THE QUALITY OF SCHOOL EDUCATION BETWEEN REGULATIONS AND THE PREPARATION OF FUTURE MANAGERS

Abstract

The article is examines the quality of education as one of the major challenges of schools worldwide, as well as a specific problem in Bulgarian public schools. The quality of education in Bulgaria is a national policy priority, strategically and legislatively defined in the Strategic Framework for the Development of Education, Training and Learning in the Republic of Bulgaria (2021 – 2030) and in the Preschool and School Education Act. The school principal is legally responsible for ensuring, organizing, coordinating, and controlling various factors that influence educational quality. The overall organisation and management of quality in the educational institution is strategic and its monitoring is necessary in order to determine to what extent it is ensured and what still needs to be done in order to claim that the school provides quality education. University programmes in education management include various approaches, including competency-based methods, to equip students with the knowledge and skills necessary for planning, organizing, motivating, coordinating, reflecting, and controlling processes to ensure quality education in schools. In the university's management programmes, some of the students already hold the position of "director" and at the same time improve their theoretical and practical knowledge. The study was conducted among the students of the Master's Degree Programme "Educational Management" of Shumen University "Bishop Konstantin Preslavsky" with the aim of examining their competences and attitudes towards the quality of education in terms of definition of the concept, its regulatory framework in pre-school and school education, and the level of university preparation for developing of competences in quality management in kindergartens or schools. The study findings indicate that students possess a comprehensive understanding of the fundamental theoretical principles of quality of education and its management. The study also highlights their readiness to conduct self-assessment within educational institutions and collaborate with regional authorities to provide information on their competencies acquired at the university for assessing and managing the quality of education in schools. Based on these findings, the article concludes with recommendations for the implementation of institutional self-assessment systems.