Towards the introduction of Climate Action in the Educational Curriculum of Bulgarian Schools

Background

Currently, there is insufficient institutional capacity to include climate change issues in the educational system and insufficient teaching capacity; a lack of educational materials on a resource-efficient, low-carbon and climate-resilient economy; lack of interdisciplinarity – the subjects of climate change and energy efficiency do not exist as a standalone topic in the educational curriculum. There is no effective and flexible mechanism to coordinate all the key players in the climate action education field or to change the students’ and teachers’ behaviour towards low energy consumption. The project will generate draft proposals to the Ministry of Education and Science in Bulgaria for specific updates to the educational standards, including climate change and energy efficiency aspects.

The project continues two educational projects already implemented by NTEF and supported by the German Environment Ministry (BMU).

Project

To improve the capacity of academic professionals, the project implemented two trainings-of-trainers’ modules: one in Berlin and one in Bulgaria. The trainers developed the training programme for teachers and drafted educational materials. Along with the planned field work, field research methodologies and tools were also developed. Teachers who underwent the training acquired a professional qualification and earned state education standard credits for their various involvements in different stages of the project’s activities. The finalising of the educational materials consisted of incorporating the contributions of the teachers, improving their capacity to implement project activities in chosen NTEF beneficiary schools. German and EU experience was thus exchanged and applied. The Bulgarian Ministry of Education as owner of the new curriculum will continue offering these programmes over the long term. 

State of Results

• Training-of-Trainer’s program for 12 academic teachers’ trainers institutionalized a new curriculum which is continuously offered as a permanent program to all teachers in Bulgaria. 
• The educational materials of the program were tested in the field with direct involvement of more than 130 teachers and 2000 students from preschool to 7th grade.  
• An important input of the project was the creation of the interdisciplinary teachers’ training set for 5 – 7 grades. The preschool and the elementary school (1 – 4 grade) were also developed as interdisciplinary training tools. 
• The project initiated two important proposals: one, for an update of the State education standards (SES) in pre-school education, curricula for relevant subjects, and SES on civic, health, environmental and intercultural education; another – for the development and implementation of new university programs devoted to climate change, sustainable development and energy efficiency.  
• A roadmap for the future development of the initiative beyond the project was presented at the final project conference, including a concept for a national program (under the BEACON project), since a lot of schools wanted to join the program.