EDUCATION SYSTEM IN XXI CENTURY – CHALLENGES AND PERSPECTIVES

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to outline and analyze the main trends in the education system of Bulgaria in the context of contemporary social and economic development. Its subject-matter is the education system as a production process of key importance for the future economic development. The subject of study covers the challenges to the educational system of Bulgaria posed by the contemporary economic conditions.Social and economic reality in the beginning of 21st century can be treated as unique. This attitude is due to all phenomena and processes accompanying human civilization development nowadays. Fundamental factors predetermining relationships between economic entities in processes of production, barter and income distribution are liable to changes. New conditions show that land and assets equipment of production are not enough to guarantee growth of social wealth. Assets transformation from “property” into “function” presupposes knowledge and skills presence. That is why knowledge is considered in the paper as current production foundation. The orientation of economic development to the all-round penetration of knowledge in business processes can be defined as a challenge to the industrial society and its production principles. We think that the signs of change could be outlined in the following directions: annexation to the traditional industrial factors of production - land, labor and capital of knowledge; transition from mass industrial production to demascision of production, markets and society; transition from vertically positioned public and economic structures to horizontal networks; transformation of the production of products with a physical medium into products that can easily be digitized and multiplied technologically, causing structural changes in both the national and global economy. These changes do not exhaust the extensive series of transformations, but only identify the directions in which they could be reasonably devised. The family, political structures and the social culture are changing. Every new socio-economic system needs the appropriate cultural prerequisites to make its development possible.