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The center is founded in accordance with a decision of the Faculty of Education in 2004. Its basic aim is to reply to some of the multitude of challenges confronting the society and the educational system at the beginning of the 21st century.

 

The last decade of the 20th century have raised a number of typical for the societies in transition periods questions and challenges to the Bulgarian society - value crises and deficiency of democratic relations, clearly expressed migration processes including young and well educated people, high unemployment, poverty, corruption, etc. All these serious problems have affected the Bulgarian education and the necessity of new socio-economic, political and pedagogical approaches and strategies has been awakened.

The concept ,,civic education” has focused the public attention after the start of the 1999 educational reform. One of the priorities of this reform is the establishment of the conditions, the necessary organization, normative and content provision and effective practice of civic education for the Bulgarian children. The civic education is reflected as a base for the child’s personal development and preparation for his/her further social realization.

The second core component of the reform is the introduction of state educational requirements for the content of the civic education in the primary, basic and secondary stages of school education.

This is in brief the context of the Bulgarian educational situation that has inspired the members of the academic community of the Faculty of Education, whose mission as the leading national pedagogic research and teachers’ preparation center has always been to pursue excellence in the up to date theory and practice of education and social work to undertake the foundation of the Center for Civic Education.

 

The aims of the Center are:

  1. To join the efforts of all the parties interested in the improvement of the quality of civic education and the research on the problems of the Bulgarian school aged children’s civic formation.
  2. Following the study, synthesis and approbation of the experiences of the leading European democracies and the USA to contribute for the attainment of the students’ competencies required by their further professional positions as experts in the different spheres of civic education and social work and the adherence of democratic values not only at a theoretical but also at contemporary methodical level.
  3. To help the process of the acquisition of civic education competence of all the students in the different faculties of Sofia “St. Kliment Ohridski” University who receive teachers’ certificates as well as the teachers’ post graduate qualification in the sphere of civic education.
  4. To unite the efforts of all the members of the Faculty of Education staff who are interested in the problems of civic education for participation in project research work at university, national and international level.
  5. To stimulate the working out of curriculum programs, textbooks and learning materials facilitating the preparation of university students, teachers and pupils.
  6. To maintain and enlarge the net of connections with the different types of centers, institutions, settings, etc. working on the problems of civic education in the Bulgarian schools.
  7. To legitimize the Faculty of Education to the general public as an interested and competent community on the problems of Bulgarian school civic education.

     

The beginning:

The director of the Center for Civic Education is Assoc. Prof. Lilyana Strakova. The other members of the center are Prof. Emillia Vassileva, Assoc. Prof. Ivailo Tepavicharov, Assoc. Prof. Silviya Nikolaeva, Assoc. Prof. Silviya Tzvetanska, Assist. Prof. Vanya Bojilova and Assist. Prof. Silviya Pacheva.


Partners:

As an open project the center involves in its activities all the other colleagues from the Faculty of Education and cooperates intensively with the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Faculty of Biology, Faculty of Law, Faculty of Philosophy, etc. of Alma Mater, with non government organizations like Coalition 2000, The Center for the Study of Democracy, the foundations ‘’Social dialogue’’, ‘’Paideia’’, etc., with ‘’Jules Verne’’ University, Amiens, France, the University of National and World Economy, Sofia, the South-West University ‘’Neofit Rilski’’, Blagoevgrad, etc. Thanks to the financial support of the United States Agency for International Development /2004-2006/ and the Ministry of Education and Science /2006-2009/ the Center carries out its research, learning-methodical and expertise activities at different levels.

 

Project activities:

Pedagogical model for anticorruption education in secondary schools (2004-2005) (USAID).

Anticorruption education and civic action against corruption in the Sofia University (2004-2005) (USAID).

Transparency and publicity through academic ombudsman (2004-2006) (USAID).

The civic education of students – the European experiences and perspectives (2006-2009), (MES), etc.

 

Prof. Lilyana Strakova - Director

Phone: (+359 2) 93 08 464

E-mail: l.strakova@fp.uni-sofia.bg