Partnership
Kick off transnational partners’ meeting – 21 May 2023, Sofia, Bulgaria
Second transnational partners’ meeting – 6-7 November 2023, Madrid, Spain
Final transnational partners’ meeting – 11-12 April 2024, Istanbul, Turkiye
94 High School “Dimitar Strashimirov”, Sofia, Bulgaria – Project coordinator
94 SU “D. Strashimirov ” is a secondary school located in the city of Sofia. In addition to the general education classes in the school, there is also admission in three specialties. The specialty for high school is “Manufacture of textile clothing”, “Logistics of goods and services” and „Entrepreneurship profile“. The team consists of 90 teachers, teaching general education and vocational training, a principal and 4 assistant principals. The main activities of the school derive from ZPUO – training of youth 1-12 grade according to the state educational standards for acquiring general and vocational education The school has experience in the management of projects financed under OP “NOIR”, mainly aimed at literacy of youth who do not good know the Bulgarian language. Though a career in education has long positioned teachers for Burnout, the enduring nature of the COVID-19 pandemic has made teacher burnout even more likely. The intensive work of our teachers during synchronous and asynchronous times (during the COVID-19 pandemic itself) and the successive waves have consequent physical and mental wear. In the case of teachers, the lack of time to attend to the emotional demands of students, including the tensions from knowing that many of their colleagues and family members were positive for COVID-19 made an emotional aggravation that they suffer from the anguish and fear of an unknown and often fatal disease. Thereby generating a feeling of guilt, frustration and anxiety is a common problem of teachers in Bulgaria. With this project proposal we would like with the help of the other partners to analyze all the factors likely to generate stress in teachers and to make actions that can help create an optimal work environment, as well as helping the teachers professionally by offering guidelines and a digital tool for self-assessment that allows them to get out of the vicious circle of Burnout syndrome.
Learn more at: https://school94-sofia.com
World Innovative Sustainable Solutions, Istanbul, Turkiye
The NGO staff members have been working over 14 years in the school and vocational education and training sector. The purpose of the association is to contribute to further teachers’ training and their cultural transformation in the society for a sustainable life; to offer creative solutions to the complex mental problems of our time with a systemic and holistic perspective, innovative and sustainable solutions in the field of education, career guidance, green economy, STEM technologies, etc. It carries out studies and publications on educational, social and cultural issues. Part of the staff of the organisation is consisting of mentors and job coaches. The organisation is a key partner of the Istanbul Educational Directorate as part of Ministry of Education and the team of WINSS regularly is organising further teachers’ trainings as being accredited for these trainings by the Ministry. During several occasions (workshops, trainings etc.) the team of WINSS discovered that big part of teachers, who are involved in their activities, are possessing behaviour similar to the Burnout syndrome. With this project the team of WINSS would like to collaborate with our partners to prepare guidelines for activities and preventive measures in order to be able to
provide as much as possible qualitative support, but also preserving their mental health. Among the collective symptoms are: fatigue, overwhelm, boredom, depression, anxiety, stress, apathy and frustration (among other negative emotions). While these may characterize any teacher who has hit his/her limit, the condition most commonly affects classroom teachers, who deal with day-to-day student interaction. If we want to solve these issues, if we want to produce happier students and teachers, it’s time to take a hard look at the many questions surrounding teacher burnout: it’s definitions, causes, symptoms and prevention.
Learn more at: https://www.winssolutions.org
Bulgarian Inclusion Support Team, Sofia, Bulgaria
The NGO is providing further training and psychological support for teachers in Sofia region. The staff of the organisation consist of pedagogists, organisational psychologists, HR specialists, paramedics and social workers, who has more than 15 years’ experience in the field of mental health and psychological support for teachers. Their team members are frequently invited as guest speakers at major national and EU conferences in the field of inclusion. social services support, validation of learning outcomes as well as are included in the Committees to the Ministry of Education & Science and National Agency for Vocational & Adult Education & Training. One of the team members is elected as National consultant in the field of Vocational education by the Ministry of Education and Science. The team is experience on development of digital supportive tools and websites so this partner will be responsible also for the technical expertise in
the consortium. BIST is working intensively with teachers and their mental health (aged 30-55); Psychologists (aged 30-60) and also with
representatives of educational centers and directorates of national education and social welfare (aged 35+). In their interventions so far they have evidenced that several teachers have some of the following Burnout characteristics: Physical and mental exhaustion; Sleep issues and fatigue; Self-doubt or a lack of confidence; Increased or decreased appetite or weight; Lack of motivation or drive; Feelings of ineffectiveness; Anxiety (even at “high-functioning” levels); Existential dread or anxiety; Cynicism and negativity about their job; Irritability and emotional lability; Depersonalization: not seeing the humanity in students, families, colleagues. Thanks to the collaboration with AMPAT, BIST team will develop new digital self-assessment tool, which will detect and provide feedback about reduction of the level of Burnout syndrome.
Learn more at: https://www.inclusionteam.org
ASOCIACIÓN MADRILEÑA DE PROFESIONALES DE LA ATENCIÓN TEMPRANA, Madrid, Spain
AMPAT, Madrid Association of Care Professionals, was established in 2004 due to the need to create an association of qualified and specialized people in Care services. In general, Care is not considered as a priority action by society, but nevertheless its relevance in the lives of people who are detected some dysfunction due to the Burnout syndrome caused by intensive provision of teaching. Their multidisciplinary team of specialists in medicine, psychologists, head teachers and experienced educational planners will be essential for the project multidisciplinary team. In summary, AMPAT set itself as a mission the awareness of people and public administrations about the Burnout syndrome in all teaching staff so that it would become a common issue, which will be tackled by prevention techniques integrated in
the health system. AMPAT has also the official qualification of “social interest”, granted by the Community of Madrid.
Since 2007, AMPAT is organising national and international congresses in the field of social work, inclusion and prevention of mental health. Therefore, their role will be as Dissemination and exploitation leader of the project and will make sure that its results will be promoted all over Europe, but also at Latin America, where the project topic is very relevant and where teachers may take benefits from our project results.