Abstract:

Among the scientific society in Bulgaria, there has long been talking of the need to change the paradigm in Bulgarian education. All those involved in education and science are aware of the need to rethink pedagogical models in the digital age and move towards digital transformation.

During the COVID-19 lockdown, Bulgarian education must reconfigure itself from face-to-face learning to Remote Learning for 1 day. Although some schools had developed electronic platforms before most of the teachers encountered difficulties in performing their official duties. The Bulgarian teachers must react ad hoc to the situation and some of them were not ready for it.

This article presents the results of the research done by the author as part of the fundamental project “Digital Competencies and Media Education in Preschool and Primary School Age,“ Headed by Prof. Dr. Rumyana Papancheva and funded by the Bulgarian Research Fund. This part of the project calls “The link between reading and digital literacy in students up to 11 years old“.

This case study based on the answers of Bulgarian teachers. The interviews are designed using pre-prepared questions connected with teachers’ experience under Lockdown (In Bulgaria the Lockdown started on 13th March). The focus is on the Primary education (I-IV grade; 7-11 years old students). The main question is: Did digital transformation happen in Bulgarian education?

This study provides research findings about digital transformation in Bulgarian education based on some cases. The author tries to analyse the digital literacy of Bulgarian students up to eleven-years-old from the point of view of their teachers.

The author describes the context of the research – frameworks, and documents about digital competence. The paper also presents some good practices for digital transformation in the Bulgarian educational system.

Keywords:

Digital transformation, Bulgarian education, teachers, case study.