Overview of the Home-schooling Phenomenon in Bulgaria.

The theory and the practice of home-schooling has adherents and opponents, but the research data shows that this phenomenon has increased significantly over the past years in many countries and in different regions around the world. A growing interest from families willing to home-school their children is also observed in Bulgaria. This paper aims to explore the home-schooling landscape in Bulgaria, including the legal framework and most common practices, and to analyze some of the results of home-schooling for selected Bulgarian families, who have made this choice. There is little scholarly research and official data on elective home education in Bulgaria and this paper provides an overview of this alternative education practice through a study of the available literature, legislation texts and analysis of in-depth interviews conducted with home-schoolers aged over 16 years. Despite the fact that home education generally meets a certain level of reluctance, the legislation in Bulgaria has evolved in the past years and allows families to home-school their children through an independent form of education, under the oversight of the government. Home-schooling in Bulgaria is a quite recent phenomenon. A small number of individuals have now finished their home education and have either joined a higher education institution or the job market directly. Evidence from the conducted interviews shows that these Bulgarian home-schoolers thrive and perform well, not only in their respective studies and/or jobs, but also in the society in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]