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On 22 and 23 May 2024, in Sankt Pölten, Austria, the 33rd Annual conference by EURASHE on the theme: “Stronger together: Promoting transnational cooperation” took place. Mr. Andrean Lazarov, the CEO of the Bulgarian Inclusion Support Team was among the key panelists together with Mrs. Sophia Eriksson Waterschoot – the General Director for Youth, Education and Erasmus+ at the European Commission’s Directorate General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture as well as representatives of Šiauliai State UAS, Thomas More UAS, Burgenland UAS, under the moderation of Mr. Michal Karpišek – member of the European Alliance E³UDRES².

Mr. Andrean Lazarov with Mrs. Sophia Eriksson Waterschoot – the General Director for Youth, Education and Erasmus+ at the European Commission’s Directorate General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture

During his speech, Mr. Lazarov presented the advantages of the Erasmus+ programme towards transnational cooperation and gave particular examples with different EU projects, where BIST is involved.

Mr. Andrean Lazarov with Mr. Hannes Raffaseder – President of EURASHE

On 21st and 22nd March 2024, at 94 SU “Dimiter Strashimirov” the transnational partners meeting of the project was held.  The meeting was opened by the host partner – Mrs. Latinka Kovacheva – Principal of the 94 SU “Dimitar Strashimirov” Sofia and by the project coordinator Mr. Melchor Gomez from Autonomous university of Madrid, Spain. Special music performance was given by students of 94 SU.

Main scope of the meeting was the review of the new improved version of the EMPLOGAME serious game “I am ready to work”. The partners discussed the outcomes from the focus groups feedback in Bulgaria, Spain and Turkiye and agreed on next amendments. They have discussed the new scenarios for the next game levels.

The partners discussed the progress of the five work packages by their leaders. Overall the project is in line with the work programme and is producing valuable learning results.

At the end of the meeting, the partners received certificates for participation and the project action plan was updated.

On 20 March, 2024 (Wednesday) in the Great Hall “prof. Asen Zlatarov” of the Federation of Scientific and Technical Unions (FNTS) in the city of Sofia, the final event of the project was held. During the event, the EMPLOGAME project was disseminated in the presentations of Mrs. Latinka Kovacheva and Mrs. Penka Nikolova (from 94 SU “Dimitar Strashimirov” Sofia), Mr. Andrean Lazarov (from Bulgarian Inclusive Support Team” Sofia) and Mrs. Figen Sekin (from WINSS – World Innovative Sustainable Solutions, Istanbul, Turkiye). More than 50 people took part in the event, including principals of vocational schools, teachers, pedagogical counsellors, students (including participants in the pilot phase of the project), as well as representatives of the Union of Bulgarian teachers and academics.

The event was also attended by Mr. Dervis Celik – from Esenyurt” Regional Education Directorate in Istanbul, Turkey. He emphasized the importance of the project, as well as offered new opportunities for cooperation with Bulgarian partners.

The EMPLOGAME project was disseminated as part of the VISAGE4JOBS final multiplier event, which was held on 15 February 2024 in Sofia, Bulgaria. The two Bulgarian partners – Bulgarian Inclusion Support Team and 94 SU “Dimitar Strashimirov” presented the first version of two major project results – the Pre-employment toolkit for marginalised students and the draft level of the EMPLOGAME serious digital game “I am ready to work”. 40 representatives of the project’s target groups took part in it, including teachers, psychologists, pedagogical advisors, career consultants, representatives of vocational training centers.

The event was opened by Mrs. Latinka Kovacheva – director of 94 SU “Dimitar Strashimirov” Sofia, who is also the coordinator of the project. She welcomed all the guests and gave an introduction about the achievements of the project. Mr. Yordan Krasev – a representative of the Union of Bulgarian Teachers, also took part in the opening, who expressed gratitude for the successful implementation of the project and emphasized the role of the union in the dissemination of the results created within the framework of the project activities.

Special part of the presentation was dedicated to the short-term impact of the project by Mrs. Penka Nikolova from 94 SU “Dimitar Strashimirov” – Sofia. She emphasised on the impact to teachers and students.

During the last part of the event, Mrs. Latinka Kovacheva initiated a discussion on the possibilities of using and distributing the project results among other schools, including 93 SU “Alexander Teodorov-Balan”, 7. SU “Sveti Sedmochiselnitsi”, 15 SU “Adam Mickiewicz”, 102. “Panayot Volov” Primary School, “Stefan Noikov” Foundation, 106. “Grigoriy Tsamblak” High School, 148. “Prof. Dr. L. Miletich” High School, Nayden Gerov Secondary School, ChSU “Prof. Nikolay Rainov”.

