Using appraisal to motivate and support the professional growth of teachers

Bulgaria has introduced several reforms that aim to enhance the teaching profession. For example, Bulgaria introduced a differentiated career structure for teachers, increased salaries and made continuous professional learning a mandatory requirement. Bulgaria has also updated the core content for initial teacher education, eliminated tuition fees for many initial teacher education programmes and updated the country’s teacher standards. Despite this progress, there is a growing need for greater coherence across initiatives, especially as these reforms have important financial implications for the government. This chapter looks at how Bulgaria could link changes to structural teacher policies in order to help recruit the best and most motivated teacher candidates, as well as encourage practising teachers to develop their competencies.