Bulgaria's education ministry has opened competitions for head teacher jobs at 223 town-run and 21 state schools, and applications start today. Burgas region has 18 posts open.
The ministry is looking for heads at schools with no permanent head teacher, as well as schools where the current head has already reached retirement age. Candidates can apply until 2 November 2026. Notices for each post are posted on the website of publisher "Az-buki", the ministry says.
The competition has two stages. First comes a written test, and only candidates who score at least 30 points move on to an interview. At the interview stage, candidates work through case studies and defend a strategic plan for running the school.
Candidates need a master's degree and at least 5 years of teaching experience, plus the other legal requirements for the job.
Most posts are at primary and lower-secondary schools ("osnovni uchilishta") — 131 of them — followed by 53 at secondary schools and 30 at vocational high schools. Elementary schools have 13 openings, combined schools and sports schools have 4 each, science-and-maths high schools have 3, language and evening high schools have 2 each, and one humanities high school has an opening.
By region, Sofia needs the most head teachers, 41, followed by Blagoevgrad with 28 and Plovdiv with 27. Outside the capital, Stara Zagora has the most openings — 21 — followed by Smolyan with 19. Sofia region and Dobrich have 15 each, Kardzhali has 13, Gabrovo and Yambol have 11 each, Razgrad has 10, Vratsa has 8 and Kyustendil has 6.
After two-stage competitions on 20 August 2025, head teachers were picked for 280 schools and other education bodies. At that point, 442 such procedures were running across the country, the education ministry's press office said in July last year. They covered state and town-run schools, as well as centres for special education support and personal development, along with the regional centres for support of inclusive education and the State Speech Therapy Centre.