The CEO of the Bulgarian Inclusion Support Team – Mr. Andrean Lazarov participated during the INVEST Conference at the University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne. The event was held on 23 January 2024, at the Aula of the university in Reims, France. He presented the EMPLOGAME Pre-employment toolkit and the first version of the serious game “I am ready to work”  The event was attended by academicians, staff and PhD students from universities in Greece, Finland, Spain, Italy and Bulgaria. In the informal part of the event, potential for transfer of the outputs to the context of their countries was discussed.

Mr. Andrean Lazarov was welcomed by the Rector of the University, who is also the Chairman of the University of France – the union of universities in France Prof. Guillaume Gelle.

The project team from the 94 SU “Dimitar Strashimirov” Sofia under the lead of its principal Mrs. Latinka Kovacheva participated during final dissemination event of “Together again” Erasmus+ project. The event was organised by 93 SU “Alexandar Todorov – Balan” Sofia. During the event Mrs. Kovacheva presented the first project results of EMPLOGAME – the first level of the serious game and the pre-employment toolkit.

On 12 December 2023, the Ministry of Education and Science in Bulgaria organised the a forum “Education for Tomorrow” with a focus on digital education. The event was opened by the Minister of Education in Bulgaria – prof. PhD Galin Tsokov. The set of the conference was to present good practices for effective use of digital technologies, tools and content to improve the quality of teaching and learning. Participants had the opportunity to get acquainted with inspiring examples of this, as digital technologies are successfully applied in the educational sphere. Mrs. Penka Nikolova – Project manager from the 94 SU “Dimitar Strashimirov” presented the project concept and distributed project flyers.

The national seminar was organised by the National agency of Erasmus+ in Bulgaria and the Bulgarian National VET team. It was focused on students and their teachers from vocational high schools in the region within the framework of the “European Year of Skills – 2023”.

The consortium was represented by Mrs. Penka Nikolova from 94 SU “Dimitar Strashimirov” and Mr. Andrean Lazarov (moderator of the event and CEO of the Bulgarian Inclusion Support Team) who demonstrated tips and good practices in creating the professional resume (through the Europass tools) and motivation letter for a successful career. They conducted practical sessions based on EMPLOGAME training toolkit. In the framework of the workshop, Mrs. Nikolova consulted teachers about common mistakes and advice in career development and preparation for the labor market, as well as provided guidelines for overcoming them with a view to easier access to the labor market in Bulgaria.

The project, which is coordinated by UNIVERSIDAD AUTONOMA DE MADRID, Spain and partnered by the Bulgarian Inclusion Support Team and ASOCIACIÓN MADRILEÑA DE PROFESIONALES DE LA ATENCIÓN TEMPRANA (AMPAT), Madrid, Spain was presented during the XVII International congress of the organisations working in the field of education, which was held in the period 08-10 November 2023 in Oviedo, Spain.

In the dedicated panel called: “Inclusive education in the 21st century: recent practices and solutions for teachers and students with special needs” was chaired by prof. Pilat Gutiez Cuevas and prof. Crisalida Rodriguez Serna from AMPAT with the participation of  Andrean Lazarov from Bulgarian Inclusion Support team. Prof. Pilar Gutiez Cuevas  presented the project concept and the first project results with regards to the game based development and its impact on students from disadvantaged communities.

The congress was organised by the University of Oviedo and included more than 200 participants from Europe and Latin America (academicians, business representatives, teachers, lecturers, NGO representatives, policy makers). During the first congress day, the team of Bulgarian Inclusion Support Team presented the key outcomes of the project, especially appreciated by the giant name in the didactics of Spain – prof. Antonio Medina Rivilla from UNED | Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia and the key organiser prof. Emilio Álvarez Arregui – President of UNESCO Spain . Possibilities for exploitation of the key project results in Spain and in Latin America were discussed.

Dedicated article about the project, its concept and results was also published with ISBN: 978-84-18482-96-0

More information at: https://www.cioie2023.org/es/programa.php 

The partners met on 7th November 2023 in Madrid, Spain to discuss and improve the development of the serious game “I am ready to work”. During the meeting, the partners from UNIVERSIDAD AUTONOMA DE MADRID, Spain (project coordinator), ASOCIACIÓN MADRILEÑA DE PROFESIONALES DE LA ATENCIÓN TEMPRANA, Madrid, Spain,  94 High School “Dimitar Strashimirov”, Sofia, Bulgaria, World Innovative Sustainable Solutions, Istanbul, Turkeye and Bulgarian Inclusion Support Team, Sofia, Bulgaria, improved the scenarios as well as developed additional parts of the technical specification of the game avatars and functionalities. The new improved version is expected to be delivered in the beginning of December 2023.