The review team would like to express special thanks to the Government of Bulgaria, under the leadership of the Ministry of Education and Science. In particular, we would like to note the significant level of support provided by Maria Gaydarova, Deputy Minister of Education and Science, Evgenia Peeva, Advisor to the Minister of Education and Science, Veselina Ganeva, Director for International Co-operation, and Krassimira Todorova, Chief Expert, International Co-operation Department, who helped steer the project and provided very valuable input. This review was funded by the European Commission (EC) and the review team would like to thank Alexandra Tamasan, Country Desk for Bulgaria, EC, and Susanne Conze, Head of Unit, EC, for their support for the project and their guidance and insights.
We are grateful to the officials and experts who provided extensive background information for this review. In particular, we would like to highlight the contributions of the following: at the Ministry of Education and Science, Alexandra Dimitrova, Head of the Policies for Strategic Development Unit, Polina Fetfova, Head of the Qualification and Career Development of Teachers Unit, Maria Todorova, Head of the Vocational Education Department, Greta Gancheva, Head of the Inclusive Education Department and Evgeniya Kostadinova, Head of Curricula and Study Content for the Pre-school and School Education Directorate, as well as, Aneliya Andreeva, Head of the National Inspectorate for Education, Neda Kristanova, Head of the Center for Assessment in Pre-school and School Education, and Nataliya Vassileva, Chief Expert at the Center for Assessment in Pre-school and School Education. The review team would also like to express special thanks to Mr Ilko Yordanov, who served as an Education and Bulgarian language consultant for this review and provided valuable guidance and support.
We sincerely thank the education experts, teachers and third sector organisations that took time to participate in the fact finding process. Valuable insights were provided by a plethora of local stakeholders, including representatives of the National Agency for Vocational Education and Training, representatives of the Bulgarian Union of Teachers and the Confederation of Labour Podkrepa, representatives of the regional departments of education (REDs) for Burgas, Sofia and Vratsa, teachers from Blogoevdrad, school principals from schools in Sofia region, Pleven and Vratsa, initial teacher education providers at the Universities of Plovdiv, Sofia, the South West (Blagoevgrad), Shumen, Veliko Turnovo, Thrakia, as well as Maria Yankova, UNICEF Country Office, Nelly Koleva, Teach for Bulgaria, and Deyan Kolev from the Centre for Inter-Ethnic Tolerance.
The OECD review team was led by Elizabeth Fordham (OECD Secretariat), co-ordinated by Caitlyn Guthrie (OECD Secretariat) and included Anna Vitória Périco e Santos (OECD Secretariat), Annie Norfolk Beadle (OECD Secretariat), Christa Rawkins (OECD Secretariat) and Kirsteen Henderson (external expert, Canada). Within the OECD Secretariat, we would like to thank Richard Ruochen Li who made helpful contributions to the report. The review team is grateful for the support and advice of Andreas Schleicher, Director for Education and Skills, and Paulo Santiago, Head of the Policy Advice and Implementation Division, Directorate for Education and Skills. Lidia Gromadzka and Anne-Victoire Suteau provided administrative support and organised the publication process, and Eleonore Morena and Rachel Linden helped to prepare the draft for publication.