- 2015Legislative process
- 2016Approved/Agreed
- 2017Implementation
- 2018Implementation
- 2019Implementation
- 2020Implementation
- 2022Implementation
- 2023Legislative process
- 2024Implementation
Background
Even before 2015, Bulgaria was in the phase of modernising its VET system. The VET Act, which defines the regulations for VET, had changed 22 times over the last decades, though this may have impeded consistency in VET development. Tripartite partnership was introduced with the VET Act and is at the heart of the Bulgarian VET system; social partners are even involved in defining the amendments to the VET Act. Through amendments to the Act in July 2014, the principles of dual training were introduced. The amendments aimed to adapt VET curricula to labour market needs and to introduce work-based learning in cooperation with employers, who were now also involved in the development and updating VET programme curricula. Amendments of the VET Act in August 2015 regulated the conditions and procedures for dual training and defined the specific obligations of all involved. The Labour code amendments in 2015 defined - among others - the place and duration of training.
Description
The VET Act of 1999 was amended in August 2016 (entered into force in August 2017), confirming that apprenticeships should offer the possibility to acquire professional qualifications through practical training, organised in cooperation with enterprises. The amendment also intended to improve the quality of VET by increasing the practical training part offered in VET programmes.
Amendments of the VET Act were approved in 2016.
From September 2017 onwards, all VET schools used the relevant legislative framework.
On 24 October 2018, an amendment and supplement to the VET Act was adopted. The main changes are related to:
- updated requirements for employers and mentors to ensure quality in the dual system;
- defining the functions and requirements for the preparation of teachers and mentors in the dual system;
- introducing regular updating of school curricula to respond to business changes.
Implementation continued.
Amendments to the VET Act in 2020 were related to:
- requirements for synchronisation of school admission plans with the integrated territorial strategies for the development of regions (NUTS II) and plans for integrated development of the respective municipalities where schools are situated;
- opportunities for learners in programmes for the third degree of VET qualification. In the Bulgarian VET context,The there are four degrees for qualifications, relevant to the complexity and the level of the competences that the learner acquires. There's an equivalence to EQF/BQF levels (e.g., first degree is equivalent to EQF level 2, second degree to EQF level 3, third degree to EQF level 4 and the fourth degree to EQF level 5. The third degree is the preferred choice of students at VET schools correspond to the highest- upper secondary- level of the 'school system). The amendments of VETA increased the opportunities that a learner has to take a VET exam for the acquisition of qualification(s) by supporting a diploma thesis/project. This is possible upon written expression of interest by the learner. The diploma project is prepared as an individual assignment and includes theoretical and practical experimentation parts.
An impact assessment of the VETA was carried out in 2022. Over the past 5 years key reforms were implemented in the VET system.
The system was reformed and improved both through changes in the legislative acts and through national, strategic and operational programmes in which goals and activities for their achievement were foreseen. With the ex-post impact assessment of VETA the actual achieved results were demonstrated and the weaknesses and challenges facing the system were highlighted. The analysis also helped to formulate recommendations.
The ex-post impact assessment of VETA aimed to:
- demonstrate to what extent the processes regulated by the VETA satisfy the needs of a qualified, competitive in the labour market workforce;
- assess if the provisions in force of VETA fully ensure the process of validation of professional knowledge, skills and competences;
- evaluate the implementation of VETA in terms of providing the necessary conditions for vocational and civic education compatible with the personal needs and abilities of each individual.
After the data collection process, the analysis which followed concluded that the VETA as a whole fulfils its goals and creates a legislative basis for the favourable development and enhancement of VET attractiveness. The amendments of the VET Act achieved the expected results to a great extent. The VET system is developing at a rapid pace and an indicator of this is the increasing number of vocational courses -including dual VET courses- and the increasing number of enrollments in VET and Dual VET.
Areas that need changes to improve their results were identified. There's a need for reform in the field of regulation of the validation of professional competences, updating the LPVET, the State Educational Standards for acquiring qualifications for professions, the introduction of a system for tracking the realisations of VET graduates, professional guidance and measures to increase the quality of VET.
The ex-post impact assessment of VETA was completed and the results were published in the education ministry website in December 2022.
In 2023, after conducting several consultations with the broader public and inter-institutional expert meetings, the draft Law on amendment and supplement to the vocational education and training (VET)Act (VETA) was prepared. The new text largely reflected the areas that needed changes already identified in 2022 and it is aligned with the goals set in the large-scale project Modernisation of vocational education and training(VET) project implemented by the education ministry and the National Agency for Vocational Education and Training (NAVET).
The main objective of the draft law was to modernise and improve the legal regulations of relations between VET stakeholders.
The major proposed changes contained in the draft Law were the following (presented by thematic areas):
A complete change of the List of professions for vocational education and training (LPVET) should be realised in 2024 by removing the specialties which had been previously the main element. This will lead also to a reduction in the number of professions that should be reviewed and reformulated by the sectoral skills councils (under the Modernisation of VET project). The new LPVET will comprise of fields of education, professional fields, professions, degrees of professional qualifications, European qualifications framework (EQF) and National Qualifications framework (BQF) levels, and occupational posts according to the 2011 National classification of occupations and occupational posts.
