ICT IN BULGARIAN SCHOOLS – CHANGES IN THE LAST DECADE

The 21st century puts the ICT (Information and Communication Technology) in the focus of society thus, it becomes an integral part of almost each area – economics, culture, politics, etc. and education is not an exception. So, in spite of being quite a conservative system, the education has started slowly but steadily to embrace the innovations and put them into practice. The variety of technology instruments used in classrooms ranges from interactive boards, computers, and educational games to most recent facilities like augmented and virtual reality. They have a vast potential for support of teaching and learning activities. The classical pedagogical methods implemented with innovative technology-based teaching tools give the opportunity both to achieve the learning goals and to address the needs of students from digital generation. The paper aims to trace the penetration of technologies in Bulgarian schools and the development of technology-enhanced teaching during last decade. Therefore, we conduct a massive online survey that was supported by the project funded by Bulgarian National Science Fund. Its primary objective is to investigate the integration of ICT tools and educational games in the context of traditional classroom practice and to outline the tendencies at a national scale. In particular, we examine the viewpoints of more than 1600 teachers and about 8000 students from all stages of K12 school education. The findings allow us to make analysis regarding challenges and main obstacles to introducing ICT in teaching practice as well as the received institutional support. Further, we explore in details the usage of various types of technology resources in teachers’ work including frequency of their use in different teaching activities and learning contexts where they are applied. The paper analyses also the new roles of teachers in the technology-enhanced educational process and how the contemporary technologies impact the students.

As the conducted survey allows quantification and evaluation of many aspects of technologization of the school education, we compare the findings with several pieces of similar research from the last years. The data gathered are analysed and interpreted in order to reveal the dynamics of changes and tendencies in teachers' opinion about ICT integration in Bulgarian K12 school education. The paper contributes to the construction of a reliable picture of the current state in the research area. It also can help the development of strategies for successful implementation of innovative technology-based teaching resource and tools.