Dual Training Center for Social Professions in Bulgaria

The Federation of Social NGOs in Bulgaria (FSSB) in cooperation with Liebenau Foundation started in 2012 a Vocational Training Center “St. Methodius” to offer training for social professions.

The project initiators identified the missing qualification of the social workers on the lower levels and want to improve it through dual education trainings in social professions.

Liebenau Foundation has offered social services in Germany for almost one and a half centuries and is currently also active in five other European countries.

Modeling vocational training in Bulgaria according to the dual education, or dual training system that has been developed and applied in Germany, increasing the scope of the training courses, and including contents from the training courses in Baden‐Wurttemberg does not mean that the two vocational training courses and qualifications will be exactly the same.

Rather, they will have the same level and value. Bulgaria and Baden‐Wurttemberg will coordinate the curricula as equal partners, there by implementing European education policy. The EU Strategy for the Danube Region further motivates the implementation of this project.

If the conditions are right, the Bulgarian project can serve as a pilot for further developing social work in neighboring countries.