Category: Bulgarian news

Bulgarian tourist attractions

Post author By enneproject
Post date 30 July 2021
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Burgas is situated on the Black Sea, in the south-eastern part of the country. It is the fourth largest city in Bulgaria and is smaller and less crowded than other big city on Bulgarian Black Sea – Varna. The climate here is temperately continental with a distinct impact from the Black Sea.

Burgas has a relaxed atmosphere with good shopping and an abundance of restaurants and outdoor cafes.The Sea Park is situated on a high shore, all of it cut by flowerbeds, trees and sculptures. Within the park, there is a casino, a small zoo and an open-air theatre.
The central beach is situated below the Sea Park, a beautiful forked staircase in verdure leads to the beach. The city has a northern beach, too, close to the Izgrev Quarter, adjacent to the salt mines.

Burgas is Bulgaria`s largest port and this is the primary focus of the city, but Bourgas is not only an important industrial centre – it has also considerable resources for tourism. The favourable geographical location and advanced transport infrastructure of Bourgass are good prerequisites for the development of tourism and trade.
The city is a starting point for visiting the seaside resorts in the area – Sunny Beach resort, the town of Nessebar, The Elenite holiday village, etc. to the north and The Dyuni holiday village, Sozopol, Kiten, Lozenets and others, to the south.

The city of Varna is located in North-East Bulgaria. It is third largest city after Sofia and Plovdiv and is called Bulgaria`s Sea Capital. The gem of the Bulgarian Black Sea is situated at the end of the big Varna Bay, with a convenient and well conserved water area a port wich in years handles up to 18 million tons of cargo. Nowadays it is the main port for both naval and commercial shipping and, adjacent as it is to the coastal resorts of Constantine and Helena (Druzhba), Riviera, Golden Sands, and Albena, it has a cosmopolitan atmosphere. Sailors on shore-leave in unfamiliar ceremonial uniforms, mingle with foreign tourists and locals as they promenade along shady boulevards, lined by dignified 19th and early 20th century buildings. The city`s peculiar sea charm is sublime and moving. Ancient, medival, renaissance and modern cultures mingle and coexist through the city.
The city is clean and green. Of the green miracles at least three are a must: the Marine Gardens which are the largest in the Balkans; Euxinograd park, the former Royal Palace; the paradise of St.Constantine.
Varna is a city of old culture, living traditions and ambitious undertakings. Some 20 per cent of its population are students in various educational institutions, four of which are higher.

Capacity Building of VET Staff

Post author By enneproject
Post date 10 November 2020
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The thematic discussion on the topic Capacity Building of VET STAFF was moderated by Ms Darina Petrunova and Mrs Vanya Neycheva from European Center for Quality, Bulgaria.
In total 5 good practices -2 from Bulgaria and 3 from Belgium were presented. The good practices were related to the improvement of VET staff skills through participation in international teaching activities and working meetings and structured VET trainings.

Good practice 1 – Vocational High School of Electrical Engineering, Galabovo, Bulgaria
In February 2020 the team of the school held a working meeting with teachers from the Edirne Vocational High School in Turkey. Some specifics of the Turkish educational system were also highlighted and the teachers exchanged different ideas and best practices of teaching methodologies and techniques in the field of Electrical engineering.
Good practice 2 – Diagnose Car – Connectief, Belgium
It is a collaboration between the private sector and the ministry of education. In this project, private companies give access to the schools to a variety of modern cars with network technology, diagnostic equipment and technical data. All participating teachers receive Train the trainer sessions depending on the cars.
Good practice 3 – RTC East-Flanders, Belgium
RTC main objective is to activate and reinforce cooperation between education, companies and other labor market actors by connecting schools and businesses, sharing technology infrastructure and equipment and competence enhancement of teachers and students.
Good practice 4 – CREATE project, Syntra West, Belgium
The project aimed to organize 6 mobilities placement for 20 Belgian teachers in Barcelos, Portugal in the summer of 2019. The focus at CRE-ATE is on ICT-supporting teaching and the train-the-trainer principle. The project goal is not only to provide teachers with ICT skills, but also to give them a practical approach by using coaching methodology.
Good practice 5 – FUTURE FOR US, Bulgaria
The project was implemented by the Vocational high School of Construction and Woodworking ” Nedyo Ranchev “Stara Zagora and the teachers conducted a training placement in Barcelona in 2019. The main aim was to stimulate the use of digital methods by studying and introducing innovative pedagogical approaches and setting up a mediation team at school to reduce aggressive events, conflict situations and the number of dropouts of school children.

