Energy Agency of Plovdiv

Environmental-Energy education in the current educational policy in Bulgaria

Education in Bulgaria is compulsory between the ages of 7 and 16. The educational system (prior to higher education) comprises 12 grades, organized in two major levels: basic and secondary. Basic education (grades first through eighth) is subdivided into two sub-levels: elementary -grades first through fourth- (аgе 7-11) and presecondary - grades fifth through eighth- (age 11-15). Secondary education normally encompasses grades eighth through twelfth (age 15-19), but can start earlier depending on the type of school.

Environmental-Energy education is already acknowledged as an interdisciplinary element of general compulsory education. The preparation of the children in the field of natural science and ecology is implemented through integral school subjects.

In the primary school curriculum there are documents, standards and programs in biology, geography and chemistry, in which the requirements concerning environmental education topics are mentioned.

In the secondary curriculum, according the programs and the relevant standards, the topics related to environmental education should be found in the biology manual entitled "Biology and Health Education", the chemistry manual entitled "Chemistry and Protection of the Environment", as well as in the geography manual entitled "Geography and Economy".

• Preschool and elementary education (age of 3–6-10 ) –consists of a system of common notions of the objects, their features and characteristics; natural phenomena; ways of transformation; models of natural behavior and the child’s place in nature

• Primary education (age of 10 –14)- consists of knowledge and skills about animated nature, which lays the foundations of the ecological and health education of pupils. It is carried out in all school subjects but mainly in “Human and Nature” and other interrelated subjects

• Secondary education (age of 14 –19)- builds further knowledge, skills and behavior in K5 and K6, using the interactive school subject of “Human and Nature” and then more in depth in the school subjects of physics, chemistry, biology, geography, etc.

• Vocational training (age of 14 –19)- differentiated in all school subjects which prepare specialists in any profession(for example, ecologist).

The aim of environmental education in the Bulgarian school is: to build and develop students’ ecological culture as a complete system of knowledge, skills and values in the spheres of science, arts, religion, tradition and customs, and as a model of activities for the preservation and protection of the environment.

The curriculum also provides for two to three hours per week of compulsory elective subjects and for one to two hours of free elective (optional) subjects - a good opportunity for more intensive environmental education, but the themes and activities have to be related to the educational standards and curriculum. The organizing and carrying out of environmental not related to the compulsory curriculum depends on the interests and the needs of the students and the school, on the professional qualifications of the teachers and the infrastructure of the school.