by foreign students who study Bulgarian language, literature and culture in respective countries.
Along with its educational side, the project also stakes on informational and reference nature of intellectual products. An important and ambitious accent is our intention to compile a reference book with data about secondary school leaving examination in the countries of our partner organizations; their experience and working models can serve in the course of forthcoming educational reforms in our country.
We do not neglect the possibility to present the picture of contemporary Bulgaria. With the assistance of students in our university programs we plan to publish commentary texts on modern Bulgarian literature.
With its accent on the possibility of flexible change of profession, and on the connection of qualification to new technologies and latest achievements of didactics and foreign language teaching, the project is shaping up as a model for linking traditional education in Bulgarian language and literature with innovations and as an undertaking opening the humanitarian field to the future.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 158951 Eur

Project Coordinator

INITSIATIVI ZA MLADEZHKO I AKADEMICHNO RAZVITIE & Country: BG

Project Partners

• UNIVERSITA CA’ FOSCARI VENEZIA
• UNIVERZITA KARLOVA
• RUPRECHT-KARLS-UNIVERSITAET HEIDELBERG