The thematic room gathered in total of 33 participants – many VET teachers, project coordinators; 3 management representatives and other stakeholders. Representatives from Belgium, Italy, Bulgaria, Albania, Ukraine joined the discussion. According to the participants the most suitable types of staff, mobilities are structured VET training and job shadowing. Moreover, 22 participants responded and highlighted that the main obstacles they face for participating in VET staff mobility projects are the language barriers and insufficient opportunities.

To conclude it can be stated that the content presented during the event was engaging and beneficial for the participants and space for networking was provided.

Capacity Building VET Staff: Resources available

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Sustainable Development Goals

Post author By enneproject
Post date 9 November 2020
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ENNE Project coordinated an international online conference on November the 9^th named VET4FUTURE.

The conference introduced to the future of vocational education thanks to Mr. Luca Pirozzi Policy Officer for VET at EAECA (Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency of the European Commission)

The ZOOM event organized into 5 breakout rooms each of these dedicated to a specific thematic:

Recognition/validation of competences in WBL (Work Based Learning – national traineeships/transnational mobility/etc.)
Social Inclusion in VET (Disabilities, migrants, economic disadvantages, etc.)
Digital transformation / Distance Learning
Sustainability and contribution of VET to the achievement of UN Agenda 2030 SDGs
Capacity building of VET Staff

In the ZOOM breakout room dedicated to “Sustainability and contribution of VET to the achievement of UN agenda 2030 SDGs” the VET European schools members of the ENNE Network presented and shared their “best practices” in order to show how it is possible to boost ideas and collect contributions for the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nation.

Sandro Pertini Institute of Afragola (Naples, Italy) presented its motto: “Sustain sustainable school”. The institute established a “free plastic week” and arranged interactive exhibitions where students can experiment the condition of being costumers and citizens passing through production activities. An opportunity to raise awareness on reducing waste through prevention, reduction and recycling;
The Alfonso Casanova Institute of Napoli (Italy) – in order to encourage students in engagement in favor of disadvantaged people – planned the realization of packaging for removable dental prosthesis for prisoners. This allows the development of transversal skills;
The National High school in Finance and Business of Sophia (Bulgaria) dedicates a school area to those students who have ideas in terms of contributing to the achievement of the UN goals arranging drawers to collect the students’ views. Other activities concern the realization of usable objects or art creations using only trash or garbage items.
The Orfini Institute of Foligno (Perugia, Italy) promoted the involvement of VET-schools in the development of sustainable urban centers establishing VET education programs relevant to the development of sustainable urban centers. The activities also concern the enhancement of cooperation and entrepreneurship creative skills among students.

Sustainable Development Goals: Resouces Available

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Recognition and Validation of Competences in WBL

Post author By enneproject
Post date 6 November 2020
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To celebrate the formal establishment of the 5 VET networks, ENNE’s project partners have decided to organise an online Conference, during the European Vocational Skills Week, to foster a first meeting between their VET communities, where they could interact and work towards their common goal – the Enhancement of VET quality and attractiveness.

Arts & Skills was responsible for moderating the thematic session “Recognition and Validation of Competences in Work Based Learning”.

National or international WBL programs are targeted to bridge the gap between the learning environment and real work environment, and different WBL strategies provide career awareness, career exploration opportunities, career planning activities and help students attain competencies such as positive work attitudes and other employable skills.

