Zlatina Minkova has been a Specialist in School Team Training, supporting the development of schools in Model Schools Program at Teach for Bulgaria since 2021. Previously, apart from Model Schools, she had gained experience as a trainer in A New Way to Teaching Program too. In the two years from 2019 to 2020, issues, such as how to revitalize curricula so as to stimulate students to develop, but also to grab their attention and meet their needs, were central for her. In recent years, she has been exploring the Experiential Learning tool as a method in educating children and adults.

Zlati also participated in A New Way to Teaching Program and taught in the afternoon sessions of V- and VI-graders and VII- and VIII-graders at the primary school in Graf Ignatievo in 2016 and 2019. As a teacher she worked hard with students to increase their access to opportunities. The most important lesson, which gave her the impulse to continue to develop in the field of education, was the realization how much effort it takes for a teacher to maintain high expectations of students when they get to know their reality closely.

Zlatina has a Master’s Degree in Bulgarian Philology from Paisii Hilendarski University of Plovdiv. She dedicated 2 years in research on “The Children of Socialism” and how this topic is addressed in various literature cases. She sees the topic as still relevant nowadays, when we more intensely than ever ask ourselves the question of how the adult generation is preparing children for the world that awaits them. As early as during her studies, she was involved in exploring the specificities of language, and one year ago she started researching methods for supporting students with a different-than-Bulgarian mother tongue.