Status and Professional Profile of the Geography and Economics Teacher in the Education System of Varna Region

The basic factor for the actual implementation of the reform in the Bulgarian secondary education and for changes in the existing practices is the teacher, who, with his professionalism, pedagogical skills and tact, should transform the provisions into action. Teachers are the ones who carry out an education reform and if they find it efficient, it will happen.The teacher participates in the most important creation – that of people, personalities and citizens, so it is very important that the Bulgarian teacher should receive his due status, that of the most important factor in the education system. The attitude towards the natural resources potential as a basic factor for the sustainability of the territory and the habitation environment increasingly becomes an indicator of the progress in modern society. Teachers of geography and economics are fundamental to the “geographic” understanding of the world around us and they have to encourage their students not only to studying processes and phenomena but to their understanding, to a rational search for opportunities and ideas for solving the emerging problems of the interaction “nature – society – economy”. Our educational paradigm changes the requirements to the geography teachers, their expectations and their roles in the education process. It is not only the transfer of experience but the formation of moral principles, worldviews and behavioral models, that require reconsideration of the status, training and qualifications of teachers