The recognition and validation of competencies in WBL environments refer to the identification and appreciation of the skills and competencies that an individual acquires through a work-based learning experience.
Although, WBL experiences can have different forms ((apprenticeship, internship, service learning, school-based enterprise, or industry projects) they should be well planned, monitored and assessed properly to become relevant for

The European Credit System for Vocational Education and Training (ECVET) is one of the most relevant EU frameworks developed to help the VET community implementing high-quality WBL programs:

ECVET provides a framework for the assessment, validation and recognition of learning outcomes, alongside a series of common tools and instruments able to support quality in mobility.
ECVET promotes the integration of mobility into existing learning pathways.
ECVET contributes to the development of a common language for use by different VET stakeholders and promotes mutual trust within the wider VET community.
ECVET supports the valorisation of key competences (such as foreign language skills or intercultural competence) alongside those that are more technically – or vocationally – oriented.

The implementation of ECVET was referred during the best practices presented by six of our network members, from Portugal, Italy and Germany, who shared with the audience good practices implemented by their VET organizations and related to WBL experiences.

Ms. Sonia Barani, from the “Italienische Handelskammer für Deutschland”, Germany, presented the MeMeVET project (mechatronics and metallurgical VET for sectors’ industries) and its outcomes. The project, implemented in 5 countries (DE, IT, ES, BG, SK) aimed at tackling some of the main issues impeding free mobility of workers and VET learners of the sector in Europe. One of the main issues is related to the difficulty of having one’s competencies and know-how recognized in another EU country. Another one, concerns the gap between the training and learning offer of VET institutions and the real needs of the labour market.

Ms Joana Soares from EP Felgueiras, Portugal, shared with the participants their experience in VET-Business cooperation at local and regional level concerning Curriculum development; Matching supply and demand of technicians; Development of technological devices (e.g. Robots) for the local industry; Social Inclusion and Monitoring of trainees after the completion of the course.

Ms. Margherita Battaglini, from ITE SCARPELLINI – Foligno, Italy, offered an overview of their experience with the implementation of ECVET not only on Transnational, but also National WBL experiences.

Ms. Alessia Montanucci, from I.O. Salvatorelli Moneta Marsciano, Italy, presented a mobility experience developed in Malta in 2019, that involved 15 students from the 3rd and the 4th year of high school. The internships were held at local businesses: museums, shops, state agencies, cruises for tourists, etc. which she had the opportunity to accompany for the whole training period.

From Portugal, Mr. Edgar Costa, from Vocational School Bento Jesus Caraça, shared how they adapted mandatory WBL experiences that should have been developed in a real working context, to a successful simulated business context due to the confinement imposed by COVID 19.

Mr Ferenc Naacke from “Berufliches Schulzentrum für Wirtschaft in Dresden, Germany, presented the “Healthy Lifestyle” Project and the approach that allowed their organization to implement 70 internships abroad, in 8 different countries, for students from the Social Insurance Course, whose training focuses mainly on administrative work of social insurance clerks, but not on the background knowledge in advising insured people on the prevention of diseases.

This session showed us how diverse work-based learning strategies can be and how multiple approaches can be addressed by VET organizations to improve and enhance VET quality and attractiveness.

We hope we have brought some inspiration to our audience for further projects and cooperation among our VET Community.

Recognition and Validation of Competences in Work-Based Learning: Resources available

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Digital transformation and distance learning

Post author By enneproject
Post date 5 November 2020
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Digital transformation and distance learning have been a hot topic since the Covid-19 outbreak.
This was also clear during the inscriptions for this theme at VET4FUTURE.
We give you a brief overview of the good practices that were shared.

BLEFT is an EU project for the development of e-learning modules in forestry. In Saxony (Germany) the official LernSax was put into service during the lockdown. Students and teachers worked online and found each other on this well-equipped platform for lessons, meetings, etc.
In Portugal, the Escola profissional C.J. de Campanha should find a new way to publish student work in graphic media. For this they used a virtual exhibition. Italian Fondazione Lepido Rocco bundled a lot of good practices on the website from which we discovered a CLIL training and the Sherwood project.
Finally, we have introduced to google classroom thanks to the tourist vocational school Aleko Konstantinov from Bulgaria.

Digital transformation and distance learning: Resources available

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Social Inclusion in VET

The first out of 20 principals of the European Pillar of Social Rights is devoted to education, training and life-long learning:

“Everyone has the right to quality and inclusive education, training and life-long learning in order to maintain and acquire skills that enable them to participate fully in society and manage successfully transitions in the labour market.”

