News & Events

Founder and CEO of Teach For Bulgaria, Evgenia Peeva-Kirova and Neli Koleva, Chief Officer of Public Partnerships took part in a work meeting with members of the European Parliament and the European Commission in Brussels on Jan 24, 2018. The discussion was framed by the current cross-European education priorities in the context of Bulgaria’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union. The meeting was hosted by the Bulgarian MEP Eva Maydell (Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria/European People's Party). The Bulgarian Minister of Education and Science, Krasimir Valchev, Deputy Minister - Denitsa Sacheva, and Teach For Bulgaria presented key lessons learned and potential policy implications from the policy experimentation project NEWTT. Evgenia Peeva-Kirova and Neli Koleva informed the guests that over 560 teachers will be trained in the new alternative pathway tested by the policy experimentation project in the next 5 years. Members of the European Parliament - actively involved in education and youth policy attended the meeting: Asim Ademov (Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria/European People's Party), Filiz Hyusmenova (Bulgaria, Movement for Rights and Freedoms/Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe), Svetoslav Malinov (Democrats for Strong Bulgaria/European People's Party), Georgi Pirinski (Bulgarian Socialist Party/Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats), Sean Kelly (Ireland, European People's Party), Tom Vandenkendelaere (Belgium, European People's Party), Emilian Pavel (Romania, Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats), Tomáš Zdechovský (Czech Republic, European People's Party).     
On Saturday 13th January 2018 a round table to discuss NEWTT was organized in Bilbao with participants, headteachers and different schools representatives that are part of the pilots. The Basque Goverment and the Heads of two Universities running the Masters of Teacher Training were also present. Participants shared their experience on NEWTT and reflected on the learnings from the pilot. The importance of a good design of recruitment and selection structure, induction and training to teaching was also debated.   
A round table organized by Teach For Bulgaria and the Bulgarian Union of Teachers presented the White Paper - a collection of best practices for the recruitment, selection, training, support, and retention of motivated professionals in the teaching profession           
On Nov 8, the 2017 Innovators in Education award ceremony took place at the literary club Peroto in the National Palace of Culture in Sofia. This year the annual Innovators in Education initiative was organized by ERP Academy. Over 50 education projects participated in the competition. Plovdiv University was nominated in the University Category and won first prize for the innovative university programs for its work as part of the NEWTT project with Teach For Bulgaria and the Bulgarian Ministry of Education and Science. Professor Galin Tzokov from Plovdiv University and Dr. Neli Koleva from Teach For Bulgaria accepted the prize at the official ceremony.           
On November 22nd another NEWTT event took place at the Teach For Austria office in Vienna. This time it was a special event with a small group: About 20 stakeholders from Teacher Training Institutes, Universities, ministries and the Austrian project partners met to discuss early project results in a confidential setting. Hermann Abs and Eva Anderson Pak from the University Duisburg-Essen presented the study results via video conference. The following discussion focussed on strengths and weakneses of the study design as well as different ways into teaching in general.  
In November 18th Teach For Austria's 5 year anniversary took place at Gartenpalais Liechtenstein in Vienna. Teach For Austria celebrated the accomplishments of the past five years together with 950 supporters including associates, alumni, politicians, teachers, network representatives, donors, students, families and friends. It was a great opportunity to discuss Teach For Austria´s approach with important national and international stakeholders.  The anniversary celebration offered a varied, hands-on programme. One of the highlights were the "Silent Stories", where various trainees of the NEWTT pilot presented their individual experiences as young teachers. The trainees' anecdotes and short stories gave great insight into their day to day lives, their biggest challenges as well as greatest successes.  The NEWTT-storytelling session attracted a big audience and showcased how alternative ways into teaching can be rewarding for students, schools and trainees alike.