KEY MANAGEMENT ISSUES OF ARMENIAN EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM Serob Khachatryan Yerevan State University AIPRG Conference, Washington D.C, May 17-18, 2008

Changing Role of Government in the Education System Old Role New Role Design education development Develop and implement curricula Interfere with all details 4. Provide all educational services 5. Act as the only source of funding Develop a vision Manage by outcomes, set criteria, and govern nationwide exams Monitor outputs by evaluating the system and the learners Consolidate and coordinate beneficiaries Act as an important source of funding by facilitating cooperation with local authorities and the private sector.

NEW DIMENSIONS OF MANAGEMENT 1. Information as a management tool The Education Management Information System is operating in Armenia since 1999 and collects valuable information on the formal basic education system. It was created within the framework of the World Bank credit project “Education management and financing reforms”. But the practice of analyzing information and managing the system based on that analysis is not yet established in Armenia. If the collected information is not used in the decision-making process, then its collection is not helpful.

2. Management of investments Programs in Armenia financed by international organizations are not always becoming sustainable or serving as inputs. It is only logical that the term most frequently used is “international projects”. As a result, there are cases when programs ensuring significant investments are not continued.

Strong Individuals, Weak Institutions Application Aim Individual Institution Baseline Perception

From Individual Strengthening to Institutional Strengthening Application Aim Individual Institution Baseline Perception

3. Links between Research, Educational Policy, and Investments The educational policy in Armenia is formed more on the basis of international experience, rather than on research conducted in the country. The number of dissertations defended in pedagogy has increased sharply. According to official data from the Higher Education Qualification Commission, 31 pedagogical doctorate dissertations were defended in Armenia in 1996-2000, while the number was 100 in 2001-2005

Corruption and Social capital The structure of schools does not promote cooperation between teachers. A significant number of schools have only one specialist per subject, which limits the possibilities of teachers for interacting with other specialists on the same subject. Newmann and Wehladge (1995) mention that “If schools want to have better student achievements, they need to establish professional communities, based on objectives acknowledged by everyone, cooperative work and collective responsibility”.

Management of outputs A World Bank report (2005) states: “The struggle to improve the quality of public education has shifted from inputs to outputs.” Despite the gradual introduction of certain elements of an output-based system in Armenia, the system continues to talk more about investments and other processes and management of outputs is not taking place.

Value-added assessment approach 1. High proficiency Low growth 2. High growth 3. Low proficiency 4. Source: Hershberg, T. (2005)

Management of human capital “The quality of teachers is the most important variable with an impact on the progress of students”. OECD “Teachers matter” report (2005)

Management of teacher training The current system of university admittance exams does not attach priority to the factor of selecting specialization, which means that many students admitted to pedagogical universities did not initially intend to become teachers. In this context, pedagogical universities are institutions exclusively offering pedagogical qualifications.

Management of teacher induction It is not clear how a teacher who is willing to work can find out about vacancies in any school. In effect, only a few people have information on vacancies, which is inherent with corruption risks. On the other hand, the absence of public announcements deprives schools from the possibility to collect a large number of applications and to select the best candidate.

Management of novice teachers work In Armenia the principle of “sink or swim” is applied to novice teachers. Novice teachers basically try to overcome the unavoidable difficulties and obstacles of the initial phase by themselves.