Once again about the quality of education in the digital era: a tribute to Blagovest Sendov
Abstract
In this short memoir I am sharing reflections on thoughts and experiences I have shared with Blagovest Sendov, related to conversations in an educational context. The memories are related to conversations with him during my professional activity (since 1969). His commitment to education in Bulgaria was evident not only in his leadership of the Research Group on Education, and the implementation of a new model for higher education decades ago, but also in his active involvement in activities dedicated to the Inquiry based learning at all levels (with teachers and students alike).
I will discuss his pioneering efforts in bringing specialists from the world to Bulgaria (3 conferences on Children in the information age, 1985-1999) focused on discussing today’s problems.
During our last meetings he invariably emphasized the debt of scientists to the children of Bulgaria with the key phrase Not only knowledge, but also upbringing! I am referring to his concerns about the education and the upbringing in the democratic society expressed at the most recent conferences he had participated in. I will also discuss his observation that the use of market models in the educational institutes is not a consequence of the democracy but rather the result of the weakness of the democracy and the aggression of the market. After decades of successful use of digital technology for education – he claimed – the quality of education depends mostly on the quality of the teacher, and all teachers have to be potential researchers.
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