Deputy Director of the Institute for Education Quality and Evaluation, Dr Milan Gromović, visited the office of the Bulgarian National Council in Dimitrovgrad on Sunday, 29 March, where he held a working meeting with Council representatives focused on the further development of long-standing cooperation.
During the discussions, both sides confirmed their commitment to continuing and strengthening cooperation across several areas, with a particular focus on the final exam at the end of primary education. The Institute traditionally provides translations of collections of tasks and final exam tests into the languages of eight national minorities, representing an important mechanism for ensuring equal conditions for all students. In this context, continued active cooperation with the Bulgarian National Council was agreed, alongside further improvements in the quality of test materials and the work of the translation working group for literary Bulgarian.
Special attention was also given to issues of reading and functional literacy, including the participation of schools from south-eastern Serbia in the international PIRLS study, as well as in other national and international assessments implemented by the Institute, including PISA, TIMSS, ICCS and TALIS, and the importance of applying their results to improve the quality of education.
One of the key topics of the meeting was school self-evaluation, particularly within the Niš School Administration, with a focus on schools in Dimitrovgrad and Bosilegrad.
In this regard, continued cooperation was agreed, along with the possibility of organising training sessions, including training on the use of the self-evaluation platform.
Representatives of the Bulgarian National Council presented their planned activities for the current year and the challenges they face in their work. The Institute expressed its readiness to provide support, within its mandate and capacities, to help address these challenges.
The meeting also included a presentation of the publishing activities of the Bulgarian National Council, as well as plans for future publishing initiatives.
The meeting in Dimitrovgrad reaffirmed the importance of continuous cooperation between institutions and national councils in improving the quality of education, particularly in the context of supporting education in minority languages and strengthening school capacities.
