The 2011 Educators’ Consultations focus on the findings of the International Citizenship and Civic Education Study (ICCS).
The third event in the series was a whole-day expert seminar held at the Sofia University „St. Kliment Ohridski” bringing together representatives from the Bulgarian Ministry of Education, from NGOs in the field of EDC and HRE and scholars from Educational Science, Social Science, Law and Philosophy, all of them working on issues of citizenship and human rights education as well as intercultural dialogue.
The seminar was opened by the Dean of the Faculty of Pedagogy, Assoc. Prof. Dr Ivailo Tepavicharov, who welcomed the initiative of discussing the findings of the ICCS study in this forum and who stressed the necessity to build citizenship education on theoretical insights and high quality research.
Dr. Claudia Lenz, the EWC research coordinator, gave a general introduction into the approach of the ICCS study and its relevance for educational practice followed by the presentation of the
Bulgarian results from ICCS given by Dr Svetla Petrova, National coordinator (ICCS), Center for Control and Assessment of the Quality of Education, Ministry of Education, Youth and Science. In her presentation, Dr. Petrova showed that the averag
e achievements of Bulgarian students in the cognitive parts of the study were significantly lower than in the CIVED study from 1997. She pointed out that the decrease is most dramatic among the disadvantaged students – something which corresponds with the family status, social disatvantage in general and the place of these students in the educational system. In Bulgaria social background has a crucial impact on students‘ cognitive achievements, something which is also reflected in the results of PISA. (see her presentation attached)
In group work, the participants discussed the educational impact of the ICCS findings, related to questions of learning and teaching methodology, democratic practices of young people in schools and beyond schools as well as social cohesion.
The following presentations showed that there are valuable experiences with EDC and HRE in Bulgarian universities, offering a solid fundament informing curriculum development, methodology and teacher training:
The Coe Charter on EDC/HRE (Recommendation CM/Rec(2010)7) was presented by Assoc. Prof. Dr Habil Siyka Chavdarova – Kostova, Faculty of Pedagogy/SKO and national coordinator of the CoE EDC/HRE program
(see her presentation)
, followed by a vivid discussion. One of the questions emerging was whether this political focus on EDC/HRE goes along with a decreasing focus on intercultural learning, an important issue in the Bulgarian context. It was clarified, that the document itself highlights the value of diversity at several places and that along with this political document, others, focusing even more directly on intercultural dialog have been adopted.
Summarizing, the event has been regarded as very successful by all involved partners and by the participants (the results of a questionnaire-based evaluation of the event will be published soon). Beside of the high standard of the presentations and discussions, it has brought together relevant stakeholders of Bulgarian Citizenship Education, giving them a forum for exchange of ideas and development of steps for action.
As one of the participants wrote in the evaluation questionnaire:
"Today I received a lot of useful information that I`ll use with certainty in the future in my professional realization" 
Henrik Wergeland (1808 – 1845) was a romantic poet and an important historian. He was an advocate for
democracy, and an eager defender of freedom of faith and freedom of expression.
