Abstract:

Education is no longer just about books and textbooks; it crosses the boundaries of school and university and builds new knowledge and skills in people with the help of various educational initiatives offered by cultural institutions.

This paper aims to present the results of a study of contemporary educational programs and initiatives in Bulgaria, conducted in regional history museums in the country. An experimental methodology was used, which aims to outline their main quantitative and qualitative characteristics according to predefined criteria.

A total of 186 proposed programs and educational initiatives were conducted for 2019 in 27 museums. The main conclusions of the analysis demonstrate the diversity of pedagogical approaches used for non-formal education in the museum environment, with the highest share (in 35% of cases) found different combinations of verbal, visual and practical methods in the form of talks, presentations, creative workshops, games, competitions, etc. To a large extent, these initiatives are related to specific sciences and scientific fields, such as history (29%), ethnography (21%), archaeology (12%) and are related to learning about both tangible and intangible regional cultural heritage. Inter-institutional cooperation in their implementation with schools, kindergartens and organizations from the non-governmental sector is also reported. The leading target group, to which these activities are oriented, is the one on educational grounds (44%), as they mostly refer to students from primary stage of education I-IV grade.

The research is part of a research project with Contract № KP-06-M35/3 from 18.12.2019 entitled: “Research of contemporary educational programs of cultural institutions in Bulgaria”, funded by the National Science Fund, part of the Ministry of Education and Science and has for main goal to study the scientific problem, whether these programs lead to improving the quality of formal and non-formal education and the achievement of lasting knowledge among young people. A key element in the research is to establish the degree of interaction of cultural institutions with the school education system in the country. The results of the collected statistical data and the thematic analysis of the educational activities can be of benefit to the scientific community for specialists in the field of culturology, pedagogy, museology, cultural heritage and other scientific fields.

Keywords:

Museums, Bulgaria, educational program, target groups, formal and non-formal education.