A comprehensive update of the state educational standards (SES) was planned for 2025, requiring the SES to describe which parts of a profession can be defined, i.e. which combinations of units of learning outcomes could lead to the acquisition of a partial qualification. SES should contain competences more purposefully related to the protection of the environment and the use of information technologies and focus on the specificities of each profession.
A new legal definition of training for acquiring a partial qualification was defined. The requirement for training is that it should contain a minimum of three units of learning outcomes, with at least one of them deriving from specific professional training.
The concept of accumulation and transfer of units of learning outcomes was introduced replacing credits previously stipulated in the VETA (moreover credits were never regulated and implemented in the Bulgarian VET system).
The draft Law on amendment and supplement to the vocational education and training Act proposed a change in the legal requirements regarding a mentor's professional experience, and expanded the scope of a professional qualification (from a profession or specialty to a professional field). This should provide greater opportunities for employers, including for small and medium-sized enterprises(SMEs), to determine the employee responsible for conducting the practical training of students in a real working environment in the respective enterprise.
The possibility of e-learning for persons aged 16 and over was introduced. This possibility lies at the discretion of the principal of the institution and depends on the existence of the appropriate technical infrastructure. Moreover, it allows for such training if due to extraordinary circumstances, the on-site training provision is suspended.
The draft Law granted new powers to the education minister regarding the maintenance of the public register of vocational colleges and control of their activities. In this way, the ability to monitor them is guaranteed, and at the same time there's an opportunity to monitor training provided for the acquisition of the highest degree of qualifications in the VET system.
The List of State-protected specialties of professions and the List of specialties of professions with expected shortage of specialists on the labour market were renamed in the draft law to List of State-protected professions and List of professions with expected shortage of specialists in the labour market. Moreover, the draft law aims to create conditions for optimising the processes for updating the specified lists, as due to perspective removal of specialties from LPVET updates will refer to professions. Another change concerned the timeframe for updating these lists - instead of updating the lists annually the update was set at a biannual basis.
The draft law contained a new definition of the quality of VET, creating a clear commitment to the nationally representative employers' organisations, as well as to the branch trade unions, for their participation in the process of assessing the quality of VET.
The draft Law explicitly regulated the validation process which should include at least one unit of learning outcomes. A mechanism for regular data collection by the National Agency for Vocational Education and Training (NAVET) was also being created, in relation with the procedure for the validation of professional knowledge, skills and competences carried out by VET centres aiming to the effective monitoring and analysis of the entire process.
The draft law introduced more favourable conditions for the implementation of the activities of VET centres by removing additional costs and fees for VET centres and by abolishing their obligation to submit documents already existing in another administrative register to NAVET.
The draft Law optimised the activity of the National Agency for Vocational Education and Training (NAVET)as it enabled inter-register exchange within the state administration.
In issue No 27 of 29 March 2024 of the Bulgarian State Gazette the Law on amendment and supplement to the vocational education and training Act was promulgated.
The changes proposed in 2023 came into force.
Bodies responsible
- Ministry of Education and Science
- Ministry of Labour and Social Policy(MLSP)
- Social partners
- National Agency for Vocational Education and Training (NAVET)
Target groups
Learners
- Learners in upper secondary, including apprentices
- Adult learners
Education professionals
- Teachers
- Trainers
Entities providing VET
- VET providers (all kinds)
Other stakeholders
- Social partners (employer organisations and trade unions)
Thematic categories
Governance of VET and lifelong learning
This thematic category looks at existing legal frameworks providing for strategic, operational – including quality assurance – and financing arrangements for VET and lifelong learning (LLL). It examines how VET and LLL-related policies are placed in broad national socioeconomic contexts and coordinate with other strategies and policies, such as economic, social and employment, growth and innovation, recovery and resilience.
This thematic category covers partnerships and collaboration networks of VET stakeholders – especially the social partners – to shape and implement VET in a country, including looking at how their roles and responsibilities for VET at national, regional and local levels are shared and distributed, ensuring an appropriate degree of autonomy for VET providers to adapt their offer.
The thematic category also includes efforts to create national, regional and sectoral skills intelligence systems (skills anticipation and graduate tracking) and using skills intelligence for making decisions about VET and LLL on quality, inclusiveness and flexibility.
This thematic sub-category refers both to formal mechanisms of stakeholder engagement in VET governance and to informal cooperation among stakeholders, which motivate shared responsibility for quality VET. Formal engagement is usually based on legally established institutional procedures that clearly define the role and responsibilities for relevant stakeholders in designing, implementing and improving VET. It also refers to establishing and increasing the degree of autonomy of VET providers for agile and flexible VET provision.