(Source: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/priorities/deeper-and-fairer-economic-and-monetary-union/european-pillar-social-rights/european-pillar-social-rights-20-principles_en)

All around Europe, we can find numerous initiatives, projects and programmes supporting the inclusion of disadvantaged people in education and by this into work. They also show that the implementation of social inclusion in education and specifically in VET also depends on the structure of the educational system and relevant national policies in each country.
Following, we are going to introduce three good practices presented during the VET4FUTURE conference.

Individualised Education Plan
The Istituto Omnicomprensivo Giano dell’Umbria – Bastardo from Italy started working with Individualised Educational Plans (IEP) in 2019. It is a holistic approach to education enhancing the capabilities of the students, which do not only include academic, but also social competencies and life skills. The approach is carried throughout the whole cycle of education starting from primary school until secondary school including vocational education and training. Moreover, IEPs can be applied not only to disadvantaged but all students. Each student is assessed, individual goals are set and appropriate didactical measures and methods are chosen to achieve them. Based on the IEP Life Projects are developed for disadvantaged students encouraged by their achievements. In order for this approach to work, the social background and community around a student needs to be involved – the school, the family, relevant associations, social services as well as companies – with the goal to support each student in finding a suitable workplace.
Inclusive Internships
The keys to successful inclusion of people with disabilities at the workplace were presented by DomSpain Consulting from Spain. It is important to be aware of myths and preconceived ideas, involve the whole company, raise awareness among the staff and implement an effective communication strategy. Especially conscious and unconscious biases can be a challenge for inclusion. It needs to be taken into account that students taking part in an internship at a company have different special needs, which need to be addressed and solutions to be found. For persons with reduced mobility architectural barriers might need to be overcome. Different communication methods and technology can be used for persons with hearing or visual impairments. Companies should also think about the accessibility of their documents and their website. Persons with dyslexia or other learning disabilities will be grateful for easy-reading instructions. Therefore, a careful evaluation of the specific situation should take place in advance in order to meet the needs of the intern and guarantee a successful start of the internship.
SEN Students in Mobilities
An empowering step further can be the participation of students with special educational needs (SEN) in Erasmus+ projects and mobilities, like in the case of the Istituto d’istruzione superiore Ciuffelli-Einaudi, Todi in Italy. Throughout the project “Linking Business, Enterprise & Entrepreneurial Skills Internationally”, the students involved in the project activities also included SEN students in order to foster peer communication and cooperation. The students were able to take part in mobilities in the partner countries of the project.
The partnership focused on what the students can do and not what they cannot. Learning was facilitated through creative activities, which promote responsibility, teamwork, risk taking and problem solving. Furthermore, the activities were designed to correspond to the different learning styles of the students. Due to these activities and the possibility to take part in mobility among many other things the confidence of the SEN students increased and their communication skills improved.

Social inclusion in VET: Resources available

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A university-led good practice whereby university faculty reaches out to secondary education to impart knowledge in an attractive field of science

University lecturers visit the secondary schools and make presentations that aim to introduce students to systems based on microcontrollers, Programmable Logic Controllers and mobile robots – the main concepts, devices and their application, the logic of programming. During these presentations, theoretical and conceptual issues are made easier to understand by live demonstration with programmable devices and models. At the end of the activity, the students are given the opportunity to test the devices and models that are used during the demonstrations.
Demonstrations are an essential element of the activity since they capture students’ attention.
The activity achieves its impact in two ways:
– Students are attracted to STEM through interesting topics and the opportunity to engage in hands-on exercises
– Students have the chance to meet researchers and ask questions related to the discipline in which they are interested in or inquire about what it is like to be a scientist.

