Basic digital skills

Time to consider differentiated remuneration to retain good teachers in priority subjects

The frameworks set out by the Ministry of Education are the stumbling block in the modern training of young talent. The inability to have the power to implement a newer and genuinely useful approach to training processes. Freedom must be given. The head teacher should be able to assign classes to people from the business who within 4-5 hours can come and teach. This will certainly motivate the students, give them another perspective, and motivate the teachers, which in turn will raise the level and lead to better quality education in the state.

Around this opinion united teachers from the Professional High School of Computer Modeling and Computer Systems – city. Varna and Professional School of Computer Science and Mathematical Analysis “Prof. Minko Balkanski – town of Stara Zagora at the next meeting-discussion organized by BASCOM with IT schools in Bulgaria. At the meetings some of the most successful technology schools present and exchange best practices from their training models in order to study their experience and multiply it in other cities of the country. The moderator of the meeting was Ivan Rusev – part of the BASCOM working group that deals with education issues.

Both schools in Varna and Stara Zagora were established less than three years ago and are already an established centre of attraction for young people from their respective regions. Eng. Vyara Dukova, Director of the Professional High School of Computer Modelling and Computer Systems in Stara Zagora, Bulgaria. Varna, said that the curriculum is key for any high school. “The main thing we rely on is that in the elective classes children study mathematics. We believe that no engineer or programmer would be successful if they don’t have a good level of math knowledge. The idea of student learning is to achieve lasting knowledge in something, not to go over material that students cannot understand and master. It’s important for us to build a foundation that the business or university will then build on.”

Eng. Dukova is adamant that today’s children are very different in their perceptions and we should find an approach and language to them. “We have tried to build a model where university professors enter the classes at high school level. This was not a successful practice because the university lecturer imparts a knowledge while the student should be taught. Much more examples and work with children at the high school level is needed,” she says.

Kamelia Krumova, Director of PGKNMA “prof. Minko Balkanski” – town of Stara Zagora

The issue of personnel is another big topic that was discussed in the meeting.

“It is very difficult to find teachers who meet the requirements and at the same time to be able to retain them. Often they come to us for a period of time, we put resources into their education and before long the IT industry swallows them up. Teaching is not just a job, it’s a cause and it’s not for everyone,” said Kamelia Krumova, director of Prof. Minko Balkanski” – town of Stara Zagora. Kamelia Krumova added that we have many applications for teachers from people from other sectors, such as banking, who once acquired teaching qualifications and decided to try their hand as teachers years later. There is a need to find a mechanism to support these people, for example to update their knowledge and assess it, because in general there is a mistrust and among these candidates there may be many valuable educators with unrealised potential. As an advice to future technology schools in other cities, Ms. Krumova stressed that it is absolutely important to be able to rely on a core of great teachers in the first place, as well as on the strong support of the local government – the formula for success of the school in the city of Krumova. The main reason for the success of Stara Zagora’s school.

Dobroslav Dimitrov raised the topic of how long it takes teachers to prepare their materials and what a big effort it is. “I myself am the co-founder of a coder training academy, which I have been developing for 10 years and I know how labor-intensive the process is. I can boldly say that since two months we are much more productive thanks to the AI-based tools we implemented. It’s a colossal transition that can solve in a large percentage the problems with content creation or a complete course. Artificial intelligence could help teachers, for example, to come up with specific assignments or coursework for each student in a way that is interesting and personalised to their level of knowledge and understanding. Using these tools, good materials can be prepared and the overall teaching process can be improved. This frees up creative resources that could be directed towards students. The application of artificial intelligence makes sure that the new juniors are at the level of midlevel and this is already happening,” said Dobroslav Dimitrov.

The participants in the discussion were in consensus that at least twice a year IT school principals, together with representatives of the Ministry of Education and Science and business, need to meet to exchange information and share cases that can find their solution through such discussions. They re-emphasized the importance of having a regular government and a Minister of Education as soon as possible to address all the issues raised.