In recent years, artificial intelligence (AI) has been increasingly making its way into the Bulgarian education system. More and more teachers are beginning to use AI as an assistant in their daily work—to save time, personalize learning, and enrich educational content. At the same time, there is a clear understanding within the teaching community: AI cannot and should not replace the human factor—mentorship, inspiration, and emotional support that a good teacher provides to students.
In practice, AI is seen as a tool that supports teaching while leaving full control over pedagogical decisions in the hands of educators. The goal is to increase efficiency and creativity so that teachers can focus more on interactive learning and individual work with students. This is highlighted in the World Bank report “Artificial Intelligence in Bulgarian School Education”, for which Albena Spasova, Chair of the Management Board of EdTech Bulgaria, served as a consultant.
Lesson Planning and Content Creation
One of the most common applications of AI among Bulgarian teachers is the preparation of teaching materials. Generative AI tools can create within seconds:
test questions and exercises,
examples and explanations on specific topics,
lesson ideas or even full drafts of lesson plans.
This is especially useful for developing engaging and differentiated content. For example, a primary school teacher can use AI to generate ideas for a fun introduction to a lesson on bees in “Man and Nature” or to create a set of math exercises for practicing multiplication. Preparation that would otherwise take hours can now be completed in minutes.
Support in Assessment and Grading
AI also significantly facilitates the assessment process. Teachers increasingly use tools that:
generate tests and exams with varying levels of difficulty;
create assignments aligned with curricula and national education standards;
automatically grade objective tests.
There are also AI solutions that assist in evaluating essays and short-answer responses by analyzing key concepts, logical structure, and language accuracy. This does not replace the teacher but helps save time and allows for more individualized feedback.
Personalized Learning and Student Engagement
One of the greatest benefits of AI is its ability to support individualized learning. By analyzing performance and progress, AI tools can:
identify students who need additional support;
adapt exercises to each student’s level;
offer hints and simpler sub-tasks when students struggle, or advanced challenges for high achievers.
According to national guidelines for the use of AI in education, generative AI can create an unlimited number of examples and interactive materials tailored to individual student needs. In practice, this means that a single teacher can use different sets of exercises within the same classroom—for students who need remediation and for those who are more advanced.
AI also supports the creation of interactive simulations, such as virtual physics experiments, which engage students and make learning more accessible. By analyzing common mistakes, systems can signal misunderstood topics in real time, allowing teachers to intervene promptly.
Professional Development and Administrative Efficiency
Bulgarian educational institutions and technology organizations are increasingly investing in AI-related training for teachers. Both free and paid courses are available, helping develop AI literacy as a key skill for modern educators.
Beyond the classroom, AI also supports teachers with administrative tasks—drafting messages to parents, summarizing lengthy documents, translating and adapting learning materials for bilingual classrooms. This reduces routine workload and frees up time for core teaching activities.
Examples of AI Tools Used in Education
Contipso
An AI-based learning management platform (LMS) that enables teachers to create interactive lessons without technical expertise. With a built-in AI acting as an “instructional designer,” Contipso generates tests, educational games, and lesson scenarios aligned with the curriculum, reducing development time from weeks to hours.
ClassBuddy
An educational platform with AI functionalities for creating dynamic lessons, collecting student feedback, and analyzing results. Used by thousands of schools, it supports personalized learning through automated reports and analytics tools.
SmarTest
An assessment platform that enables the creation of personalized tests with instant feedback. It uses AI to analyze results and provide improvement recommendations.
Canva
A popular visual content tool with AI-powered design and automatic layout features. It supports the creation of educational materials and presentations, and in Bulgaria, its nationwide availability for schools is currently being discussed.
Microsoft and Google AI Tools for Education
Solutions such as Microsoft Copilot for Education, Flip, Education Insights, as well as Google Gemini, AI add-ons for Google Classroom, and automatic captions in Google Meet support lesson planning, communication, and inclusive education.
The report „Artificial Intelligence in Bulgarian School Education“ is available here.
* Picture: Pixabay.com