Photos from a school visit – lecture with demonstration of equipment, and hands-on activities for students

The activity targets students from secondary vocational schools. However, some of the visits were attended by pupils from elementary schools, too. Indirectly, it also targets teachers at the same schools.
Organization
For the activity to be commenced in a particular school, the head of the relevant Department or the Dean of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Electronics has to establish contact with the director of the vocational high school. The contact can be initiated by either side. There is no department or staff member responsible for this activity. On the side of Technical University – Gabrovo, the organization boils down to identification of the lecturer(s) that will visit the school. The lecturer is responsible for preparing for the lecture itself.
A list of lessons with brief annotations is sent to the vocational school beforehand. The details are negotiated with the receiving school so as to fit the interest of the students and teachers. From the side of the school, the negotiation involves the school director and the teachers in the relevant subject. Typically, it is teachers that are consulted on the topics and details of the presentation and the demonstrations.
The vocational school is responsible for providing a lecture hall and for inviting the students to participate in the activity. The leading role in organizing student participation is played by teachers in the relevant subject.
Higher education students’ involvement in the activity.
In some lectures, university students are also included in the team of lecturers. This greatly increases the effectiveness of the activity and the impact on the secondary school students because young researchers can establish a more effective connection with high school students and serve as role models.
Sustainability
This activity has been conducted for 10 years at various schools in Bulgaria. It faces no serious issues of sustainability since it does not require much financing or special equipment. It can always be continued at the request of a school or a new collaboration with a new school can be established if there is interest on the part of the school. Maintaining links to vocational high schools is a long-lasting tradition of Technical University – Gabrovo. Thus, the activity has always been considered compatible with the development strategy of the university.
Financial sustainability
The activity is funded by Technical University – Gabrovo. The participating lecturers are paid travel expenses, each lecture counts as 4 hours of work. The equipment used for the demonstrations is taken from the laboratories of the university.

Impact
Every year, Technical University – Gabrovo organizes around 15 such educational outreach activities at different schools. In each activity, between 20 and 40 students are present. Unfortunately, due to the limited time available for the lectures and the demonstrations, the impact of the activity has not been formally assessed. The general feeling among teachers and lecturers involved is that students show interest in the topics and hence, it could be expected that the activity also sparks interest for a science career. All in all, this is a practical low-key method of maintaining continuous relationship between universities and schools and exposing students to scientific information and new technological advances. It allows students from high schools that are not endowed with sophisticated equipment to work with such equipment, even if for a short time period.
Factors for success
For the activity to be successful, the following factors have been important:
– The activity has been perceived as part of a long-term strategy of the University to connect with secondary schools in the region
– The success of the activity strongly depends on the relations between the university and the recipient school being characterised by long-term cooperation. This allows the university staff and the school teachers to design and deliver lectures with demonstrations on a variety of topics, often linking these lectures to the compulsory curriculum
– The activity’s relevance increases when the lecturers maintain continuous contact with the relevant teachers in order to determine the interest and the level of prior knowledge of the target students. This can make sure that the participating students benefit from the activity and that the activity can be used to upgrade knowledge received in the classroom

More such good practices can be found at the webpage of DISCOVER project.

Bulgarian news

Promoting VET Teachers’ Mental Health and Wellbeing

Post author By enneproject
Post date 28 August 2020
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The problem of teachers’ wellbeing has been recently brought to the forefront of the agenda for improving quality of vocational education and training in Europe. There is a growing recognition that for teaching and learning to be effective, teachers should have high levels of wellbeing (OECD, 2018). The latest research, however, proves that teachers’ wellbeing is an issue of concern. In the UK, more than 75% of educational professionals, including those in the VET sector, experience work-related behavioural, psychological or physical symptoms. 57% of teachers and 63% of senior leaders have considered leaving the profession within the past two years (Teacher Wellbeing Index 2018). The numbers are not much different for other European countries. If unaddressed, the issue of poor wellbeing in schools would leave the educational systems in the EU without qualified and motivated staff, so needed for the development of the younger generation in the age of rising global competition.

When national VET systems are struggling to recruit new teachers and retain their existing staff, VET teachers’ wellbeing has been an unfairly neglected topic (CEDEFOP, 2004, 2016; Boldrini & Sappa, 2017). In addition to the stress factors common to all levels of education, VET teachers face specific adversities, which have negative effect on their wellbeing. These include: undervalued image of the VET sector; unattractive career pathways for teachers; poor vocational motivation of students; ongoing changes in national VET systems due to harmonization processes at EU level; continuous changes in VET content due to rapid development of science & technology. The analysis of existing teacher wellbeing support schemes in partners’ countries, however, shows a lack of professional development opportunities for teachers to build the skills they need to deal effectively with adversities in the workplace.

