The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) will help Bulgaria reform the assessment and teaching model in its education system. This was agreed by Education and Science Minister Galin Tsokov and the head of PISA, Andreas Schleicher, at a meeting in Finland on the sidelines of a forum to review current education strategies, the BTA news agency reported.

The talks were initiated by the minister because of the persistently low scores of Bulgarian students in the international comparative PISA surveys. "We have launched a series of reforms and our aim is to lay the foundations for a thorough overhaul of the way pupils' knowledge is assessed - from rote learning to the formation of skills and competences," he explained, adding that the aim was to move up from the bottom of international rankings.

"Bulgaria is in a situation where it can only improve its results," said Andreas Schleicher. In his words, the country is showing resilience, which can also be seen as a basis for building on its results.