A draft of the "National Framework for Quality Early Childhood Education and Care" was presented at a conference in Sofia this week. The draft aims to introduce in Bulgaria the standards of the EU Council Recommendation on the Quality of European Early Learning and Care Systems and has been developed by an expert working group under the leadership of the Ministry of Education and Science. The Trust for a Social Achievement took part in the discussions and made recommendations on:
- Strengthening the focus on individualisation in the draft National Framework in relation to the capabilities, interests, wishes and needs of each child and family;
- Bringing to the forefront the child-centred approach that characterises a high quality early learning and care service;
- More clearly defining the different levels of monitoring and evaluation and making continuous quality improvement the goal of monitoring;
- Introducing quality indicators at the level of individual practitioner/educator practice;
- Synchronisation of nursery and kindergarten systems to overcome the current fragmentation in the early learning and care system and the highlighting of the early years after a child's birth as a key period for development and learning.
The introduction of a National Quality Framework in Bulgaria has the potential to improve the quality of access, staff training, curriculum, monitoring and evaluation processes, as well as the management and financing of early learning and care, which will impact the development and outcomes of the over 200,000 children covered by the nursery, kindergarten and pre-school system in Bulgaria. TSA has been supporting the process of introducing Bulgarian professionals and practitioners to the philosophy and spirit of the European Quality Framework since 2019 by piloting the model in 8 kindergartens in Targovishte, Lukovit, Mezdra and Sofia.