The VET-WELL project seeks to address this issue and sets the overall objective to equip educational professionals in the VET sector with resources and skills to deal effectively with the challenges of their work environment and to create a positive mental health and wellbeing culture in their schools.

The specific objectives of the project are:

Develop a conceptual framework for teachers’ wellbeing in VET
Design a comprehensive professional development programme aimed at strengthening skills supporting VET teachers’ wellbeing
Create an interactive self-reflection and e-learning environment supporting professional development of VET teachers
Facilitate wide adoption and implementation of the wellbeing support programme in various VET contexts
Raise awareness among education stakeholders of teachers’ mental health and wellbeing in VET

During the project life-cycle, the following major results will be achieved:

Output 1: Framework for Teachers’ Wellbeing in VET that will identify specific skills supporting teachers’ wellbeing (incl. life skills and pedagogical skills)
Output 2: Professional development programme, aimed at strengthening skills that VET teachers need to effectively manage their own wellbeing and to improve their self-efficacy in the classroom
Output 3: Interactive Self-Reflection and E-Learning Tool allowing VET teachers to reflect upon their “wellbeing skills” and to create a personalized professional development pathway
Output 4: Guidebook for improving VET Teachers’ Wellbeing in VET that will provide precise recommendations for improving mental health and wellbeing of teachers in VET schools through implementation of a dedicated professional development programme

The project is targeted at: VET professionals (teachers, lecturers, trainers, mentors, senior leaders) and school psychologists; Professionals in initial teacher education and continuous professional development of teachers; Aspiring teachers and student teachers; Representatives of organisations dealing with/ promoting mental health and wellbeing in VET.

About 600 VET professionals and experts in the fields of VET, teacher training, mental health and wellbeing will be involved directly in the project activities and events, such as surveys, focus group interviews, pilot training workshops and promotional conferences. In addition, we intend to reach at least 5000 project stakeholders through targeted dissemination of the project results.

We hope the new professional development programme delivered by the VET-WELL project will help VET teachers to strengthen their resilience and to improve their self-efficacy in the classroom. This, in turn, will help to create positive learning environment, improve students’ engagement and learning outcomes, and contribute to the culture of wellbeing in VET schools. Improved self-efficacy and wellbeing of teachers will eventually result in improved job satisfaction and retention – a social change from which VET systems in European countries stand to benefit greatly.

Bulgarian news

Entrepreneurship in school education in Bulgaria

Post author By enneproject
Post date 28 August 2020
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Context of entrepreneurship teaching in Bulgaria Entrepreneurship is among the most important factors for building and developing a market economy.
Within EU, entrepreneurship and training thereon are considered to be a crucial aspect for the community’s prosperity. Over the last few years, talk has increased of entrepreneurship throughout education, starting from the first school years. Following an ordinance issued in Bulgaria, 20 general education school subjects were introduced for primary education, including the “Technologies and Entrepreneurship” subject, divided into several stages. Classes begin in first grade and continue up to twelfth grade included, in accordance with the students’ level. Preparation is done by means of specialized subjects. The mandatory entrepreneurship classes are Entrepreneurship and Information
Technologies or Entrepreneurship and Geography and Economics.

Why is it important to start teaching entrepreneurship at an early age?
Entrepreneurship is a crucial element of XXI-century skills. Through it, students develop the skills needed
not only in terms of school subjects, but also basic skills such as morale, creativity and a positive attitude
to learning.
It is not by chance that the European Union determines entrepreneurship and initiative to be one of the eight key lifelong learning competences; their acquisition thereof needs to be ensured for young people by the school system of each member state. This is a long processes that lasts years and needs to be structured so that in each subsequent year the knowledge and skills build on those obtained the previous year.
In primary education, young pupils can get acquainted with the concept of the individual and the role they play as consumers, realize the role of the family and its economic responsibilities, obtain practical knowledge of natural, human, and capital resources.