In terms of informal cooperation, the sub-category covers targeted actions by different stakeholders to promote or implement VET. This cooperation often leads to creating sustainable partnerships and making commitments for targeted actions, in line with the national context and regulation, e.g. national alliances for apprenticeships, pacts for youth or partnerships between schools and employers. It can also include initiatives and projects run by the social partners or sectoral organisations or networks of voluntary experts and executives, retired or on sabbatical, to support their peers in the fields of VET and apprenticeships, as part of the EAfA.
Modernising VET offer and delivery
This thematic category looks at what and how individuals learn, how learning content and learning outcomes in initial and continuing VET are defined, adapted and updated. First and foremost, it examines how VET standards, curricula, programmes and training courses are updated and modernised or new ones created. Updated and renewed VET content ensures that learners acquire a balanced mix of competences that address modern demands, and are more closely aligned with the realities of the labour market, including key competences, digital competences and skills for green transition and sustainability, both sector-specific and across sectors. Using learning outcomes as a basis is important to facilitate this modernisation, including modularisation of VET programmes. Updating and developing teaching and learning materials to support the above is also part of the category.
The thematic category continues to focus on strengthening high-quality and inclusive apprenticeships and work-based learning in real-life work environments and in line with the European framework for quality and effective apprenticeships. It looks at expanding apprenticeship to continuing vocational training and at developing VET programmes at EQF levels 5-8 for better permeability and lifelong learning and to support the need for higher vocational skills.
This thematic category also focuses on VET delivery through a mix of open, digital and participative learning environments, including workplaces conducive to learning, which are flexible, more adaptable to the ways individuals learn, and provide more access and outreach to various groups of learners, diversifying modes of learning and exploiting the potential of digital learning solutions and blended learning to complement face-to-face learning.
Centres of vocational excellence that connect VET to innovation and skill ecosystems and facilitate stronger cooperation with business and research also fall into this category.
VET standards and curricula define the content and outcomes of learning, most often at national or sectoral levels. VET programmes are based on standards and curricula and refer to specific vocations/occupations. They all need to be regularly reviewed, updated and aligned with the needs of the labour market and society. They need to include a balanced mix of vocational and technical skills corresponding to economic cycles, evolving jobs and working methods, and key competences, providing for resilience, lifelong learning, employability, social inclusion, active citizenship, sustainable awareness and personal development (Council of the European Union, 2020). The thematic sub-category also refers to establishing new VET programmes, reducing their number or discontinuing some. It also includes design of CVET programmes and training courses to adapt to labour market, sectoral or individual up- and re-skilling needs.
This thematic sub-category covers all developments related to work-based learning (WBL) elements in VET programmes and apprenticeships which continue to be important in the policy agenda. It includes measures to stabilise the offer of apprenticeships, the implementation of the European framework for quality and effective apprenticeships, and using the EU on-demand support services and policy learning initiatives among the Member States. It also covers further expansion of apprenticeships and WBL to continuing VET (CVET), for transition to work and inclusion of vulnerable groups, and for improving citizens’ qualification levels.
Teachers, trainers and school leaders competences
Competent and motivated VET teachers in schools and trainers in companies are crucial to VET becoming innovative and relevant, agile, resilient, flexible, inclusive and lifelong.
This thematic category comprises policies and practices of initial training and continuing professional development approaches in a systemic and systematic manner. It also looks at measures aiming to update (entry) requirements and make teaching and training careers attractive and bring more young and talented individuals and business professionals into teaching and training. Supporting VET educators by equipping them with adequate competences, skills and tools for the green transition and digital teaching and learning are addressed in separate thematic sub-categories.
The measures in this category target teachers and school leaders, company trainers and mentors, adult educators and guidance practitioners.
This thematic sub-category refers to all kinds of initial and continuing professional development (CPD) for VET educators who work in vocational schools and in companies providing VET. VET educators include teachers and school leaders, trainers and company managers involved in VET, as well as adult educators and guidance practitioners – those who work in school- and work-based settings. The thematic sub-category includes national strategies, training programmes or individual courses to address the learning needs of VET educators and to develop their vocational (technical) skills, and pedagogical (teaching) skills and competences. Such programmes concern state-of-the-art vocational pedagogy, innovative teaching methods, and competences needed to address evolving teaching environments, e.g. teaching in multicultural settings, working with learners at risk of early leaving, etc.
This thematic sub-category refers to measures aimed at engaging more professionals into teaching and training careers, including career schemes or incentives. It includes measures enabling teaching and training of staff, managing VET provider and trainer teams in companies to act as multipliers and mediators, and supporting their peers and/or local communities.
European priorities in VET
VET Recommendation
- VET agile in adapting to labour market challenges
- Flexibility and progression opportunities at the core of VET
Osnabrück Declaration
- Resilience and excellence through quality, inclusive and flexible VET
Subsystem
Further reading
Country
Type of development
Cedefop, & ReferNet. (2025). Amendments to the VET Act: Bulgaria. In Cedefop, & ReferNet. (2025). Timeline of VET policies in Europe (2024 update) [Online tool].
https://www.cedefop.europa.eu/en/tools/timeline-vet-policies-europe/search/28047