Approaches to entrepreneurship teaching
In order for entrepreneurship teaching to be effective and to obtain the results desired by society, various instruments need to be employed. Some of them include transformation of the teacher’s role in the classroom – from instructor to facilitator, which allows children to find out answers themselves, and gives more freedom to the teacher. Another instrument is the involvement of business people in the learning process, which will improve the connection between education and business. This could be done by means of mentorship and active sharing of experience by the business and participation in various educational formats that allow students to freely talk with professionals. Team work is also
important for the purpose of creating vital work habits, and last, but not least, using more interactive and unconventional teaching methods, encouraging active joint work between different schools and organizing contests and other formats. This would allow young people to demonstrate their knowledge and skills and will create possibilities for new acquaintances.

In order to inspire their students and allow them to develop entrepreneurship, teachers also need to possess a wide range of creative and entrepreneurial skills. They too need a school environment that encourages creativity and risk-taking, and mistakes are regarded as learning opportunities.
Entrepreneurship training is more than preparing to manage an enterprise. It also includes the building of entrepreneurial attitude, skills and knowledge to allow the student “turn ideas into actions”.

Good practices

A good example is „MENTEE – Mentoring, Networking ND Training for European Entrepreneurs” – a project funded under the Erasmus+ programme. Through it, the experienced entrepreneurs who participated were able to become active mentors, and beginners and young entrepreneurs had the chance to benefit from shared practical knowledge. MENTEE e-learning tools have helped for this purpose.

The project „School Class 2 Business Class” gave participants the opportunity to learn everything related to starting their own company. During the pilot activities of the project at the National High School in Finance and Business, students were supported and advised by real entrepreneurs – company managers, and this created a solid foundation for the program to enter the secondary level of education. The project developed learning materials that will prepare students for running their independent business.

The project „Entrepreneurial Learning in Art Schools 2.0“ aims to help art schools give their students the necessary entrepreneurial skills needed before they enter the work field. El-Art is set up to help integrate entrepreneurship in European art schools through the development and distribution of teaching material and training programs for teachers and students. The aim of the programme is to help art schools give their students the entrepreneurial skills
necessary to thrive before they enter the working arena. The material Creativity as a Career produced by
El-Art is also suitable for starting creatives who are looking to strengthen their entrepreneurial skills.

Bulgarian news

Pomorie in Bulgaria

Pomorie is an ancient city and a seaside resort in southeastern Bulgaria, located on a narrow rocky peninsula in Burgas Bay on the southern Bulgarian Black Sea Coast. It has a population of circa 14000 inhabitants.

Pomorie hosts the Museum of Salt, this is the only museum in Bulgaria and Eastern Europe for the production of salt by solar evaporation of sea water. The museum consists of an exhibition hall and 20 decares of open-air salt pans, where salt is still mined. The salt pans at the museum produce salt in the same way as in ancient times. It is located in the town of Pomorie, on the shores of Lake Pomorie.

Another important attraction is the reserve “Old Pomorie houses“, located near the beach, at the eastern end of the old part of the town of Pomorie and presents the architecture and specific elements of the houses built here in the 19th century. The typical Pomorie house, which tourists can see while walking through the cobbled streets, has two floors – a stone ground floor and a rafter floor.

Lake Pomorie is the northernmost of the coastal Burgas Lakes, located in the immediate proximity of the Black Sea and the Bulgarian town of Pomorie. Lake Pomorie is a protected area since January 2001. Sea salt is obtained in the north part and curative mud in the south. Located on the Via Pontica bird migration route, the lake is inhabited by 215 species of birds, 4 of which globally endangered, and is thus of ornithological importance.

Pomorie welcomes the most attractive brass bands and cheerleaders from all over the country. For fourteen years, the city hosts the national festival combining music and dance “Rhythm of the Sea“, part of the summer festival “Sea of Wine” in Pomorie. The event is not competitive, but creates friendships between people of different ages and gives them the opportunity to exchange creative ideas.

For more information about the upcoming events you can visit Cultural calendar with events in the town of Pomorie: www.pomorie.bg/kulturen-kalendar-2019

The official website of the town of Pomorie, where upcoming cultural events are published: www.pomorie.bg/posts/0kultura